Taylor, Welch reign supreme at World Rowing Champs
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Kiwi Men's Pair Ben Taylor and Oli Welch have defended their World Rowing Championship title, dominating from start to finish to win in 6 minutes 16.62 seconds well clear of Australia's Angus Dawson and Alexander Hill, with an Italian crew third.
As they did last year in Shanghai, and throughout this week's regatta on The Bosbaan lake, the Kiwi pair claimed an early lead and were never challenged.
LATEST HEADLINES:
Taylor and Welch were about one second faster than their Australian rivals through each of the first three quarters before the gap closed slightly over the final 500m.
It was reminiscent of double Olympic champions Hamish Bond and Eric Murray in their pomp, who dominated races with apparent ease throughout an exceptional reign in the early 2010s, featuring six world titles.
Taylor said becoming back-to-back world champions felt "pretty awesome".
"I guess it was the goal at the start of the season, and I feel that we stayed in that direction the whole way, but there's always one last race that can knock you over.
"We were pretty confident during the week that we could do it. But you never know on the day, so we're pretty stoked to get it done."
Taylor said the pair would enjoy a small celebration before preparing to play their part in the New Zealand eights campaign.
World Rowing is allowing athletes to "double up" in crews in Amsterdam, which has allowed New Zealand to form men's and women's eights over the closing days of the regatta.
In earlier races over night, the women's pair of Juliette Lequeux and Katie Lush placed third in their B-final while the men's double of Ben Mason and Finn Hamill were fourth in their B-final.
The men's four of Matt Macdonald, Oliver Maclean, Fred Vavasour and Harry Fitzpatrick have qualified fifth fastest for the A Final.
