v3 updated at breakfast for Ethan, Johs, Carolina and Richard commentaries.
v4, correction. We all thought Paige had a bronze for patterns but we learned at the medal ceremony that she was 4th.
What a day! 13 hours from start to end but the team came away with one gold plus a play off for gold delayed until tomorrow morning, 4 silver medals and 5 bronze medals.
Here’s a summary of our team’s competition…
Jason Fraser, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Jason won 1st round then lost to Germany.
Thu Thach, individual senior femal 3rd dan patterns
Thu won vs Poland then lost next round.
Mathew Hartigan, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns
Matt lost to Columbia after a costly mistake when he missed out a turn in Choong-Jang, finishing up facing the wrong way. He was much sharper than the Columbian so it was bad luck.
Ethan Parker, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Ethan won 1st round against Netherlands then lost 2nd round against Hungary.
Chanthie Thach, individual senior female 2nd dan patterns
Chanthie won 1st round, lost 2nd round against the reigning world champ from Argentina - who again went on to win the gold.
Paige Moki, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Paige won her first match - she was looking really strong, huge amounts of power gave her the win. The second round is up straight after her first match as she was the only person in her division without a bye to the second round - this time she's against Slovenia. The slovenian is good, very technical - Paige blows her out of the ring with her power and crispness - win, on to the semis; vs Poland. Like the Slovenian, the Pole is very technical, but also has huge power in each movement. Loss to Paige.
Carl Van Roon, individual senior male special technique – Gold Medal
Carl was up early in his division and was disappointed to succeed in three out of the five challenges. It was then a painfully long wait to see how the other contestants did. Today was not a good one for special technique with most competitors being very unsuccessful. Some thought that it was the new mats which were quite slippery but others felt there was less room for run-ups than at previous world championships.
Johs Van Pierce, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Johs was up against Spain and drew then lost the tie breaker. Slip up in Jun-goon meant Spain just won.
Mark Trotter, individual senior male 4th dan patterns – Silver Medal
Mark was up aganst Slovinia, an incredible display of leg control from both, both choose Moon-Moo as the optional, Mark's kicks are more steady and he looks far sharper - win. He went on to the quarter final vs Puerto Rico - also a good competitor, not good enough though - win to Mark. In the semi final Mark was facing the Hungarian who came 2nd in Germany in 2005 - a close match against a very experienced opponant but Mark pulled through and won. Forward to the final against Jaroslaw Suska of Poland - 2 times world champ - Suska is built bigger than Mark and harnesses a little more power, but looks tense, Mark has grace and flow - his movements are sharper... its close - but the win goes to Suska - now 3 times World Champ. Silver for Mark.
Jeremy Hanna, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns – Silver Medal
Jeremy has a bye through the first round and is last to compete in the second round of competition - vs Canada. Canada has nice stances and sharp hand movements - Jeremy is better with the legs. Choong-Jang for both optionals and Kwang-Gae for designated - its close - a draw! Eui-Am tul for tie breaker, Jeremy stops his reverse turning kicks bang on the money, looking sharp. Win to Jeremy.
3rd round vs USA - Jeremy has more power and steadier kicks - another win, into the semis. Up against Poland - both Strong, but Jeremy is sharper - win and into the finals against Canada!
Jeremy's opponant was a veteran of 5 world champs - and still only a junior!! Canada chooses Juche as optional, Jeremy sticks with Choong-Jang - both look strong, sharp and powerful, designated is Poe-Eun tul, again it's too close to call - draw!! Tie breaker is Kwang-Gae tul - still really close.... Win to Canada though - Silver for Jeremy.
Carolina Dillen, individual senior female 1st dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Had a bye for round 1. Won 1st round against Chile, wins next round then lost in semis to Finland; bronze medal.
Shane Black, individual junior male special technique – Silver Medal
Shane looks strong as he comes out - a mammoth jump and manages to scrape the high kick (no one else hit), but unfortunately takes a fall on the landing. Nails the turning kick and reverse with ease - he had huge height and power in the mid-air but unfortunately his foot missed on the way up by an inch. Hits the otherhead kick. Shane missed out on a gold to Argentina by one point.
Estee Spiers, individual senior women’s special technique
Estee narrowly misses the high kick, nails the turning kick for two points and picks up the tape on the overhead - still in the lead though. Carlie Dann from Aussie out muscles Estee with 3points, and Poland nais the turning and overhead for 4. Estee goes into a tiebreaker with three other countries for 3rd, Estee hits the turning but only 1 point is awarded - Canada puts the board round all the way for the bronze. Estee comes 4th.
Lunch break…
Richard Lavin, individual senior male 3rd dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Richard Lavin wins round 1 against Slovinia who were strong. Goes through second round beating Australia. In the third round Richie faces past NZ team member Hong Looi (now competing for Malasia) he draws this round twice then wins with Joong-gun!! However he was stopped in the semis and takes bronze.
Regan Diggelmann, individual senior male 1st dan patterns
Lost a close one to Japan. Regan looked sharp and it must have been very close.
Melissa Timberley, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Melissa wins 1st round, loses 2nd round to last years rival from Argentina.
Junior boys team patterns – Silver Medal
The junior boy’s team patterns look awesome, wiping out Poland and into the quarter finals with USA. Next round easily bet USA. Italy are our next opponants - the boys look good but make a few mistakes under pressure, they manage to pull through for a win and now face Argentina in the finals. It's a faultless display from both teams NZ more powerful and better timing, Agrentina has impressive staggers and are very technical. Its close!! The boys are held to a silver - but Master Davidson (jury president for the ring) said that it was far too close to call apparently the judges had it ARG - ARG - ARG - DRAW - NZL - NZL. One point in it!!
Senior women’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Lose to Argentina in the second round; take home bronze.
Junior girl’s team patterns – Silver Medal
The girls look awesome, hair platted the same way, NZ headbands and put on a great performance. 1st up against Ireland and win. Continue through a few more rounds. Then lose to Poland in the final; silver medal.
Senior men’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Floor shaking, stage thundering - the most powerful team pattern and march I have ever seen! Argentina, however, hold them to a bronze medal.
Senior men’s special technique – play off for gold delayed until the morning.
Again a lot of teams are scoring 0 or just a few points. Carl missed the high kick by mere millimetres, Jon absolutely demolishes the turning kick for 2 points - tied for first place. Clint hits the reverse turning kick but it is disallowed for foot angle. Mark had the height but his foot went under the board on its way up. Regan has a huuuuge jump for the overhead, clears the second tape by a mile, breaks the board, but unfortunately takes the first tape with him. Play off for Gold with a few other countries in the morning.
Opening ceremony featuring the Haka completes the day.
P.S. Everyone agrees it has been a long tough day. We had times when we had three rings going at once and so it was very busy. I missed seeing and photographing some team members competing which is frustrating but with 7 rings to cover it was easy to miss something. The atmosphere was great. It's midnight now, bed time in Quebec.
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