Kiwi swimmer Daniel Hunter claims freestyle title at day three of the New Zealand Open Swimming Championships

Daniel Hunter decisively took out the men's 50m freestyle at the New Zealand Open Swimming Championships. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi "sprint king" Daniel Hunter led the pack on day three of the New Zealand Open Swimming Championships claiming the men's 50m freestyle title.

Hunter, who has already qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships, led the field from start to finish with a time of 22.60s while 15-year-old Michael Pickett finished second in 23.13s.

Meanwhile, the women's sprint final was a much closer tussle with Rebecca Moynihan winning her first national open title. The Raumati swimmer's winning time was 26.22s, with Chelsey Edwards second in 26.37s, and Carina Doyle finishing third in 26.48s.

Earlier in the evening, Doyle took out the women's 400m freestyle final in 4:16.40s from a fast finishing Erika Fairweather, 4:16.89s PB, and Eve Thomas 4:17.60s.

Fairweather and Thomas also set times well within the selection and qualification criteria for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships and the Youth Olympic Games. An almost six second personal best for Fairweather set a new 14-years national age record - her second of the meet.

Zac Reid took out his third national open title of the week, this time in the men's 800m freestyle final. Reid's time of 8:01.87s also set an 18 years national age group record.

In the Para events, both men's and women's 50m freestyle multi-class had very close finishes with Tama Solouota taking out the men's division to win his fourth title of the championships.

In the women's final, only 0.22s separated Tupou Neiufi (32.08s) and Jane Fox (32.30s). But Neiufi's handy lead in the first twenty-five meters saw the Howick Pakuranga swimmer storm ahead to set a new personal best time.

Lewis Clareburt won the men's 200m individual medley final in 2:00.65s over Wilrich Coetzee, 2:02.81s and Jonathan Rutter, 2:03.53s

Athletes to achieve selection or qualification times for international events included Eve Thomas, Erika Fairweather, Gina Galloway, Greta Agnew, Kyla Alexander, Chelsey Edwards, Zac Reid, and Quinton Hurley.