NEW ZEALAND'S ROAD TO RIO - WEEKLY ROUNDUP 2 - 9 Nov

Four World Cup golds for Lauren Boyle

Lauren Boyle continues to build her status as a legend of New Zealand swimming, winning four World Cup gold medals in a week.

Over the weekend, Boyle won both the 400m and 800m freestyle at the final FINA World Cup meet in Dubai - repeating the double she claimed at the previous World Cup meet in Doha last week. Her time of 4m 4.26s was the fastest women's 400m freestyle time of the series, and 3s inside the qualifying mark for next year's Rio Olympic Games.

Auckland sprinter Daniel Hunter was 5th in the 50m freestyle in Dubai - only 0.037s outside the qualifying time for Rio.

Perfect warm-up for Burling and Tuke

A brand new boat has propelled Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to victory in the South American 49er championships in Buenos Aires, a week out from defending their world title.

The 2012 Olympic silver medallists and world champs for the last two years, the Kiwi pair put their new skiff to the test and were clear winners by 26 points over nearest rivals Austrians Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl. The world championship regatta will be raced at the same venue next week.

Tuke and Burling are also finalists for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year, with the winner to be announced this week.

Portia Woodman: world sevens star

The worlds leading try scorer in womens sevens rugby, Portia Woodman, has been recognised with the International Sevens Player of the Year award.

The 24-year-old Black Ferns wing has been part of the world champion New Zealand women's sevens team for three seasons, and was a key member of the Auckland womens sevens team that won the national championship title.

Her team-mate in the Black Ferns, halfback Kendra Cocksedge, won the World Rugby Women's Player of the Year. 

Rio one step closer for Kiwi beach volleyballers

Beach volleyball duo Mike Watson and Sam ODea have set themselves up with a strong shot of qualifying for next years Rio Olympic Games by winning the Oceania phase of the Continental Cup beach volleyball qualifiers in the Cook Islands.

The former Otumoetai College students won the title from their Australian counterparts, while the other New Zealand pairing of Jason Lochhead and Ben ODea reached the semifinals.  The New Zealanders success secured them a place in the final round of Olympic qualification in Australia next June.

The New Zealand womens team of Julia Tilley and Shaunna Polley have also reached the final stage of Olympic qualification.