Former Gisborne swimmer Laura Quilter ready for break after lifetime best at worlds

Laura Quilter says ending the world championships with a personal best time was "such an awesome feeling". Photo / Michael Craig

Laura Quilter has no thoughts beyond a much-anticipated holiday after her efforts at the World Aquatic Championships.

Former Gisborne swimmer Quilter produced a personal best time in the 50m freestyle and her fourth-fastest time in the 50m butterfly at the championships in Singapore.

Quilter, 33, returned to the New Zealand swimming team 11 years after she competed at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Quilter messaged on Monday that she was “just excited for a holiday” after the exertions associated with the championships, and had no thoughts past that.

Next year the Commonwealth Games return to Glasgow.

Quilter is also engaged to be married.

Her return to the competitive arena after stepping away in 2016 drew much attention.

She had continued swimming once a week for recreation and increased her gym work, and was surprised when she swam faster than expected at a masters swimming competition in Hastings in 2023. She was there only because she wanted to swim in the new pool at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre.

Last year, encouraged to see if she could swim faster than before, she set a personal best time after eight weeks of training.

Her performances at the national swimming championships this year earned her places in the women’s 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle at the world championships.

On Friday, Quilter’s butterfly time, 26.60 seconds, put her in 29th place. She followed that on Saturday with a freestyle time of 25.08s that put her in 22nd place, 0.76 of a second behind the fastest qualifier.

After the butterfly, Quilter was disappointed at first.

“Seeing the time on the scoreboard was initially gut-wrenching,” she said.

“Everything felt great going in and all I wanted was to beat my performance from nationals. On reflection, it’s my fourth-fastest time ever. While I came up short of my goal to PB (personal best) and improve my ranking, I put everything into the race and [can] walk away feeling proud I gave it everything I had.”

In the freestyle, Quilter took 0.16 of a second off her previous best time as she won the eighth heat from Lane 6 and improved her ranking.

“Today was special,” she said after the race.

“To end my world champs with a lifetime best is such an awesome feeling. I just went out to race today ... no thinking, just focused on keeping a smile on my face through marshalling to quell the nerves and remind myself how special it is to represent New Zealand again.”