On a day when NZ celebrated its first medal in Tokyo, our Kiwi sportswomen had a mixed bag of results - but it was an unforgettable day for the baby of the team. LockerRoom's daily update on our women athletes continues.
Performances of the day
It's been one heck of a 24 hours for Erika Fairweather.
The Kiwi teenager held her own in three races against the world's top freestyle swimmers - and there's still more to come.
Normally, Fairweather would have spent Monday back at Kavanagh College in Dunedin studying and doing her head girl duties. But instead, the 17-year-old was across the Pacific Ocean at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, breaking a New Zealand record, and then lining up against two absolute powerhouses in the Olympic 400m freestyle final.
Fairweather wasn't rattled by the change in scenery, or finishing eighth in a final where world No.1, Australian Ariarne Titmus, became the first swimmer to beat defending Olympic champion, American Katie Ledecky, in an Olympic race across three Games.
As if it were just another day, Fairweather went back to the athlete village after her final for a nap and some food, ready to go "all guns blazing" into the 200m freestyle heat later that night. "There’s no other way to really attack it, eh?”
And she did just that. Fairweather qualified for Tuesday's 200m semifinals after finishing fifth in her heat - her time of 1m 57.26s was another personal best (by 0.12s) and the 14th fastest overall to make the top 16 cut-off.
For Fairweather, it was "super amazing" to race in her first Olympic final - one she didn't expect to make. "That wasn’t the best performance from me, but I’m not going to let it define my experience here," she said afterwards.
“[My nerves] were pretty high. I didn’t approach it the way I wanted to. But I think that’s just down to experience. It’s my first one, so I’ve definitely got nothing to lose."
Going into the final with Titmus and Ledecky was already an achievement in itself for the high school student.
The favourite to win, Ledecky led until the 300m turn. Titmus kicked off for the final stretch and made her move, managing to get in front and stay there to win the gold medal with a personal best of 3m 56.69s - and the second fastest in history. Titmus is the first person to beat Ledecky in an Olympic race. Incredible.
Another young'un in the final, 14-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh, finished fourth, missing out on the podium by a little over one second.
After the 200m freestyle, Fairweather will link up with Eve Thomas, Carina Doyle and Ali Gayler in the 4x200m freestyle heats on Wednesday night.
Quote of the day
"Honoured to be a part of surfing history... 9th place finish here at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me through out this fabulous journey. I am so extremely grateful to have an awesome team here in Japan." New Zealander Ella Williams after her exit from surfing's Olympic debut.
Images of the day
Thirteen-year-old Momiji Nishiya of Japan will go down in history as the first woman to win Olympic gold in skateboarding. Nishiya became her country's youngest ever medallist, and ensured Japan took a clean sweep of gold in street skateboarding - one of the new sports introduced in Tokyo - after Yuto Horigome won the men's division.
The International Olympic Committee's goal to appeal to younger audiences is working as the women's silver medallist was 13-year-old Rayssa Leal, from Brazil. And taking home bronze was Japan's Funa Nakayama, at the ripe old age of 16.
The good news
The Black Sticks had two reasons to celebrate early Tuesday morning - they remain unbeaten in the women's hockey competition, and their two most experienced players, Stacey Michelsen and Sam Charlton, returned from injury to take the field against Japan.
New Zealand notched up their second win from two, but they had to really fight the host nation for the 2-1 victory.
Japan scored first, from a penalty corner early in the second quarter, but it was their tight defence that really flummoxed the Kiwis. Eventually, New Zealand scored from two penalty corner goals late in the second spell - a direct shot from Olivia Merry, and then a deflection from Hope Ralph off a Merry strike.
Captain Michelsen suffered a hamstring injury in a Pro League test against Australia earlier this month, while vice captain Charlton had been nursing a hip injury. New Zealand's next game is against Spain on Wednesday.
As Hayden Wilde bagged New Zealand’s first medal - a bronze in the men's triathlon on Monday - it no doubt gave a confidence boost to two of his mixed relay team-mates, Nicole van der Kaay and Ainsley Thorpe, lining up in the women's triathlon 24 hours later.
