It proved nearly but not quite for New Zealand swimmers on the opening day of the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Two New Zealanders made finals with North Shores Chloe Francis, who won her heat, edged back to fifth in the 200m individual medley after qualifying as the third fastest. Clubmate Matt Stanley, formerly from Matamata, was seventh in the final of the 400m freestyle with both swimmers producing personal bests and their results encouraging with their main events to come at the stunning Singapore Sports High School pool. Earlier North Harbours Maddie Dillon had the honour of being the first of the kiwis in a medal race, finishing a highly creditable eighth in the triathlon. Dillon, 16, impressed on the bike after coming out of the swim near the tail of the field. New Zealand was edged 22-19 to Greece in a controversial opening 3-on-3 basketball match while the badminton pair of Victoria Cheng and Asher Richardson were winless against some powerful competition. Meanwhile world junior champion rowers Beatrix Heaphy-Hall and Eve MacFarlane will be forced to go through the repechage today (NZ time) after finishing fourth in their heat in the womens pairs. Southland sculler Hayden Cohen will also need to go through the repechage, also fourth in his heat of the single sculls. Francis, 17, set the scene when she won her heat of the 200m individual medley in the morning heat, setting a new personal best of 2:16.96 in the process to be the third fastest overall into the final. She went for broke but had to make up too much ground in her patented breaststroke leg to finish fifth, slightly slower than in the morning heat. I was pretty disappointed with that effort to be honest. It was a second slower than I went in this morning but I gave it everything but I cant ask for more than that. It just didnt happen tonight, Francis said. I was going for gold like everyone in that race. I wanted to go out there and work on the things that I didnt do as good in the heats. I think my breaststroke split was good but my weak points this morning were also weak again tonight. The experience is amazing. Everything is overwhelming and you need to tell yourself to calm down and that you are here to swim. Its incredible. The freestyle is what I really enjoy so I am looking forward to that. To get a first swim and first final and to get that experience and cope with the nerves means I think it will be way better for the 200 and 400 (freestyle) to come. Stanley, 18, made it two personal bests today, going under the four minute mark for the first time in the morning heats of the 400m freestyle and reducing that by a further two seconds in finishing seventh in the final. Just walking out on to pool deck was amazing. It definitely pumped you up. I think the atmosphere got the better of me and I went out slightly too fast and strayed from my race plan but its pretty tough. Theres nothing to complain about. Its my first major international meet and so two personal bests is a good way to start especially with the 200m freestyle to come. Earlier Dillon was the first kiwi in a medal sport at the Youth Olympics, emerging from the swim in 24th place, nearly a minute down on the leaders. She was forced to use her cycling prowess to play catch-up, working with American Kelly Whitley to ride up to a select lead group by the second of three laps. Dillon narrowly avoided a crash to emerge mid-pack in transition, fighting her way up to eighth with a solid run although she paid for her endeavours playing catch-up on the bike. I dont know what happened. It was just a bad swim. But I had to work my bum off to get to the front bunch and that cost me a bit in terms of having some legs left for the run. They were pretty much gone. Japans Yuka Sato, who has been competing on the World Cup elite circuit, powered through the field to take the win ahead of Australian Ellie Salthouse with Whitley third. New Zealand, who led early, swapped the lead five times in the final period in their 3-on-3 basketball clash against Greece with the scores locked 17-17 in regular time to force a playoff. Coach Anthony Corban was disappointed with a late refereeing call against them after their opponents held the ball after a successful basket which cost them a late chance to tie things up for a second time. New Zealanders in action on the second day include Southlands Aaron Barclay in triathlon, Tayla Ford in wrestling, Victoria Cheng and Asher Richardson in preliminary stages of badminton, further swimming while the girls hockey team make their start against Korea in the evening. The 54-strong New Zealand team is among 3600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 205 nations to contest the first Youth Olympic Games which is the brainchild of IOC President Jacques Rogge aimed to give young people the chance to participate in a multi-nation environment in sport, education and culture. Results, day 1: Swimming, finals: Men 400m freestyle: Jun Dai (CHN) 3:50.91, 1; Chad le Clos (RSA) 3:51.37, 2; Cirstian Quintero (VEN) 3:53.44, 3. Also: Matt Stanley (NZL) 3:56.75, 7. Women 200m individual medley: Kaitlyn Jones (USA) 2:14.53, 1; Kristina Kochetkova (RUS) 2:15.13, 2; Barbora Savadova (CZE) 2:15.36, 3. Also: Chloe Francis (NZL) 2L17.62, 5. Semifinals: Women 100m backstroke, semifinal qualifiers: Daryna Zevina (UKR) 1:02.57, 1; Angi Bai (CHN) 1:02.59, 2; Alexandra Papusha (RUS) 1:02.62, 3. Also: Renee Stothard (NZL) 1:05.11, 14. Triathlon, female (750m swim 20k bike 5k run): Yuka Sato (JPN) 1:00.49, 1; Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 1:01.04, 2; Kelly Whitley (USA) 1:01.13, 3. Also: Maddie Dillon (NZL) 1:02.34, 8. Rowing, female double sculls, heat 2 (first 3 to semifinals, rest to repechage): Hungary 1, India 2, Italy 3, New Zealand (Beatrix Heaphy-Hall, Eve MacFarlane) 4. Male, single sculls, heat 3 (winner to final, rest to repechage): Hungary 1, Lithuania 2, Netherlands 3, New Zealand (Hayden Cohen) 4. Basketball, round 1: Greece 22 New Zealand 19 (Tied 17-17 at fulltime). Badminton, female round 1: Renna Suwarno (INA) bt Victoria Cheng 2-0 (NZL) 0 (21-15, 21-5) Round 2: Xuan Deng (CHN) bt Cheng 2-0 (21-9 21-5) Male, round 1: Mario Cuba (PER) bt Asher Richardson (NZL) 2-0 (21-13 21-18)
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