Another stirling performance

Sam Warriner continues to excel on the comeback trail.
She is making a name for herself on the US triathlon/70.3 circuit - but she's not sure the name really fits that comfortably.
Warriner has been assigned the moniker "Silver Sam" by the press in the United States but whether the name is in reference to her age - she is 38 - or her recent run of second place finishes is still unclear.
The Whangarei Olympian and Aucklander Terenzo Bozzone both rounded out busy months of racing with runners-up finishes at the Rev 3 Triathlon Olympic distance event at Knoxville, Tennessee yesterday (NZT).
Briton Julie Dibens was the comprehensive winner of the event but Warriner was delighted with her effort just a week after finishing second at the St Croix 70.3 Half Ironman race in the US Virgin Islands.
"My swim was okay, nothing startling, though, and that's where I lost the time [on Dibens] but I had a strong bike to run and even managed a sprint finish so I am loving that everything is coming back," she said.
The sprint finish from Warriner was enough to hold out fast-finishing American Kelley Williamson, after she mounted a concerted challenge in sight of the finish line but couldn't overcome the determined Kiwi, who held her out to take the silver medal spot - again.
"They have nicknamed me 'Silver Sam' over here, I'm not sure if this is good or bad but I'll take it as a compliment given my performances have seen me in the headlines a few times of late."
Warriner said she was enjoying getting back up to speed in the US, after an injury-plagued 2009 season and would like to complete the three-race Rev 3 Triathlon Series. The first event is run over the Olympic distance, followed by a Half Ironman in June, and a full Ironman in September.
Meanwhile Bozzone's runner-up finish was all the more impressive over the shorter distance event, given he had to watch his chief competitors from the side of the road during a stand-down, after violating America's controversial stagger rule - to finish the bike leg in sixth.
American Matt Reed rocketed to the front, reeling in fellow US national Chris Lieto before getting past the Swede Bjorn Andersson. Lieto, nonplussed after suffering an uncharacteristic poor performance on the bike, took a bit longer to catch the big Swede, finally passing him about 6km into the contest.
Bozzone caught Cameron Dye, who was actually served a penalty for losing a bottle and not picking it up, before passing Andersson. With about 800m to go he caught up to Lieto, but the fleet-footed Reed was too far ahead to haul in. Lieto was third, and Andersson held on to fourth while another Kiwi Graham O'Grady came home in eighth place.
Bozzone enjoyed the day, despite the frustration of the stand-down, emerging from the water in eighth.
"I was getting into a good rhythm for the 40km bike but unfortunately halfway through the course I was controversially penalised with a one minute stand-down," he said.
"So off the bike on the side of the road for one minute which feels like forever with all of the other athletes passing by which can be soul-destroying and race-ruining but I wasn't going to let it get to me and kept striving for the perfect race which very nearly happened."