Balvert grabs final medal at Oceania Championships

Otago’s Troy Balvert won a bronze medal in the 10km open water swim in New Caledonia today.

The Waves club swimmer from Dunedin earned the final medal for New Zealand, brining their tally to 16 in all for the week-long championships.

Balvert, coached by Andy Adair, went one better than his fourth placing in the 5km at the start of the week. He was timed at 2:02.30 to finish behind Australians Trent Grimsey and Rhys Mainstone, who reversed their placings from the 5km swim.

Olympic-bound Melissa Gorman, who won the State Ocean Swim series in New Zealand this summer, easily won the women’s race in 2:01.46.