NZ Champs 2025: Review

The 2025 Apollo Projects New Zealand Swimming Championships delivered some impressive performances. From smashing personal bests to setting new records, the weekend was full of great moments – and that’s exactly what Wellington’s twenty-one swimmers showed last week. 

Daniel Williams from SwimZone was definitely on fire. He snagged gold in the 200m backstroke with a solid 2:05.69, and took silver in both the 100m backstroke (57.19) and 50m backstroke (26.67) events. On top of that, he was named All-Stars Emerging Swimmer of the Year for 2024 — amazing work Daniel! 

Then there’s Noah Ireland-Spicer from the Otaki Titans, who made a splash in the sprints. He grabbed bronze in the 50m freestyle, smashing the Wellington record with a speedy 23.21 seconds, beating the mark set by Lewis Clareburt. Noah also took bronze in the 100m freestyle with a 52.11 — a great effort all round. 

Joseph Reiher from PCA was unstoppable in the breaststroke events, bringing home a full medal collection. He won gold in the 100m breaststroke for the 17–18 age group with a time of 1:04.73, earned silver in the open final of the same event, snagged silver in the 50m breaststroke (29.71), and bronze in the 200m breaststroke (2:24.39).  

Hunter Lloyd from Raumati impressed in the individual medleys, earning bronze in both the 400m IM (4:42.16) and 200m IM (2:10.95) events. Hunter knocked out some great personal bests throughout the weekend, showing some great progress. 

Eric Yuan, also swimming for PCA, added two bronzes in the butterfly — 57.24 in the 100m and 2:12.93 in the 200m — amazing efforts! 

Taraika’s swimmers also stood out. Neve Tassicker claimed gold in the women’s open 200m butterfly with a time of 2:15.44, while Curtis Mellsop took bronze in the men’s open final, clocking 2:08.19. 

The whole weekend was buzzing with energy and excitement, with so many swimmers hitting personal bests and giving it their absolute best. All the the hard work each swimmer and coach has done is paying off. Congrats to every swimmer to competed at these champs and a massive thank you to all our technical officials who volunteered there time in helping make this competition possible. 

Like Michael Phelps said, "You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get." Judging by what we saw this weekend, Wellington’s swimmers are dreaming big — and making it happen. 

Until Next Year!