Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie celebrate after winning silver in the men's 49er skiff. Photo: AFP/CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU
Will McKenzie and Isaac McHardie have continued New Zealand's strong sailing legacy with a silver medal in the men's 49er skiff at the Paris Olympics.
Their success takes New Zealand's medal total to six.
The pair had big shoes to fill, representing New Zealand on the boat made famous by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who won gold at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020.
This was McKenzie and McHardie's first Olympic Games.
They were third heading into the medal race in Marseille on Friday night NZT.
It was meant to get underway about 24 hours earlier, but was postponed on Thursday due to a lack of wind.
Spain took the lead early on and never relinquished it, with New Zealand battling it out for second with the Netherlands, who squeaked past the Kiwis at the third mark and maintained that position until the finish line.
However, the Dutch sailors did not have the points to medal.
Spain bagged the gold with 70 points, New Zealand took silver with 82 and the United States bronze with 88.
Speaking to Sky Sport, McHardie said it was "awesome" to finally sail in the medal race after it was repeatedly postponed.
"We've been wanting this all week and to finally get it done is awesome, those three medal races, to finally have one finished is unbelievable," he said.
"This is what we've been working on for seven years now and to bring home a silver medal for New Zealand is something both of us have wanted since we were little kids."
Meanwhile, the women's pair - Jo Aleh and Molly Meech - came seventh in their competition.
The Netherlands claimed the women's gold medal, Sweden the silver and France the bronze.
