Helena Gasson, is a current member of the Coast Swimming Club's Elite Team, which trains out of Northern Arena in the north of Auckland. She is currently coached by her partner Michael Weston.

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Gasson has seen significant success in her swimming career. In 2013, she won a silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly at the New Zealand Open Championships. The following year, in 2014, she repeated the feat by winning the silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly and also securing silver in the 400 metre individual medley. At the 2015 Championships, Gasson took home her first national champion honours - winning four national titles, which included the 200 metre and 400 metre individual medleys, as well as the 100 metre and 200 metre butterfly.

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At the 2016 New Zealand open swimming championships, Gasson created history by breaking the national record in the women's 100 metre butterfly in her heat, reaching the qualification standard for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the process. She touched the wall in a time of 58.66 seconds - 0.8 of a second under the qualifying time for the Olympics. Gasson then went on to break her own national record in the heats of the 200 metre butterfly; her time of 2:09.84 was more than a second faster than her previous best. However, she narrowly missed out on the qualifying time for the Olympics by less than half a second. The rest of her 2016 New Zealand Open Swimming Championships still went on to be a great success - she went on to win national titles in the 100 metre butterfly, 400 metre individual medley, and the 50 metre butterfly, and finished second in the 200 metre butterfly.

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Gasson's impressive performance at the national championships earned her selection onto  the New Zealand team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Where she competed in the women's 100 metre butterfly and women's 200 metre butterfly.

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In 2017, Gasson qualified for the World Swimming Championships, where she swam the 200 and 400 IM, and the 50 and 200 butterfly. The following year, in 2018, she once again represented New Zealand, this time at the Commonwealth Games, competing in the 50, 100, and 200 butterfly, as well as the 4 x 100 Medley and 4 x 100 Freestyle relay teams.

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Gasson's made a dent in the record books in 2019 when she broke seven New Zealand Short Course Records at the 2019 New Zealand Short Course Championships in the 50, 100, and 200 butterfly, as well as the 100 and 200 IM. For this performance, Gasson was awarded Joint Domestic Swimmer of the Year in 2019, an accolade that recognised her outstanding achievements in the sport.

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Most recently at the 2022 World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia, whilst representing New Zealand, Gasson achieved a fifth place finish and set a personal best time in the 100 metre individual medley. Gasson recorded a personal best time of 58.40 seconds with a gap of only 0.87 seconds to winner Marrit Steenbergen from the Netherlands.

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In 2020, Gasson joined the LA Current team for Season 2 of the International Swim League in Budapest, Hungary. Throughout the season, she showed off her short course prowess, breaking several New Zealand records. Her performances led to her qualification for the World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi in eight events: 200m and 400m individual medley, 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly, and 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke. Additionally, Gasson played a crucial role in helping her team secure a 4th place finish. Her outstanding performances throughout the season earned her the status of a "protected" team member.

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Sources -

1. stuff.co.nz

2. NZ Herald