Kurtis Imrie banks Bronze on the final day of the U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships
Kiwi Kurtis Imrie produced a herculean effort on the final day of the 2019 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Pitesti, Romania to grab an outstanding U23 K1 500m bronze.
The 23-year-old rocketed out of the start to establish an early advantage and hit the 250m mark with a 0.40 lead from the German Jakob Thordsen.
In the second half of the race the powerful German took control of the race, but Imrie would not be denied a podium spot. In the final sprint for the line, the Kiwi, whose elder sister Kayla is part of the New Zealand women’s elite open squad, conceded gold to Thordsen (1:47.247) and silver to the Dane Rasmus Knudsen (1:47.983) but finished almost half a second clear of the remainder in 1:48.575 for bronze.
The powerful Kiwi also took to the water in the U23 men’s K4 500m having stepped in the previous day as a last-minute replacement for Ashton Reiser, who was forced to withdraw through illness.
Junior Title at World BMX Champs
Jessie Smith celebrates her victory in the junior women’s division at the world BMX championships in Belgium.
the 18-year-old becoming the first Kiwi rider to claim the junior women’s world title when she passed Argentina’s Agustina Cavalli in the last 15 metres of the final.
“Honestly I just can’t believe it,” said Smith, who has been based in the Netherlands with Dutch stars Lauren and Merel Smulders. “It’s crazy. I had a plan to go to Europe. It was a bit of a gamble because I was only selected for the worlds a month ago. I am so happy it paid off.
Silver medals at Rowing U23 World Championships
New Zealand takes two silver medals on the final day of the World Rowing U23 Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, United States.
Six of New Zealand’s eight crews contested A Finals, with four crews contesting A and B Finals on the last day of the regatta, including the men’s double scull and men’s four both taking silver.
Olivia Christie qualifies Laser Radial for NZ for Tokyo Olympics
Olivia Christie finished 47th at the Laser Radial world championships in Japan, qualifying the boat for New Zealand for next year’s Tokyo Olympics in the process.
It means New Zealand has now qualified in seven of the 10 Olympic classes, after spots in the 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17, men’s 470 and Laser were all confirmed at last year’s sailing world championships in Aarhus.
Results and standings from the Laser radial world championships in Sakaiminato, Japan:
Gold fleet (56 boats)
1st: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 1 (57 BFD) (28) 1 4 12 4 2 5 6 15 – 50 points
2nd: Marit Bouwmeester 5 (15) 4 5 8 23 10 12 9 (57 BFD) 10 – 86 pts
3rd: Alison Young (30) 8 9 4 12 25 6 8 6 (37) 11 – 89 pts
47th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 24 24 14 23 (35) 46 37 18 37 11 (52) – 234 pts
Silver fleet
60th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) 21 (39) (57 BFD) 33 38 8 6 14 8 8 4 – 140 pts
Triathletes named to compete in World Championships
The Elite, U23 and Junior athletes to represent New Zealand at the 2019 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne along with the team for the 2019 Tokyo ITU World Olympic Qualification Event in Tokyo have been named.
The athletes selected for the 2019 ITU Triathlon World Championships from the 29th August to the 1st September in Lausanne, Switzerland are;
Elite Team
Sam Ward
Hayden Wilde
Ryan Sissons
Sophie Corbidge
U23 Team
Kiri Atkin
Nicole van der Kaay
Ainsley Thorpe*
Trent Thorpe
Tayler Reid
Kyle Smith*
*Selection for athletes is conditional on International Triathlon Union (ITU) points 33 days out from the event.
Junior Team
Brea Roderick
Hannah Knighton
Dylan McCullough
Lachlan Haycock
Saxon Morgan
Olivia Cummings*
*New Zealand have qualified for three starting positions in the men and two in the women and cannot request another women’s spot until approximately thirty days before the race. These spots were earned at the Oceania U19 Championships in March.
The athletes selected for the 2019 Tokyo ITU World Olympic Qualification Mixed Relay (MR) Event on the 15th and 16th August in Tokyo, Japan are;
Ainsley Thorpe
Nicole van der Kaay
Sophie Corbidge
Hayden Wilde
Tayler Reid
Ryan Sissons
The team to race the MR will be selected from the following athletes by the Selection Advisors following the individual race.
Sir Peter Snell takes over as Patron of Athletics New Zealand
Olympic runner Sir Peter Snell has been named as the new Patron of Athletics New Zealand.
The role has been vacant since the passing of Arthur Eustace QSO in April 2018. Snell was appointed at the Athletics New Zealand AGM on Saturday 3 August.
“Sir Peter Snell is a sporting icon in New Zealand and in athletics internationally, and we are honoured that he has accepted the role of Patron of Athletics New Zealand,” Athletics New Zealand chief executive Pete Pfitzinger said in a press release.
