Winners and losers from High Performance Sport NZ's funding announcement

Snow sports teen stars Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous. Photo / Photosport

High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) announced a $36 million investment programme for New Zealand sport in 2019.

The investments will help New Zealand's sporting organisations in the areas of high performance leadership, coaching, international competition, training camps, pathway development, and equipment and operations.

The funding allocations for each of the sports were based on four criteria: past performance, future potential, quality of the individual sport's high performance programme, and campaigns and aspects of the individual sport context.

Here are the winners and losers from HPSNZ's funding announcement:

Winners

Snow sports

Snow sports was the biggest winner, receiving an increase in investment of $250k to $2.25m. This boost follows New Zealand's most successful Winter Olympics ever, after teenagers Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (women's snowboarding big air) and Nico Porteous (men's ski halfpipe) both took home bronze in Pyeongchang - exceeding HPSNZ's medal target of one. New Zealand had previously collected only one Winter Olympic medal, a silver at the 1992 Games. Snow sports was also elevated from a targeted sport to a tier two sport.

Canoeing

Canoe sports also received a major investment boost, with an increase of $150k to $1.9m following another successful World Championships. New Zealand celebrated its finest ever medal haul at the ICF Canoe Sprint and Para Canoe World Championships this year, with supreme Halberg Award winner Lisa Carrington leading the way. Canoe Racing was elevated from tier two to tier one.

Men's softball

Men's Softball received an increase of $50k to support their preparation for the 2019 World Cup. The Black Sox are the defending champions after winning the world champs in 2017.

Losers

Bowls

Lawn bowls will be handed a $50k decrease in investment - down $250k to $200k. After claiming seven medals out of a possible eight at the 2016 World Championships, the New Zealand bowls team disappointed at the Commonwealth Games this year with only two medals (one gold and one silver).

Basketball

There was no investment change for basketball, despite the Tall Blacks heading into a world cup year in 2019. Tall Blacks head coach Paul Henare has talked about the team's inability to fly overseas-based Kiwi players to join the squad in the past. The Tall Ferns didn't qualify for this year's Women's FIBA World Cup.

Equestrian

Equestrian also received no additional investment, even after one of New Zealand's most successful years in the sport. Tim and Jonelle Price become only the second married couple to win equestrian's two most prestigious titles in the same year. Tim won the Burghley Horse Trials in September, while Jonelle won the Badminton in May.

Other highlights from the investment announcement

• Olympic Weightlifting will receive an additional $20k to support athlete preparations towards Tokyo 2020.
• Boxing will receive an additional $15k.
• Squash will receive an additional $25k.
• Surfing will receive an increase of $20k to support qualification as the sport prepares to make its Olympic debut.
• Women's Softball will be decreased to $30k.
• $500k will be transferred from Paralympics New Zealand to Athletic New Zealand as part of the successful integration of the Para athletics programme into Athletics.