Thunderstorms, torrential rain and high winds hit Lake Malta for the start of the World Rowing Cup III in Poznan, Poland today, causing major delays to racing and an altered schedule.
The start of racing was on hold for two hours while the weather passed, and officials opted to alter the schedule and cancel all exhibition races including the men's and women's eight event. Later in the day a wind shift saw the start of repechage racing delayed yet again with rowers facing a strong tailwind and choppy waters for the final races of the day.
The women's pair reserve duo of Olivia Loe and Holly Greenslade faced a challenging heat featuring world champion and world best time holders Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain. The New Zealanders started out with a powerful pace sitting in third at the 1000m mark but were unable to maintain it and crossed the line in fifth to move through to Saturday's repechage. In the second women's pair heat of the day Genevieve Behrent and Rebecca Scown charged into the lead by the 1000m mark and took a comfortable win ahead of Romania and Denmark, moving straight through to the A finals.
World Champions Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane struggled to hold the pace in the women's double sculls heat which was dominated by Australia's Sally Kehoe and Genevieve Horton, finishing in sixth place to contest the repechage on Saturday.
The double world champion and Rowing World Cup II bronze medallists, the lightweight women's double sculls duo of Sophie Mackenzie and Julia Edward faced heartbreak in their heat after catching a crab at the 1000m mark. The pair held a comfortable lead when disaster struck and they were left at a standstill trying to retrieve the blade while Ireland powered ahead to take the win. Mackenzie and Edward finished sixth and face another chance to move through to the A Final in Saturday's repechage.
Rowing World Cup II gold medallists the lightweight men's four were again lining up with reserve Matt Dunham in place of an injured Peter Taylor. The New Zealanders lost rivals World Cup silver medallists Switzerland due to withdrawal, but proved their power was no fluke as they held off a competitive chase from European silver medallists Great Britain to win comfortably and move straight through to the A final.
The unbeaten duo of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray proved dominant yet again in the men's pair heat, while reserves Axel Dickinson and Drikus Conradie had an excellent start, moving up from fourth to third and also claiming a spot in the semi-final.
World bronze medallists Robbie Manson and Chris Harris needed a top-three finish to move through to the semi-final in the men's double scull, but faced a tight tussle from the Serbian crew who finished less than one second behind the New Zealanders, and Cuba who claimed third.
Emma Twigg won her single sculls heat convincingly in a time of 7:39.34, over nine seconds clear of second place Lisa Scheenaard of The Netherlands and third place Thea Helseth of Norway. Twigg will face rival and current World Champion Kimberly Brennan in the semi-final. Reserve Lucy Spoors finished fourth in her heat and went on to book her own place in the semi-final by executing a second-place finish in the repechage behind Ukraine's Diana Dymchenko.
Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale took a win in the men's single scull heat ahead of teammate and reserve John Storey who finished four seconds behind in second place. Drysdale went on to claim victory again in his quarter final, while Storey produced a third-place finish behind Norway's Nils Jakob Hoff and Great Britain's Jack Beaumont to also progress to the semi-finals. Drysdale's main rival, reigning World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic has withdrawn from the event.
World Champion and world best time holder Zoe McBride snatched the lead in the lightweight women's single sculls by the 500m mark and never relinquished it. McBride finished nine seconds clear of second-place Germany's Fini Sturm who also moves through to the semi-final.
Racing resumes again tonight (Saturday) at 7.30pm NZT.
Live coverage of the finals will be available on SKY TV New Zealand on SKY Sport 5, Sunday 19 June 2016 at 8pm.
Regatta information, live race tracker, results and the full entry list can be found here .
NEW ZEALAND ROWING TEAM TO COMPETE AT WORLD ROWING CUP III
POZNAN, POLAND
17 - 19 June 2016
Women's Single Scull
Emma Twigg
Gary Hay - Coach
Women's Double Scull
Zoe Stevenson
Eve Macfarlane
Dick Tonks - Coach
Women's Lightweight Double Scull
Julia Edward
Sophie Mackenzie
Gary Hay - Coach
Women's Coxless Pair
Rebecca Scown
Genevieve Behrent
Dave Thompson - Coach
Women's Eight
Rebecca Scown
Genevieve Behrent
Kerri Gowler
Grace Prendergast
Kelsey Bevan
Ruby Tew
Emma Dyke
Kayla Pratt
Francie Turner (cox)
Dave Thompson - Coach
Men's Single Scull
Mahe Drysdale
Dick Tonks - Coach
Men's Double Scull
Chris Harris
Robbie Manson
Calvin Ferguson - Coach
Men's Coxless Pair
Hamish Bond
Eric Murray
Noel Donaldson - Coach
Lightweight Men's Coxless Four
James Hunter
Alistair Bond
Matt Dunham (Reserve)
James Lassche
Gary Hay - Coach
Men's Eight
Stephen Jones
Brook Robertson
Alex Kennedy
Joe Wright
Isaac Grainger
Shaun Kirkham
Michael Brake
Tom Murray
Caleb Shepherd (cox)
Noel Donaldson - Coach
Women's Single Scull (Reserve)
Lucy Spoors
Gary Hay - Coach
Women's Coxless Pair (Reserves)
Holly Greenslade
Olivia Loe
Dave Thompson - Coach
Women's Lightweight Single Scull (Reserve)
Zoe McBride
Gary Hay - Coach
Men's Single Scull (Reserve)
John Story
Calvin Ferguson- Coach
Men's Coxless Pair (Reserves)
Axel Dickinson
Drikus Conradie
Noel Donaldson - Coach