No 1 in the world...Gisborne’s Briana Irving and Oska Smith ruled the sand in the beach sprint finals at the Lifesaving World Championships on the Gold Coast. Irving won the women’s A final and minutes later Smith won the men’s A final.
Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.
No 1 in the world...Gisborne’s Briana Irving and Oska Smith ruled the sand in the beach sprint finals at the Lifesaving World Championships on the Gold Coast. Irving won the women’s A final and minutes later Smith won the men’s A final.
Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.
Gold in name. Gold in sand. And gold in medals.
So the Australia-hosted 2024 Lifesaving World Championships proved for speedsters Briana Irving and Oska Smith as they pulled off a historic New Zealand, Gisborne and Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae double on Saturday.
Irving won the women’s beach sprint A final onthe Kurrawa Beach sand on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Just minutes later, Smith did the equivalent in the men’s A final.
These were among the highlights as New Zealand were edged by their transtasman rivals for overall honours in the open national teams’ competition - the NZ Black Fins team’s beach and ocean performance led by Gisborne’s Gold Coast-based superstar Olivia Corrin.
Corrin provided a mass of points towards the Black Fins’ overall total of 873 points (Australia amassed 907) over the five days of competition in the pool, on the sand and in the water.
Her haul included victory in the open women’s board race, second in the surf race and third in the surf ski and oceanwoman’s race.
She also enjoyed success in team events - including gold in the oceanwoman’s relay in which she did the board leg, Molly Shivnan the swim, Zoe Crawford the ski and Irving the run; gold in the mixed ocean lifesaver relay in which she did the board, Louis Clark the swim, Gisborne’s own Cory Taylor the ski and Irving the run; and silver with Shivnan in the women’s board rescue.
Olivia Corrin on the ski for New Zealand. She was third in the ski final but won the board race and was second in the surf race.
Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media
Fellow Dawson Building Midway and Northcliffe member Cory Taylor - captaining the Black Fins - once again led by example. He missed the podium in the board (4th) and ski (5th) but was third in the oceanman (won by New Zealand’s Joe Collins; second in the board rescue with Collins, part of the second-placed Black Fins team in the tube rescue; and second in the oceanman’s relay team in which he did the ski, Clark the swim, Collins the board and Smith the run.
For Waikanae clubbies watching online, however, the highlight was no doubt the beach sprint finals won in contrasting styles by Irving and Smith.
Irving, second in the 2022 in Italy, exploded off the start line and it was all over by the halfway mark.
“I’m absolutely stoked,” Irving said in an interview shortly afterwards. “I’ve watched the Kiwis smash it in the pool in the last two days and I was really glad to be on the beach and show why I’m in the team as well.”
Irving said she had “a whole lot of nerves but I managed to pull through...and nerves are always good”.
The New Zealand team of Olivia Corrin, Zoe Crawford, Briana Irving and Molly Shivnan celebrate winning the oceanwoman’s relay.
Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.
Smith, who admitted later he was not a fast starter, was only fifth by the halfway mark, then changed gear to turbo and rocketed past those in front.
“That last third paid the bills,” the commentator aptly put it.
“It wasn’t good. I’m not much of a starter,” Smith said of the first half of the race. “But I trusted my race (plan) and, yeah, it turned out pretty well.”
Irving’s performance “amped me up”, he added.
New Zealand and Australia traded blows over the ocean and beach events after the Black Fins ended the pool section of the competition with their noses in front.
Midway’s Chris Dawson - one of the senior members of the team - played his part in the pool, making multiple finals in individual and team events and contributing vital points to the team tally.
The transtasman rivalry heated up along with the Gold Coast 30C-plus weather as the overall lead was swapped over the weekend.
Australia sealed the overall honours late in the day, although New Zealand ended their campaign on a high by winning the mixed ocean lifesaver relay - Irving, Corrin, Taylor and Clark having the last say.
“The last five days have been incredible,” Taylor said. “It was awesome going into the final day being basically event with the Australians. That’s what makes it exciting and it’s what a lot of people want to see as well.
Gisborne's Oska Smith (6) came from fifth at the halfway stage to win the men's beach sprint A final at the world lifesaving champs.
Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media
“We fell a little bit short by the end but I’m just incredibly proud of all the team... everyone should be super-proud of how they went... the management as well. It’s not just us out there - it’s everyone at home supporting (as well).”
Among that support crew was another Gisborne person - Arna Majstrovic, beach coach for the New Zealand open and youth squads.
Australia proved too strong in the youth (Under-19) national teams’ competition. They finished on 973 points - well clear of second-placed New Zealand on 774, with France third on 759.
Midway’s Yahni Brown and Sophie Petro contributed significantly to the Junior Black Fins’ cause including the pool events at the weekend, where both enjoyed success.
Brown collected a win in the line throw, second in the mixed 4x5m lifesaver relay and third in the men’s 4x25m manikin relay and 4x50m obstacle relay.
Petro was a member of the New Zealand team victorious in the women’s 4x50m medley relay and she was fourth in the 100m manikin tow with fins.
This came on top of a solid and busy ocean and beach programme for the pair that featured silver on Friday afternoon to Brown in the men’s board rescue and silver for Petro in the women’s tube rescue.
The action continued yesterday with the interclub competition running over the week.
Taylor is spearheading the Midway challenge while Smith and Irving have swapped their New Zealand caps for that of Waikanae, and Corrin is representing her Australia club Northcliffe.
New Zealand Black Fins captain Cory Taylor, based on the Gold Coast but a member of the Midway club in Gisborne, on the board.
Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media
