Lucy Strack (North End) is back in the elite New Zealand rowing team, after missing out on Olympic selection last year.
Strack (23) has been named in the New Zealand lightweight double sculls with Julia Edward (Waikato), for the first world cup of the year, in Sydney from March 22 to 24.
''It feels fantastic. It's what I've been working for over the last 12 months,'' Strack said.
''I've worked very hard over the winter and summer in the single to get myself back to where I need to be named in the double. I'm very happy.''
The last time Strack was in the double with Edward was at the world championships at Lake Karapiro in 2010.
Her new coach will be Dick Tonks, who makes crews he is coaching work hard.
''It's very exciting, after all the results Dick has got over the years,'' Strack said.
Hamish Bond (North End) will again be in the coxless pair, with fellow Olympic champion Eric Murray (Waikato), though they are bypassing the Sydney regatta.
Bond and Murray have been unbeaten internationally for the last four years. They were previously coached by Tonks but they will be coached by Noel Donaldson.
Fergus Fauvel (Otago University) is in the quadruple sculls with Olympic champion Nathan Cohen (Invercargill), Nathan Flannery (Union) and Hayden Cohen (Invercargill).
Olympic gold medallist Joseph Sullivan is the shock omission from the elite squad. He won the double sculls in London with Nathan Cohen, whose request to move into the men's quadruple sculls has been granted.
Rowing New Zealand high performance manager Alan Cotter said Sullivan's fitness, despite having recently completed the Coast to Coast, was not up to standard. Further trials in July could see Sullivan return for the world championships.
Fiona Bourke (Otago University) is in the women's double sculls with Zoe Stevenson (Waikato).
Johannah Kearney (Oamaru) is in the coxless four to compete at the world under-23 championships in Austria. Lisa Owen (Waihopai), an Otago University winter member, is in the under-23 lightweight double sculls.
- Additional reporting, The New Zealand Herald.
NZ rowing
Otago squad members
Elite: Lucy Strack, Hamish Bond, Fiona Bourke, Fergus Fauvel.
Under-23: Johannah Kearney, Lisa Owen.
