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Teenage triathlete Aaron Barclay will treasure his gold medal won in front of his hero Hamish Carter at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Carter, on hand as an IOC Ambassador at the first Youth Olympics, was ecstatic to watch the 17-year-old Barclay dominate the mens triathlon at East Coast Park. He was great. I was really impressed not only with the result but the way he achieved it, Carter said. He was very aggressive throughout. Its a fantastic result. It was New Zealands first medal of the Youth Olympics with a further opportunity to add to that overnight when North Shore based swimmer Matt Stanley competes in the final of the 200m freestyle after qualifying third fastest. Stanley, 18, from Matamata, won his heat in 1:51.21, which was three seconds inside his previous best and establishes a new national age group record. Earlier team-mate Chloe Francis missed out on the semifinals in the 100m freestyle, clocking 58.84. Rowers Hayden Cohen and the womens pair of Beatrix Heaphy-Hall and Eve MacFarlane progressed to tomorrows semifinals. The world champion womens pair dominated their repechage, winning by more than 10 seconds from India to move into the semis. Cohen eased through comfortably in the single sculls in second place behind Ukraines Lunti Ivanov. It was tougher in the wrestling where Tayla Ford (Christchurch) managed to win one of her four bouts in the 60kg class today. After losing her first three bouts she bounced back with a 4-0 win over Aminata Souare (GUI). Asher Richardson (Christchurch) lost his second round match in the mens badminton singles losing to Sai Praneeth Bhamidopati (IND) Tonight he will play again as does teammate Victoria Cheng (Manukau City) while the womens hockey team have their first match against Korea. Barclay from Riversdale in Southland was first on to the bike and the run before clearing out from American Kevin McDowell to win in 54:41 in a superb performance. After opening a break early on the run, Barclay was caught by the American by the halfway mark on the 5km run. I took a bit of a risk coming into transition and see how they responded. So I got a little bit of a lead, Barclay said. I was really hurting in that first kilometre on the run and I just tried to slow it down a bit and run steady and save a bit. I stuck on his tail and gradually took over and he tailed off. The 17 year old becomes the first New Zealander to win a medal at the first Youth Olympic Games. It is pretty incredible. I am very proud to do this for New Zealand because I really love my country, Barclay said. He said his front-running tactics were a key. I was trying not to give the other guys an inch. They were all unknown to me before the race so I had to be aggressive. He was supported by his parents and grandparents who made it all the more special. It is really awesome to race well for them because they have come a long way. I wouldnt be here right now without them. Its awesome to give a little bit back to them too. Barclay leads a lonely life as the only triathlete in Gore, where he is the deputy head boy at Gore High School where he boards during the week. He travels to Invercargill at the weekend to train with his coach, well-known triathlete Sid Cummings. My swim coach is in Gore and I train in the gravel pit there. I train on my own so it gets a bit lonely sometimes. Barclay will race in the unique team event on Thursday where he and fellow kiwi Maddie Dillon team up with Australia in an Oceania team with each triathlete completing a super-short 300m swim, 3km bike, 1km run course twice. New Zealand Results, Youth Olympic Games: Mens Triathlon (750m swim 20km bike 5km run): Aaron Barclay (NZL) 54:41, 1; Kevin McDowell (USA) 54:55, 2; Alois Knabl (AUT) 55:04, 3. Swimming, 200m freestyle: Matt Stanley 1:51.21, 3rd fastest (NZ Age Record). 100m freestyle: Chloe Francis 58.84, 23. Wrestling, 60kg: Tayla Ford lost to Battsetseg Baatarzorig (MGL) 0-3, list to Svetlana Lipatova (RUS) 0-3, lost to Christiana Victor (NGR) 0-3, beat Chao Huang (SIN) 4-0. Rowing, repechage, mens singles (1000m): Lunti Ivanov (UKR) 3:33.14, 1; Hayden Cohen (NZL) 3:36.95, 2. Womens pair: NZL (Beatrix Heaphy-Hall, Eve MacFarlane) 3:49.63, 1; India 4:00.27, 2; South Africa 4:03.86, 3. Badminton, men singles: Asher Richardson (NZL) lost to Sai Praneeth Bhamidipato (IND) 0-3.
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