Kiwis take gold and bronze at Rowing World Cup
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- 3 min read
New Zealand's claimed gold and a bronze medal on the final day of the season-opening World Cup regatta in Seville, Spain.
Ben Taylor and Oli Welch remain the world's number one Men's Pair after convincingly beating rivals Romania at the Guadalquivir River course.
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The result confirmed what the data and the feeling in the boat before arriving in Europe had been telling them. They hadn't quite been able to uncork it in the last couple of weeks.
"The rhythm hasn't really been there," said Taylor. "We've been struggling to find our way a little bit…we hadn't found that feeling we had back home in New Zealand
"We just kind of said let's stop trying to search for that feeling and just back ourselves, said Taylor.
"I think just trying to simplify our rowing a bit and simplify the mindset brought us together."
New Zealand led the Romanians by 1.63 seconds at the 1000m mark and extended that lead to nearly three by the 1500m mark.
The Romanians made one last push with 200m to go, lifting to 45 strokes per minute. They made temporary inroads but there was no panic in the New Zealand boat and they crossed in 6 minutes 26.86s.
Romania took the silver in 6:29.46.
The final day turned into landmark moments for Kate Haines and Ella Cossill from the Women's Four. Both have years of experience rowing at this level but one thing had eluded them.
"I've been waiting almost seven years to get a medal," said Haines. "The first thing Ella and I said to each other after the race was, 'Oh my God, we finally got a medal!'"
"We were really trying to soak it up together and remember how far we've come…you work so hard for these moments, so you need to make the most of them.
The Netherlands and Australia quickly established themselves as the frontrunners, New Zealand leading the rest of the six-boat field to finish in 6:43.24. The Netherlands won in 6:34.92, barely half a second up on the Australians.
Sherman and Blake were part of the crew that won bronze at last year's world championships. Haines and Cossill claimed their seats in the boat at trials in March. Haines took a break from the sport after the Paris Olympics.
The Men's Four of Fred Vavasour, Campbell Crouch, Harry Fitzpatrick and Josh Vodanovich were racing their first A Final at this level. World champions Great Britain put on a masterclass to take the gold in 5.54.46. New Zealand was sixth in 6:09.19.
The Women's Quad of Olivia Hay, Stella Clayton-Greene, Beckie Leigh and Veronica Wall were also sixth in their A Final. Germany won in 6:30.15, New Zealand crossed the line in 6:42.50.
A sustained second 500m helped launch Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux to victory in the B Final of the Women's Pair.
The squad now heads to a training camp in Varese, Italy, before heading to the second World Cup event which begins in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in a fortnight.
