New Kiwi swimming hero Lewis Clareburt says despite getting "smoked" off the line by South African swimming legend Chad Le Clos, racing in such company inspires him to maintain his remarkable progress in the sport.
Clareburt seemingly came from nowhere to win New Zealand's first medal in the pool at the Commonwealth Games last night in the 400m individual medley, but couldn't back that up today, placing seventh in the 200m butterfly.
"It was pretty cool to be able to race against some of the best guys in the world," he told 1 NEWS' John McKenzie poolside.
"I was pretty happy with how I swum this morning, and to back it up again as well.
"He (Le Clos) smoked me off the start, so that's one thing, and he's pretty quick.
"It's an awesome experience getting to race those guys and to maybe one, hopefully, to catch up with them would be awesome."
Clareburt is back in the pool on Monday in the 200m backstroke.
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