Erika Fairweather’s alarm tends to go off at 4.30am, some four hours before she starts school at Kavanagh College in Dunedin.
She admits there are “absolutely” some mornings where she considers staying in bed when she is woken up that early.
But as a swimmer, she has her eyes on an Olympic medal, an end goal which would make all those early starts – and all the hours in the pool – worth it.
Fairweather had been planning on making her Olympic debut in Paris in 2024, but she has got there ahead of schedule, and will join six other swimmers in Tokyo later this month.
At 17 – turning 18 on New Year’s Eve – she’s the youngest member of the 211-strong New Zealand team.
In Tokyo, she will compete in the 200m and 400m freestyle, as well as the 4x200m freestyle relay, where she will be joined by Carina Doyle – a Kavanagh College alumnus – Ali Galyer, and Eve Thomas.
“I think if you had asked me two years ago, if I thought I’d be here, I would’ve been like, you’re insane,” Fairweather said this week, at a send-off event for the swimming team.
“2024 was always the target one, but I’m definitely going to make the most of this now that the opportunity is here.
“You’ve just got to go for it.”
At the 2019 world championships, when she was just 15, Fairweather made the top 20 in both the 200m and 400m, then followed up by winning gold in the 200m at the world junior championships.
“World seniors definitely set me up for world juniors in terms of gaining that international experience, especially against the older girls,” Fairweather said.
“Then world juniors was obviously about making a point that I was up there in the ranks.”
Fairweather was on track to qualify for the Olympics had they been held as planned 2020, when she was still 16, but the year’s postponement as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic allowed her to spend another year improving.
“At the start of 2020, in February, I went under the Olympic qualifying time when I was at a meet in Australia, so I’d like to think that would have translated into a good time at trials and I would have been able to make the team last year.
“But having it delayed, it gave me an extra year to get faster, get stronger, work on my turn – that kind of thing.
“It was definitely beneficial.”
Fairweather’s selection for Tokyo was confirmed a month ago, with the announcement taking place at Kavanagh College, where she’s the head girl, and she carried on juggling school and swimming up until the end of last week, when the July holidays began.
“It’s definitely been different to other people’s experiences leading up to the games,” Fairweather said.
“But it’s been pretty chill. It has kind of kept me distracted, in a good way.”
The holidays have come at the perfect time for Fairweather, who will first be in action on July 26, in the 400m. The 200m follows on July 27, with the 4x200m relay rounding out her Games on July 28.
She is a member of Neptune Swim Club and is coached by Kurt Crosland and Lars Humer, who will also be the head coach of the Olympic team in Tokyo.
New Zealand hasn’t won an Olympic medal in swimming since Danyon Loader triumphed in the 200m and 400m freestyle in Atlanta in 1996.
Fairweather trains in same pool Loader once did and said the desire to end that drought was something spurring the current crop of swimmers on.
“The people in this team are amazing.
“I guess we’re kind of in the same boat – we’re kind of all in that situation where there hasn’t been one, and we’re just all aiming to do the best we can, and we just thrive off each other.”
Having made it to these Olympics ahead of schedule, Fairweather is looking forward to gaining all she can from the experience.
She has the 33rd-best time in the world this year in the 200m – 1:57.58 – and the 22nd-best time in the 400m – 4:06.54 – and will be hoping to improve on both of those marks in Tokyo, as she loves nothing more than exceeding expectations.
“People always have their thoughts on what you can do and what they think is possible,” she said.
“Bettering that is what I’m all about.”
And how does it feel to be the youngest member of the New Zealand Olympic team?
As her priorities still include getting top marks in biology, chemistry, geography, and statistics before she leaves high school, there are a few differences between Fairweather and her older team-mates, but it does have its perks.
“I’m always really well looked after, which is kind of a bonus.
“It’s like they go: ‘She’s the baby of the team, she’s precious, you’ve got to look after her.’”
