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Wellington Phoenix hire new controversial coach

Wellington Phoenix hire new controversial coach

RNZ News30-07-2025
The Wellington Phoenix have hired the former Canadian coach at the centre of the Olympic drone scandal in 2024. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.
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A tough week in Singapore
A tough week in Singapore

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A tough week in Singapore

Swimming New Zealand bosses have some soul searching to do after New Zealand suffered its worst result at a world championship for seven years. This is despite entering two world champions for the first time, both who have had a significant increase in tailored support funding from High Performance Sport New Zealand this year. It was the first time since 2017, and the second since 2011, that no one placed higher than fifth. The eight-day championships in Singapore ended last night, with 400m freestyle world champion Erika Fairweather hoping to be the first Aquablack to medal at her third successive world championship. That would be a huge achievement, given only 10 had placed in the top 16 in the past decade at this level and of females, only Olympians Caitlin Deans and Eve Thomas also did so this year. Fairweather is also New Zealand's first ever aquatics world champion and won three medals at last year's championship. Her world title defence on the first day was over before it began. She missed the final on July 27 after a brutal disqualification for a slight backwards movement on the starting blocks, between the 'take your marks' command and the starting signal. No movement there is permitted. She is just the second woman to be disqualified in the event in world championship history, and by far the most high profile. 'Not everything went entirely to plan but that's part of it,' Fairweather says. Things didn't go to plan for Swimming New Zealand either, as Hazel Ouwehand, who would have been New Zealand's highest seeded swimmer at the world championships, decided to bypass Singapore. Her 50m butterfly lifetime best would have been enough to medal. While Fairweather's disqualification was unfortunate, she could only go on to manage a best placing of sixth. She comfortably won her heat in the 200m freestyle ahead of Australian Olympic champion Molly O'Callaghan and was just 0.09 seconds shy of her lifetime best in her semi-final but could not match that in the final. She was second last year. Yet Fairweather was fortunate to swim the final as the top three, American Katie Ledecky, Lani Pallister from Australia and Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh, weren't competing in that event, last year's winner Siobhan Haughey withdrew due to injury, and Australian Ariarne Titmus took a break. Caitlin Deans was the only Olympian to swim a lifetime best at both the 2025 national championships and again at the world championships. She placed 13th in the 1500m freestyle ahead of Eve Thomas, who was 16th. 'I was really happy with my performance. It's always a lot of fun racing on the big stage, and it's just made me more excited to get stuck into the 800m,' Deans said after her 1500m event. In the 800m freestyle, Deans got stuck in and went one better, placing 10th, her best world championship effort. It was a lifetime best and just over a second short of making a final in an event she did not qualify for last year. 'I'm absolutely rapt. To be so close to making the final is frustrating, but it's just more motivation for the upcoming season,' she says. Fairweather also competed in the 800m freestyle and was optimistic of a good placing. As a result, Swimming New Zealand did not enter a women's 4x200m freestyle relay team scheduled for the previous day, despite the relay team making a final at Paris for the first Olympics ever, and under the same circumstances. This year, Fairweather placed seventh in the 800m; the top three broke the championship record. American Katie Ledecky won her seventh straight title in a titanic race with Australia's Lani Pallister. Laura Quilter competed at her first worlds, after last competing internationally at the 2012 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She set a personal best in the 50m freestyle, aged 33, after being just shy of one in the 50m butterfly. 'To end my world champs with a lifetime best is such an awesome feeling,' she says. 'I just went out to race. No thinking, just focused on keeping a smile on my face through marshalling to quell the nerves and remind myself how special it is to represent New Zealand again.' Also in the 50m butterfly event was teenager Zoe Pedersen on her Aquablack debut, At 18, she is young enough to qualify for the World Juniors to be held next month. This month's championships were a learning experience for her. She placed 24= in a time that would have medalled at the last World Juniors. 'I'm super happy with what I've been able to take away from this team and my swim, watching some of our best swimmers on the world stage has been an incredible opportunity.' Pedersen says. 'I'm excited to be able to implement the things I've learned from this trip at the World Juniors and have the opportunity to support my junior teammates in a couple of weeks.' While Fairweather was unable to defend her world title due to the disqualification, on the men's side, neither was Lewis Clareburt, in the 400m individual medley. He missed the final, placing 10th. However, he got his highest ever world championship placing in the 200m individual medley, fifth, breaking his New Zealand record set at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

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