NZ's small lifesaving team make big waves at prestigious World Games

Newsroom

a day ago

Three of New Zealand's most accomplished lifesaving athletes have returned from China with four medals – two gold – from one of the world's most prestigious non-Olympic international multi-sport events.
The World Games, with lifesaving events on August 8 and 9, in Chengdu, China, were restricted to athletes ranked in the top eight in the world. It featured 4,000 world-class athletes from 144 countries and regions competing in 34 sports, including archery, gymnastics, squash, and baseball. There were 11 teams from New Zealand, but pool rescue was the sole lifesaving discipline contested. Lifesaving was the only sport New Zealand won medals in.
Zoe Crawford hugs Maria Rodriguez Sierra of Spain after the women's 100m manikin tow final. Photo: Supplied
Qualification standards were incredibly high, making the World Games a showcase of the world's best. The small New Zealand lifesaving team – Zoe Crawford, Madison Kidd and Fergus Eadie – competed in just two events each but came fourth on the medal table and won more medals than the Australian team of 10. All three are past or current world record holders, and so medals were expected.
Crawford powered her way to gold in the women's 100m manikin tow. She was well clear of the field and within a second of her world record. Kidd secured a bronze medal, reinforcing the strength and depth of New Zealand's female lifesaving squad. This event involves swimming 50 metres with fins and a rescue tube, retrieving a floating manikin, and then clipping and towing it back to the finish with the rescue tube.
Zoe Crawford in the women's 100m manikin tow final of the life saving event at the World Games 2025. Photo: Supplied
Crawford, who has set world records as a senior and a junior, was making her World Games debut.
'I didn't know how I was going to race to be honest, I was just stoked to get it done,' she said of her win.
Kidd was determined to hold off two Italians to get on the podium. 'After I fluffed my clip I was breathing towards the Italians, and in my head I was thinking, 'you're not beating me'.'
It was the first time a New Zealand lifesaver had won a World Games gold. In fact, it was the only World Games lifesaving event that any Kiwi woman had secured a medal at, let alone two in the same event. Both have been breaking each other's world records in this event in recent years. Kidd broke it three times last year, including winning the 2024 World Championship title.
But there was no record broken this year. 'This is probably the first time we haven't got a world record between the two of us for 18 months,' Kidd says.
The World Games were also a great opportunity to compete against top European nations, who see this competition as on a par with the Olympics.
'The Europeans rank the World Games highly – way higher than World Champs – so it was quite cool to be in that environment, seeing how full on they are in terms of the way they go about everything, the kick they have – and of course getting medals is sweetness as well,' Kidd says.
'We are going out there to win, so it's good to come out with medals.'
Crawford and Kidd also competed in the 100m manikin carry with fins, with Kidd placing seventh and Crawford eighth. Athletes swim 50m with fins, then dive to recover a submerged manikin before resurfacing and carrying it back while swimming.
Eadie was unstoppable in the men's 50m manikin carry, becoming the only male athlete to break the 28-second barrier. His dominant swim earned him a gold medal. It followed his bronze medal in the 100m manikin carry with fins on the first day, where he was just 0.01s off a silver medal.
'Getting all three of us with medals and being on the podium on the same day is pretty special,' Crawford says.
Gold medallist Zoe Crawford (left) and bronze medalist Madison Kidd receive their medals for the women's 100m manikin tow final. Photo: Supplied
Hearing the New Zealand national anthem ring out twice in the stadium was a moment of immense pride, marking not only an individual triumph for these athletes but also a collective win for the sport in Aotearoa.
All three athletes are coached by Michael Weston at the Coast Swimming Club on the Hibiscus Coast. Weston was not in China, he was coaching at the World Aquatics swimming championships in Singapore, as Zoe Pedersen, a teenage lifesaver in the Coast club, had recently made her Aquablack debut there with clubmates Eve Thomas and Laura Quilter.
Pedersen holds the junior world record in the 100m rescue medley, but flew out again in the weekend to compete at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Romania, which started on August 19. Her Coast coach, John Gatfield, is the team's head coach.
While pool rescue athletes were getting medals in China, Pippa Nicol was at the Australian Pool Rescue championships in Adelaide. She broke an eight-year-old national record in the 200m super lifesaver, clocking 2:22.22.
The team now looks ahead to the New Zealand Pool Rescue Championships next month. This is a selection competition for the 2026 national squad and a qualification competition for the German Cup, an international team competition between the world's top eight nations held in Warendorf in November.