Sir Mark Todd leads the way with fourth placing at Badminton
Sir Mark Todd has led an impressive New Zealand equestrian effort by finishing fourth at the Badminton Horse Trials in England.
A week after he was seventh in Kentucky, the 60-year-old double Olympic champion and his horse Leonidas went clear in the showjumping round at Badminton overnight to finish on their dressage score of 44.8. They were 10 points behind German world No 1 Michael Jung, who cleaned up the Rolex Grand Slam as victor of Badminton, 2015 Burghley and 2016 Kentucky.
It was an all-round strong showing by New Zealand riders with five completing the demanding three-day event inside the top 15. Clarke Johnstone finished fifth in his first Badminton start, with Jock Paget sixth, Jonelle Price 10th and Blyth Tait 13th.
All pressed their claims for Rio with the New Zealand team to be named at the end of next month.
Sarah Walker makes cautious comeback at BMX World Cup
Sarah Walker has made a safe return to competitive BMX riding at the UCI Supercross World Cup in the Netherlands just 10 weeks after fracturing her arm.
The 2012 Olympic silver medallist took a cautious approach and chose to ride off the back of the field in the three motos, which were hindered by windy conditions. While she failed to make the semi-finals on the Papendal course, she was relieved to get around in one piece and collect valuable Olympic qualifying points.
None of the Kiwi riders qualified for the finals, with Trent Jones scoring second, third and seventh places before crashing heavily and Matt Cameron missing out on the quarter-finals by one point after finishing sixth, fifth and fourth in his motos.
The New Zealand team now head to Florida to focus on preparing for the world championships in Columbia at the end of the month.
Burling and Tuke guide New Zealand to victory at America’s Cup New York
Olympic silver medallist Peter Burling has steered Team New Zealand to a stunning come-from-behind victory to win the America’s Cup world series regatta in New York.
Helmsman Burling and his 49er crew-mate Blair Tuke, fresh from their 49er victory at the Sailing World Cup in the south of France the week before, played an integral part in the New Zealanders’ victory on the Hudson River. After a disastrous start in the third and final race – crossing the line early, tangling with a buoy and copping a penalty – they hooked into a wind-shift and snatched a crucial win which gave them the event honours.
Team New Zealand have won two of the five regattas sailed so far, and lead the series by two points. Burling and Tuke have one more America’s Cup regatta – in Chicago in June – to squeeze into their preparation for the Rio Olympic Games.
Julie Brougham finishes strongly at German dressage grand prix
Dressage rider Julie Brougham and her horse Vom Feinsten have finished fifth in the Munchem-Riem CDI three-star event in Germany, narrowly missing out on a place on the podium.
PHOTO: Derek O'Leary
Held in the 1972 Munich Olympics venue, Brougham was thrilled with the performance of Vom Feinstein, who finished with a score of 68.627 percent, despite being “a bit tired”. The Grand Prix Special was won by German rider Jessica Bredow-Werndl who is ranked No. 4 in the world.
Brougham, from Palmerston North, was the first New Zealand rider to reach the qualifying standard for Rio, after picking up the required points at the Horse of the Year show in Hastings in March.
Golfer Danny Lee scores top 10 finish at the Wells Fargo PGA
New Zealand golf No 1 Danny Lee has climbed into the top 10 after a strong final round at the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina.
Four birdies on the back nine helped Lee to card a five-under-par 67 in the PGA Tour event at Quail Hollow, leaving him tied for ninth. He finished four shots off the winner, James Hahn, who won in a sudden-death play-off with fellow American Robert Castro.
Fellow New Zealander Tim Wilkinson was also in contention for a top-10 finish, until a double bogey on the final hole left him tied for 11th, one shot behind Lee.
Men’s Sevens head to Europe for Rio countdown
New Zealand sevens coach Sir Gordon Tietjens has taken 16 players to Europe to prepare for the Rio Olympic Games, including injured captain Scott Curry.
Curry will train with the squad, but won’t play in the two upcoming World Series tournaments in Paris and London.
Tietjens plans to share the workload during the European tour, using a different 12 for both tournaments, before all 16 players take part in trials for the Olympic sevens team in mid-June.
Tall Ferns tour China and Europe before Olympic qualifier
The Tall Ferns have named a squad of 14 players to leave this week on a tour of China and Spain ahead of the Olympic women’s basketball qualifying tournament in France next month.
The squad is made up of four New Zealand domiciled players, four in the American Collegiate system and six overseas-based professional players.
New Zealand head coach Kennedy Kereama says the women’s basketball programme is at an all-time high, particularly through more New Zealanders playing professionally overseas, and it will be challenging to cut the squad to 12 for the Olympic qualifier.
First wave of Rowers take off for Europe
The first group of New Zealand rowers have flown out of New Zealand today as they prepare for the start of their European campaign.
Five crews are set to fight it out in Lucerne, Switzerland at the end of the month as they compete for final Olympic qualification spots and a place in the New Zealand Olympic Team to Rio.
The crews lining up at the aptly named 'last chance regatta' from 22 - 24 May are the women's single and quad, as well as men's crews in the quad, four and lightweight double.
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