Erika Fairweather chases medals in the pool over six events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

NZ’s Erika Fairweather will contest six events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Erika Fairweather’s emergence as a world-class freestyler came at an inopportune time.

The New Zealand swimmer, who made the final of the women’s 400m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as a 17-year-old, has had to compete against three of the greatest female freestyle exponents of all-time.

So the good news as she prepares to contest a lung-bursting six events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games starting in Glasgow early on Friday (NZT) is that none of the trio will be in the pool with her.

The bad news is that she’s still not assured of a gold medal in any of those finals.

The 22-year-old should still become the NZ team’s first medal winner of their campaign on the shortened 10-day programme at the Games.

Fairweather will compete in the women’s 400m freestyle when heats begin on Friday night (NZT), with the medal race scheduled for 6.07am Saturday. While Australia’s dual Olympic champion over the distance Ariarne Titmus (retired), Canada’s Summer McIntosh (opting to focus on next month’s Pan Pacific meet) and the US’s Katie Ledecky (ineligible for the Commonwealth Games) won’t be her rivals, Fairweather will still have to overcome one of the world’s most in-form swimmers in almost all of her races to stand atop the podium.

“I don't think it changes too much,” Fairweather said of the task ahead from her training base in Italy with some of the Kiwi squad and her coach Graham Hill.

“I'm always swimming against the clock as well as the competitors - and I've still got great competitors there.”

Lani Pallister of Australia ranks fifth all-time over the 400 free distance and has twice gone under the four-minute barrier this year. The 24-year-old, trained by high-profile coach Dean Boxall, recorded 3:59.36 at April’s Australian Open and was close to that mark again at the Australian trials last month (3:59.72). The Open performance was the third-fastest in the world this season, behind just world record holder McIntosh and Ledecky.

Fairweather was fourth in the 400 free final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, in a race won by Titmus.

She claimed bronze over the distance at the world championships the following year in 3:59.59, then went a fraction quicker in grabbing gold at the 2024 worlds, with Titmus, McIntosh and Ledecky all skipping the meet in Olympic year.

Fairweather couldn’t break past The Big Three at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 400m final, finishing fourth, just 0.26s behind Ledecky as Titmus narrowly saw off McIntosh’s challenge.

This season, she finished second to Pallister at the Australian Open in 4:02.09 and a month later swam her season-best of 4:01.42 at the national champs.

At the Mare Nostrum Tour in Europe recently, Fairweather won all three 400m freestyle titles, with her best time being 4:01.75.

Fairweather will also contest the 200m, 800 and 1500 free, along with the women's 4x200m freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, and will be up against Pallister in the longer-distance events, with the Australian heavily favoured to win gold in the latter two.

“We've been able to prepare pretty well, and I had a dress rehearsal at the national champs by swimming the same schedule,” Fairweather said.

“All the races complement each other to an extent … the 400 is definitely still my favourite.”

The 200 free however may be Fairweather’s best chance at gold, after she broke the New Zealand record by winning in 1:55.06 at the national championships in May.