Kiwi Men Take Silver And Bronze

Kiwi Men Take Silver And Bronze

Silver and bronze in the men’s 50m manikin carry set the tone for the day at the pool for the Black Fins on day two of the World Championships in Riccione.  Midway’s Chris Dawson and Mairangi Bay’s Fergus Eadie bagged a Kiwi handful in the second event of the day’s finals taking second and third place respectively.  Seeded in the same heat in the morning session, the two Kiwis were only separated by 0.2 of a second and it was the same in the final.

“That was a brilliant race,” Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s high performance manager Tanya Hamilton says.

“Chris and Fergus have trained together for months in the lead up to worlds and it’s amazing to see that paying off for them.”

The competition at the pool has been hotly contested with Olympians and Commonwealth Games swimmers turning out for their country teams.  In the women’s 50m manikin carry, Germany’s Nina Holt took the gold and was only 0.02 outside the world record. Kiwis Madi Kidd and Molly Shivnan finished seventh and eighth in the B Final.  Kidd, Shivnan, Nat Peat and Olivia Corrin came together for the 4x25m manikin relay in the third event of the day, finishing seventh.

Eadie, Dawson, Steve Kent and Max Beattie were fifth in the men’s event.  Peat backed up for a fifth in the 200m super lifesaver with Dawson and Kent finishing fourth and sixth in the men’s.  It was Kidd, Shivnan, Peat and Corrin again in the 4x50m medley relay while Cory Taylor joined Eadie, Dawson and Kent in the men’s medley relay finishing seventh.

At the end of day three the Black Fins sit in third spot on the overall points table behind Australia in first and Italy in second.  Day three sees the pool competition coming to an end with the 100m rescue medley, 100m manikin carry with fins and the 4x50m lifesaver relay all being raced.

More Gold At The Beach In Italy

New Zealand’s Junior Black Fins have continued to stack up the medals at the beach in Riccione on day two of the Surf Lifesaving World Championships.  Backing up from a strong showing on day one, Mount Maunganui’s Jayden Murphy got the Kiwi medal tally rolling with a stunning gold medal in the men’s ski race.  Junior Black Fins co-captain, Waikanae’s Lachie Falloon set the bar high in the final storming out of the start and dragging the rest of the field around the course only to be cut down at the end eventually finishing fifth.

In the first event of the day, the women’s board race, Waikanae’s Summer Rolston was seventh and Charlize Menefy was 13^th.  The New Zealand team went very close to double gold for the day in the women’s tube rescue. An epic swim from Mairangi Bay’s Zoe Crawford and patient Talitha McEwan saw them surge to the front of the pack ahead of their Australian rivals to hand over to their draggers Rollston and Menefy.

The two teams were only separated by the run up the beach, with lane draw positioning the crucial factor that saw the Kiwis having to settle for silver.  The men’s tube rescue team – Jack Keepa, Gus Shivnan, Falloon and Murphy – were first across the line with a dominating performance only to be disqualified in a somewhat controversial call.

In the women’s Ocean relay, the New Zealand team made up of Menefy on board, McEwan swimming, Rolston on ski and Rosie Falcous running, finished third behind Australia and France.  The men’s Ocean relay team – George Wenman on board, Shivnan swimming, Murphy on ski and Oska Smith running - kept the silvers coming and closed out the medals for the day finishing second behind Australia.

Beach flags finished off the day for the Junior Black Fins with Falcous finishing sixth and Smith taking fifth spot.

“The tenacity of the Junior Black Fins team is simply brilliant,” Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s high performance manager Tanya Hamilton says.

“They are working incredibly well as a team and their results are showing that. It’s so great to see.”

The Junior Black Fins sit third on the overall points table after two days of competition with Australia in first and South Africa in second.