New Zealand swimmer Lewis Clareburt has finished sixth in the men's 400m individual medley final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday (Monday NZ Time).
Starting in Lane 1 as the sixth-fastest qualifier, Clareburt was as high as third during the backstroke leg before dropping back as French hero Leon Marchand thrilled the crowd at Paris La Defense Arena.
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The 25-year-old turned for the final freestyle leg in seventh but still in a six-way hunt for the minor medals, and picked up one place, clocking 4 minutes 10.44 seconds, just 1.78 seconds off the bronze medal.
It was a one-place improvement for Clareburt from the same final at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Earlier in the day, Clareburt did what was required to book a spot in the final. With only two heats scheduled and eight swimmers to progress to the final, it seemed the experienced Clareburt would ease into the final.
After all, he is the 400m individual medley world champion and was the bronze medallist in the same event at the 2019 world championships.
He seemed struggle for a time in the heats, though he eventually finished fourth equal in his heat and sixth-equal fastest overall in 4:11.52, a fraction slower than his Tokyo time.
“Well, I got through to the final and it was a pretty quick time,” he said later. “I’m glad I snuck in. I could tell I was behind early on, but I knew what I’d done out there was enough to make the final. It was a bit of a dogfight with a few guys across the pool near the end.”
There was better news for another New Zealander in the pool during the session.
Dunedin’s Erika Fairweather, hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of just missing a medal in the women's 400m freestyle, finished fifth in the second women's 200m freestyle semifinal.
It was by far the faster of the two semis, and her time was good enough to qualify her seventh for Monday's (Tuesday NZT) final.
Fairweather swam 1:56.31, which was a fine swim, though it was overshadowed by Australian Ariarne Titmus’s qualifying time of 1:54.64.
Earlier, with the fastest 16 in the field of 31 advancing to the semifinals, Fairweather qualified comfortably. She finished second in her heat in 1:56.54, good enough for seventh overall.
Dunedin backstroker Kane Follows finished second in his 100m heat in 55.01 seconds, but with the top-16 from the six heats to progress to the semifinal, he placed 33rd overall.