BUENOS AIRES 2018: Australia won its first, second and third gold medals of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in a phenomenal day of competition across Buenos Aires.
Golfer Grace Kim opened Australia’s goldrush with a three stroke win at Hurlingham Golf Club, claiming gold over Italy’s Alessia Nobilio and Austria’s Emma Spitz.
“That was amazing, I’m blown away! It’s so special to win an Olympic medal,” the 17-year-old said.
Not to be outdone, men’s golfer “Koala” Karl Vilips staged a massive comeback in the final seven holes to take gold in the men’s competition.
“To be able to win one of the first gold medals for Australia is incredible, I can’t describe it,” US-based Vilips said.
“It feels great, a lot of hard work has paid off and it feels special to beat a stellar field like this.”
Read more about golf’s golden double HERE
It was redemption at Green Park’s triathlon course, with Charlotte Derbyshire and Josh Ferris bouncing back from 18th respectively in their individual events to prove their prowess on the international stage.
The Aussie team joined forces with Team NZ to win silver in the Mixed Team Triathlon event, just 20 seconds behind gold medallists Team Europe 1.
“It’s really good competing in a Team event for a change,” Derbyshire said.
“It’s a lot of fun, the pressure is not all on you, it’s shared with your teammates which makes for really fun racing.
“I’m really happy with my performance today, as I was pretty disappointed with my individual race, so I’m happy to have done a race that I’m proud of.”
Seventeen-year-old Ferris echoed his teammates thoughts,
“It feels awesome to take the silver today, this team is such a good group of people, I couldn’t be happier for all of us, it’s really special,” he said.
At the pool, Kaylee McKeown sprinted to her first gold of the Games, touching out Russia’s Daria Vasinka in the 50m backstroke, taking her individual haul to 1 gold, 2 silver and bronze.
While usually sticking with the 100m and 200m backstroke, Australia may have unearthed another backstroke sprint star with McKeown finishing in a scorching 28.28.
“I haven’t trained for the 50m before, so to get a gold medal for Australia to add to the tally is really exciting for me,” she said.
“I’m just really proud of the teammates I’m here with. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I did, they’re with me every step of the way.”
Freestyler Abbey Webb just missed out on the 50m freestyle finals, finishing 0.06 outside the prized 8th spot in her semi. Ashton Brinkworth finished 12th in the 100m free semis, with Joseph Jackson bowing out in the heats. Michaela Ryan finished 10th in her 100m fly semi-final.
Over on the hockey pitch the Aussie men and women both continued their fine form, with the men securing another win against Austria 2-0 and the women tying Mexico in a 1-1 nail biter.
Athletics kicked off at the Youth Olympic Park, with promising scenes from the Aussies.
Australian Flag bearer Keely Small placed first in the 800m heats and 100m hurdler Sophie White placed second with an impressive time of 13.39 seconds.
High Jumper Oscar Miers placed seventh in his qualification round with a leap of 2.05m while discus thrower Sally Shokry notched 44.56 to sit 11th and 400m runner Keegan Bell clocked 49.58 to finish second in his heat.
Australia’s beach volleyball women, Tiaan Smith and Lauren Taylor went down to the Swedes 0-2 to finish their campaign.
Aussie kiteboarder Mani Bisschops finished 11th,, while windsurfer Alex Halank finished 13th in race 10, 11th in race 11 and 13th in race 12 on a windy day at Club Nautico san Isidro.
Shooter Victoria Rossiter teamed up with Armenian Hayk Babayan in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed International Team quarterfinal where they were knocked out of medal contention by Russia’s Anastasiia Dereviagina and Mexico’s Edson Ismael Ramirez Ramos.
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