KEY POINTS:
Australia overwhelmed New Zealand on the final day of the national teams world championships at the Baltic Sea resort of Warnemunde, Rostock, Germany.
The transtasman rival finished the national teams battle with 889, the highest total in world championship history, with New Zealand second on 837 points. Italy, which had massed most of its points in the pool event, finished third on 526.
In a day of high drama and bitter disappointment, Nikki Cox added another gold medal to take New Zealand's world titles to five.
"It was definitely bitter-sweet after the first day's ski race," said Cox. "I was disappointed with my ski race after leading but had a bad run in and ended up third - so I had a point to prove in the board."
But Cox has a huge debt of gratitude to her board partner, Chelsea Maples.
"Chelsea had an awesome start and I managed to catch up and she let me in around the cans and from there we just raced tactically," said Cox. "I gave it all I had on the way home and Chelsea held on for the third which was really satisfying."
Cox also picked up silver medals in the women's taplin and beach relays, while New Plymouth's Ayla Dunlop-Barrett picked up bronze in the surf race.
Cox, from Napier, has given herself a month to reassess her goals before contemplating the next world championships in Cornwall, in 2010.
"I'll have a month off, which I am looking forward to and then make a decision, but I have a feeling I will be back as I have unfinished business," she said.
Australia's ironman star, Shannon Eckstein, won four gold medals while the team around him won eight of the 10 events on the final day.
"We did the job in the pool but the Aussies came out firing on the beach," said New Zealand captain Glenn Anderson. "We did everything we could but we just couldn't hold them off.
"Luck didn't go our way at times which is crucial when you are taking on a team like Australia," he said. "You've got to hand it to Australia - their team did a lot better than they ever have.
"We stepped up a couple of levels but they [Australia] did too, " said Anderson. "It was quite a clear gap back to the rest of the world."
One of the most disappointed members was New Zealand beach sprinter Ben Willis, who on the first day was an historic sprint/flags double gold medallist. But luck deserted him as lead runner in the final of the beach relay when he pulled a hamstring resulting in a "did not finish" for New Zealand.
Retiring Australian captain Kristy Munroe, who collected three gold medals on the final day, admitted their transtasman rivals had caused huge concern heading into the beach.
"To be more than 56 points behind after the pool section and then come out and pull ourselves into the lead is so exciting," Munroe said.
"We really felt the pressure when the finals came around today [Saturday], because there are so many little things that can go wrong and this has been one of the toughest world championships I've been involved in but our guys really took on the challenge."
Two days of world inter-club championship remain.
