Sculler Mahe Drysdale faces an acid test of his new training regime when he and other New Zealand elite rowers return to international action at the second round of the World Cup in Germany this weekend.
The four-time single sculls world champion is eager to return to racing at the regatta in Hamburg after adapting his training to cope with a back injury that hampered his preparation for last year's world championships at Lake Karapiro.
"This is an exciting year for me, I am training differently and it is a big test to see if what I am doing will keep me up at the front of the field," he said.
The Hamburg regatta is a qualifying event for 2012 Olympics and Drysdale said his primary objective was to qualify for London and he was prepared to adjust his training if his performance was not where he wanted it to be.
"Qualifying is the number one goal for me this year, although also important is building confidence that what I am doing this year is working. I know that if I am near my best, qualifying won't be a problem and that will also lead to a good result and build confidence.
Joining Drysdale in Germany will be the men's and women's world champion pairs, the world champion men's double scull, the former world champion lightweight double scull, a new-look men's four and 2010 bronze medallist single sculler Emma Twigg.
The remainder of the elite team will travel to Europe for the third World Cup regatta in Lucerne in July ahead of this year's world championships in Slovenia from August 28-September 4.
Unbeaten for two years in the pair, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are confident of a good performance in Germany but will not face their arch rivals Great Britain, who pulled out of the regatta last week because of the E-coli scare.
"Training has been going very well," said Bond. "We have had our best run of training and we are excited to see what position our training will put us in. The real challenge will be maintaining our dominance of the event. It is hard to know how we are going to stack up until we get into our first race."
Other performances of interest will be those of world champion women's pair Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown and Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen in the men's heavyweight double scull.
The world champion double come into the regatta on the back of recent victories over the Australian Olympic champions in two head to head races at Karapiro.
The new-look men's four also takes to the water with Chris Harris and Ben Hammond from the 2010 eight joining 2007 world champions Carl Meyer and James Dallinger in the boat
NZ rowing team for World Cup regatta at Hamburg:
Women: Emma Twigg - single scull; Rebecca Scown, Juliette Haigh - coxless pair; Eve Macfarlane, Fiona Bourke, Louise Trappitt, Sarah Gray - quad scull. Men: Mahe Drysdale - single scull; Hamish Bond, Eric Murray - coxless pair; Nathan Cohen, Joseph Sullivan - double scull; Duncan Grant - lightweight single scull; Peter Taylor, Storm Uru - lightweight double scull; Ben Hammond, Chris Harris, James Dallinger, Carl Meyer - coxless four.
