23 Aug 2014

First gold for NZ at Youth Olympics

4:38 pm on 23 August 2014

New Zealand has won its first gold at the Youth Olympic Games, with Dylan Schmidt taking the title in the men's trampoline gymnastics in Nanjing, China.

The New Zealand Youth Olympics Team. Australian Olympic Festival, Sydney, Australia.

The New Zealand Youth Olympics Team. Australian Olympic Festival, Sydney, Australia. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The victory brings New Zealand's medal tally to five - one gold, one silver and three bronze.

Schmidt defeated Chinese favourite and longtime rival Changxin Liu.

A mistake in Schmidt's second routine and final qualifier almost proved costly, with one of his legs collapsing in takeoff.

But the 17-year-old from Auckland fought back in the last five skills of the routine to move through to the final in fourth position.

It was the third and final routine on the trampoline that saw Schmidt soar above his competitors, with a difficulty of 15.400, an execution of 24.600 and a 17.340 time of flight, resulting in an overall score of 57.340.

The winning score was ahead of Chinas' Liu, who scored 56.935 and bronze medal winning Pedro Ribeiro Ferreira from Portugal, who scored 56.040.

The title at the Youth Olympic Games is a confidence booster for Schmidt, with both coach and athlete pointing out the difficult challenges from the past year.

The win for Schmidt comes at just the right time, before the New Zealand national championships and the World Championships in November.