More gold! Lisa Carrington and Caitlin Regal win K2 500m. Video / Sky Sport
Lisa Carrington bagged two gold medals and Peter Burling a silver in what was a mixed but successful day on the water in Tokyo yesterday.
Tauranga-born Carrington won her first gold in the K1 200m and the second in the K2 500m with teammate Caitlin Regal.
Carrington joins rower HamishBond as the only Kiwis to have won three gold medals in consecutive Olympics.
She won the K1 200m in London, Rio de Janeiro and now Tokyo, and added another gold this year in the K2 500m event an hour after winning the K1 race.
The 32-year-old, raised in Ōhōpe, is now equal with Ian Ferguson, also a kayaker, as New Zealand's most successful Olympian with both having won four gold.
Tauranga's Burling, meanwhile, missed out on a second Olympic gold medal in the men's 49er sailing event but did enough to claim silver with Blair Tuke.
Lisa Carrington won the Women's Kayak single 200m Gold medal. Photo / Photosport
Carrington was a member of the Eastern Bay Canoe club which is coached by Gary Waller who said he was "really proud" of her.
"She's done so well winning two golds in two races and given all of the hard work she's put in over the years, it's really cool," he said.
"When she goes out paddling with the kids [of the club], they love it and everyone was all really excited for her."
Carrington's focus would now shift to the K1 500m and K4 500m events, Waller said.
Asked what he thought made Carrington and Ferguson so successful, Waller said being surrounded by water made all the difference for Kiwis.
After the doubles race, Carrington said she was "super proud" of her teammate, Regal.
"I'm just so fortunate to have Caitlin as an amazing teammate," she said.
"To get an Olympic medal is just so special. I've been lucky to do it as an individual, to do it with a teammate. To think we're able to be top of the podium is just so special."
Carrington is of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāti Porou descent and was earlier this year named as the most influential Māori sportsperson of the past 30 years.
The K2 500m win was New Zealand's sixth gold medal at these games.
BMX racer Sarah Walker, also from the Bay, an International Olympic Committee member, presented Carrington with her K1 200m gold medal.
Ian Ferguson after finishing first to win gold in the K1-500 at the 1984 Olympics. Photo / File
Ferguson won in the K1 500m, K2 500m, K4 1000m at the 1984 Los Angeles games and K2 500m at the 1988 Seoul games. He won silver in the K2 1000m at Seoul.
In the men's 49er sailing event, Great Britain triumphed in the final double-points medal race to claim gold, overtaking the favourites Burling and Tuke.
The Kiwi pair were left holding silver, the same medal they won in London nine years ago, before winning gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Burling's mother Heather said he would have mixed emotions about the result.
"With any yachting event, you always have places where you lost points where you didn't need to," she said.
"A silver medal at the Olympics, that's pretty good. If you're disappointed with a silver at the Olympics, you're doing okay in life, aren't you?"
Heather said anyone wanting to be successful in their chosen field should follow every opportunity presented to themselves.
"Pete's journey has just taken him along. He's followed every opportunity he's got and enjoyed every step of what he's done," she said.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke compete in the Men's Skiff 49er class medal race. Photo / Getty Images
Burling and Tuke went into the 49er final with a narrow lead but Germany spoiled their party, claiming second and shutting the Kiwis out of the top podium position.
The result came in a year in which they defended the America's Cup in Auckland and were hot favourites to win gold.
"Our campaign was very much about trying to come back here and win a gold medal, and to come so close makes it just all the more mixed emotions," Burling said post-race.
"To win an Olympic medal for your country's a pretty special moment and to do it with one of your good mates in Hamish [Wilcox] as well who's been a part of this team for such a long time is incredibly special, so we're really stoked."
How are other Bay athletes going?
Sarah Hirini, Stacey Fluhler and the Black Ferns Sevens won the gold in the women's event.
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, Joe Webber, Dylan Collier, William Warbrick and the All Blacks Sevens claimed the silver medal.
Hayden Wilde won New Zealand's first medal of Tokyo 2020, winning bronze in the triathlon.
Bronze medals also went to Dylan Schmidt in the men's gymnastic trampolining and Dame Valerie Adams in the woman's shot put.
Samantha Charlton, Rose Keddell, Liz Thompson and the Black Sticks women were knocked out of the Olympic quarter-finals after losing 3-0 to the Netherlands.
Paige Satchell and Olivia Chance, as part of the Football Ferns, bowed out without making it through to the knockout stages.
Callum Gilbert was not able to do enough to get through to the semifinals in the Canoe Slalom 250m 25-gate Kasai Slalom course. Luuka Jones finished sixth in the women's K1 event.
Molly Meech finished 12th at the end of the preliminary round in the women's 49er FX sailing race.
Jordan Parry dropped out of medal contention in his quarter-final of the men's single sculls.
Jamie Searle, Nando Pijnaker and the Olywhites lost to Japan in a penalty shootout during their quarter-final.
Sam Tanner finished ninth in his 1500m running heat, short of the top six needed to make the semifinals.
Nicole van der Kaay finished 29th in the woman's individual triathlon race.
Ella Williams finished ninth in the women's surfing event.
Most Olympic medals won by Kiwis
Five: Lisa Carrington (including 4 gold), Ian Ferguson (4 gold), Paul MacDonald (3 gold), Mark Todd (2 gold).
