The World Cup rowing regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, turned
into a benefit for New Zealanders as they won seven medals,
including five gold over the weekend.
It marked a continuation of their small boat form in the
previous regatta in Munich, Germany, last month when New
Zealand bagged five gold and eight medals in all.
Lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant began New Zealand's
gold rush in the A finals on Saturday and he was joined on
the winners' podium yesterday by the women's pair, the men's
pair, the lightweight double sculls and single sculler Mahe
Drysdale.
The women's pair of Emma-Janes Feathery and Rebecca Scown
edged out Germany for the gold medal by a little more than
one second after posting a time of seven minutes 20.18
seconds for the 2000m journey.
It proved their gold at Munich which had surprised onlookers
was no fluke.
"We feel we've moved on since the last regatta," Feathery
said.
"It's good to race with new crews so we can see where we're
at."
The men's pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond achieved the
same result by a much more comfortable margin, crossing the
finish line in 6min 27.00sec, almost 6sec ahead of their
nearest challengers, Great Britain.
"We came out in front already from the first strokes and it
was good to do that," Bond said.
"There are no big tricks, we just make sure we make no
mistakes. There was a bit of a headwind, just enough to slow
you down a bit and the usual Lucerne waves, but it went
well." The men's lightweight doubles scull of Storm Uru and
Peter Taylor restored order for New Zealand as they led their
race from start to finish.
Uru and Taylor held off a determined Canadian crew to cross
the line first in 6min 22.71sec, almost 3sec ahead of Canada,
with France third.
Multiple single scull world champion and Olympic medallist
Drysdale led the best of his rivals by almost 2sec after
1000m and was never headed.
He was clocked at 6min 50.64sec at the end, close to 3sec in
front of Norwegian Olaf Tufte, who collected silver.
Emma Twigg replicated her silver medal from Munich by
finishing almost 5sec behind the Czech Republic's Mirka
Knapkova in the women's single scull.
The women's quadruple sculls also matched their Munich
outcome, Genevieve Armstrong, Louise Trappit, Sarah Barnes
and Harriet Austin trailing crews from Germany and the United
States.
Grant repeated his success at Munich in a dominant
performance, leading from the outset and setting the scene
for a strong tilt at the world championships in Poland next
month.
The men's double scull of Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen
began their final slowly, passing the 500m marker in fifth
place before improving to third at the halfway stage.
But they could not catch Germans Eric Knittel and Stephan
Krueger, who won an extremely tight race with a French crew
second, while the New Zealanders crossed in fourth place,
less than 1sec back.
The women's double sculls crew of Anna Reymer and Paula
Twining were improved on Munich but finished fifth, more than
6sec down on the winners, Poland.
The New Zealanders' main target is the world championships at
Poznan, Poland in six weeks.
They will prepare at a training camp in Aegeri, near Lucerne.
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