{"id":533029,"date":"2023-07-23T18:03:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T01:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=533029"},"modified":"2023-07-23T18:03:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T01:03:46","slug":"bronze-backs-credentials-of-under-the-radar-erika-fairweather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/bronze-backs-credentials-of-under-the-radar-erika-fairweather\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronze Backs Credentials of Under-the-Radar Erika Fairweather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bronze Backs Credentials of Under-the-Radar Erika Fairweather<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her understated manner, Erika Fairweather<\/strong> at the Tokyo Olympics quietly warned not to count her out among a loaded distance field.<\/p>\n

Then 17, she wasn\u2019t as young as Summer McIntosh<\/strong>, wasn\u2019t as accomplished as her fellow Oceania star Ariarne Titmus,<\/strong> wasn\u2019t the setter of junior records like Li Binjie.<\/strong> But she had threatened four minutes, hallowed ground for female distance swimmers, and posted a time that earned fourth in prelims to make an Olympic final<\/a>, where she finished eighth. Brighter days were unquestionably ahead; the only question was how luminous.<\/p>\n

Two years later, Fairweather has answered that question, not just with a piece of significant international hardware but by bursting through a barrier that few women have breached.<\/p>\n