The New Zealand rowers gained momentum on the second day (Saturday 20 June 2015) of the World Rowing Cup in Varese, Italy. Ten New Zealand crews will compete for medals in A Finals tomorrow (Sunday 21 June 2015). The crews qualifying for A finals include the women's pair, women's lightweight double scull, women's quad, men's lightweight four, women's double, men's single scull, women's eight, men's eight and Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle in the women's lightweight single.
Challenging in the same semi-final of the women's lightweight single scull Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle needed a top three placing to proceed to the A final. McBride put in a strong performance cruising through for a convincing win, several lengths ahead of German Judith Anlauf, with Jackie Kiddle in third a further length back. They will be joined in the A final by scullers from Brazil, Denmark and China from the second semi-final. McBride gained the fastest semi-final time of 7:24.46 which was also a new world best record time. The previous record had stood for 21 years. The former record of 7:28.15 was set by Romanian Constanta Burcica in 1994 at the World Cup II in France; McBride took nearly four seconds off the time and will be favoured to take the world cup title tomorrow in the finals.
In the semi-finals of the women's pair 2014 under-23 world champions Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast took on the current senior world and Olympic champion combination of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning from Great Britain and 2014 silver world championship medallists from USA's Megan Kalmoe and Kerry Simmonds. Great Britain crossed the line first in 6:54.04 after leading throughout the race, while USA were a close second with a time of 6:54.67, while New Zealand crossed in 6:58.48 which was enough to see them through to the A final. Felice Mueller and Eleanor Logan from the USA and crews from Denmark and France will also be in the mix for medals from other semi-final.
The lightweight women's double sculls New Zealand partnership of Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie look to be honing in on a podium finish after their semi-final performance saw them win in 6:50.68. The European Champions from Great Britain Katherine Copeland and Charlotte Taylor claimed the world best time off the New Zealanders (set in 2014) by winning their semi-final in 6:48.38. New Zealand will race Germany, China and Sweden and two crews from Great Britain in the A final.
The New Zealand women's quad crew of Erin-Monique O'Brien, Lucy Spoors, Georgia Perry and Sarah Gray achieved the top two requirement in their repechage by finishing second behind Australia. They will meet world champions Germany, Poland, USA and China in the final after those crews progressed straight from the heats.
Curtis Rapley, James Lassche, Alistair Bond and James Hunter found the French men's lightweight four were slightly quicker over the 2000m distance in their semi-final. A top three placing was needed to progress into the A final and New Zealand achieved this by finishing second in 5:50.02 behind France who crossed the finish in 5:49.88, while China clasped onto the final qualifying spot. In the second semi-final Switzerland, Great Britain and China qualified for the A final.
In the semi-finals, the women's double scull pairing of Zoe Stevenson and Eve MacFarlane were placed in third at the 500m point and lifted their efforts up a notch through the halfway marker, overtaking Australia for second before zoning in on European Champions Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj of Poland who were the race leaders. With just 200 metres left to race the New Zealanders took charge of the semi-final and went on to win in 6:46.19, with Poland in second and Australia third. From the second semi-final USA, Germany and Great Britain qualified for the A final.
The women's eight steered by Francie Turner, stroked by Kelsey Bevan and crewed with Gen Behrent, Ashlee Rowe, Kristen Froude, Ruby Tew, Emma Dyke, Kayla Pratt and Rebecca Scown managed to secure an A final start. The repechage was fast and furious with New Zealand in fifth going into the final quarter of the race with all eights overlapping each other. The kiwis showed fighting spirit and were making gains on Germany and attacked hard to show the deserved the A final. Great Britain led the race winning in 5:59.90, Australia were second in 6:01.60 while China were third in 6:01.72, with New Zealand rounding out the qualifiers and joining current Olympic and world champions USA and Canada in the final.
Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale won his semi-final after a slow start saw him trailing in sixth through the first quarter. Drysdale's cool head, experience and endurance saw him bridge the gap between himself and the other scullers. Drysdale continued to gain on the race leaders and it wasn't long until he overtook Cuban sculler Angel Rodriguez Fournier who won the first World Cup in Bled and finished second in this semi-final, and Great Britain's Alan Campbell who was third. The first semi-final qualifiers will compete against the winner of the European Rowing Championships Damir Martin of Croatia, current World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and the Belarus sculler Stanislau Shcharbacheria in the A final after they also advanced from their semi-final.
The New Zealand men's eight of coxswain Caleb Shepherd and rowers Stephen Jones, Brook Robertson, Joe Wright, Isaac Grainger, Shaun Kirkham, Michael Brake, Alex Kennedy and Tom Murray will join the four crews who claimed A final berths from the heat rounds - Germany, USA, Great Britain and Poland. New Zealand won their repechage in 5:29.42 and a second German crew followed for the remaining slot in the final coming home in 5:29.98. New Zealand seized the lead off France into the final 500m dash for the line, France then blew their chances for the A final as Germany fought hard and squeezed past for the final available spot.
Peter Taylor and Hayden Cohen are an improving combination in the men's lightweight double but were unable to crack an A final qualification standard in the semi-finals at their debut regatta. Austria confirmed the last available spot by the smallest of margins finishing third in 6:16.050 versus the New Zealanders time of 6:16.30 which was good enough for fourth. Taylor and Cohen will contest the B final.
The New Zealand men's four of Anthony Allen, Bobby Kells, Alex Bardoul and Finn Howard were sent to the repechage and needed a top two placing to advance into the medal finals. The kiwis didn't quite have the gas to keep up with race leaders Australia who pulled Germany through with them for the final qualifying position. New Zealand was fourth and will challenge the B final.
The men's quad crew of Karl Manson, George Bridgewater, John Storey and Jade Uru required a top two finish to get into A final and they certainly laid it all on the line in the attempt to achieve that. The top three crews were dead level in the final few strokes of the race but unfortunately for the New Zealanders the surge for the line saw them finish in third, with only a foot separately the top three crews. Australia won in 5:39.18, Switzerland were second claiming the last A final position in 5:39.58, while New Zealand posted 5:29.18 which sends them to the B final.
Other New Zealanders in action earlier today included Giacomo Thomas who finished third in the D final of the men's single scull. Adam Ling put in a strong showing in the C final of the men's lightweight single scull finishing first for an overall ranking of 13th. Axel Dickinson and Paddy McInnes were third in the men's pair C final. Fiona Bourke and Olivia Loe contested the C final of the women's single scull finishing second and third respectively.
42 countries are represented in Varese, Italy for the World Cup regatta. New Zealand entered 15 boat classes at this second of three world cup events. The third and final world cup of 2015 will be held in Lucerne, Switzerland next month, with the world championships to be hosted in Aiguebelette, France from August 30 for seven days of. The world championships also double as the major qualifying regatta for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.