Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand competes in the Men's 200m Individual Medley during the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Photo: Photosport
Double Commonwealth Games swimming champion Lewis Clareburt has finally been forced to leave Wellington because of a lack of training facilities.
Clareburt has struggled to get lane space at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre which is shared by other sports and the public.
He was also forced to train in 25 metre pools.
"It's sort of distracting me from what I'm trying to do and I guess the distractions are getting bigger and bigger and I just think there are better opportunities up in Auckland for me at the moment."
The 25 year old will move to Auckland but without his longtime coach Gary Hollywood who will stay in Wellington.
"It's super tough for both of us. More so him I guess because he he can't come with me to Auckland. The goal was obviously to get him up there. But he has got his young family so it was always going to be hard."
Clareburt first told RNZ in 2021 of the frustration of having to train in public lanes at Wellington pools.
With his focus now next year's Paris Olympics, Clareburt feels he needs to put himself in the best position to succeed.
He won gold in the 400 medley and the 200 butterfly at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
He also made the 400 medley final at the Tokyo Olympics.
-RNZ