Erika Fairweather (Ngāi Tahu) has smashed the World Cup Series record for the women’s 400m freestyle by more than three seconds on the opening night of the swimming meet in Berlin on Friday (local time).
The 19-year-old’s time of 4 minutes 01.09 seconds eclipsed the previous record of 4:04.26 set almost eight years ago by New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle in Dubai in November 2015.
Fairweather pulled away from second-placed Australian Lani Pallister in the closing 50 metres to seal the victory.
The result continues the Dunedin swimmer’s superb form this year. In July, she became only the fifth woman to go sub-four minutes for the 400m freestyle at the world championships in Japan, securing a bronze medal with a 3:59.59 personal best time.