Kodi Harman goes from zero to hero

Kodi Harman couldn't have scripted it any better.
On Saturday afternoon, the Papamoa 16-year-old was a picture of anguish, having let a sure-fire gold medal at the Australian surf lifesaving championships slip through his fingers.
He stumbled with the line beckoning, holding a clear 2m lead in the beach sprint, and down he went.
Yesterday, Harman dusted off the sand, stuck out his chin and redeemed himself in the best possible way, taking out the under-17 beach flags title on Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast.
"That's a lot sweeter than yesterday," Harman said, a wide grin plastered all over his face. "It was just meant to be I guess - yesterday was such a good lesson for me and I'd rather do it now when I'm younger than later on in life when I'm representing New Zealand or something. It was a good experience and this gold certainly makes things feel a whole lot better."
Harman was clearly the fastest in his age group, with Mullaloo's Mitchell Cavanagh left grasping at thin air in the final. The Mount College flyer, who was drafted into the New Zealand squad to prepare for next year's world championships, has a big future in the sport, though only if his burgeoning track career allows. "I'm a lot stronger in the sprint and I thought that would be my race but I guess this shows my flags have come up level. What a year and it's so good to be able to win Papamoa's first-ever medal at the Aussies."
Te Puke swim star Natalie Peat also performed well, finishing seventh in a fiercely competitive under-17 surf race final. The Papamoa athlete has another year in the age group and plans to come back for another attempt.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's Morgan Foster was denied an extraordinary beach flags gold medal on another big day for New Zealand sprinters.
Foster (South Brighton) was controversially disqualified in the open men's race after tangling with Mooloolaba's Tom Reiken, who then went on to beat another New Zealander, Steve Harris, in the final.
Harris matched the silver medal won by compatriot Chanel Hickman, who was beaten by world champion Australian Melissa Howard in the women's final, while yet another New Zealander, Paul Cracroft-Wilson, was fourth in the men's event.
Triple world champion Foster, a Hamilton firefighter, won the Australian title in 2001 and looked like he'd successfully overcome a decade-long drought by dominating the early rounds.
"I had a really good feeling coming into the weekend, with no injuries or sickness, and it was the 10th anniversary of when I last won here," Foster said. "I just had a little feeling that it was mine - I was clear on the other boys and I was sure I was going to win it so to get disqualified the way I did was unjust and I feel unfairly treated."
Even Reiken, who was half a step behind Foster when they tangled, believed the veteran was robbed. "I would've rather gone back and had a re-run - Morgan was running great all weekend and he didn't deserve to go out like that," the Australian said.
Harris, a former halfback for Taranaki, stunned his more illustrious rivals by making the final and nearly going all the way.
"Poor old Morgan deserved to be there and he deserved the gold and I would've loved to have gone into the final two with him," Harris said. "It was just surreal how it all panned out. I'm a bit gutted to be honest because it was right there for me but I'm stoked to make it this far and to get a silver medal at the Aussies is pretty mind-blowing."