Southland triathlete Aaron Barclay jets off to Europe tomorrow fired about his future in the sport after picking up two medals in the first Youth Olympic Games. Barclay earned a gold medal in the individual race and added a silver medal with team-mate Maddie Dillon and the Australian pair in the unique regional team race today in Singapore. The pair will join the national triathlon squad in Germany at the weekend as they prepare for next months ITU World Championships in Hungary. The 17 year old came to Singapore to use the Youth Olympics as a litmus test on his ability to take the sport further. I guess I was unsure if I had what it took to be okay at this sport. It has been an amazing experience, far beyond my expectations both with my races and as part of the first Youth Olympic Games. It is going to be a special memory, Barclay said. It has been incredible at the village and in this environment. I love it. And I am pretty fired up now about triathlon. It has definitely given me some confidence going on to the world championships. It was New Zealands second medal after five days of competition, on a day that not all went according to plan. Talented Pukekohe BMX rider Trent Woodcock crashed heavily in the final race of the semifinals at the Tampines Bike Park. Woodcock, still recovering from a crash that knocked him out at quarterfinal stage of the recent BMX World Championships, had worked his way comfortably through to the semifinals of the competition that had attracted most of the leading riders from the junior mens class at the worlds. After finished second in the first moto of the semifinal, he made a mistake to come down in the second run, recovering to finish sixth. That left him needing at least a third placing in the final moto, but he crashed heavily as four riders went for ascendancy on the second turn. He suffered a leg injury and was taken to hospital for a precautionary x-ray and it is unlikely that he will take place in the final part of the team cycling competition, the road race on Sunday. Team-mate Kate McDonald acquitted herself admirably in her first competition in BMX, with the sole female rider competing in all three disciplines this week mountain bike, BMX and road. The Clyde rider, who rode a BMX machine for the first time two months ago, made it through to the quarterfinals after finishing fifth overall in her heats and fifth overall in the quarterfinals. Colombia is the new leader in the combined competition after five of the seven races with the womens time trial and team road race to come, while New Zealand is in 20th place. There was plenty of valour in the manner of New Zealands first loss in the womens hockey competition, going down by a single goal against tournament favourites, The Netherlands. The New Zealand team was without Danielle Sutherland due to illness and fought strongly, with the solitary goal coming from a goalmouth scramble 10 minutes from time. New Zealand will need to win both of their final pool matches against winless south Africa and unbeaten Argentina, who take on the Netherlands tomorrow. New Zealand finished third in their group of the mens basketball 3-on-3 competition after a hard-fought 17-12 victory over India today. They started like a train, racing to a 9-0 lead but led 9-8 at halftime and while they were never behind, the kiwis were made to work hard. Serbia and Greece qualified through to the main draw from the group, with New Zealand to fight out for positions nine to 16, starting with an elimination match against India on Saturday. In the pool Matt Stanley (Matamata) managed the 31st fastest time in the 100m freestyle, while Julia Ratcliffe (Hamilton) had a best of 50.41m to finish 11th in qualifying rounds of the hammer throw and Hazel Bowering-Scott (Nelson) clocked 25.33 to be sixth fastest in her heat of the 200m. Tomorrows action features Cambridge rider Jake Lambert in the final round of the team show-jumping, where his Oceania team is currently in a three-way share of first place. Aucklands Jack Collinson and Elise Beavis have a further three rounds in sailing in the Byte CII class, Chloe Francis completes the swimming programme for New Zealand in the 400m freestyle and the junior girls hockey team take on South Africa. Day 5 results: Triathlon, mixed team relay: Europe 1:19.51, 1; Oceania (Ellie Salthouse AUS, Michael Gosman AUS, Maddie Dillon NZL, Aaron Barclay NZL) 1:19.55, 2; Americas 1 1:19.58, 3. BMX, junior boys, seeding: Twan van Gendt (NED) 31.201, 1; Niklas Laustsen (DEN) 31.517, 2; David Oquendo (COL) 31.534, 3. Also: Trent Woodcock (NZL) 32.181, 6. Quarterfinal, group 4: Oquendo 3 points, 1; Woodcock 6, 2; Reuben Crespo (ESP) 11, 3; Ignacio Cruz (CHI) 12, 4. Semifinal, group 2: Laustsen 3 points, 1; Oquendo 7, 2; Leandro Miranda (BRA) and Yoshi Nagasako 13, equal 3. Also Woodcock 16, 6. Junior girls, seeding: Mayara Perez (BRA) 36.593, 1; Kirsten Dellar (AUS) 36.757, 2; Maartje Hereijgers 37.250, 3. Also Kate McDonald (NZL) 44.890, 11. Quarterfinal, group 4: Hereijgers 3 points, 1; Tori van de Perre (BEL) 6, 2; McDonald 9, 3. Semifinal, group 2: Hereijgers 4 points, 1; Dellar 5, 2; Van de Perre 9, 3; Elga Novanda (INA) 12, 4. Also: McDonald 18, 6. Swimming, junior boys 100m freestyle: matt Stanley 52.80, 31. Athletics, Hammer throw qualification: Julia Ratcliffe 50.41, 11. 200m: Hazel Bowering-Scott 25.33, 6. Basketball: New Zealand 17 India 12 (halftime 9-8). Hockey: New Zealand 0 Netherlands 1 (Halftime 0-0) Points: Netherlands and Argentina 9, New Zealand 6, Korea 3, South Africa 0.
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