Three golds, a silver and two bronzes made for a memorable day for New Zealand at the Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney, with cycling, swimming and badminton all topping the podium.
On the second day of competition yesterday, Ashburton cyclist Jason Christie won the men's 3000m pursuit in
a festival record time of three minutes 25.135 seconds while teammate Shane Archbold, of Timaru, won bronze in the same event at the Dunc Gray Velodrome.
"I'm really happy with the win and I hope it will be the stepping stone to better things," Christie said.
"I want to continue to ride both the road and the track. And I want to become a professional as soon as possible."
Hawke's Bay swimmer Daniel Bell, 16, also won gold powering home to win the 100m backstroke final after qualifying fourth at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Bell had wanted to break the 59 second barrier for the 100m backstroke last year but gladly accepted the time just over two weeks late, stopping the clock in 58.74sec, and edging out the Australians who dominated the pool, winning four of the six finals.
"I came here with the goal of going under 59 seconds. I did not care where I got," Bell said.
"But this is a bonus. It's great. The win is fantastic."
The first gold for New Zealand came late in the afternoon when the badminton No 2 team beat their Australian equivalents.
They accounted for Fiji and Oceania before beating Australia B 4-1 for the gold.
The team consisted of Emily Ang (Waitakere), Kritteka Gregory (Auckland), Mary O'Connor (Auckland), Jamie Marwick (Nelson), Luke Charlesworth (Auckland) and Oliver Leydon-Davis (Hamilton).
Pukekohe shooter Myles Browne-Cole won silver in the double trap clay target shoot, while the remaining bronze went to the men's K54 kayak team in the 500m final.
Scott Bicknell, Tom Yule, Russell Scoones and Ryan Welch, finished behind winners Hungary and the US.
The festival continues until Sunday.
- NZPA