The 23-year-old Wilde, from Whakatane, and Tayler Reid, who was 18th in the men's race, will then join van der Kaay and Thorpe in the mixed team relay event this Saturday – the first time the 300m swim, 8km bike ride and 2km run relay has been contested at an Olympics. Thorpe, Wilde and Reid have already tasted success together claiming bronze at the 2019 ITU world triathlon qualification event in Tokyo.
The women could find it windier and the water choppier on the course than the men encountered, as a typhoon bears down on Tokyo.
The not-so-good-news
Ella Williams just couldn't catch a break on Monday, her Olympic surfing debut coming to an end in the third round, knocked out by Brisa Hennessey of Costa Rica.
The 26-year-old from Whangamata got through to the top 16 and didn’t waste any time getting started, picking up a smaller wave within 30 seconds of the clock starting. But Williams trailed Hennessey throughout the heat; the Costa Rican putting together a final combined score of 12 (6.5 and 5.5) out of 20 to Williams' 7.73.
The surfing at Tsurigasaki Beach wasn't ideal for larger scoring wave opportunities, but Hennessey made the most of what was on offer, getting up for 10 wave attempts to Williams' five.
And after her first three disappointing rounds, New Zealand's first skeet shooter Chloe Tipple shot her best in the last two – hitting 46 out of 50 targets – to end with a total of 108. Unfortunately for the 30-year-old, who was 13th in Rio, it was too little, too late, this time around - finishing 27th in a field of 28.
Tipple's lead up to the Games was life-altering, when her mother unexpectedly died from a brain aneurysm early last year. A lengthy break from shooting, and rocky training arrangements through Covid-19, weren't easy to deal with.
New Zealand's long distance swimmers Eve Thomas and Hayley McIntosh finished fourth and sixth respectively in their 1500m freestyle heat on Monday night, but their times weren't fast enough to progress them through to the final, where Ledecky is again favourite to win the inaugural Olympic gold (the first time 1500m has been on the Olympic programme).
And if the organising committee doesn't have enough on their plates, the weather continues to wreak havoc, with the rowing scheduled for Tuesday delayed another day or two as the grade three tropical storm looms.
What the?!
You know you’ve hit new heights when Twitter creates a personalised icon for you. Simone Biles has become the first Olympic athlete to have an emoji dedicated to her, in the form of a goat (for Greatest of All Time, in case you didn't know) named Goldie. When you use the hashtag #SimonBiles or #Simone, Goldie - wearing a leotard with a gold medal - performs a split leap.
Biles is in good icon company with NFL Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady.
The iconic American gymnast won four gold medals and one bronze at Rio, but she uncharacteristically struggled - along with her US team-mates, in the opening day of qualifying. Despite the slow start, Biles still leads in the all-around standings - and still has the potential to win six medals in Tokyo.
Another legend of the sport, Oksana Chusovitina, bowed out of her eighth Olympics after failing to qualify for the top eight in the vault. Competitors and officials gave the 46-year-old a standing ovation as she left the floor.
Chusovitina has not missed a Games since 1992, where she won gold in the teams for the Unified team (before most of her competitors in Tokyo were even born). She's also represented the Soviet Union, Germany and finally, Uzbekistan.
Rikki's pick
Rikki Swannell has given her daily pick for Tuesday to Luuka Jones – who's heading into the semifinals, and hopefully final, of the canoe slalom (the top 10 go through to the final).
“Jones became our first canoe slalom Olympian when she competed as a teenager in Beijing and is now at her fourth Games. She produced a stunning run in the final in Rio to win silver,” says Swannell.
“The paddler from Tauranga [shout-out to Otumoetai College!] came into these Games a little under the radar, but her second preliminary run changed all that, qualifying third-fastest for the semis.”
Who's up on Tuesday
TRIATHLON: Nicole van der Kay, Ainsley Thorpe, individual race, 9:30am
SWIMMING: Erika Fairweather, 200m freestyle semifinal, 1:30pm
SAILING: Alex Maloney and Molly Meech, 49erFX, 3pm
CANOE SLALOM: Luuka Jones, K1 semifinals and final, 5pm and 7pm.
FOOTBALL: Football Ferns v Sweden, 8pm
