New Zealand swimmers strike double bronze in Glasgow pool

New Zealand’s swimmers have continued their robust begin to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with Hazel Ouwehand and Erika Fairweather every claiming bronze medals in an exciting morning of racing.

Ouwehand, that includes in her first Commonwealth Games ultimate, produced a nerveless efficiency to complete third in a frenetic ladies’s 50m butterfly ultimate, touching the wall in 25.76 seconds behind Australia’s Alex Perkins and South Africa’s Erin Gallagher.

Just fractions of a second cut up the medallists, with all three swimmers recording occasions faster than the gold medal-winning efficiency from the Birmingham Games 4 years in the past.

Ouwehand stated she was happy with how she executed her race.

“It’s such a short race, there’s very little room for error and it’s just head down and go.”

Competing in her first Commonwealth Games ultimate, Ouwehand admitted the achievement had but to totally register.

“It feels like an empty ball bouncing around in [my head] at the moment, but give it a few minutes and it will sink in,” she stated when requested what was going by way of her thoughts after the race.

“I’m not necessarily in a rush to look at the scoreboard, because it’s not going to change there either way. So as soon as I hit the wall I just took a few seconds to myself then I looked at the board and saw that third on there.”

Minutes earlier, Fairweather had backed up her silver medal-winning efficiency within the 400m freestyle by including bronze within the ladies’s 200m freestyle.

The Dunedin swimmer clocked 1:55.24 to complete behind Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan (1:54.66) and Lani Pallister (1:55.01), the identical swimmer who edged her out for gold within the 400m freestyle on the opening day of competitors.

After successful New Zealand’s first medal of the Games with silver in her favoured 400m freestyle on Saturday, Fairweather had described the 200m as a far harder problem towards a stacked discipline.

Fairweather, who certified fifth-fastest from the heats, was in the course of the sphere on the midway stage of the race, earlier than producing a powerful surge over the second half of the race.

She joked she was feeling it after the race.

“It didn’t feel great, but I’m really glad to get the job done,” Fairweather stated.

“A 200m medal was always going to be a stretch so I’m really happy to come away with it.”

Australia’s dominance within the pool continued on day two, with O’Callaghan, Pallister and Perkins including to the staff’s rising medal haul because the Australian nationwide anthem grew to become an more and more acquainted soundtrack across the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

New Zealand’s Zoe Pederson additionally featured within the ladies’s 50m butterfly ultimate, ending fifth within the high-quality dash occasion.

The double podium end lifts New Zealand’s tally to 4 medals after two days of swimming competitors, following Fairweather’s silver within the ladies’s 400m freestyle and Lewis Clareburt’s silver within the males’s 200m particular person medley.

In different motion on day two, New Zealand narrowly missed one other medal within the combined 4x100m freestyle relay, ending fourth after setting a nationwide document.

The quartet of Fairweather, Chelsey Edwards, Cameron Gray and Carter Swift mixed to clock 3:24.82, however had been simply out-touched by Wales in a dramatic end to the race.

The combined relay, that includes two males and two ladies, introduced competitors at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre to an thrilling shut.

Australia’s star-studded line-up claimed gold in a Commonwealth Games document 3:19.36 by way of Shayna Jack, Meg Harris, Kyle Chalmers and Flynn Southam.

Behind the runaway winners, England, Wales, Scotland and New Zealand traded locations all through the race, with the minor medal positions altering at virtually each cut up earlier than England secured silver and Wales edged New Zealand for bronze.

Meanwhile, neither New Zealander within the ladies’s 100m backstroke semi-finals superior to the ultimate. Amber George completed eleventh general in 1:01.24, whereas Savannah-Eve Martin was twelfth in 1:01.35.