Bronze for New Zealand rowing mixed eight
- Dave Worsley
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 3
New Zealand has made history claiming a bronze medal in the first-ever Mixed Eight event held at a World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, China,
The crew of Alana Sherman, Oliver Welch, Ben Taylor, Campbell Crouch, Flynn Eliadis-Watson, Beckie Leigh, Juliette Lequeux, Isla Blake and cox Harry Molloy finished in 5 minutes 41.06 seconds behind Romania (5.34.46) and Italy (5.39.58).
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Taylor and Welch had already won gold in the Men's Pair on Thursday, while Sherman, Blake, Leigh and Lequeux took bronze in the Women's Four on Friday. The eight had just two training rows in the lead-up to last night's final.
The sport's governing body is pushing to have the event included at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
"I'm a pretty big advocate because it's a seat for a coxswain," said Molloy. "Like you see in athletics, that's the way forward for them in terms of getting viewership up, increasing revenue and costs down. "I think it's cool also bringing both genders together and doing something as one nation."
" I feel like everyone was getting behind it," said Sherman. "And honestly, everyone that's been talking to me about World Champs has brought up the Mixed Eight."
Many expected the Mixed Eight would be raced in much the same way as Saturday's finals of the Men's and Women's Eights.
"Before the race, Flynn [Eliadis-Watson] spoke about really giving it socks in the first 700, 800 metres," said Molloy. "It's a boat class where the watts required to increase output at that point is so exponential it's not funny. "Obviously, you can't just sprint and hope for the best, but it's a very hard boat class to bring back distance."
The Dutch women barely dropped below 42 strokes per minute on their way to a first World Championship title in the big boat.
Their Men's Eight did the same just minutes later, never under 40spm to win in 5.27.67 and also claim their first ever World Championship title in the big boat.
The Dutch may well have tried to do the same in the heats of the Mixed Eight earlier on the final day, but with the four women in the boat racing their third event of the regatta, fatigue may have caught up with them.
It was clearly the plan for Romania they led from start to finish in the final, never going under 40 and stretching their lead at every 500m mark.
Italy followed script, holding second all the way, while a quick start from New Zealand also allowed them to stay in third throughout.
"We had a bit of a shocker in the heat," said Molloy. "But we regrouped, changed the plan for the final, and focused on just swinging on it. We went off like a rocket, like I didn't expect to be that far up the field at 500. It made my life pretty easy."
Waikato's Logan Ullrich now has a ranking of nine in the world after placing third in the B Final of the Men's Single Sculls.
He crossed in 6.58.55, behind Romania (6.56.71) and Denmark (6.58.10).
Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) turned back the clock to row down Paris champion Ollie Zeidler (Germany) in the A Final. Ntouskos won in 6.36.75, Zeidler crossed in 6.37.17, and the neutral athlete Yauheni Zalaty was third in 6.38.60.
Ireland's Fiona Murtagh won the Women's Single Sculls with a lead-from-the-front row against favourite Lauren Henry from Great Britain, winning by just 0.03 in 7.12.27.
Ireland finished fifth equal in the rankings, with the Netherlands top and New Zealand 10th.
Ben Mason and Kathryn Glen were second in the B Final of the Mixed Double Sculls, crossing in 6.48.19, behind the USA (6.46.15).
