Sport

Swimming

It was a sprint to the finish in the longest distance of the week for Caitlin Deans.

The Dunedin Olympian collected bronze in the women’s 1500m freestyle after a tight tussle for second with Eve Thomas at the national championships in Auckland last night.

Deans (Neptune) won bronze in 16min 11.42sec, narrowly behind Thomas (Coast), who won silver in 16min 11.20sec.

Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather won the event in 15min 58.26sec, going under the Commonwealth Games qualifying time.

‘‘I’m really happy with that swim,’’ Fairweather said.

‘‘It’s the second 1500m I’ve swum in a very, very long time.…