Youth Olympic Games: Tauranga athletes make mark on world stage

Tauranga's Veerle ten Have is New Zealand's top female boardsailor and is currently competing in the Youth Olympic Games. Photo / World Sailing

Tauranga athletes are making their mark at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

Tauranga boardsailors Max van der Zalm and Veerle ten Have, who make up two-thirds of New Zealand's team of sailors at the Games with kiteboarder Pia Gordon also representing the country, have hit the water and are happy with how they are tracking.

At the Buenos Aires sailing venue a stiff 20-knot breeze greeted the trio, although they were unaware of how blustery it was until they got into the water.

Windsurfer ten Have, who is New Zealand's top female boardsailor, placed first in her opening race before a 12th in her second, moving her to eighth overall.

"I'm happy, I definitely went better in the first race than the second, the strong winds suit me way better so I really enjoyed this morning," ten Have says.

Van der Zalm enjoyed his day, scoring a ninth and 10th placing to sit in 15th overall.

"I think I sailed well so I'm pretty happy. It's been a blast and I'm getting a lot out of this experience," van der Zalm says.

The boardsailors have another three days of competition.

Ten Have has gone into the Youth Olympic Games with high hopes because 2018 has been a bit of a breakthrough year for her, and she wants to step up a couple more rungs with success at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

Meanwhile, earlier this week Tauranga climber Sarah Tetzlaff set a New Zealand record on the sport's debut at the 2018 event, flying up the speed wall to set a New Zealand record.

She hit the top buzzer in a time of 12.72s, shaving off almost half a second from the previous record of 13.14s.

Kiwi triathlete Dylan McCullough, who has family in the Western Bay, claimed New Zealand's first gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, taking out the men's triathlon with a final time of 53m 27s - 12 seconds ahead of Portuguese silver medallist Alexandre Monties.

For a full list of results and for the Games schedule visit Olympic.org.nz.