New Zealand biathlete Campbell Wright has finished 32nd in the men's 20km individual race at the Beijing Winter Olympics, a strong performance for the teenager on his Olympic debut.
The 19-year-old was the only athlete from the Southern Hemisphere as well as the youngest in the 92-man field, but looked at home amongst the world's best, most of who were at least a decade his senior.
Wright had an excellent start, skiing quickly on the first lap and nailing all five of his targets in the first prone at the shooting range.
He missed one on his first standing shoot, giving him a one minute penalty and seeing him slip two minutes behind the leader Maxim Tsvetkov of the Russian Olympic Committee.
But he was still well-placed at the halfway point, sitting in the top-10 out of the first 25 skiers to have reached the mark.
Wright missed one more shot on his next prone shoot, but was clean on his final standing shoot, meaning he would finish the race having incurred just two penalties.
The Kiwi teenager crossed the line in 52 minutes 59.8 seconds, four minutes 12.4 seconds behind gold medallist Quentin Fillot Maillet of France.
Belarus' Anton Smolski took silver, while Norway's Johannes Boe took bronze.
Wright would eventually place 32nd, a brilliant performance for one so young and inexperienced at the highest level.
He said afterwards he was "super happy" with his performance, saying it was one of the best skis of his career.
"I'm really happy with how I performed today," Wright told Sky.
"I turned it on, I don't know how, but I turned it on.
"It was my biggest race and it was one of my best."
Wright said he wasn't too nervous for the race, saying expectations were that he "should come last" given his young age and being from a biathlon backwater like New Zealand.
Wright will have a few days rest before he competes in the 10km sprint on Saturday night.
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