{"id":511879,"date":"2026-07-06T05:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T05:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511879\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T05:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T05:17:09","slug":"gisborne-teenager-jacqueline-kennedy-wins-new-zealands-first-junior-world-championship-gold-medal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511879\/","title":{"rendered":"Gisborne teenager Jacqueline Kennedy wins New Zealand\u2019s first junior world championship gold medal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking with Planet Canoe immediately after the race, she said she could not imagine what it means to be a world champion.<\/p>\n

\"JacquelineJacqueline Kennedy won New Zealand’s first junior gold medal at the world championships with a 0.08s lead. Photo \/ Sally Cameron<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s real. I can\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said she had no idea she had won as they crossed the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could just see all the other girls in the final out of my vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, I was honestly so relieved that it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a release from the ICF, Kennedy said she was \u201cecstatic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition is so insane and coming from New Zealand and racing against these massive countries like Italy, the Czechs and Hungary, it just makes it even more special. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so much support from home. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy sponsors, local businesses, and the people back home have been such a big part of this journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got so many people to talk to tonight \u2013 I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said she was nervous before the start of the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had such amazing idols, like Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher, and to be able to represent my country the way they did means so much to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came across the line, I was just proud that I\u2019d finished the race and given it everything.<\/p>\n

\"GoldGold medallist Jacqueline Kennedy (centre) on the podium alongside Italy\u2019s Anastasia Insabella (left), silver, and Hungary\u2019s Lili Gazdag, bronze. Photo \/ Sally Cameron<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked across and saw everyone in my team cheering me on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what place I\u2019d come, and then I found out I\u2019d won. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so intensely grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory cemented her as the junior women\u2019s K1 500m world champion, breaking a 13-year medal drought for New Zealand at the junior world level.<\/p>\n

The last medal New Zealand won at the junior world competition was also in Canada, in 2013.<\/p>\n

Taylor Newman, also from Gisborne and the Poverty Bay Kayak Club, finished third in her semi-final to make the A final of the junior K1 200m final.<\/p>\n

Her final was on Monday, where she finished ninth overall. <\/p>\n

Kennedy and Newman were on board the NZ junior K4 boat that finished fourth in their final, New Zealand\u2019s best result in that event at the junior worlds.<\/p>\n

Poverty Bay Kayak Club head coach Kim Hedley said the club was proud of Kennedy\u2019s achievement and the performance by Taylor Newman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing feeling to have a world champion in the club and it will hopefully inspire others to climb similar heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy had a strong season for Dawson Building Midway in surf life saving and won the under-19 ski in the New Zealand titles at \u014c<\/a>hope in March.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking with Planet Canoe immediately after the race, she said she could not imagine what it means to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[178235,18239,5759,1887,1888,12506,4241,1861,63570,26588,3047,1362,26019,117,111,139,69,213,4054,1961,4767,1316,6202,377,80,2963],"class_list":["post-511879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-canoeing","tag-championship","tag-championships","tag-countrys","tag-first","tag-gisborne","tag-gold","tag-history","tag-jacqueline","tag-junior","tag-kennedy","tag-made","tag-medal","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-teenager","tag-this","tag-weekend","tag-when","tag-wins","tag-world","tag-zealand","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}