Pacific Mini Games: Tahiti's gold rush continues with two days to go

Tahiti's Salome De Barthez de Marmorieres claimed the first gold of day seven of the Pacific Mini Games on Monday morning, winning the triathlon super sprint.

And with two days to go, Tahiti has more than double the gold medals of anyone else with 59, and 117 medals in total.

Marmorieres beat New Caledonia's pair of Melanie Hallie and Guanaelle Raubey to claim gold in a time of one hour, five minutes and eight seconds.

In the men's triathlon super sprint, the gold went to Tahiti's Noe Delbreil Guyot, who beat two New Caledonians in the race home.

Samoa has 27 gold medals, and Fiji and Australia 22 each.

At the other end of the scale, Norfolk Island and Tokelau remain medal-less.

Tuesday's schedule includes finals for judo, volleyball, and a range of athletics events, including the 200 metres and 1500 metres races.

Samoa continue to ride in second place with 27 gold, 14 silver and 20 bronze, with Fiji sitting at third spot on the table with 22 gold, 27 silver and 21 bronze (with more medals overall than Samoa, but Samoa is ahead on golds).

Australia has 22 gold to their name, Papua New Guinea 16, and Nothern Mariana Islands nine.

Athletics

The Fijians claimed a number of gold medals in athletics, with Pacific Games champion Yeshnil Karan stamping his mark in the men's 5000 metres.

Papua New Guinea claimed five gold on Monday, with their 4x100 metres relay teams dominating in the finals.

Team PNG men's team finished ahead of Fiji and Samoa, while their women's quartet beat both Fiji and Tahiti to the finish line.

Tahiti's Kiara Gilroy claimed the gold in the women's 100 metres hurdles final, and the men's 110 metres hurdles saw Fiji's Errol Qaqa beat the challenge from Samoa's Maika Pedro and Australia's Alex Dunn.

Qaqa clocked 14.59 seconds, with Pedro taking silver in 15.61 and Dunn finishing the race in 15.73.

Qaqa told the media later the win was something he had worked on during his preparation in Fiji.

"That was the plan from the very beginning," he said.

"Being one of the senior athletes you had to lead by example, so I am glad I was able to go through with the gold.

"My goal was to come to the Mini Games and do the best I can and that was to win a medal and the gold and to stand on the podium is goal achieved."

Sprinter and former Fijian sevens rep Heleina Young will feature in the women's 200m on Tuesday.

Young clocked 25.19s in her heat and qualified with fellow teammates Sera Nasilivata and Naibena Tuilawaki.

But competition is expected from Australia's Kayedel Smith, who won gold in the 100m final.

Interesting also will be the men's 200m event, following the results of the blue ribbon 100m event on Saturday.

Pais Wisil from Papua New Guinea was crowned the fastest man in the Pacific after winning gold in the 100m sprint with a time of 10.51 seconds.

Fellow countryman Tovetuna Tuna ran a close second, coming in at 10.53 seconds, and Fiji's Waisake Tewa took bronze with a time of 10.60 seconds.

Team Tonga were celebrating one of their own on the tracks as well, after Manatu Hafoka secured her second bronze medal at the Games, winning that in the 100m hurdles event.

This follows her earlier bronze in the heptathlon.

Team Tonga said Hafoka is one of "Tonga's standout athletes".

Wallis and Futuna's Soane Luka Messonnier won the men's ambulant javelin competition, with a throw of 50.18 metres, ahead of Vanuatu's Ken Kahu and PNG's Junior Dennis.

PNG dominated in the women's ambulant long jump final with Dorna Longbut claiming gold and teammate Manega Tapari taking home the silver.

Judo

Vanuatu's Priscilla Monthouel and Kaina Delrieu gave their country the first gold medals in Palau.

Monthouel claimed the top spot in the women's 48kg to 52 kg half lightweight category, defeating Nauru's Sama Taleka in the final.

Delrieu took gold in the women's 52kg to 57kg lightweight event after a preliminary bout against Kiribati's Eritabeta Kourabi, the only other entrant listed.

Kiribati's Tebania Mwemwenikeaki won gold for his country too, when he claimed the top spot in the men's under-60kg extra lightweight division.

Kerian Vasapoli was one of Tahiti's gold medallist in judo, winning the men's 66kg to 73kg lightweight category, with Teraimatuatini Bopp taking the women's 57-63kg half middleweight event.

3x3 basketball

As the Games draws close to the end, competition in the 3x3 basketball have continued to be tough and exciting, across both the men and women's divisions.

The men's competition continued on Monday night in Koror.

In the Oceania 2 group, the Solomon Islands and Tonga have dominated with eight wins each, although the Solomons have played one more game.

Last night the Solomon Islanders pipped Tonga 18-17.

Oceania 1 has Fiji leading on the table with 10 wins, one more than hosts Palau on nine, but Fiji has played two more games. On the court the locals beat the Fijians 19-17 on Monday night.

The women's competition has Fiji leading Oceania 1, having won 13 games so far, with PNG at second spot.

Oceania 2 has Tonga leading on 12 wins.

Matches will continue on day eight - Tuesday.

Voyaging

While competition were serious around the Games different venues in the past week, there were some relaxed and enjoyable moments also out in the waters.

After a 58-day cultural expedition to Taiwan, the traditional double-hulled voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu returned to Palau as the country welcomed nearly 1,500 athletes from 23 nations.

This was organised by the Micronesian Voyaging Society.

Led by Grandmaster navigator Sesario Sewralur - son of the legendary Papa Mau Piailug - the crew included members from Palau, Yap, Satawal, Guam, Saipan, the Federated States of Micronesia, Taiwan, the US, and Japan, with two women among the 11-member team.

The society said stops in Lanyu and Taitung featured deep cultural exchanges and youth dialogues, underscoring shared ocean heritage.

It said the voyage retraced ancient sea routes and served as a floating classroom, reconnecting Pacific Islanders with traditional navigation, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous knowledge.

"This was the first voyage of its kind between Taiwan and Palau - a true success in showing our children the cultural values we hold as ocean people," Sewralur said.

"One ocean, one people. The youth of today are our sunrise, and we, the elders, are the sunset. We must help them understand: they will be the sunset of tomorrow, carrying this knowledge forward."

Society members have been on hand throughout the Games va'a or outrigger canoe events to assist where they could.

And the society has opened up for interests from Pasifika athletes and officials in Koror who want to learn about what they do.

"Our ancestors followed the stars to find their way. Now, the next generation carries that knowledge forward, enriched by what they've learned in school," Dr. Patrick Tellei, President of Palau Community College, added.

Day eight

Athletics, beach volleyball, 3x3 basketball, softball and volleyball feature on day eight - Tuesday.

Medals will be seen awarded throughout the day, with athletics featuring the 200m sprint finals, 400m hurdles and the 4x400m mixed relay.

Competition begin with the triathlon 2x2 mixed relay at 7am Palau time, with the last events of the day being 3x3 basketball, later in the evening.