NZEDGE Sport — New Zealand's global sports news and reports from global media

Big Red Mystery Solved

Renowned New Zealand-bred gelding Phar Lap, who won 37 of his 51 starts and the 1930 Melbourne Cup was killed by arsenic poisoning in 1932, scientists have confirmed after decades of speculation. A handwritten…

Colorado’s Horse Surgeon

New Zealand-born veterinarian and world authority on equine joints, Dr Wayne McIlwraith is the director of Colorado State University’s Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, each year performing as many as 500 surgeries on racing thoroughbreds….

Double Victory

New Zealanders Bevan Docherty and Samantha Warriner each made podium finishes in the triathlon world championships in Vancouver, Docherty taking second place in the men’s elite and Warriner third in the women’s. New Zealand-born…

Spontaneous Hors Concurs

Mark Todd, 51, and his Olympic stead, 10-year-old Gandalf made for a surprise entry at a Lincolnshire dressage show. Trudy Clark, who runs twice-monthly affiliated competitions at Elms Farm Equestrian Centre, could barely believe…

Reed Races for US

Palmerston North-born Matt Reed is 6-foot-5 and the world’s tallest triathelete. Two weeks ago Reed, 32, won the US men’s team trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and secured a place on the American Olympic team….

Nadal’s NZ Predecessor

Christchurch-born and educated Anthony Wilding was a world tennis champion from 1911-1914, and up until this week held a 90-year undefeated consecutive record for winning four titles in Monte Carlo. Overall, Wilding…

Gold in Manchester

New Zealander Hayden Godfrey has won the men’s omnium title at the track cycling world championships in Manchester. The omnium was introduced at world championship level last year and includes five events: the…

Chopper Challenge

Mount Cook National Park is to host the 2008 World Heli Challenge over two weeks in August. After a six-year hiatus the competition, deemed the most legendary freeriding and freeskiing event on the planet,…

Alaskan War Chant

Taranaki basketball player Jeremiah Trueman, 19, has introduced New Zealand’s haka to his Alaskan team, the UAA Seawolves, and the crowds love it. Trueman, a junior transfer to the Seawolves, said he was trying…

Snell’s Still Running

Olympic champion and New Zealand’s greatest athlete of the 20th century Peter Snell looks back over the last 70 years and discusses, age, Auckland and Arthur Lydiard. Now based in Dallas and…

Skier Continues Streak

Otago paralympian Adam Hall has slalomed to yet another victory at the Wells Fargo Disabled Invitational at Winter Park in Colorado, climbing to the top of the medal table winning gold, his seventh medal this…

NZ Makes a Dash

Seachange is primed to be the first ever New Zealand-trained horse to race at Royal Ascot. She will contest the Group Two Windsor Forest Stakes over a mile in June, if she wins…

Hall Takes out Huntsman

Paralympian ski racer Adam Hall has become the first New Zealander to win the United States’prestigious Huntsman Cup. The 20-year-old from Outram won seven gold medals in a row to claim the Cup,…

Beckham Fever Hits Wellington

David Beckham‘s Australasian tour with the LA Galaxy was a resounding success for NZ soccer. A record crowd of 31,853 turned up to see the Galaxy play newly minted NZ side the Wellington Phoenix at…

NZ Proposes Winter Games

An interim board is developing a proposal to launch the inaugural New Zealand Winter Games in 2009. The aim of the Winter Games is to provide elite winter athletes from Pacific Rim countries with off-season training…

Painful Memories

Two NZ athletes feature in a list of sport’s 20 worst injuries, as chosen by The Times of South Africa. Cricketer Trevor Franklin is ranked 17th and former All Black captain Buck Shelford 15th in a…

Home-grown Steeds Sweep Melbourne

NZ-bred horses made an extraordinary clean sweep of this year’s Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne. Last year’s Victoria Derby champion, Efficient, was the surprise winner of the Melbourne Cup, streaking past European entries Purple Moon and Mahler…

Trans-Tasman Netball Goes Semi-professional

A new trans-Tasman netball tournament will be launched in April next year, bringing together five teams each from NZ and Australia. The Tasman Trophy has secured ANZ Bank as its naming rights sponsor, and will screen…

Triathlon Success in Rhodes

Kris Gemmell is the latest in a string of NZ athletes to win a World Cup triathlon event this year. Gemmell finished first at the inaugural Rhodes World Cup in Greece, beating the UK’s Alistair…

Car-boot Camaraderie

With its own spring carnival brought down by horse flu, the Sydney Morning Herald sent writer Rachel Oakes-Ash across the Tasman to check out NZ’s racing season. Oakes-Ash headed south for the Christchurch Casino Cup and…

Beckham Boots Up for Wellington

Soccer star David Beckham will join his team Los Angeles Galaxy in a $2 million exhibition match against Wellington Phoenix. “We as the club are bearing most of the costs,” said Phoenix owner Terry Serepisos….

