Triple World Champion Mahe Drysdale struck back in his fight for the Olympic Single Scull place at Beijing with a superb win over comeback king Rob Waddell this afternoon.
Drysdale took the race on early and it was the Big Three - the world champion, Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen - who moved clear of the world class field in the final of the Premier Single Sculls at the North Isaland Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro.
At half way Drysdale held a three quaerter length lead over Waddell and as the two protagonists moved away, Drysdale had something in reserve for Waddell's fabled 1500 metre push. This came when expected and Drysdale raised the rate to 35 strokes a minute - responding to Waddell's attack with his most robust counter attack so far in the three races in which the two have competed. This tight defence was to prove decisive in the final few hundred metres.
As they raced towards the line, Waddell again fought back, but could do little to impact on Drsydale, who crossed the line about half a boat length ahead, with Nathan Cohen a couple of lengths further back in third.
Results (Richard Gee notes that two current world champions, Duncan Grant (Lwt) and Joseph Sullivan (U23 heavyweight) failed to qualify for the final)
1st | NZ SQUAD 1 | 7:11:44 | - | - | - | Mahe Drysdale |
2nd | NZ SQUAD 2 | 7:12:32 | - | - | - | Rob Waddell |
3rd | NZ SQUAD 3 | 7:21:06 | - | - | - | Nathan Cohen |
4th | NZ SQUAD 4 | 7:27:37 | - | - | - | Peter Taylor |
5th | NZ SQUAD 5 | 7:39:29 | - | - | - | Storm Uru |
6th | NZ SQUAD 8 | 7:41:16 | - | - | - | Matthew Trott |