The tired and tireless
Ryan Sissons finished fifth while young Kiwi Tayler Reid mixed it with the world’s best for a long way in the men’s triathlon at the Commonwealth Games.
Sissons charged home late in the run leg in a race won by South Africa’s Henri Schoeman.
Starting in a rain downpour on the Gold Coast on Thursday, the 21-year-old Reid was second out of the water, on the ankles of England’s Alistair Brownlee after battling atrocious conditions in the 750m swim.
He was then part of a six-man leading group in the cycling section, also featuring Brownlee’s brother Jonathan, that headed into the 5km run leg with a lead of 28 seconds, and he headed out in front on foot.
Schoeman quickly shot out to a significant lead as Reid drifted back and Sissons moved forward and the South African claimed gold ahead of Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle, with Scotland’s Marc Austin third while Reid was the next-best Kiwi ahead of Tony Dodds.
The men’s field contained all three medalists from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile, Andrea Hewitt knew her hopes of a Commonwealth Games medal had disappeared after 200 metres in the women’s event.
New Zealand went medal-less in the women’s triathlon. The three-strong NZ contingent, headed pre-event by veteran Hewitt, couldn’t handle the pace set by eventual winner Flora Duffy of Bermuda at Southport on the Gold Coast as the first medals of the Games were handed out.
Nicole van der Kaay was the best of the Kiwis in seventh place, one minute 41 seconds behind Duffy while Rebecca Spence was 10th. Hewitt, who turned 36 on Wednesday and had won bronze in Manchester in 2006 and was fourth in Glasgow four years ago, trailed in 13th, almost four minutes behind Duffy.
"I’m really disappointed because my swim wasn’t up there," said Hewitt - who was 15th out off the water - said soon after.
"The first 200 metres I got really pushed around - it was really decided on the swim because I didn’t make the group.
"On the bike I was isolated and had to do a lot of work - all of the work - and was getting further and further behind so there was no chance of catching up.
"I guess you’d call it interference being swum on top of. I started on the right and I kept on getting swum on top of, on top of ... I just kept getting pushed backwards."
Hewitt said there was no room for error in the sprint format of a 750m open water swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.
Van der Kaay was seventh out of the water, stayed with a chasing pack during the bike leg, and pushed as hard as she could on the run to be pleased with her effort.
"Happy to come away with seventh today," the 22-year-old said.
"It was extremely tough out there the swim was very rough, so happy to come away with a group of girls. The bike, I kinda hid in there a bit to try and recover.
"The run, I held on as long as I could with those top runners - but they’ve got some extra gears on their legs."
Duffy, the reigning world champ, also intends to contest the mountain bike event a week later.
The 30-year-old, who also competed in Manchester and Glasgow like Hewitt, headed home England’s Jessica Learmonth by 43 seconds after the duo shared the lead throughout the bike leg.
It was Bermuda’s second Commonwealth Games gold, 28 years after Nicky Saunders won the men’s high jump in Auckland in 1990.
NZ will also field a two-man, twowomen combination in the mixed team relay event on Saturday.
HOCKEY
Anita McLaren limping off with an ankle injury has soured the women’s Black Sticks perfect start to the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand cruised passed Scotland
6-1, thanks to doubles from Kelsey Smith and Shiloh Gloyn, on the opening day of competition at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre.
But the sight of the Black Sticks cocaptain limping off the turf late in the final quarter will be a major concern for Black Sticks head coach Mark Hager.
McLaren appeared to be in significant pain due to an ankle injury.
She did not get onto the scoresheet but was one of the best on the turf with several classy touches.
Hager will be more than satisfied with the way his side have started the
2018 Games despite giving up a fourthquarter goal from a penalty corner and being a little rusty on finishing in the first half.
Scotland’s defence was dramatically improved in a second half that was plagued by heavy showers sweeping across the turf.
Smith gave the Black Sticks a one nill lead with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter thanks to Sam Charlton’s reverse stick cross.
Less than two minutes later, the lead doubled when McLaren produced a subtle touch to change the angle for Brooke Neal to score from a penalty corner.
New Zealand effectively put Scotland away with two more goals, within a minute, early in the second quarter.
Shiloh Gloyn put her name on the scoresheet before Smith tapped in a second thanks to another quality assist from McLaren to take a 4-0 lead into halftime.
Scotland then held the Black Sticks scoreless until the dying seconds of the third quarter when Rose Keddell scored New Zealand’s fifth goal with a deflection from a penalty corner.
Gloyn scored her second early in the final quarter thanks to yet another classy touch from McLaren.
Alison Howie scored Scotland’s only goal from a change of angle from a penalty corner.
The Black Sticks will be back in action on Friday with what should be an easy win over Ghana.
The Kiwis final two pool games will be against Australia and Canada.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand men’s Black Sticks will begin their Commonwealth Games campaign against Canada this morning.
SWIMMING
New Zealand’s Corey Main made a solid start in his bid to go one place better in the Commonwealth Games pool than four years ago.
The US-based Kiwi won his 100m backstroke heat on day one at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre to qualify fourth fastest for the semifinals at 11.22pm last night.
He swam a time of 54.99sec in winning heat two, with Australian Mitch Larkin the fastest qualifier with a
54.02sec swim.
Main finished sixth in the 100m final in Glasgow four years ago, and fourth in the 200m backstroke.
‘‘It was a pretty solid time and I’m happy with it,’’ Main told TV One.
‘‘There’s a lot of things I can improve on for the semifinals.
‘‘I’m not too sure what my splits were but I’ll be looking to get out faster.’’
Among the New Zealand contingent in action on the opening morning, Daniel Hunter and Sam Perry also made handy starts.
Hunter qualified fifth and Perry eighth for the men’s 50m breaststroke semifinals starting at 11.02pm.
Hunter swam 24.01sec in finishing third in a slick third heat while Perry won heat eight in a time of 24.23.
South African Chad le Clos was the fastest qualifier, winning heat seven in a time of 23.53.
In the women’s 100m butterfly both New Zealanders scraped through to the semifinals, with Helena Gasson 14th fastest in 1:00.00 and Georgia Marris
15th in 1:00.43.
Bronagh Ryan also made it through in the women’s 50m breatstroke, with a personal best of 32.18 in her heat 15th fastest for the semis.
The only New Zealand swimmer to bow out was Carina Doyle who was 10th fastest in the women’s 200m freestyle heats, with the top-eight progressing straight to the final.
Doyle was set to contest a final last night, though, alongside Marris, Gasson and Laticia Transom in the 4x100m freestyle at 11.50pm against four rivals: Australia, England, South Africa and Canada.