Fourth for NZ paddler

ROTORUA paddler George Snook just missed out on a medal in the K1 slalom at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

The 15yearold made it to the bronze medal race, where he fell just short in a hardfought sprint against Frenchman Tom Bouchardon in 29degree heat. He had to settle for fourth. ‘‘That last one I struggled a bit, I was really tired, but it was still awesome fun,’’ Snook said.

‘‘It was crazy to paddle with these guys and I was pretty stoked I managed to keep up with them,’’ he said.

Earlier, C1 paddler Kahlia Cullwick also finished her canoe slalom campaign with an impressive quarterfinals finish.

Wanaka’s Phoebe Young produced another strong performance in the women’s combined. She placed a respectable 10th in the final of the short cross country, 33 seconds behind winner Laura Stigger of Austria.

Her teammate Samara Maxwell was not able to make it out of qualifying, and the pair have slipped back to seventh in the overall standings with one event left.

At the track 200m sprinter Dominic Overend placed 11th in the 200m.

The Aucklander ran a personal best time of 21.44s in his final race in Buenos Aires.

The 16yearold was leading the race at the halfway mark, but faded in the second half.

Overend will race again tomorrow in the mixed nations relay.

Athletics teammate Kayla Goodwin recorded 12.30m in the triple jump for a final placing of 9th.

In the boxing ring, Te Mania Shelford was unable to keep up with her Mexican opponent.

Shelford was outboxed, with the bout called off in the second round.