The New Zealand women’s team were outgunned in the 4x200m freestyle relay final at the Paris Olympics. But making the final was a bonus.
The Kiwi quartet of Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Caitlin Deans and Laticia-Leigh Transom clocked 7 minutes 55.89 seconds at Paris La Defense Arena on Thursday (Friday NZ Time) and finished eighth, which was their surprising qualifying position.
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In the final won by the power-packed Australian team in an Olympic record time of 7:38.08, Fairweather was timed at 1:56.82, Thomas at 1:59.48, Deans at 1:59.79 and Transom, the only swimmer to go faster than in the heat, 1:59.80.
Transom said post-race the team worked hard for a long time with the goal of making the final.
“We were so pleased to accomplish that. Swimming out there tonight in the final in front of that crowd was a bonus.”
In the heats, the team swam 7:54.37 for fourth place in their heat, beating highly-rated Germany, Japan and France, and edging out Italy for the last final spot.
Fairweather was the quickest of the New Zealanders, clocking 1:56.04, with Thomas swimming 1:59.29, Deans 1:59.11 and Transom 1:59.93.
Lewis Clareburt was below his best and was unable to make an impression in the men’s 200m individual medley semifinals, finishing seventh in his race in 2:00.06 and 14th overall.
Clareburt said it had not been his best week in terms of performance or times, but that competing in Paris had been an “epic experience”, and something he would remember long after times have been forgotten.
Earlier, Clareburt progressed comfortably in the heats, as the 11th-fastest. He finished second in his heat in 1:58.84.
Taiko Torepe-Ormsby just missed a spot in the men’s 'splash and dash' 50m freestyle semifinals.
The 20-year-old cut through the water in 22.01 seconds, which placed him 19th among the 74 competitors in an event often decided by a hundredths of a second. The top-16 swimmers moved through to the semifinals.
Earlier this year, Torepe-Ormsby became the first New Zealander to break 22 seconds for the event when he swam 21.86s at the national championships, a time that would have placed him eighth-equal in Paris.
BMX racer Rico Bearman has made the men’s semifinals, but fellow New Zealander Leila Walker has missed out in the women’s event.
Bearman, 21, finished 14th in the quarterfinals, having placed seventh, sixth and third (in 32.093 seconds) in his three races. He had to ride in the aptly named last-chance round, where a top-four finish would enable him to advance to the semifinals.
US-based Bearman, on the inside lane, rode aggressively, grabbed the early lead and was never headed, winning in 32.736 seconds.
Walker, 19, placed third (in 36.974 seconds), sixth and eighth in her three quarterfinal races, for 17th overall. She too relied on a top-four placing in the last-chance round, but she could manage only sixth in 38.347 seconds in a race marred by a crash and failed to advance.
New Zealand judoka Moira de Villiers was eliminated from the women’s -78kg competition when she lost her first-round match to Guinea’s Marie Branser.
De Villiers, twice a Commonwealth Games medallist, incurred three penalties to Branser’s two. The Guinea judoka won the contest after being awarded an ippon after 5min 12s.
This was the second Olympic Games for de Villiers, 34. She competed in the -70kg division in London in 2012.