Rowing pair Taylor, Welch close in on medal
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The Men's Pair of Ben Taylor and Oli Welch were the only New Zealand crew to qualify for the A Finals at the World Championships on the Bosbaan course in Amsterdam.
The defending world champions led from start to finish in a semifinal win over rivals Romania and a fast-improving Australia. It was another signature start from the Kiwi pair.
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"I think we're naturally quite quick out of the blocks," said Welch. "We're quite explosive in the gym so it lends itself to a quick start. From there, we just try to control the race from the front."
New Zealand led Australia by more than two seconds at halfway, pushed the margin out to more than three at the 1500m, before crossing the line in 6min 39.99sec, the fastest time of the two semifinals.
Australia took second (6:41.84) and Romania third (6:43.11). How deep did they have to go to keep the Aussies at bay? "I can't say too much," says Welch. "Don't want to give it away." "The final will definitely be exciting, they'll be going for it even more, and so will we."
Ben Mason and Finn Hamill were going to need something special over the last 500m of their semifinal of the Men's Double Sculls, one of the most hotly-contested events at these championships.
The New Zealanders were fifth at that stage, nearly three seconds back on leaders Great Britain. Everyone was running on desperation in the race to the line, The kiwi crew unable to move any further through the pack to finish behind the Brits, Belgium, Czechia and Portugal.
Kathryn Glen finished fifth in heat one of the Women's Single Sculls.
She's only just back after a scan in May revealed a stress reaction in a rib just before she was about to jump on the plane with the Women's Quad for the World Cup events.
"It was such a shock," said Glen, the Avon rower who won the national championship in the single in 2025. "It took me a few days to believe it because I've always been so sweet with that [kind of injury]. I went through a phase of being in denial that I wasn't going overseas…it took a few days and then I was like, 'Okay, back into it, just grind it out on the bike.'"
While there's been disappointment at not getting to race the quad, she's been honoured to get an entry in the single.
" I feel like it's a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity to say that you're the women's single [sculler], so just trying to embrace that while I'm here."
It's a quick turnaround for the quarters tomorrow (Friday, 11.05pm NZT).
"The C final is realistically where it is," said Glen. "If I can get to the B Final, that's pretty cool. I just want to keep improving and seeing how close I can get to those other girls."
She'd been reflecting on the race on her solo trip back to the hotel on a nearly empty athlete bus, enjoying the freedom of being her own boss as it were. She knows what's needed to step on.
"The first day was always [about] go out and see what happens because I haven't raced any of these girls before…just need to be braver through the middle K. I was probably too focused on rowing well into the wind than just like savage with it."
Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux finished fourth in their semifinal of the Women's Pair. The race was dominated by the Romanian crew stroked by Simona Radis, generally regarded as the greatest female rower on the planet. Romania won in 7:20.94, Chilean sisters Antonia and Melita Abraham finished in second (7:29.85) and Italy was third (7:31.34).
Lush and Lequeux crossed in 7:40.56 and will row the B Final just before midnight tomorrow (Friday) NZT.
Eva Hofmans and Sophie Egnot-Johnson are in their first year together as a combination in the Women's Double Sculls. It's Eva's first senior world championship while Sophie was originally selected for last year's team but was forced out through injury.
They lined up in a C Final that included the Greek combination that won a silver medal at the European Championships at the beginning of the month, such is the depth of the event.
Eva and Sophie finished sixth (7:34.67), with Greece winning in 7:20.88.
