New Zealand's elite rowing crews performed well again on the first day of the second World Cup regatta in Munich with six boats progressing directly and some very promising performances for the new combinations.
There were heat wins for the new women's pair and men's double scull combinations, as well as successes for the world champion men's pair, lightweight double scull and Duncan Grant in the single, who later won his quarter final as well. Emma Twigg continued her run of good form with a solid heat win to progress to the semis. "It was very difficult out there and I focussed on doing just what I needed to do to get through and keep the tank full for tomorrow," she said.
In the absence of a still recovering Mahé Drysdale, men's sweep oar spare Michael Arms put in a noteworthy and gutsy performance in the heavyweight single scull. Not a specialist single sculler, he hung on well to the field in his heat - demonstrating yet again what strength in depth the Kiwi team has.
In tricky conditions, the men's pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray and the double scull of Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen went quickest of the heat winners, as were lightweights Storm Uru and Peter Taylor in their field.
"We knew we had to keep it long and clean, so we made use of the calmer water in the first 500 metres then held our length through to the end," said Murray. "We clipped a few of the big waves but managed to stay relaxed enough to keep the boat speed up."
Challenging conditions faced all of the crews, and the Kiwi contingent coped noticeably well, including the new women's pair of Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh, who had the added pressure of an international debut to contend with. "It was fun to finally get out there and race and test our speed," said Scown, bronze medallist in the boat last year. "The conditions were difficult at times but we felt we remained in control of the race throughout."
The two new men's fours also made the semi-finals in a big field of competitive boats, though they had to wait until the repechages later in the day to secure their progress with a brace of second places. The new men's quad also qualified for the semi-final but they will no doubt be looking for more speed after losing touch with the leaders early on.
Perhaps the most impressive performance on the day, however, came from the women's quad. Off the pace in Bled and with double sculler Fi Paterson on board, they showed an impressive turn of speed to finish a competitive second in their heat, not quite enough for direct progression, but enough to show they should go well in Saturday's repechage.
Results can be viewed on the World Rowing website.
