By Kris Shannon in Paris
New Zealand’s long wait for an Olympic swimming medal is set to extend beyond three decades.
The Kiwi team came to Paris with two bright lights in the pool but both have been extinguished inside two days at La Defense Arena.
After Erika Fairweather was forced to settle for fourth in the 400m freestyle, Lewis Clareburt managed only sixth in the 400m individual medley.
The 25-year-old recorded the equal sixth-fastest time in this morning’s heats and felt he could ability go much faster than his time of 4m 11.52s. But the improvement was only marginal – stopping the clock in 4m 10.44s, almost two seconds slower than his personal best.
Clareburt had predicted world record holder and hometown hero Leon Marchand could be “lightyears” ahead and so it proved, the Frenchman storming to gold with an Olympic-record time of 4m 2.95s.
Both Clareburt and Fairweather had the pedigree to challenge for the podium but both were outmatched in world-class fields, earning commendable results but failing to end this country’s 28-year drought.
The New Zealand flag hasn’t been raised poolside since Danyon Loader won double gold at Atlanta in 1996. By the time the Games return to the United States, when Los Angeles plays host in 2028, Clareburt’s chances in this gruelling event will likely be gone.
After marking his Olympic debut in Tokyo by finishing seventh in the 400 IM, Clareburt confirmed his promise by claiming gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, winning the final by more than a second.
A world championship crown followed this year – won albeit in the absence of Marchand – and Clareburt came into this Olympics with the second-fastest time in 2024.
However, having been drawn to swim in lane one after a fourth-placed finish in a rapid heat, the Kiwi was unable to make a splash in a raucous arena.
The 22-year-old Marchand last year broke the longest-held of Michael Phelps’ world records, producing a remarkable swim of 4m 2.50s. Only American Carson Foster – who claimed bronze behind Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan – subsequently approached that mark, and Clareburt expected Marchand to be unbeatable if he raced to his best. So it proved.
The Wellingtonian is set to contest the 200 fly and 200 IM, and Fairweather’s programme is also unfinished, but these early races were the pair’s specialist events.
With only faint chances elsewhere in the team, New Zealand’s long wait will likely go on.
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