Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior.
Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice - both in New Zealand record time.
At Olympic trials in Hastings this month, Ouwehand also set a New Zealand record of 25.88s in the non-Olympic 50m butterfly distance, in a time quicker than the winner at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
However, that time was not fast enough to meet the standard Swimming New Zealand set for the world championships held in Doha in February, even though it would have placed Ouwehand seventh had she done it there.
Ouwehand, 24, seems to have peaked at the right time. The previous month at the Auckland swimming championships she had already broken New Zealand records in both the heats and final of the 50m butterfly. She then swam under the Paris mark in the 100m butterfly for another record. But she knew she had to do it again at trials just weeks later.
She not only did it again. She went a third of a second quicker.
She clocked 57.43s, in a time faster than third at Birmingham. She is ranked 14th in the world this year; fifth fastest in the Commonwealth. She may well be seeded higher at Paris as only two swimmers per country can enter each event, unlike the Commonwealth Games where three can.
“I had a target time in the 100m butterfly - 57.6 seconds - and then I looked at the clock and saw 57.4 seconds and I was like, whaat! I didn’t expect it to be that low - that’s almost half a second under the Olympic qualifying standard,” she said.
“I did a 1.2 second personal best in the 100m butterfly in a year - I didn’t expect to do that. It is a good feeling.”
No other Kiwi woman has swum faster than 58.50 seconds. In 2016, Helena Gasson set the New Zealand record at 58.51s.
“I was 95 per cent certain I was going to get that time,“ Ouwehand says on reaching the qualification mark at trials. “Obviously I was thrilled that I’d qualified. That was the intention. I could not be more thrilled with my swim and proud of myself and the work that both David [Lyles, her coach] and myself have put in this last year.
“It feels weird and surreal. I also rebroke my New Zealand record, which I have now broken three times in the last month. I’m so, so happy with that. But the last 20 to 50 metres hurt like hell.”
Ouwehand is now the only Kiwi to swim under 26s in the 50m butterfly and was the sole Aqua Black to do personal bests in both heats and finals at trials.
“It’s great to get that one in the books,” she said. “We’ve been working on not breathing, to get that good clean finish.”
Ouwehand is a rarity; all other Aqua Blacks swim within large squads. Ouwehand trains with former New Zealand coach David Lyles with one other swimmer, while also working 25 hours a week for an Auckland accounting firm.
Hazel Ouwehand. Photo / BW Media
“The only people in my squad are me and Ruby Matthews, but she trains for 200 metres butterfly, and we do different sessions. I’m just competing off myself and David’s stopwatch,” she says.
Ouwehand was the only female to both get her first qualifying standard and be nominated to the New Zealand team at the April trials. Gasson, however, clocked a 200m backstroke consideration time by just 0.01s for the New Zealand Olympic Committee to contemplate. (Consideration times are slightly easier than Olympic qualification standards).
Other swimmers, such as world champions Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather, reached several qualifying standards at the World Championships in February.
At trials in the 100m backstroke, Ouwehand’s 50m split on the way to her 100m record was also faster than anyone else at trials in the 50m event.
“Yeah, how funny is that. But I knew it was a good strong 50 metres,” she says.
Ouwehand’s time was also more than two and half seconds faster than her time at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where she was selected on her potential to get top six in the 50m butterfly - but she missed the semifinals.
“Two years ago is not where I am today,” she says. “I worked so hard last year - I made getting that Olympic time my goal, and I was going to do everything I could to get that time.”
Ouwehand was always a pretty handy swimmer. As a 13-year-old she competed at age group level in Australia, winning six gold medals at the Victoria championships, and almost did it again the following year, winning one fewer.
That was 11 years ago.
“I love the sport, and I’m going to the Olympics. If I had not got that time, I would have taken time off to refocus. I would not have quit; I’m going to go at least until 2028 - and I’ll be 28 then as well.”
Ouwehand also joined 16-year-old breaststroker Monique Wieruszowski, freestyler Laticia Transom and backstroker Gasson to make a successful attempt at the 4x100m medley New Zealand record at trials. They clocked 4.00.82s, breaking the New Zealand record set at the 2006 Commonwealth Games by nearly six seconds.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to swim another 100m butterfly, and it was my fourth-fastest time, and all four were in the past month and under the old New Zealand record, so still a fine swim,” Ouwehand says.
“To be a part of that team was great - all four of us fastest females, coming together and making history.”
Also at trials, Wieruszowski broke her own New Zealand record in the 50m breaststroke, clocking 30.38s, a time that would have won her a World Junior title last year, where she placed second.
Eve Thomas, who qualified in the 400m and 800m freestyle at Doha, also added the 1500m freestyle to her roster after qualifying at this month’s trials.
Sports federations nominate athletes and the New Zealand Olympic Committee selects them - so Ouwehand is not selected yet, but nominated.
Women nominated by Swimming New Zealand to the Olympic Committee to swim at the Paris Olympics are Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Hazel Ouwehand, Helena Gasson and relay swimmers Caitlin Deans and Laticia Transom.
The Olympic swim team is named today in Dunedin.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.
