Golfer Lydia Ko. Photo / AP
One is the fashion capital of the world, the other is, well, in Canada, but Milan and Vancouver are connected by a pair of sporting trendsetters.
Lydia Ko and Lisa Carrington, two of the brightest stars in the New Zealand and world sporting firmament, have this week done what we
are all getting used to them doing - winning titles.
Golfer Ko, 18, from Auckland's North Shore, won US$337,500 by beating American Stacy Lewis on the first playoff hole at the Canadian Open in Vancouver yesterday, winning the title for a third time; pushing her 2015 earnings to $1.7 million.
And kayaker Carrington, the 26-year-old from Ohope Beach, late on Sunday added a fifth world championship gold medal to her cache when defending her K1 200m crown in Milan. Earlier in the championship, she won the K1 500m, the first time she has beaten the world over that distance, having come second in Russia last year and third in Germany in 2013.
Carrington will never have access to the sort of prizemoney on offer in golf, but she has a seemingly insatiable appetite for titles that is impossible to put a price tag on. Her five world titles are now two more than Paul MacDonald won in his long career and she is the first woman in 16 years - and the third in history - to hold the 200m and 500m titles at the same time. Having won gold in the K1 200m in London, she will now be odds on to double that haul in Rio next year.
