Erika Fairweather, the outstanding New Zealand swimmer at the Paris Olympics, put in a fine performance to qualify for the women’s 800m final.
Fairweather, who has already finished fourth in the women's 400m freestyle and seventh in the women's 200m freestyle, as well as helping the women's 200m freestyle relay team make the final, swam a beautifully-paced race.
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She took the lead at about the 200-metre mark and relinquished it 150 metres later. With Australian Lani Pallister setting a hot pace, and German Isabel Gose chasing her hard, the race tempo was challenging.
But Fairweather maintained her rhythm and finished strongly that over the last 50 metres she gathered in Frenchwoman Anastasia Kirpichnikova and earned third in the heat, in a time of 8 minutes 22.22 seconds at Paris La Defense Arena on Friday.
The 20-year-old from Dunedin will line-up with some great swimmers in the final on Saturday (7.28am Sunday NZ Time), United States' most-decorated women Olympian Katie Ledecky and Australian Ariarne Titmus among them.
New Zealand’s other 800m freestyle swimmer, Eve Thomas, was timed at 8:33.25 and was 12th overall.
Cameron Gray was the other New Zealander in action in the pool on Friday, in the men’s 100m butterfly. Gray recorded 53.83, for 24th place overall and was unable to advance to the semifinals.