Graham Hill: Swimming NZ head coach recaps 2025 Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships

A record number of athletes are preparing for a week of fierce competition at the 2025 Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships. 

More than 350 athletes will be swimming in the competition which is being held at the Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre in Auckland from Wednesday May 21st to Sunday May 25th. 

The field will feature a mixture of young talent and seasoned performers, with 17 Aquablacks (NZ representatives) including 7 Olympians and 5 Paralympians competing.

Swimming NZ's new Head Coach Graham Hill joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to update day 4 of the event. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's News Talk's eb on the Your Sport Breakfast. It
is at quarter to eight. We are now going to
talk with Graham Mayor Hill the twenty twenty five Apollo
projects in New Zealand swimming championships on and Auckland.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Graham, welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It has been of some success to now you work
with Erica Fairweather, but you can't oversee a whole lot,
don't you welcome?

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I'm Erica has moved up from
Dunedin up to up to North Sawgia and yeah, I'm
working with Erica. She moved up here in January, end
of January. But i have a role as head Olympic
coach for New Zealand swimming and so I'm watching everyone

(00:55):
in the pool at the moment and it's been a
great week so far.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, you'd be reveling in what's going on. Some of
the results that have come through have been huge. I
mean we talk about Hazel our hand and what she's
achieved and she said it felt phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal, up
smashing her own record I'm presuming at Paul's side. It
was very impressive. Did you do you expect to go

(01:18):
that quick? Graham?

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yeah, Look, I mean Hazel is a talented sprint girl,
and you know she's been knocking on the door for
a while, and she had a phenomenal fifty fly last night.
I think it ranks her this season the top five
in the world. So it was a really good performance
from her.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
That's incredible. And there's a lot of other butterfly swimmers
exponents that it did well as well, which isn't I
don't think I've seen that, but like three butterfly athletes
swimming World champ qualification times.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Absolutely, it was a great race, all three women under
the time the qualifying time. Unfortunately only two can get selected,
but what a great performance and shows the depth of
our sprint butterfly woman which is good for the future,
especially especially having the young girl in there.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, Zoe Peterson only eighteen, and then of course Laura
on comeback thirty two years old.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Great some a great foreign to mean of free as well,
with the Erica fair Weather going well. But what are
we looking forward to our grand today? What are the
big events?

Speaker 4 (02:24):
Well today we've got the turn of butterflies men and women.
We've got the two hundred freestyle, which is going to
be a great, great race, I think, especially in the
women's race. You know, we had the woman four by
two relay in the final in Paris at the Olympics,
so all those girls will be looking for spots possibly
to put a relay together for World Champs in Singapore

(02:46):
later on in July. So yeah, the four x two
relay will be stacked and we'll see how that goes. Today,
you'd see four.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
You mentioned that there are three athletes for butterfly swim
under the time, but only two can actually qualify. Eric
Fair with Eve Thomas, Caitlin Deans and the foreigner and
free went under the qualification time as well. Is that
the same case, only two you can.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Go, same same case, only to only two consume any
two per nation every event. So yeah, unfortunately one misses out.
But yeah, that's that's the rule, Grahame.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Is it purely based on time or is it like, yeah, well,
what's the deal.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
There, No, it's based on the time.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
That's that's the one thing in our sports. Whatever comes
up on the board, that's it.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
That is defined process, which we love. It's not kind
of like judged, which I can't stand. It's nother story.
Where do we sit and in the pool right now
globally across a number of disciplines.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Yeah, we we we we're getting there. We need to
win some big medals, you know, medals, medals of what count. Medals,
Medals position you at the big events. You know you
can you can have ten swimmers in the finals and
you know, but no medals, and you can have one
country that wins one medal and they go ahead of you.
So you know, it's all about medals. And then then

(04:08):
it starts to boil down to its gold medals. So
you can be a country that wants one gold medal
and another country can win ten silvers, use it above
them because you've got that one gold. So it's quite
it's quite cutthroat. It's you know, it's all about the medals,
and then it gets to what color the medal is
fall several bronze.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Zoe Peterson we spoke of eighteen years old. I believe
there's another young lady, alyssa Tampa, what's seventeen who's looking
well for juniors and other prospects. Is the health good
do you think?

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Graham? Yeah, I mean Monique. You got Monique on the breaststroke,
she said the stadium a lot last night she won
the two hundred breastroke and she's really a fifty meter swimmer.
So that was pretty good qualifying for World Juniors and
the two hundred breastroke. Who main event today the one
hundred breastroke. So our junior swimming is really coming up.
It's strong. You've got Ariel that's going to go in

(05:03):
the turn of flyer today. I know he's facing down
a a record I think set by Daniel Loaders sixteen. Right, Yeah,
he's sixteen and he's swimming some phenomenal time. So the
future for New Zealand swimming is very bright and we
just got to bring this young chalent through and make
sure we nurture them and get them onto the main

(05:23):
stage and possibly get onto that.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Podium Meddle medal. Graham, hell, head coach of New Zealand Swimming.
Thank you very much for your time and your expertise
here enthusiasm. You can hear the joy Graham. You enjoy
the rest of the meat.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
Thank you, Thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Thank you ten minutes to eight News Talk to B.
This is the All Sport Breakfast live on YouTube in
New Zealand Swimming Channel You call all the channel on
YouTube stream channel. Okay, listen to the old guy get You,
That's amazing, the youth here and the speed Happy Days.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
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