Olympic winners get up and going

Bay Olympic champions Luuka Jones and Sam Meech.

Kiwi Olympic medalists Luuka Jones and Sam Meech have secured new commercial deals with one of New Zealand's largest food manufacturers as they turn their attention to their next sporting challenges.

Luuka, whose silver medal in the K100 Canoe Slalom was one of the Olympic Games' nice surprises, will chase double glory in Tokyo in 2016, while bronze medalist Laser sailor Sam is out to conquer a massive 200+ boat world championships fleet.

The pair announced their plans at a Sanitarium Up & Go event which will see them appear in nationwide promotional campaign for the beverage brand.

Changes to Olympic rules mean Jones will now be able to compete in both a canoe – 'where you kneel on the craft and have a single bladed paddle as opposed to sitting in a kayak and using a double-bladed paddle,” she explains – and the kayak discipline in which she medalled in Rio.

Chasing success in two disciplines may be a challenge, but it is one the 28-year-old is up for.

Her medal in Rio may have surprised a few people but Luuka herself was confident she could land a place on the podium.

Moving to Nottingham, England at the age of 18 to train alongside the English squad as a full-time athlete she says was the key to her success.

'It made a huge difference, learning how to be a high performance athlete and being able to dedicate every day to getting better,” she says.

'I knew that I was capable of doing that and so did my coach and people around me in the sport. But it was quite nice to be an underdog going into the Olympics. There were too many people putting their hopes on me for a medal.”

She says that certainly won't be the case in Tokyo in 2020.

'My training involves not just the physical side of things but the mental side as well. You've got to fuel yourself for both physical and mental gains,” says Luuka.

'Nutrition is hugely important. Nutrient timing, making sure that you are fueled enough for your session and then to recover from your session, is crucial. You do notice when your nutrition is on point and when it is not. I do suffer on the days where I am not as stringent.”

Twenty five year-old Sam says his next goal is to win a world championship – an even tougher ask than medaling at the Olympics as countries can have more than one competitor, swelling the fleet to more than 200 world class sailors.

Sam says much of his childhood between the ages of seven and 12 was spent on a yacht sailing around the world with his parents and sister Molly – who was also a medalist in Rio in the 49er-FX class.

'Mum and Dad did most of the sailing, Molly and I were just along for the ride,” he says.

That changed when the Meech family returned to settle in New Zealand.

After a stint in land-locked Hamilton – when they got their sailing fix on the city's lake – the family relocated to Mount Maunganui, with the siblings diving straight into competitive racing.

Sam quickly graduated from the P-class to the laser – and never looked back.

'The laser is the boat that you see at people's batches,” says Sam. 'The boat I race is exactly the same. It is the most competitive class of racing. That's why I love it.”

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