Logan Ullrich suprise single sculls gold
- Dave Worsley
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
Success for New Zealand rowers at the second World Cup regatta in Switzerland, especially in the single sculls.
All four New Zealand crews in A-finals in Lucerne all picked up medals with Logan Ullrich scoring his first single sculls win.
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The win came on the back of a strong last 500m just ahead of Yauheni Zalaty in a time of six minutes 44.92 seconds, with the Belarussian 0.029 seconds behind.
The men's pair and double both finished second with the women's four third.
Two weeks ago Ullrich failed to make the A-final at the opening World Cup regatta, a week ago he was hitting impressive numbers on the erg and after just six races at international level in the single sculls, he won gold.
Ullrich, 24 is in the single this year after claiming an Olympic silver medal in the four last year.
"I've dreamed about this for years," he told World Rowing. "I didn't think it would come this quickly in my sculling career, I'm just blown away."
Coach Mike Rodger, who mentored Emma Twigg to her successful Olympic campaigns, was also blown away by Ullrich's rapid rise.
"He's phenomenal," Rodger said. "You've got to remember he hasn't really rowed a single at all, but because he's so green, he just takes everything in, listens and makes the changes."
Ben Mason and Finn Hamill again showed their ability to attack over the second half of the race to win silver in the Men's Double.
The duo had only raced together three times before this weekend, but are now being talked about as one of the crews to watch ahead of the World Championships in China in September.
Men's Pair Ben Taylor and Oli Welch were pipped by Romania's experienced combination of Florin Lehaci and Florin Arteni, the current European champions.
The Women's Four claiming bronze.