Tauranga canoe slalom athletes Daniel Tuiraviravi and Claudia Paterson both picked up medals at the Oceania Championships in Sydney this week.
Tuiraviravi was third in the K1 under-18 men's division and Paterson followed up her Australian Open silver three weeks ago with a bronze for K1 under-18 women.
Tuiraviravi, 17, said making it onto the podium was encouraging as he felt he had been racing below potential for a little while.
"It was good to know the hard work is paying off and that I'm finally starting to improve again."
The Tauranga Boys' College student has chosen to compete for his father's homeland of Fiji in international races - a decision made largely because it enabled him to be part of the International Canoe Federation's talent identification programme. Designed for emerging paddlers from small countries or those with few sports resources, the programme has seen Tuiraviravi attend international training camps and two world championships.