Lewis Clareburt has become the first male Kiwi swimmer to win two golds at a Commonwealth Games, after battling from behind to prevail in the 200m butterfly at Birmingham.
The jovial Clareburt admitted not even he had expected to pull off victory in an event he didn't contest at last year's Tokyo Olympics and only entered late in England - a request that clearly paid off.
"Surprising, to be honest," said Clareburt, after his win. "I didn't think that would happen tonight."
"I wasn't even entered in it. I asked to be put in it, they said yes and I'm glad they said yes."
After trailing for three lengths, Clareburt clicked into gear and bolted to the wall, edging legendary South African Chad le Clos by 0.29s.
"I think the rest of the world is going to be watching what we’re doing in New Zealand," he added.
Among the watchful, tearful, pride-filled eyes was Clareburt's childhood hero, Moss Burmester, who won gold for New Zealand in the same event at Melbourne 2006.
"Lewis, you bloody legend," Loader said, via video message. "You're swimming like an absolute beast."
He's already inspiring others to do the same. Para backstroker Tupou Neiufi added a silver to the Kiwi haul, before Joshua Wilmer pulled off some late heroics of his own to win gold in the 100m SB8 breaststroke.
Five gold medals over three days has made the Birmingham crowd very familiar with 'God Defend New Zealand'.
As electrifying as Clareburt has been at these Games, he’s not done yet. He still has the 200m individual medley to come.
"That's supposed to be my second favourite event, so I'm excited for that," said Clareburt. "It is pretty exciting knowing I've done [personal bests] in all my events so far."
