Tahiti and New Caledonia have won the first gold medals of this year's Pacific Games, with Rahiti De Vos and Charlotte Robin taking out the men's and women's open water swimming events.
Rahiti De Vos claims gold at the Pacific Games Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Vinnie Wylie
The 23-year-old De Vos touched home first in the men's 5000m ahead of New Caledonia's Hugo Savignac and Benoit Riviere.
He doesn't usually compete in open water but said he enjoyed it and it felt great to win the first medal of the 2019 Games.
"I think it was us three the whole time until the end and I didn't think too much at the end, I just pushed all out to the finish. I knew before the race when I swam to warm up I looked at the beach from the buoy there and I knew I had to look at the big tree here and follow."
Charlotte Robin defended the women's title she won in Port Moresby four years ago and has now won three open water gold medals from the Pacific Games dating back to 2003.
Charlotte Robin Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Vinnie Wylie
The 33-year-old, who is also the defending women's triathlon champion, said despite a late night at the Games Opening Ceremony she felt good throughout the race and enjoyed the wavy conditions.
"I'm very proud and I was the flag-bearer, so all the team can follow me now...it was a long night yesterday but I feel good this morning and I can sleep well so it's ok."
New Caledonia's Maiana Flament finished second in the women's race with Fiji's Matelita Buadromo finishing third to claim her country's first medal of the 2019 Games.
Meanwhile, hosts Samoa finished just shy of opening their medal tally with a fourth-place finish in both the men's and women's events.
Charlotte Robin defended her title in the women's open water swim. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Vinnie Wylie
