Silver medal for Fairweather

Fairweather, 22, was timed at 4min 02.65s. She could make no impression on gold medallist Lani Pallister of Australia, who moved further ahead the longer the race went and won in 3min 59.56s.

But the New Zealander left two other good Australian swimmers, Jemma Forrester and Amelia Weber, languishing several seconds behind her.

There were two other New Zealanders in the final. Caitlin Deans was sixth in 4min 09.45s and Eve Thomas eighth in 4min 12.23s. The race was notable for New Zealand swimming - having three swimmers in a final is an exceptional achievement.

Fairweather, who qualified fastest in the morning heats, stuck grimly to Pallister but gradually the Australian's stength told.

This wasn't Fairweather's fastest time. That was the 3min 59.44s she swam in Doha in 2024 when she won the world title. But it was a quick swim nonetheless, and at last earned her a tangible reward after several years of knocking on the door in Games finals.

Fairweather was pleased to have won a medal - New Zealand's first of these Games - but did mention that it wasn't her best performance. 'Still, you can't be mad when you come away with that. I was gutted last time when I never won a medal, so this is super-special.'

In the women's 50m butterfly, New Zealanders Hazel Ouwehand and Zoe Pedersen progressed to the final. In the semi-finals, Ouwehand swam strongly to be the third fastest qualifier for the final with a time of 26.01s. Pedersen qualified sixth with 26.38s.