The women's hockey team led the way for New Zealand on day two of competition at the London Olympic Games.
Their 1-0 win over Australia was the first time the Black Sticks have beaten them at a Games. The victory reinforces New Zealand's recent dominance. They are sixth-ranked in the world (Australia is seventh), they defended their Oceania Cup and they won their first three-test series against Australia in October.
Catherine Finlayson scored the goal from a penalty corner in the third minute but coach Mark Hager singled out goalkeeper Bianca Russell for her part maintaining a clean sheet.
[-]
Mark Todd showed there's plenty of life left in his 56-year-old legs, or at the very least in the four legs of his mount NZ Campino. Todd registered just 39.10 penalty points to be placed third in the individual three-day eventing after the dressage. He is one penalty point behind Japan's Yoshiaki Oiwa. His performance also dragged what was looking like a lacklustre team performance to fourth, 1.2 points behind the third-placed Great Britain but a healthy 9.1 points behind leaders Germany. Caroline Powell and Andrew Nicholson produced disappointing scores. Nicholson was furious with officials for calling a 10-minute weather delay immediately before his ride.
[-]
Across at Dorney Lake it was a tepid day for New Zealand's rowers. Men's lightweight double scullers Peter Taylor and Storm Uru were beaten in their heat by the British defending Olympic and world champions Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase.
The Brits won by 0.73s (about half a length), holding the lead for the entire race. Taylor and Uru were no more than 1.5s down on their rivals at any stage. They cranked into a fine final 500m to bridge the gap. Both crews progress to Thursday night's semi-finals (New Zealand time).
At the two other World Cups where the New Zealanders competed this season they finished with silver and gold medals. Britain finished sixth in both those regattas but have clearly benefited by tapering from a strong base fitness.
The women's lightweight double of Louise Ayling and Julia Edward finished third in their heat, forcing them into a repechage Tuesday night (New Zealand time). They were beaten by Great Britain and Denmark, crews they had defeated in both their World Cups.
[-]
At Old Trafford Chris Wood's goal earned the New Zealand men's footballers a 1-1 draw with Egypt. They could still mathematically reach the quarter-finals, if they beat Brazil ...
[-]
Lauren Boyle finished 8th in the women's 400m freestyle final, after qualifying fourth fastest.
[-]
Sailor Dan Slater is seventh after two races of the Finn.
[-]
Cyclist Linda Villumsen negotiated treacherous wet conditions in the women's road race to finish 18th.
[-]
New Zealand's Mike Dawson has qualified for the semifinals in the men's kayak slalom at the London Olympics, despite the efforts of his Mum.
Dawson finished in eighth place in the heats with the top 15 progressing to the next round on Thursday morning (New Zealand time).
Dawson sat in eighth after the first run with a score of 90.90 and had the sixth best score of 88.58 on his second run.
He had a couple of two second time penalties from touching gates, one of which came on gate five where his Mum Kay was a judge.
"I guess if there were any questions of bias they were ruled out there, "Dawson laughs.
Competitors' runs are also reviewed on video and the chief official has the final say.
With plenty of experience in the extreme kayaking, today's strong whitewater played to Dawson's advantage.
"It was big and flowing. I just used the water and didn't fight it too much. I didn't use a lot of energy. I just did what I do in training with my Dad [coach Les]"
The top 10 go through to the final with the medals also decided on Thursday morning (NZT).
Germany's Hannes Aigner leads the field.
- Additional reporting by Dylan Cleaver