Eve Thomas Books Olympic A Cut in 1,500 at NZ Swimming Championships

Eve Thomas - Photo Courtesy: Simon Watts/www.bwmedia.co.nz

Eve Thomas Books Olympic A Cut in 1,500 at NZ Swimming Championships

New Zealand’s Eve Thomas secured an Olympic spot in the women’s 1,500 freestyle on the first day of the NZ Swimming Championships Tuesday.

Thomas went 16:07.46 in the 1,500, more than 1.5 seconds under the Olympic A cut of 16:09.09 to get to the Paris Games. It’s the second Olympic cut for the 23-year-old, who finished 26th in the 1,500 and 18th in the 800 free at the Tokyo Olympics. Thomas also holds A cuts in the 400 free and 800 free from the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

“An athlete’s dream is the Olympics and to have swum under the qualification time for my second Olympics is an honour,” Thomas told Swimming NZ. “I went hard from the start tonight and I just hung on, so I’m really pleased that I stuck to my plan.”

The other two Paris qualifications on Tuesday at Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre came from paraswimmers. Jesse Reynolds went 1:05.47 in the multi-class men’s 100 backstroke, hitting the S9 qualification time. Reynolds shared gold with Jole Watkins, who broke the S19 national record in 1:12.10.

Joshua Willmer added a qualification time in the men’s 100 breaststroke, the 19-year-old’s time of 1:13.94 hitting the SB8 standard.

Sam Brown won the men’s 400 IM in 4:22.88, nearly two seconds up on Blair Helms. Lewis Clareburt didn’t swim in that event. Instead, Clareburt was on a 400 free relay for his Club 37 team, splitting 48.45 as they took down the Open New Zealand record in 3:14.71, seven tenths off the mark that had held since 2008. Carter Swift, Zac Dell and Michael Pickett joined Clareburt on that squad.

Zyleika Pratt-Smith won the women’s 400 IM in 4:59.32. Brendan Visser prevailed in the men’s 800 free in 8:18.37.

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