Three medals at World Cup rowing regatta
- Dave Worsley
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Success for New Zealand rowers with a gold and two bronze medals at the first World Cup regatta of the season in Italy.
In a remarkable race Ben Taylor and Oliver Welch beat the Olympic champions to win the Men's Pair title.
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Ben Mason and Finn Hamill launched their partnership in style with bronze in the Men's Double Sculls, while Stella Clayton-Greene and Kathryn Glen had a reunion row to remember with their bronze in the Women's Double Sculls.
Taylor and Welch finished ahed of the celebrated Croatian brothers Valent and Martin Sinkovic who had won gold at the Paris Olympics.
"Seeing them next to us on the start line was real exciting. Like, I've watched them win Olympic gold medals. [But] from the times in the heats and the semis, I was quietly confident we'd be able to beat them if we raced our best race," said 21-year-old Oliver Welch.
Welch and Taylor, who were the fastest qualifiers, made a quick start and then continued on to win.
" I'm really glad that I chose Oli, it's really paid off. I've said to a few people that I'm pretty excited about this one... it feels pretty special and I think that showed today... really excited to see how far this can go," Taylor, who is now the senior sweep athlete in the men's squad, said
Ben Mason and Finn Hamill finished third in a photo finish with Italy in the Men's Double with Switerland taking the win.
It had been a refreshing experience in other ways as well. Stella Clayton-Geene and Kathryn Glen won a bronze medal in the Double Sculls at the U19 World Championships in 2018.
Clayton-Greene has been fighting a chest infection this week and the pair's time in their fourth-place finish in the heats was just good enough to get them into the A Final. Their reunion finally got off properly in last night's medal race.
China, whose programme is headed up by New Zealander Ian Wright, crossed in 6.43.24, the Dutch in second (6.44.17), New Zealand in 6.48.44.
The lead-in for the Women's Four has also been affected by illness, with Ella Cossill having to hop into the boat for Juliette Lequeux. They finished fourth.
The Men's Four of Flynn Eliadis-Watson, Campbell Crouch, Zack Rumble and Josh Vodanovich finished sixth.
The regatta also hosted the first Mixed Eight competition with the USA winning the test event.
The New Zealand team now heads to Lucerne for the next World Cup regatta.
