The South Island Long Course Championships were held from 3-5 March at Splash Palace in Invercargill, attracting almost 200 athletes from across Southland, Otago, Canterbury-West Coast, and Nelson Marlborough. 35 Otago athletes travelled down to Invercargill to attend these championships, breaking a ton of personal best times and records, whilst bagging 66 Age Group Medals and 12 South Island Champion titles (for a total of 78 medals).
Big congratulations to all the Otago athletes that competed at these championships - you have each made us so proud! We look forward to seeing many of these athletes back in action at Moana Pool in a few weeks time at the combined Otago Senior Long Course Carnival and Otago Junior Long Course Championships!
Erika Fairweather (Neptune) made history by breaking two New Zealand records over the weekend of racing, and becoming the eighth fastest woman of all time in the 400m Freestyle. On night one of the championships Erika smashed her own New Zealand Open Record in the 400m Freestyle. The following evening Erika went on to break the New Zealand Record in the 200m Freestyle.
🔵 Female Open LC 200m Freestyle
1:56.73 (previous NZ Record held by Lauren Boyle at 1:56.82, set in 2014; previous Otago Open record held by Erika Fairweather at 1:57.08, set in 2022)
🟡 Female Open LC 400m Freestyle
4:00.97 (previous Otago and NZ Open record held by Erika Fairweather at 4:02.28, set in 2021)
Erika Fairweather (Neptune) set two New Zealand Records in the 200m and 400m Freestyle. PHOTO: Swimming Otago Archive
Neo Salomonsson (Kiwi) continued to impress in his signature stroke, dropping almost a full second off his personal best time to break the Male 14 Years 50m Butterfly Otago Age Group Record. Constantly improving, Neo now holds both the 13 years and 14 years Otago Age Group records in this event.
🔵 Male 14 Years LC 50m Butterfly
27.78 (previous record held by Jeremy Hopkins at 27.80, set in 2013)
Neo Salomonsson (Kiwi) sets an Otago Age Group Record in the 50m Butterfly as a 14 year old, just a couple of months after celebrating his birthday. PHOTO: Swimming Otago Archive
We would finally like to thank all those from Otago that helped our friends in Southland make this event possible. Thank you to our technical officials - Nigel Ellett, Dan Harvey, Bronwyn Rees, and Gillian Sugiyama, as well as trainee IOT Bevan Rees, for doing their part in ensuring that each session met Swimming New Zealand Designated Approval status. Thank you to all the parents that stepped up to timekeep. And a huge thank you to our very own Swimming Otago Development & Events Coordinator Kerren Keach who travelled down to Invercargill to run the recorder's office, and spent countless hours guiding and assisting Swimming Southland leading up to the event.
| Erika Fairweather (NEP) |
🏆 Female Open 200m Freestyle |
| Kane Follows (NEP) |
🏆 Male Open 100m Backstroke |
| Caleb Ludlow (ALX) |
🏆 Male Open 200m Breaststroke |
| Curtis Mellsop (NEP) |
🏆 Male Open 200m Butterfly |
| Esme Paterson (NEP) |
🏆 Female Open 50m Butterfly |
| Zac Reid (NEP) |
🏆 Male Open 200m Freestyle |
| Kale Twist (KIW) |
🏆 Male Open 50m Butterfly |
|
Charlotte Aburn (NEP) |
🥇 Female 12-14 Years 200m Freestyle |
|
Ewan Beadell (NEP) |
🥈 Male 15-16 Years 1500m Freestyle |
|
Noah Brummitt (KIW) |
🥇 Male 15-16 Years 100m Freestyle |
|
Caitlin Deans (NEP) |
🥈 Female 17 Years & Over 400m Freestyle |
|
Erika Fairweather (NEP |
🥇 Female 17 Years & Over 200m Freestyle |
|
Emilia Finer (NEP) |
🥇 Female 17 Years & Over 200m Individual Medley |
|
Kane Follows (NEP) |
🥇 Male 17 Years & Over 100m Backstroke |
|
Daniel Gilbert (NEP) |
🥈 Male 17 Years & Over 200m Butterfly |
|
Poppy Henderson (NEP) |
🥇 Female 17 Years & Over 100m Freestyle |
|
Keira Hughes (TAI) |
🥈 Female 15-16 Years 400m Individual Medley |
|
Luke Johnson (ALX) |
🥉 Male 12-14 Years 50m Freestyle |
|
Caleb Ludlow (ALX) |
🥇 Male 15-16 Years 50m Breaststroke |
|
Frankie McDiarmid-Jones (OAM) |
🥇 Female 12-14 Years 50m Breaststroke |
|
Lily McGrath (NEP) |
🥉 Female 12-14 Years 100m Breaststroke |
|
Emma Morton (NEP) |
🥈 Female 17 Years & Over 50m Breaststroke |
|
Curtis Mellsop (NEP) |
🥇 Male 17 Years & Over 200m Butterfly |
|
Esme Paterson (NEP) |
🥇 Female 17 Years & Over 50m Butterfly |
|
Liam Rees (ALX) |
🥇 Male 15-16 Years 200m Backstroke |
|
Zac Reid (NEP) |
🥇 Male 17 Years & Over 200m Freestyle |
|
Neo Salomonsson (KIW) |
🥇 Male 12-14 Years 50m Butterfly |
|
Abby Samuels (TAI) |
🥉 Female 12-14 Years 50m Butterfly |
|
Kale Twist (KIW) |
🥇 Male 17 Years & Over 50m Butterfly |
|
Alfie WeatherstonHarvey (KIW) |
🥈 Male 15-16 Years 200m Backstroke |
|
Heidi Winter (ALX) |
🥈 Female 12-14 Years 50m Backstroke |
|
Sophie Winter (ALX) |
🥇 Female 15-16 Years 200m Breaststroke |
Otago athletes that attended the 2023 South Island Long Course Championships:
Alexandra - Thomas Coney, Caitlin Ellett, Luke Johnson, Caleb Ludlow, Liam Rees, Ariana Webb, Heidi Winter, Sophie Winter
Kiwi - Noah Brummitt, Lily Havard, Neo Salomonsson, Taka Sugiyama, Kale Twist, Alfie WeatherstonHarvey
Neptune - Charlotte Aburn, Ewan Beadell, Efe Celik, Caitlin Deans, Erika Fairweather, Kane Follows, Emilia Finer, Daniel Gilbert, Tom Gold, Poppy Henderson, Lily McGrath, Curtis Mellsop, Emma Morton, Malaika Ogbuehi, Esme Paterson, Zac Reid
Oamaru - Frankie McDiarmid-Jones
Taieri - Emma Bain, Evie Gilmour, Keira Hughes, Abby Samuels
