Surf lifesaving: NZer outsprints the world

Holly Moczydlowski

Bay of Plenty's latest world champion didn't even make it across the finish line before she was punching the air in triumph.

Holly Moczydlowski, the Papamoa-raised Mount Maunganui beach sprinter flies back into the country today after a brilliant win at the world lifesaving championships in Australia.

Someone may have to tell the 20-year-old that the plane has landed, however - it's likely she'll be floating for days after her dramatic late kick over the sands of Victoria's Lorne beach took her to victory.

"It hasn't sunk in but it will when I get home," a jubilant Moczydlowski said. "Everyone back home has been watching the live updates on the internet so I'd imagine it will kick in when I see them. It's wicked - I'm very happy."

A world championship win has been a dream three years in the making.

During that time, Moczydlowski hasn't been beaten in a race in New Zealand but was controversially left out of the team to the 2004 worlds in Italy.

British sprinter Katy Whear won that year and there was special satisfaction for Moczydlowski in beating Whear this time around.

"At about the 70m mark, it was even because I had a bit of a stumble but I told myself to relax and put 2m on the other girls within the last 20m.

"The heats and semifinals were really good, and I knew what I had to do in the final and went out and did it. I knew I had it in me."

Moczydlowski's win helped catapult New Zealand into second place in the final standings of the championships, behind runaway winners Australia, and capped a dream day for Kiwi sprinters.

Canterbury's Morgan Foster also won the sprint and the flags, adding to his two previous flags world championships.

Mount-based national coach John Bryant was delighted with the efforts of his young team.

"We doubled our golds from the last world championships in Italy and we've got six new world champions, but it wasn't just that - all the teams got better results all the way through," Bryant said.

"We've got the base there - we just need to develop it a little bit more."

Bryant said Moczydlowski had gone in to her race as a warm favourite but hadn't let the occasion get to her.

"It was awesome. She did do it easily in the end. She looked pretty comfortable. Everything went right - she was just strong all the way through."

After emerging seventh from the pool events, the New Zealand team finished on 657 points, behind Australia's 770 and well ahead of third-placed South Africa on 508.

Foster led the revival on the sand, however, also anchoring the Kiwi beach relay team to victory.

"I'm really proud of the team," Foster said. "There have been a lot of outstanding races, it has been an awesome team effort to come out with seven world titles, it's pretty special."

Nikki Cox was the other individual star, collecting the world surf ski title by beating former world champion, Australian Kristy Munroe, in a sprint finish.

The New Zealanders completed the championships when the team of Morgan Foster, Steve Ferguson, Glenn Anderson and Nathan Henderson won the men's taplin relay.

Moczydlowski isn't planning on resting on her laurels.

Her rivalry with Whear is just beginning, with the British runner still only young as well, while she'll also keeping a wary eye over her shoulder at young Mount clubmate Chelsea Maples, who cleaned up in the sprints at the national inter-districts over the weekend.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES