Lydia Ko Sets Tournament Record to Win Lotte
No one came close to New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko at last week’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii on the course of the Kapolei Golf Club, the Associated Press reports. Ko torched Club and tournament…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
World Cup Giant Slalom Win for Alice Robinson
An aggressive second run lifted New Zealand teenager Alice Robinson ahead of American Mikaela Shiffrin to win a giant slalom that ended the women’s World Cup ski season recently in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The Associated…
Scrabble King Nigel Richards a Great Enigma
With the Australian Scrabble Championships held over Easter weekend, The Guardian’s Emma Kemp profiled both young and old players competing for the title. When the name of world champion New Zealander Nigel Richards is…
Aotearoa Women’s Surfing Breaking Stereotypes
Though movements to boost women’s participation in surfing are taking off in the Pacific region, New Zealand mother-of-two Kelly Murphy remembers the challenges she faced as a teenager trying to make a career out…
Team New Zealand Glides Home to Win Cup Again
Team New Zealand has retained the America’s Cup, “speeding away from its Italian challenger Luna Rossa to claim sailing’s biggest prize in its home waters,” Andrew Das reports for The New York Times. The victory…
Chopper Pilot Tony Monk Adds Drama to Cup
The America’s Cup scene-stealer this week may be the supporting actor that has been racing them: the helicopter filming the races between Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa for international television broadcasts,…
Can You Have an America’s Cup Without Americans?
“After a few weeks of intense sailing competition for the qualifying Prada Cup, the Italian boat Luna Rossa, left the American boat Patriot and the British entry Britannia 11 in her wake. The America’s…
Dominant Victory for Māori Ferns in Townsville
NZ Māori Ferns “delivered an emphatic 24-0 win over the Indigenous All Stars” in “a thoroughly one-sided” contest played out in Townsville, Todd Balym writes for NRL News. Not only did the Māori side keep…
Spectacularly Good Dan Carter Calls it Quits
“News of Dan Carter’s retirement sends me back to that match, the second Test against the British and Irish Lions at Wellington in 2005, the greatest he ever played. Watching it…
All Blacks Face Hosts in Blockbuster ‘23 Cup Opener
“The 2023 Rugby World Cup will open on a Friday night in Paris when France, the hosts, take on New Zealand, at the very least the sport’s most famous team, and usually its best….
Fifa Exec Sarai Bareman Understands the Margins
From her time as a player on the Samoan women’s national team to becoming deputy secretary general of the tiny Oceania Football Confederation, few people are better suited to addressing the challenges faced by…
Shearing World Record Broken by Megan Whitehead
Gore shearer Megan Whitehead, 24, recently took on a nine-hour-long challenge officiated by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, shearing 661 strong wool lambs in the time period to beat the previous solo women’s…
New Zealand’s Sophie Devine scores 36-ball hundred, fastest-ever in women’s T20 cricket
Less than a month after being named in the ICC’s Women’s T20 Team of the Decade, New Zealand captain Sophie Devine has made headlines again by smashing the fastest-ever Women’s T20 hundred with a…
Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks a Slam Dunk
General manager of basketball team the Brooklyn Nets, New Zealander Sean Marks, 45, ended up getting the job and producing a miracle turnaround while transforming Brooklyn into a prime destination that superstars Kevin Durant and…
World’s Top-Ranked Team Shaped by Kane Williamson
“After beating Pakistan by an innings and 176 runs in the second Test of a series they swept 2-0, New Zealand (a country with the total population around half that of London, and a…
Richie McCaw World Rugby Player of the Decade
New Zealand’s two-time Rugby World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw has been named men’s player of the decade by World Rugby, Reuters reports in an article published online by The Guardian. McCaw, 39, who led…
Football Talent Liberato Cacace Moves to Belgium
Wellington-born Liberato Cacace, 20, wants to imitate childhood hero Paolo Maldini by one day donning the captain’s armband for his national team, South China Morning Post sports journalist Andrew McNicol writes. The left wing-back, who…
Lewis Hamilton’s Physio Sidekick is Angela Cullen
Across a race weekend, New Zealand-born Switzerland-based physiotherapist Angela Cullen is a near-constant presence at the side of her harge Lewis Hamilton – a fact which has even earned her cult status among some…
Sixth IndyCar Title for Racing Legend Scott Dixon
Each of Scott Dixon’s six NTT IndyCar Series championships have bent to unique arcs, Marshall Pruett reports for American motorsports magazine, Racer. With his latest, earned late October in a thriller on the streets…
All Blacks Inflict Record Defeat on Wallabies
“New Zealand served up a Halloween nightmare for an inexperienced Wallabies side by romping to a record 43-5 victory in the Tri-Nations opener and claiming the Bledisloe Cup for an 18th successive year,”…
Racer Scott McLaughlin Switches Super for Indy
Team Penske has announced three-time defending Supercars champion, Hamilton-born Scott McLaughlin, 27, will drive Indy cars full-time starting in 2021, Nathan Brown reports for The Indianapolis Star. Roughly 18 months ago, team owner Roger Penske and…
UFC Superstar Israel Adesanya Makes It Look Easy
UFC 4 video game cover star Nigerian-New Zealander Israel Adesanya, 31, tweets “what EA curse?” after emphatic victory over Paulo Costa on Fight Island, Andrew Whitelaw writes in his South China Morning Post column,…
Supercar Driver Scott McLaughlin Makes History
Christchurch-born Scott McLaughlin, 27, from the Shell V-Power Racing Team has put himself in rare company in the pantheon of Australian touring car racing by taking out the Supercar drivers championship for the third…
Auckland Student Aysha Hussan Aims High
At just 14, track athlete and netballer Aysha Hussan has already achieved so much, including as the New Zealand face on the Muslim Women in Sports Powerlist 2020, alongside 34 other women involved…
Bayern Munich and Nuremberg Share Sarpreet Singh
It has been just over a year since Sarpreet Singh, 21, officially joined the Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich, at number 10. The former Wellington Phoenix player is not only the first footballer of Indian…
NBL’s Hawks Sign Teen Rising Star Max Darling
Australian professional basketball team The Hawks has added one of New Zealand’s top young players for the 2020-21 NBL season, signing forward Max Darling to a three-year deal, Olgun Uluc reports for ESPN. Like every…
Looking Back at a Squash Legacy With Susan Devoy
In recognition of Rotorua-born squash player Susan Devoy’s exalted status PSA website caught up with the sport’s only ‘Dame’, who ranks only behind the great Heather McKay and Malaysian legend Nicol David in the major…
Scarlets Names Sean Fitzpatrick Board Member
Welsh rugby team Scarlets has appointed legendary former New Zealand captain and World Cup winner Sean Fitzpatrick, 57, as a new board member, the BBC reports. Fitzpatrick joins as a non-executive director and global ambassador. “I’m…
Third Straight Win for Scott Dixon at Road America
Winning an IndyCar race is nothing new for New Zealander Scott Dixon, particularly this year. But getting to celebrate as fans cheered him on for the first time all year made his victory at…
UFC Champ Israel Adesanya on Cover of Video Game
The newest Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) video game has been announced – and on the cover, is New Zealander Israel Adesanya (pictured right). ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reports. Middleweight champion Adesanya and American welterweight star Jorge…
Hugh McCutcheon’s Minnesota Gophers the #1 USA Women’s College Volleyball Pick for 2020
Christchurch-born Olympic Gold Medal volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, in his eighth year as coach of the University of Minnesota’s women’s volleyball team The Gophers, is preparing for the 2020 season with his incoming team…
All Black Beauden Barrett Signs with Suntory
All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett, 29, will play for the Suntory Sungoliath in Japan’s Top League next season, which starts in January 2021, Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun reports. Barrett, a two-time recipient of the…
Travel Lockdown a Blessing for US Surfers
Back in March, photographer Ridge BenBen and surfer Joe Kisling, both from the US, travelled to the South Island for the Single Fin Mingle logging contest, an annual event that describes itself as a…
One-Off Jonah Lomu Broke Barriers and Tackles
It is exactly 25 years since Jonah Lomu flattened Mike Catt to score at the Rugby World Cup, where the All Black transformed into a superstar, Paul Rees writes for The Guardian. “When Lomu arrived…
IndyCar’s Scott Dixon Wins in Texas
IndyCar packed every bit of its delayed season-opening event into one long, hot day at Fort Worth, Texas without any fans in the stands. New Zealander Scott Dixon was the fastest for most of…
Sam Cane is Ready for New Zealand’s Top Rugby Job
Like former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who learned his craft on the pastoral planes of the Mackenzie Country, the freshly appointed Sam Cane’s rural background in Reporoa, Waikato has become a fundamental part…
AlphaTauri’s Graham Watson Explains His F1 Job
New Zealander Graham Watson, the team manager of Italy’s AlphaTauri, talks to Autosport about his job in Formula 1. Watson, who is originally from Pukekohe, started off in rallying before taking his first steps in…
