Tokyo Olympics, July 25: Kiwi swimmer Clareburt falls short in bid for medal – Live

1:42pm – Heartbreak for the Wellingtonian, who finishes with a time of 4:11.22s – two seconds slower than his qualifying time from Saturday night, whihc would have had him in line for silver.

American Chase Kalisz claims gold with a time of 4:09.42.

Silver goes to the US’ Jay Litherland (4:10.28) and bronze to Aussie’s Brandon Smith (4:10.38)

1:38pm – No medal for the Kiwi! It’s all over. Just unable to accelerate through the final freestyle leg and he falls to seventh.

1:37pm – Still in second in the freestyle, about to turn again.

1:36pm – Clareburt turns into second as the American streaks ahead in the breaststroke.

1:35pm – Clareburt pacing himself, moves into first place as the breatstroke begins.

1:34pm – Into backstroke, Clareburt surges into second.

1:33pm – Into the butterfly, Clareburt middle of the pack at the first turn.

And we are off!

1:30pm – Clareburt looking calm and composed as he acknowledges the ‘crowd’ during introductions, headphones in tow.

1:28pm – Clareburt makes his walk to the blocks. He’ll race through the middle of the pool in lane five.

1:25pm – We’re live at the pool now. Clareburt’s final will kick off today’s schedule.

1:14pm – The countdown is on for the Wellingtonian, as he prepares for his bid for gold. Anyone else nervous?

11:31am – The next Kiwi in action today is swimmer Lewis Clareburt in his big 400m individual medley final, which starts at 1:30pm, followed by the women’s quad rowers in the repechage at 1:50pm, and Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell in the tennis men’s doubles at 2pm.

Surfing: New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand in action in heat two.

RESULT: Stairman finishes third in heat, advances to repechage round two.

11:10am – And that elusive winning wave evades Stairmand, who pounds the water in frustration as the hooter sounds.

Only the top two from each sudden-death heat advance, meaning Stairmand moves into the repechage in round two, missing out on the chance to move directly to round three.

He’ll be back on the water at 4:40pm, when he’ll have another chance to progress.

Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi finsihed top of the heat with 12.77, followed by Peru’s Miguel Tudela (10.67), Stairmand (9.97) and  France’s Jeremy Flores (7.63)

11:07am – Two minutes left, Stairmand needs a clutch wave here to advance.

11:02am – Stairmand on to another wave, it’s another brief ride but does score. Igarashi clear in No. 1 with 12.77, followed by Tudela (10.67) and the Kiwi (9.97).

Five minutes left in the heat.

Plenty of support on the shore for the Raglan rider.

10:57am – Stairmand waiting patiently for the ideal wave to use his No. 1 priority. Here he goes, can’t get the speed he needs on the wave and the ride ends promptly.

Only the top two advance in the sudden death heats. Tudela with another impressive wave to widen the gap to Stairmand in third.

10:53am – Peru’s Tudela bumps Stairmand out of the lead with a superb ride. Igarashi scores as well, and Stairmand has dropped to third. 14 mins left.

10:49am – Stairmand’s 8.83 still leads, with Japan’s Igarahasi in second with 7.80. 19 minutes left in the heat.

10:47am – Igarashi gets up for a long wave, putting his local knowledge to good use. Huge air to finish, but may not have been enough for the judges to deem it complete.

10:44am – Stairmand nabs another left-hander, some big turns at the crest of the wave. There we go, 8.83 score to sit at the top of the heat. The best two wave combines for the scoring total.

10:42am – Stairmand up on his first wave, a trio of impressive backhand turns, that should score for him.

10:40am – Stairmand joins Igarashi and Flores on the right edge, awaiting that first swell to come off the bank.

10:38am – All of the surfers are now in the water and seated on their boards, awaiting the starting hooter. Countdown is on, and we are underway.

10:36am – Stairmand looking relaxed as he sits at water’s edge, big smile on his face as he soaks it all in.

10:34am – Here we go, Stairmand lines up alongside his competitors, as they prepare to hit the water for heat two.

He’ll be up against Japan’s Igarashi, France’s Flores, and Peru’s Tudelu.

10:31am – Ferreira makes his way back to shore with board tucked under arm, having locked up first place in the heat and a spot in the semi-finals.

Japan’s Hiroto Ohhara is second, followed by Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti and Argentina’s Leandro Usuna.

10:27am – Brazil’s Ferreira currently in the lead in the opening heat ahead of the Japan, Italy and Argentina riders.

10am – NZ’s Stairmand is due in the water at 10:40am, where the waves look to be a little better than forecast, some decent two-to-three footers out there.

9:55am – First up for the NZ team this morning will be Billy Stairmand, who’ll take to the waves to become the first Kiwi surfer in Olympics history.

Heat one is about to get underway at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach where the waves are…  rather small. Not ideal conditions for the event’s Olympic debut.

9:45am – Morena, sport fans, and welcome to another busy day of Olympics action from Nippon.

The big event to circle today will be the final of the men’s 400m individual medley at 1:30pm, where Kiwi Lewis Clareburt looms as a hot favourite for gold, after a superb qualifying swim on Saturday night.

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Kia ora, good morning and welcome to Newshub’s live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics, with day two offering Kiwi action across a wide array of sports.

First up, surfing will make its Games debut, with Billy Stairmand and Ella Williams carrying NZ hopes.

Rio 2016 silver medallist Luuka Jones opens her account in canoe slalom, our rowing scullers try to advance closer to medal races, while Laser specialist Sam Meech is the first Kiwi sailor on the water.