The smile plastered across her face as she looked up at her time said it all as she wrapped up what had been a phenomenal week in the pool at the national championships in Auckland.
The Dunedin Olympian executed her plan to perfection and cruised to the women’s 1500m freestyle title in a big personal best and Otago record of 16min 12.18sec.
The Neptune swimmer was the only athlete to break the 17min mark. Olympic team-mate Eve Thomas collected silver in 17min 11.55sec and Sophie Hay secured bronze in 17min 20.72sec.
It was yet another qualifying time for the world championships in Singapore for Deans — seeded at 16min 17.40sec heading into the race — who went under the time by 12sec.
"Absolutely stoked," Deans told commentators.
"To come away with all PBs [personal bests] is more than I could have asked for, so I’m really happy."
It was a standout week for Deans, who won silver in the freestyle 800m, and bronze in the 400m and 200m, and qualified for the world championships in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m.
"This week has taken me by surprise to PB all of those, so that’s just given me a lot of confidence about where I’m at and heading into Singapore later on," Deans said.
He showed his strength across multiples strokes and finished with bronze in the men’s 17-18 years 800m freestyle in 8min 34.90sec.
Kiwi team-mate Liam Rees shaved more than 2sec off his personal best to claim bronze in the men’s 17-18 years 200m IM in 2min 11.75sec.
Otago were strong across the board and returned home with 11 medals from a successful championships.
Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather won the women’s 200m freestyle in 1min 56.56sec.
Olympian Hazel Ouwehand shattered her national record in the 50m butterfly in 25.42sec, shaving 0.45sec off the record.
