New Zealand's rowing team took the stifling heat of the Rotsee in their stride: no fewer than eight Kiwi crews secured places in A finals today. With the women's pair already confirmed, nine crews in finals was an international record for New Zealand rowing.
Mahé Drysdale, the men's pair, the women's pair, the lightweight and heavyweight doubles, the women's quad, and both of the Kiwi coxless fours will all go for gold in Sunday's finals, though there was disappointment for Duncan Grant in Saturday evening's lightweight single scull A final.
Highlight of the day was the performance of the two young coxless fours - with both producing great rows to make the A final from their respective semis. The 'A' boat of Dave Eade, Hamish Burson, Jade Uru and Sean O'Neill was first up and looked every inch a top class boat as it raced head to head with the British world champions. Eade is a world champion stroke at Under 23 and demonstrated he is more than ready for the elite level as he led his crew in a spirited attack on the world champions in the last 400 metres. A close second and place in the A final was a great result.
NZ Womens Quad: Louise Trappitt, Paula Twining, Emma Feathery and Fi Paterson
(Photo: Rowing NZ) |
The 'B' crew of Ben Hammond, Ian Seymour, Chris Harris and Tyson Williams was next up and they too took the race by the scruff of the neck. They set the pace for much of the 2,000 metre course in a very competitive field and would have won the race had it not been for a very late charge by the Australians which saw them get their noses ahead by a few inches at the line. For Harris it must have been bordering on dreamland - he was originally the non-travelling reserve for the team and got his big break when others were ill or injured. He rowed well at Munich and in the eight in Henley and looks silky smooth and powerful in the four - and he clearly has a good head for international competition. In one of rowing's great examples of seizing an opportunity with both hands, the youngster has a genuine chance of a medal on the Rotsee on Sunday, as indeed do all of the boys in the two fours.
With the women's pair of Haigh and Scown already through after their heat, the focus for the pairs in Team New Zealand was the men and as is the norm in this event, the British dominated one semi and the Kiwis dominated the other. Both Greek boats also secured A final berths but the spotlight will be on the two top crews. The British crew of Triggs Hodge and Reed look a lot happier on the water of the Rotsee than they did on the Thames last week at Henley Royal Regatta, and the times of the semis suggest this could be a very close contest indeed. At 9-0 to the Kiwis, it's going to take a mammoth performance to overturn the world champions and Bond and Murray must still start as favourites. The Kiwi pair still looked like it had plenty in hand at the finish, but the final on Sunday will show their true pace at this stage of the season. Another epic scrap is in prospect.
Next up was the men's lightweight double scull of Storm Uru and Peter Taylor - the world champions - who faced Bled winners Canada in their semi finals. It wasn't the Canadians that posed the biggest threat however, but the Chinese. Neither boat was a match for the New Zealand crew, however, and Uru and Taylor crossed the finish line with a clear water advantage. Like the men's pairs, the final should be a straight fight between the Kiwi boat and the British Olympic champions Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, who also looked first rate in their semi final.
Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen put in their best race so far as a double scull combination, qualifying for the A final by finishing a close second to the British double scull. This is the World Cup series best-performing double scull and probably the best boat in the class right now. The two red-haired rowers - Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman - like to be known as the Red Express, but they are the nickname that is sticking is The Weasleys in deference to the characters of the Harry Potter movies. The Kiwi boys didn't need a fairytale movie ending to today, powering through the last 500 metres and finishing just a second down on the Brits after a titanic battle with the Swiss throughout the middle portion of the race. Cohen has vast experience in this boat at international level now, and looked pretty happy with the row afterwards.
The women's quad had a tough field in their repechage, which in reality was a six way fight for the final two places in the main final. This crew - Louise Trappitt, Paula Twining, Emma Feathery and Fi Paterson - also put in their best performance so far as a crew, putting themselves into contention early and staying in touch with the Chinese, the Olympic title holders in the boat class. An A final start on Sunday was no more than the girls deserved after a great row.
In the harder of the two semi finals in the men's heavyweight single scull, four time world champion Mahé Drysdale continued his progress in his first international regatta after injury with a good third place against Ondrej Synek and Olaf Tufte. Running his third hull of the weekend as he looks to make a long term choice of hull for Karapiro 2010 and London 2012 - he raced in an Italian Fillipi on Friday, a German Empacher in Friday's quarter final and a New Zealand built KIRS boat in today's semi. The champion sat alongside his two major rivals for much of the race. In the second semi Alan Campbell had his hands full with Lassi Karonen and Malcolm Howard - both of who Drysdale beat comfortably in last week's Henley Royal Regatta - so the Kiwi will have his sights set firmly on a dais spot for Sunday's final.
Mahe Drysdale goes head to head with long term rival Olaf Tufte
(Photo: Rowing NZ) |
After making his way to the final with a stylish win in the morning's semi, Duncan Grant faced the winner of Munich, Peter Galambos, and former Italian double scull athlete Marcel Miani as the main rivals in the final of the lightweight single scull. Grant started well but faded through the second half of the race and could not keep pace with his rivals. A tired sixth was his worst result for as long as most could remember.
There was a bizarre delay to the semi final of the men's quads, with some poor driving in the rescue inflatables resulting in not one - but two - becoming entangled in the lane buoy wires and snapping one of them near the finish line- leading to a 90 minute delay and some Laurel and Hardy moments whilst organisers tried to repair the damage. What ii did mean for the New Zealand men's quad was another full race at the end of the day after they had raced a large chunk of the original semi final before the keystone cops in the motor launch forced a re-row. When they finally looked like they would get a race at the end of the day, a monster storm put paid to those plans. The semis will therefore be held first thing on Sunday morning, and if the men's quad make it through to the A final, they will push the number of crews who qualified for A finals into double figures.
Harriet Austin could not repeat the heroics of yesterday and couldn't make the A final. She goes in Sunday's B final, which will be a tough race in itself. Mike Arms competed in the C final in the men's single, finishing fifth.
