New Zealand rower Emma Twigg has just missed defending her women’s single sculls Olympic title.
The Tokyo gold medallist’s late charge at world champion Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands came up just short at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Day 8 of the Paris Olympics.
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The pair were the only scullers in contention during the race and were within a half a boat length of each other over the last 500m.
Twigg started well, but it was Florijn, 11 years her junior and the two-time reigning world champion, who held the lead from almost start to finish and never let Twigg get ahead.
In the end, Florijn won in 7 minutes 17.28 seconds, Twigg was almost two seconds behind and Lithuanian Viktorija Senkute was third another second-and-a-half back.
Twigg’s single sculls placings in successive Olympics have been ninth, fourth, fourth, first and second, along with one title, four second-placings and two thirds at world championships.
The 37-year-old was delighted with her performance in the final, saying: "It feels as good as gold did three years ago. Honestly, I'm super proud of that race. I really just went for it."
Twigg said she looked across at Florijn with about 500m remaining and thought there was a chance to catch her, but her legs gave up on her.
"But I'm stoked - what a way to finish my career. It's amazing to come away with a medal, and to be part of a wider team effort. It's just blown my mind."
"I was proud after Tokyo. So this was always going to be a cherry on top. And it certainly had its ups and downs. Even until a month or so ago, I was really questioning whether I'd be here and in good form, so this week's been a blast for me, and I didn't want it to end, really.
"After that race I'm quite happy that that will be the last."
It was the seventh medal for the New Zealand team, four of them coming in rowing over the last three days.
Meanwhile, Kiwi Tom Mackintosh has finished fifth in the men’s single sculls final.
Mackintosh sitting fourth after the first 500m but moved into bronze medal position by the halfway mark and held that through the 1500m.
However, in a race won comfortably by German Oliver Zeidler, he was overwhelmed by fast finishes from Yauheni Zakary, and AIN athlete, and Belgian Tim Brys.
The race was delayed for an hour due to athlete transportation issues from the Olympic Village to the rowing venue, taking place after the eights finals.