After two gold medals on the first two days of the world junior track cycling championships in Moscow, New Zealand had a relatively quiet day today.
Two fourth placings in the in the kilo time trial and men's team pursuit left the team disappointed, manager Mike McRedmond said.
"They rode really well but fourth place is a bit gutting. They were so close in both events but came away without a medal to show for their excellent efforts. The boys are disappointed they could not get on the podium again," he said.
Auckland's Ethan Mitchell and Southland's Cameron Karwowski, part of the gold medal winning team sprint, finished fourth and seventh respectively in the kilo time trial.
Mitchell clocked one minute 03.532 seconds to be only .03sec away from bronze and less than half a second from the winner's time.
"Ethan really put the hammer down and was the fastest after two laps and was a blink of an eye away from the bronze medal," McRedmond said.
The pursuit team were third fastest in qualifying with a strong 4min10.162sec to finish behind Australia and hosts Russia, who both went under the world record.
New Zealand - Josh Atkins, Patrick Bevin, Ruaraidh McLeod and Hamish Tomlinson - took on Germany in the bronze medal ride-off in the evening.
The Germans started powerfully to open a 1.25sec gap after the first kilometre, although New Zealand closed slightly over the next two kilometres.
But the German combination managed to regroup, finishing strongly in 4min 07.972sec to claim the bronze medal ahead of a disappointed New Zealand combination in 4min 09.099sec.
Hosts Russia claimed the gold medal over the top ranked Australians, who did not finish after one rider crashed. Russia reduced the world record time again in an impressive display on the big banked track at the Moscow Velodrome.
Canterbury's Elizabeth Steel rode impressively to finish 13th in the women's scratch race won by Australians Amy Cure.
Tomorrow's racing will see Steel in the women's omnium, Sam Webster and Mitchell in the qualifying rounds of the men's sprint, and McLeod and Bevin riding the qualifying heats of the Madison.
