Twigg, in the twilight of her career at 35, won silver in the women’s single scull in the Czech Republic.
The Tokyo Olympic champion, who has been competing at the elite level since 2007, was unsure how she would go given her preparation has been limited by Covid and other commitments.
In fact, Twigg was having just her third race of the season in her predicted showdown with boom Dutch sculler Karolien Florijn.
The 24-year-old, whose parents were Olympic rowers, has been the standout this year in Twigg’s absence, winning every race she has entered.
Florijn has built that record on a fast-starting, row-from-the-front race plan.
Twigg likes to build into a race, and just after the 1000m mark launched her attack on the Dutch athlete’s half-boat length lead.
But she could not make inroads.
"When you don’t have quite the legs to last the second half of the race, it’s always going to be hard to hang on," Twigg said.
She estimated she was competing at about 80% of her capacity when fully fit.
Twigg’s next focus is competing at a coastal rowing demonstration event in Wales next month, but said her latest achievement was a good indicator of what she was still capable of with the Paris Olympics now just two years away.
Fellow New Zealander Jordan Parry (26) finished fourth in the men’s single.
He heard the familiar voice of the great Mahe Drysdale when he was coming down to the final sprint.
"In the last 150m, I heard Mahe yelling at me, ‘Half a length, half a length, go’," Parry said.
"He had my back there in the end there and I was just sprinting for my life."
The gold went to Germany’s Oliver Zeidler, who upended Dutch favourite Melvin Twellaar with one of the best performances in the recent history of the event.
Parry finished less than 4sec behind Zeidler, and ahead of the gold and silver medallists from last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Twigg’s silver on the final day of the regatta left New Zealand with three medals, after Kerri Williams and Grace Prendergast won gold in the women’s pair and Jackie Kiddle took bronze in the lightweight women’s single.
By: Staff reporter
