New Zealand's Road to Rio: 12 - 18 April

New Zealand's Road to Rio: 12 - 18 April

Burling and Tuke unstoppable in victory No. 25

Sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have notched up their 25th consecutive 49er regatta victory, dominating the European championship in Barcelona from start to finish.

The reigning world champions and Olympic silver medallists had the title sewn up before starting the final medal race, ending up a whopping 60 points clear of silver medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia.

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Alex Maloney and Molly Meech closed out the the 49erFX regatta in fifth place, while the young women’s crew of Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson were a creditable 11th. Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson have finished 19th overall in the 49er men.

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Meanwhile, in the Laser Radial World Championships in Mexico – which are doubling as a duel for New Zealand Olympic selection - Sara Winther is 12th and Susannah Pyatt 21st after seven races.


Paddlers Jones and Dawson head straight to Rio

Experienced canoe slalom paddlers Luuka Jones and Mike Dawson flew straight to Rio after being selected in the New Zealand Olympic team.

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Dawson and Jones are heading into their third training session on the purpose-built Olympic Whitewater Stadium in Rio this week, before training and competing on the World Cup circuit in Europe.

This will be the third Olympic Games appearance for Jones, while it will be Dawson's second after he finished 15th in London four years ago. Both will compete in the K1 division.

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Veterans Boyle and Snyders lead the way for NZ swimmers

Three-time Olympians Lauren Boyle and Glenn Snyders lead the New Zealand swimming team of eight who will compete at the 2016 Rio Games - the highest number of individual swimmers to qualify from New Zealand in more than 20 years.

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Three of the team – Boyle, Snyders and Matthew Stanley - swam at the London Olympics, while Bradlee Ashby, Helena Gasson, Matthew Hutchins, Corey Main and Emma Robinson will make their Olympic debut in Rio.

The team could yet expand, with Kane Radford, Phillip Ryan and Charlotte Webby seeking to qualify at the final 10km open water swimming trial in Portugal in June.

Three shooters Rio-bound

Shooting has taken a significant step forward from London four years ago, with three New Zealand athletes named for the Rio Olympics.

Returning to New Zealand’s Olympic team for the third time in his career, 36-year-old Ryan Taylor has clinched his spot in the men’s 50m prone rifle event, while South Island-based shooters Natalie Rooney, 28, will compete in the women’s trap, and 24-year-old Chloe Tipple in the women’s skeet event.

Taylor was New Zealand’s sole shooting representative at the 2012 Games, where Rooney narrowly missed selection. Her world ranking has lifted from 64th four years ago, to seventh going into the Rio competition.

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Black Sticks nab bronze in shoot-out spectacular

In a nail-biting shoot-out, the Black Sticks men have won bronze at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup from hosts Malaysia.

After a slow start by the New Zealanders, the two sides were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation time – Kane Russell successful with two penalty corner flicks and Hayden Philips scoring his first international goal in stunning fashion.

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 The game was then decided by a shoot-out, with New Zealand goalkeeper Devon Manchester heroically padding away Malaysia’s fifth attempt to win the game. 

New Zealand women’s sevens take silver in Canada

The New Zealand women’s sevens team have finished runners-up in the Canadian leg of the world series, losing the final to England, 31-14.

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After going through pool play unbeaten, New Zealand shook off France 12-7 in a dramatic extra-time semi-final, with Portia Woodman streaking to the winning try.

In a high-scoring final encounter, the New Zealanders were still in the running at halftime, down 19-14, but the English outpaced and outmuscled them in the second spell. 

New Zealand Men’s Sevens stumble before Samoa in Singapore

In a tournament of upsets, the New Zealand men have been beaten in the plate final of the Singapore Sevens, outgunned by Samoa, 26-21.

After losing their opening match to France, the team were knocked out of title contention by the South Africans in the quarterfinals stage. They bounced back with a 31-7 win over Australia in the plate semis, but two tries in the final minute secured Samoa the plate final victory.

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Kenya scored their first-ever Sevens series victory, running away from Fiji, 30-7, in the Cup final.

Misha Koudinov has exceptional all-round performance in Rio

An exceptional performance by North Harbour gymnast Misha Koudinov at the Rio test event saw him round out the men’s individual all-round competition yesterday ranked 21st

Meanwhile, Christchurch's Courtney McGregor has secured her place in tomorrow’s vault final.In the lead-up to the test event, McGregor won bronze on the vault at the Pacific Rim Championships in Washington last week.

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New Zealand’s sole trampolinist at the Rio qualifier, Dylan Schmidt, competes on Wednesday in his bid to be the first Kiwi to compete in trampolining at an Olympic Games.