Taipei Gold Rush

NZ athletes have won seven gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the 2007 IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games in Taipei, Taiwan. Christchurch swimmer Sophie Pascoe topped the medal haul, winning four gold medals…

Keeper Scores ManU Tryout

NZ soccer goalkeeper Jacob Gleeson flies to England next month to trial for two major Premier League clubs. The 17-year-old Wellingtonian so impressed scouts at the U-17 World Cup in South Korea last month that he secured…

Order of Merit for Lomu and Fagan

Two NZ sports greats were made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit at this year’s investiture ceremony. All Black legend Jonah Lomu and sheep shearing champion David Fagan (pictured) both received…

Golden Vili

Shot put star Valerie Vili has won gold at the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Vili threw a personal best of 20.54 meters, beating defending champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus by six centimetres. “It’s pretty…

Fifth Win for Warriner

NZ athletes made another strong showing in the eleventh leg of the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup Series. The event in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, saw three podium finishes for NZ competitors. Samantha Warriner became the first NZ…

Marathon Medal Prospect

Auckland runner Nina Rillstone finished third in the New York City Half-Marathon, just seconds behind Kenyans Hilda Kibet and Catherine Ndereba. The NZ record holder made a career best time of 1:10:35 – three seconds…

Golden Axes

NZ athletes dominated at the 48th annual Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin. Jason Wynyard beat fellow New Zealanders David Bolstad and Dion Lane to win his ninth All-Around Lumberjack title. The Aucklander described the…

1,3 NZ Finish in Austria

Christchurch Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Andrea Hewitt has won her first World Cup triathlon title at Kitzbuhel, Austria. The 25-year-old beat Austrian Eva Dollinger by three seconds in a sprint finish, after leading the field in…

Fourth World Cup for Docherty

NZ Olympic silver medallist Bevan Docherty has won his fourth International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup at Edmonton, Canada. Docherty’s win is the culmination of seven straight top-eight finishes and boosts him to second place on the…

Wet Win in Vancouver

Whangarei triathlete Samantha Warriner has won the US $100,000 BG Triathlon World Cup in Vancouver, clawing back from 20th place to beat American Sarah Haskins and Australian Erin Densham in wet and cold conditions. “The rain coming…

New Era for NZ Golf Open

Jeweller Michael Hill’s private golf club has been unveiled as the NZ Open venue for the next three years. Designed by landscape architect John Darby, the Hills Golf Club covers 202 hectares of land in Arrowtown, just…

Phoenix on the Rise

A Wellington-based franchise is to replace Auckland’s NZ Knights in the Australian A-League soccer competition beginning in August. Wellington Phoenix will be the eighth team in the 2007-2008 series, which runs for 21 rounds up until next…

NZ Triathletes Dominate at Ishigaki

NZ athletes dominated at Japan’s Ishigaki Island World Cup series triathlon, despite their lack of a gold medal finish. Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, Shane Reed and Andrew Hewitt finished second, third, fourth and sixth in the…

Mason Wins at Raglan

NZ surfer Airini Mason has scored her second Billabong Pro Junior Series title for 2007 by winning the girls’ division of the $13,000 Raglan leg. The 18-year-old beat pre-event ratings leader Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa,…

Double Victory in Pakistan

NZ cyclists Robin Reid and Justin Kerr have completed a 1-2 victory in the annual Tour de Pakistan road race. Reid won the gruelling 1,648km rally with a time of 44 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds….

Victory in Hong Kong

NZ horse trainer Paul O’Sullivan has leapt to second place on the trainer’s premiership table thanks to a stunning feature win in Hong Kong. Together with Australian jockey Brett Prebble and NZ-bred horse Vital King, O’Sullivan won…

Impossible is Nothing to Lomu

All Black legend Jonah Lomu is one of 21 elite athletes to feature in the latest advertising campaign by Adidas. Titled Impossible is Nothing, the series shows internationally recognised sports figures discussing how they overcame adversity in their…

Home Soil Advantage

NZ has been named the new host of the 2007 world netball championships, after Fiji lost the rights following its recent military coup. The event has been moved from July to November to allow NZ time…

Another Title for Kitchen

NZ’s Shelley Kitchen has won her twelfth Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) title, beating Tegwen Malik of Wales 3-1 in the World Tour’s Oslo Open in Norway. Adding to the pleasure, it was Kitchen’s 27th…

Superstar in Waiting

Kiwi basketball sensation Jessica McCormack, 17, has signed with the University of Washington in Seattle, The 1.94m teenager won a Commonwealth Games silver medal this year with the Tall Ferns, for whom she has…

The Money’s on Efficient

NZ-bred horse Efficient has been dubbed “racing’s next big thing” in the Australian press after winning the AU$1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington. The three-year-old gelding’s win earned him the right to enter the Melbourne…

Going the Distance

NZ distance runner Kim Smith came second in the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile, held in New York on 30 September. The 24-year-old was a four-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion while at Providence College in Rhode…

More medals for Vili and Willis

NZ athletes won two medals at the IAAF World Cup of Athletics in Athens this month. Valerie Vili followed up her Commonwealth Games gold by winning the women’s shotput event, with a throw of 19.87m. Fellow…

World Descends on Rotorua

Rotorua’s Mt Ngongotaha played host to the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships from August 23-27, the first time the event has been held in the southern hemisphere in ten years. The Rotorua cycling community had campaigned for…

History Maker Remembered

International archery associations and Olympic committees have paid tribute to Neroli Fairhall, who has died aged 61. Fairhall won a gold medal in archery for NZ at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in…

Return to Peak Form

Commonwealth Games medallist and Olympian, Greg Henderson, marked his return to form with a convincing win at the inaugural Commerce Bank Reading Cycling Classic in Philadelphia, USA. Riding for the Health Net-Maxxis team, Henderson beat Uzbekistan’s Sergey…