Sam Tanner shares a smile. Photo / Photosport
Sometimes, you don't have to win to find victory. Kris Shannon celebrates some of the Kiwi efforts at the Commonwealth Games that didn't end up on the dais.
"I think I'm the happiest sixth-place getter ever," Sam Tanner said after running the race of his life in the men's 1500m final at Alexander Stadium, and it was easy to see why.
The 21-year-old came from the back of a star-studded pack to shave more than three seconds off his personal best, finishing behind a couple of world champions and an Olympic silver medallist in the event.
"Monster PB. I'm frothing," he said. "Look at me — this is the Comm Games. This is insane."
Tanner's time of 3:31.34 was only 1.22s off the gold medal and the second-fastest 1500m run by a Kiwi, trailing only two-time Olympic medallist Nick Willis' national record of 3:29.66. And Tanner might not be trailing Willis for long.
"It's been a goal," he said. "Records are there for other people to look at and try to get, so hopefully I can get that fast. Then get to the Olympics in shape to get a medal."
The efforts of the fastest woman in New Zealand were already impressive on their face.
But then Zoe Hobbs revealed that the week before she finished sixth in the 100m final at Alexander Stadium — a race that was run only a couple of hours after the semifinals — she had been battling a Covid case that had left her struggling to even get out of bed.
"I was quite stressed about it," Hobbs said. "A week away from the pinnacle event — it's not the best timing to catch it."
The 24-year-old shook off that disrupted preparation to cruise through the heats before advancing to the final by finishing second behind Jamaican great Elaine Thompson-Herah, who would go on the claim gold.
"I am ecstatic, just to make that final was incredible," Hobbs said, having clocked a time of 11.19 seconds in that race. "The field out there this year was just amazing — to run against the Olympic champ at a Commonwealth Games was just unreal."
It's amazing to think, for all his gold-medal-winning exploits, that Aaron Gate's Commonwealth Games could have been even better.
But after picking up three golds on the track, and before complementing them with a stunning triumph in the road race, Gate's fourth-place performance in the time trial in Wolverhampton was meritorious even if it didn't lead to a medal.
Gate, who triumphed in the individual and team pursuit along with the points race in the velodrome, finished 2:22.04 behind winner Rohan Dennis.
And while disappointed to have missed the podium, the 31-year-old said: "I'm just stoked to get the chance to ride the time trial here — it's something I've dreamed of doing for a while. I only just started to apply myself to the time trial in recent years, so to have a chance to come out and ride in the black skin suit in a time trial at the Commonwealth Games was something I'm proud of in itself."
Erika Fairweather - Fourth in women's 400m freestyle final
Erika Fairweather didn't need to look far to see how close she was to the pinnacle of her sport.
The 18-year-old finished a creditable fourth in the 400m freestyle final at Sandwell Aquatics Centre, trailing gold medal winner Ariarne Titmus — the swimmer in the lane immediately to her left — by 5.78 seconds.
Titmus set a new Games record in the final after also winning the race at the Tokyo Olympics, when Fairweather finished eighth while still attending high school.
The Kiwi, who dealt with her own Covid case before the Games, said she had been buoyed by that result and was still learning to handle new expectations — which would only increase ahead of Paris.
"It always is a confidence boost coming off the Olympics," she said. "There's always those expectations — it's just a matter of how you handle them. I'm not one to take them on — it's just not worth me thinking about. But there's definitely more expectations."
Alice Zeimann and Shaunna Polley - Fourth in women's beach volleyball
Perhaps no Kiwis came closer to a medal without ending up on the dais than Alice Zeimann and Shaunna Polley, who finished an agonising fourth after losing the beach volleyball bronze medal match on the penultimate night of the Games.
Zeimann and Polley had a match point in their clash against Vanuatu but were unable to convert, eventually losing in three sets. But having previously lost to only the Canadian gold medallists, the Kiwi pair — competing together at their first Games — are already looking ahead to Paris.
"It is the [Asian Beach Volleyball Championships] in a few weeks' time, so that will get us a bunch of points heading into the Paris Olympic cycle," said Polley. "I'm very disappointed but still stoked to have made the semis. We know we could and should have been [on the podium], we are going to take a few lessons and come back stronger next time."