Rowing
Three Golds, one Silver and two Bronze for New Zealand at World Rowing Cup III
Nine New Zealand crews contested A Finals at final World Rowing Cup of the season, with six crews taking home medals.
Gold to the women's eight was the highlight of the final World Cup of the season. The crew saw off a challenge from Australia to ensure the Kiwis ended the regatta in Rotterdam on a high after their trans-Tasman rivals had dominated proceedings on the final day.
Women's single sculler Emma Twigg also took gold, backing up her win in the previous World Cup.
The Kiwi lightweight women's double sculls crew of Jackie Kiddle and Zoe McBride then produced one of the dominant displays of the regatta, winning by almost six seconds in a time of seven minutes 38.45 seconds.
In the women’s pair Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler faced Great Britain, Romania, Spain, Ireland and Australia and took silver.
There was another promising race from the NZ men's eight, who claimed bronze as Great Britain inflicted a rare defeat on Germany.
And Michael Brake and Tom Murray were unable to get ahead of Australia, they battled with the Czech Republic’s Lukas Helesic and Jakub Podrazil for silver but were unable to get ahead, taking bronze.
Above: The men's eight. Photo credit: Rowing New Zealand
Pacific Games
New Zealand’s weightlifters, archers and footballers have all been in action at the Pacific Games in Samoa.
The weightlifters had a brilliant competition, picking up 31 medals across 12 competitors.
18-year-old Kanah Andrews-Nahu was the standout, snatching 94kgs and clean and jerking 112kgs for a total of 206kgs in the U76kg competition. The results saw her claim a staggering six gold and one bronze medal.
In the archery Olivia Hodgson and Adam Kaluzny shot one of the rounds of their lives to secure a mixed team quota spot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Hodgson.
“My phone is ringing nonstop at the moment. It’s been a big goal of ours to represent New Zealand and be able to get to Tokyo next year.”
The Kiwis beat Australia in a dramatic final of their Continental Qualification Tournament held at the Pacific Games. New Zealand went up early but an error from Kaluzny helped Australia draw level and force a shootout which the Kiwis won.
And New Zealand’s U23 men’s footballers won three games and drew one to progress to next weekend’s gold medal match in Apia.
Cycling
Kiwi George Bennett is sitting in 27th place overall at the Tour de France.
Bennett is now 11min 11sec behind behind French leader Julian Alaphilippe.
Sailing
Kiwi sailor George Gautrey has overcome a dislocated knee to claim a bronze medal at the Laser World Championships in Japan.
Gautrey's bronze medal is his first at a major senior regatta and follows on from the promise he showed as a youngster when he won silver at the 2015 youth sailing world championships. But it very nearly ended prematurely when the 21-year-old dislocated his knee during a "bad tack" and needed to pop it back in.
The result rounded off a fantastic regatta for the New Zealand squad, with three finishing in the top 10 – Sam Meech was fourth and Tom Saunders 10th.
Diving
Rio Olympian Lizzie Cui has placed 8th in the Diving World Championships.
Cui posted on Instagram, "Wow 8th in the world! Still hasn't sunk in. Thanks everyone for the support, it seriously means the world to me."
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