A day of near-misses for the New Zealand team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Weightlifter David Liti has finished fifth after the New Zealand men's pursuit cycling team and men's 470 sailors Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox finished agonisingly short of bronze medals.
Photo: John Cowpland/Photosport Ltd 2021
Liti finished just 10kgs off the podium in the super-heavyweight 109kg+ class, lifting the same total weight as the fourth place finisher from Turkmenistan.
The Commonwealth Games champion equalled his personal best with a combined 414 kilos.
Liti lifted 178kg in the snatch to sit fifth and was third best in the clean and jerk with 236kg.
He told Sky Sport it was nerve-racking.
"There has been a lot of hard work that went into this and I was just nervous I wasn't going to show it," Liti said.
"I'm thankful everything came together but I'm sure next time will be a better performance. I hope it did everybody proud."
Georgian Lasha Talakhadze broke his own world record to retain the title with a combined lift of 488kg.
His total was 47 kilos more than Iran's Ali Davoudi, who took silver. Syria's Man Asaad took the bronze with 424 kg.
Photo: AFP
The New Zealand men's pursuit cycling team has had to settle for fourth at the Olympic velodrome, after Aaron Gate crashed when the Kiwi quartet was leading Australia in the bronze medal ride.
Gate clipped a teammates' wheel shortly after halfway through the 4000 metres.
Campbell Stewart, Jordan Kerby and Regan Gough were unable to recover and Australia lapped New Zealand soon after.
"It couldn't have happened at a worse time," Gough told Sky Sport.
"I was doing sort of what you call a suicide turn and getting out of there and emptied everything I got and ejected and you hear a guy crash and you have to continue."
Italy went on to claim gold in a world record time, beating reigning world champions Denmark in the final.
Meanwhile, Sam Webster is through to the quarterfinals of the men's sprint and Ellesse Andrews has advanced to the quarterfinals of the women's keirin.
Photo: Richard Gladwell/Photosport Ltd 2021
Snow-Hansen and Willcox have been unable to secure New Zealand's second medal of the sailing regatta.
They have finished third in the men's 470 medal race to finish just two points off bronze.
"We're proud of the way we fought for that medal but not quite being able to get across the line is a bitter pill to swallow," Willcox said.
"I think it'll fester away and sink in over time."
Australia won gold, with Sweden claiming silver and Spain bronze.
The silver Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won in the 49er is the only medal the New Zealand sailing team is bringing home from Japan down on Rio, when Kiwis brought home a gold, a silver and a bronze.
