Struggling for Pool Time, Lewis Clareburt Shifts Training Base, Coach

Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand competes in the 200m Butterfly Men Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 25th, 2023.

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Struggling for Pool Time, Lewis Clareburt Shifts Training Base, Coach

New Zealand Olympian Lewis Clareburt has shifted his training base and coaching less than a year out from the Paris Olympics.

Clareburt was struggling to get pool time in Wellington, so he’ll relocate to Auckland. That means splitting with coach Gary Hollywood, whom Clareburt said he’s leaving on good terms.

Clareburt, 24, had Swimming New Zealand intervene with Wellington’s city council to mediate a dispute over pool access. But since Clareburt’s home pool, the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre (WRAC) in Kilbirnie, is shared with the public, there were no solutions forthcoming.

Clareburt had dealt with sessions being abruptly cancelled and gear going missing, and felt as though he was “walking on eggshells” at the pool. He characterized staying in Wellington, given the uncertainty, as a “risk” to his training.

“I felt like I was under a magnifying glass at the pool,” Clareburt told 1News in New Zealand. “If I stepped one foot out of place, the hammer would come down on me and that creates a tough environment to walk into as an athlete. I felt I deserved better.”

In a Facebook post, Hollywood expressed dismay that the circumstances had come to this for his star pupil, whom he’s worked with since Clareburt was 16. “Words cannot fully express how sad I feel about Lewis feeling he has to leave Wellington now just nine months out from the Olympics knowing things could have been so different if we’d had access to a more positive training environment,” he said.

Clareburt is vying for a place at his second Olympic Games. He set national records in both the 200 and 400 individual medley in Tokyo in 2021, making the finals in both. He finished seventh in the 400 IM and eighth in the 200 IM. Along with Erika Fairweather, he’s one of the country’s best medal hopes in Paris.

Clareburt won a bronze medal in the 400 IM at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. He won gold in the 200 fly and 400 IM plus 200 IM gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games.

He finished sixth in the 400 IM, 13th in the 200 fly and a disappointing 12th in the 200 IM at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.

“I’m at the point now in my career where I’m so excited to have this crazy amount of motivation to do well, and I just didn’t want to be distracted from that immense motivation,” Clareburt told another New Zealand outlet. “Generally, I’m excited to be able to swim fast, and I didn’t want to have any roadblocks in the way.”

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