Medals for Mahina Paul, Tynealle Fitzgerald and Kiani Tahere in the women's rugby sevens and slalom canoeist Finn Anderson have highlighted the Youth Olympics experience in Buenos Aires for the Bay of Plenty's representatives in the New Zealand team.

A 15-12 win over France in the final on Tuesday handed the sevens team the gold, a result sealed by a late try to Whakatane-born Paul.

They had earlier beaten Tunisia, Columbia, France, Canada and Kazakhstan to reach the final.

The gold is a remarkable achievement for the team, the first New Zealand has sent to the Youth Olympics, after coming together just a week before the tournament in the Argentinian capital.

Meanwhile Tauranga paddler Finn Anderson has picked up silver in the C1 slalom competition.

The year 11 Tauranga Boys' College student began the competition with a second in the qualification heat before winning his quarter and semifinals to make yesterday's final, where he was just edged out for the gold.

'I feel pretty awesome,” says Finn. 'It's a once in a lifetime experience. Props to Mauritius for winning gold - I just couldn't keep up with him, he was going seriously fast.”

He says he was affected by spending all day on the water with temperatures in Buenos Aires hitting 26-degrees.

'The temperature definitely impacted upon me. I had to drink lots of water and keep cool, it brought my run times down a bit but I still managed to get through which was good.”

Rotorua's George Snook has placed 4th in the K1 slalom.

The 15-year-old Rotorua Lakes High School student made it to the bronze medal race where he fell just short in a hard fought sprint against Frenchman Tom Bouchardon in 29-degree heat.

"That last one I struggled a bit, I was really tired, but it was still awesome fun,” he says.

"It was crazy to paddle with these guys and I was pretty stoked I managed to keep up with them.”

Earlier, Mount Maunganui College's Kahlia Cullwick also finished her canoe slalom campaign with an impressive effort in reaching the quarterfinals.

She began with a seventh place in the qualification heat before winning at the last 16 stage. She was then edged out in her quarterfinal by Iranian Nirvana Asadbeki.

"It's definitely made me hungry to go home, train harder and get better so I can compete at the highest level," she says.

"I feel like I paddled well, there's a lot to learn and improve on. But I don't feel like I could've done much more here today."

Tauranga's two windsurfing competitors have both finished in the middle of the pack in their events.

Veerle ten Have won her first race before going on to finish 13th overall out of 23, while Max van der Zalm came in 14th out of 24 competitors.

"I think I sailed well so I'm pretty happy. It's been a blast and I'm getting a lot out of this experience,” he says.

Earlier sport climber Sarah Tetzlaff flew up the speed wall to set a New Zealand record as the sport made its Olympic debut on day one of the Buenos Aires games.

The Wellington born, Tauranga based 18-year-old hit the top buzzer in a time of 12.72s, shaving off almost half a second from the previous record of 13.14.

'It's pretty special, and my mum, dad, brother and aunty have all come over to watch me which is awesome,” she says.

'Having sport climbing in the Olympic Games is really cool, it's inspiring lots of kids to get into the sport too which is neat.”