Erika Fairweather Photo: AFP/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND
Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather is "a little bit gutted" after narrowly missing out on winning New Zealand's first medal at the Paris Olympics, finishing fourth in the women's 400-metre freestyle final.
Fairweather was aiming to become the first New Zealand woman in 72 years to win an Olympic medal in the pool.
Fairweather charged late in a valiant attempt to claim the bronze medal, finishing just 0.26sec behind Ledecky, finishing in a time of 4min 01.12 sec.
The event had been termed the women's "race of the century", with the four fastest women over the distance, and it was Titmus who defended her Tokyo title, beating McIntosh by 0.88sec, with a gap back to Ledecky and Fairweather.
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"It was a tough field, someone had to be fourth,'' she told Sky Sports. "Fourth it's great. It's an Olympic final, I just got fourth, obviously by one of the smallest of margins."
Fairweather said she was "nowhere near happy" with her performance.
"Obviously a little bit gutted to get fourth. Nobody wants to be there, but I have done myself proud. I mean, that was an Olympic final and I just came fourth in it.
"That was everything I had in the bank today. It wasn't the performance I wanted to put out there at all. I've been much faster, and I think I can go much faster, but that is the nature of sport - you can't always be on.
"I might be a little bit upset now, but I can definitely see the bright side of it."