KEY POINTS:
New Zealand came agonisingly close to a podium finish at its first attempt at the surf lifesaving German Cup Pool Championships in the weekend at Warendorf, Germany.
The eight-strong team led the 14-nation event after the first day's competition with the host close behind, followed in third place
by the Australians.
New Zealand were buoyed by a brilliant start on the first day, with six New Zealand records, including a world record in the men's 4x50m obstacle relay, 0.6s faster than the German national team's record at last year's world lifesaving championships.
"It was a brilliant swim - the guys just completely clicked and blew the rest of the field away," said New Zealand coach Scott Bartlett.
"It was a great day at the office all round with the world record just the icing on the cake."
But New Zealand's confidence started to unravel when the women's line throw team were disqualified after being unable to complete the discipline within the 45- second time limit.
The men's line throw team also struggled, finishing in 23rd place, 32s off the world record pace set by the Netherlands, who finished in 9.21s.
It was enough to drop New Zealand out of the top three, despite finishing on top of the medal table with six gold, five silver and three bronze medals.
It cast a shadow over an otherwise outstanding meet, with another five New Zealand records recorded on the final day.
"We're obviously pretty disappointed that one event could cost us a chance of winning the overall competition," said Bartlett.
"But that aside, there were a number of outstanding performances from our team and it gives us a massive base to work from planning towards next year's world lifesaving championships."
The team took a couple of events to recover from the line throw chaos. Georgina Toomey picked up a fourth in the 100m manikin carry, and Steven Kent recorded a national record of 53.07s in the men's equivalent.
Kent finished fifth, the best of the languishing New Zealanders, as winner Armand Marais (South Africa) set a world record of 49.49s.
But team captain Glenn Anderson's national record in the 100m rescue medley of 1m 05.58s put him second behind Italian Federico Pinotti and that spurred the other team members into action.
The women picked up from the high of the previous day to finish second behind Germany in the 100m medley relay in a New Zealand record of 1m 47.22s and the men came home strongly to win their medley in another New Zealand record.
Natasha Hind, of Wellington, was rewarded for an outstanding cup meeting by being named the top female lifesaver at the German Cup.
