Helena Gasson

Helena Gasson (born 8 December 1994) is a New Zealand Olympic swimmer representing her country at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She has also competed internationally at the 2015 World University Games, the 2017 World Swimming Championships and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Helena is currently part of the Coast Swim Club Elite Team and the LA Current (Season 2) in the ISL.

Personal life Gasson was born on 8 December 1994 in Auckland, New Zealand, and grew up in Waikato. She attended the University of Waikato where she studied a bachelor's degree in Sport and Leisure Studies as part of the Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship Programme. Gasson has four siblings Jacqlyn, Natalie, Deliah and William.

Career Gasson is currently a member of the Coast Swimming Club as part of their Elite Team training out of Northern Arena in the north of Auckland. She is currently coached by her partner Michael Weston.

In 2013, she won a silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly event at the New Zealand Open Championships. In 2014, she again won the 200 metre butterfly silver medal and also finished second in the 400 metre individual medley event. At the 2015 Championships she won four national titles, in the 200 metre and 400 metre individual medley and the 100 metre and 200 metre butterfly. She broke her own national record in the heats of the 200 metre butterfly; her time of two minutes 9.84 seconds was over a second faster than her previous best but she missed out on the qualifying time for Olympics by under half a second.

In 2017 Gasson qualified for the World Swimming Championships where she competed in the 200 and 400 IM, and the 50 and 200 butterfly.

In 2018 Gasson represented New Zealand again 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.

In 2019 Gasson broke 7 New Zealand Short Course Records at the 2019 New Zealand Short Course Championships in the 50, 100 and 200 butterfly, and the 100 and 200 IM races. For this, Gasson was awarded Joint Domestic Swimmer of the Year in 2019.

In 2020 she was selected as part of the LA Current team to compete in Season 2 of the International Swim League competing in Budapest, Hungary.