McLaren Remembers Life of Brilliant Founder
“Fifty years after , the company he started remembers its brilliant, fearless leader,” Tony Davis writes for The…
Joseph Parker Self-Isolation’s Greatest Showman
Professional heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker, 28, has proved himself one of the great surprises to rise from the pandemic-induced global lockdown, according to UK-based The Sportsman. While the rest of the world turned to…
Football Forward Katie Rood Embraces Veganism
“I have gone from five years of continuous injuries to five years with almost nothing,” professional footballer Katie Rood, 27, tells The Guardian’s Suzanne Wrack. The change? In 2015 the New Zealand international and…
When John Walker Ran the Forgotten Mile in 1977
Everyone remembers the cricket but few recall the day New Zealand running hero John Walker took to the track in Melbourne, Adam Collins writes for The Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. It started with…
Looking Back at the Wimbledon of Anthony Wilding
Now that the Wimbledon Championships have officially been cancelled because of the outbreak of the coronavirus and COVID-19 disease, Forbes looks at other years the world’s most famous tennis event was disrupted, including the…
Tricky Golf Moves With Tania Tare
Auckland-born Tania Tare is one of the world’s most recognisable trick-shot artists and has amassed over 300,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Golf Australia reports. In an interview with the sporting publication, Tare…
Blyth Tait Calls Time on Second Eventing Career
Former Olympic and world champion New Zealander Blyth Tait has retired from eventing for a second time, aged 58, Britain’s Horse & Hound magazine reports. Tait had had his eye on a fifth Olympic Games…
Corbin Strong Cycles From Strength to Strength
Southlander Corbin Strong, 19, was laid up in a back brace two years ago, stitches holding together a gaping wound in his leg. He had been training on a back road when a car…
Mexico E-Prix Won by Jaguar’s Dominant Mitch Evans
Taking a risk paid off for Aucklander Mitch Evans, 25, as the Jaguar driver secured victory in an action-packed Mexico E-Prix with a fearless overtake at the first corner, Aimee Lewis reports for CNN. Before…
Tennis Freshman Kate Bolton Making Friends in US
California State University, Stanislaus, women’s tennis has a new face – and a new voice – in 19-year-old Wellington-born freshman Kate Bolton, local newspaper, The Modesto Bee reports. Bolton, who attended Queen Margaret College, has…
Fiji Names Vern Cotter Rugby Head Coach
Former Scotland coach New Zealand-born Vern Cotter, 58, has been named the new head coach of the Fiji rugby team, Associated Press reports in a story published by The Japan Times. Cotter succeeds Australian John…
Shot Put Champ Valerie Adams off to Olympics
Double shot-put champion Valerie Adams, 35, has qualified for her fifth Olympic Games after the New Zealander spent almost two years out of competition, Reuters reports in a story published by The New York…
NXT Star Dakota Kai Reinvents Herself Post-Injury
Professional wrestler Auckland-born Dakota Kai, 31, is quickly becoming an indispensable piece of popular television programme, WWE NXT’s success, Jason Barrosso reports for Sports Illustrated magazine. Kai, real name Cheree Crowley, played the underdog babyface…
Gatland’s Gate Honours Former Wales Coach
New Zealander Warren Gatland says he is “humbled” to have been honoured by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) after having a gate at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium named after him, ITV News reports. The main vehicle…
Wallabies Appoint Dave Rennie Coach
New Zealander Dave Rennie has been tasked with resurrecting the Wallabies, replacing Michael Cheika as head coach in a deal that will take him through to the 2023 World Cup, Pascal Guyot reports in…
First for Surfskier Danielle McKenzie in Hong Kong
World champion surfskier New Zealander Danielle McKenzie proved that winning the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in France in September was no fluke when she backed up her performance in Hong Kong recently…
Sonny Bill Williams’ Toronto Signing Makes Waves
A long-time member of the famed All Blacks, who has won the Rugby World Cup twice and represented New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sonny Bill Williams is a superstar of the highest…
Irish Rugby Bids Farewell to Coach Joe Schmidt
Failing a second time to lead Ireland to a first Rugby World Cup semifinal will haunt New Zealander Joe Schmidt, who steps down as coach following six transformative years, AP journalist Foster Niumata writes…
Scott McLaughlin Wins Bathurst 1000
Supercars series leader Christchurch-born Scott McLaughlin, 26, claimed a maiden Bathurst 1000 title at Mount Panorama after a dramatic finish, the Australian Associated Press reports in a story published on The Guardian’s news site. Ford’s McLaughlin…
