More gold for Clareburt, fifth medal for Fairweather

Lewis Clareburt won gold in the 400m individual medley to lift his Glasgow Commonwealth Games tally to two golds and a silver. Meanwhile freestyle specialist Erika Fairweather picked up her fifth medal of the Games, this time silver in the 800m.

Clareburt absolutely blitzed a world-class field, winning in the impressive time of 4min 08.72s. He had a margin of 2.30s over

second-placed William Petric of Australia, Clareburt's training partner this year.

After his morning heat, Clareburt had been precdicting a 'fingertip result', but he was a class apart in the final. He took the lead at the 300m mark and, as he invariably does, he finished strongest.

Clareburt was the defending Commonwealth Games champion in this stroke. His gold medal goes with his earlier gold in the 200m butterfly and silver in the 200m individual medley.

After the race, Clareburt said it was a special feeling retaining his 400m individual medley crown. 'It feels awesome and to have Will there with me on the podium after all the work we've done together made it even more special. I'm stoked for both of us.'

Asked how he felt hearing the New Zealand anthem, he said he cherished every second ot it.

Fairweather was superb in taking silver in the 800m freestyle, thereby creating a bit of history by becoming the first New Zealander to win five medals at a single Commonwealth Games.

Though she's carried a huge workload at the Games, Fairweather looked strong throughout the 800m. She couldn't match Australian Lani Pallister, who won by nearly 14 seconds, but Fairweather's time of 8min 24.97s was enough to hold out a second Australian, Mollie Walker, by a second.

For someone who had never won a Commonwealth Games medal before arriving in Glasgow, Fairweather has certainly put that right.

Caitlin Deans swam extremely well in the 800m as well, and her time of 8min 33.21s earned her a highly creditable fourth. Eve Thomas was seventh in 8min 34.99s, so it was an outstanding by effort by the three New Zealand distance freestylers.

In the men's 100m final, Carter Swift wasn't able to follow up his outstanding form in the heat and finished eighth in 49.07s. The gold went to Australian Flynn Southam, who clocked 47.13s.

'I wasn’t meant to be there so I’ll take a spot in a Commonwealth final,' said Swift. 'The 100 free is always just full hammer down. There’s some fast boys out there, but I’m proud of what I put up.'

Chelsey Edwards improved fractionally on her heat time in the women's 50m freestyle and earned herself a place in the final. Edwards was seventh fastest among the semi-finalists. 'I'm stoked to be in a final,' she said. 'I know I’ve got a swim like that in me and I’m proud to be able to put it out in a Commonwealth Games semi. Bring on the final!'

The other New Zealand swimmer in the race, Milana Tapper, swam 25.85s and finished 16th in the semi-finals.

Amber George and Savannah-Eve Martin were unable to make an impression in the women's 50m backstroke final. George finished sixth in 28.33s and Martin seventh 28.43s.