The New Zealand under-23 rowing team have concluded their 2016 World Rowing Championship campaign with one world title, two silver medals and one bronze in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The final night of racing for the under-23s on the Willem Alexander Baan Rowing Course saw New Zealand contest three A finals and claim silver medals in both the men's quadruple scull and lightweight women's double sculls, adding to the gold medal in the men's coxed four, and bronze in the men's coxless four.
The total medal tally of four medals puts New Zealand in fifth place in the championship ranking with Germany claiming the number one spot with nine medals in total.
2015 lightweight double sculls under-23 world champion Jackie Kiddle and new partner, Lucy Jonas chased down an early break from the Italian duo of Federica Cesarini and Valentina Rodini along with local favourites Amber Kraak and Anne-Marie Schonk of the Netherlands, leaving the rest of the field well behind.
With Italy unable to match the pace and the home crowd support for the Netherlands Kraak and Schonk claimed gold in a time of 7:30.320 with Kiddle and Jonas crossing the line for silver with 7:32.270. Italy stayed in play for bronze with 7:33.850.
The under-23 men's quadruple sculls promised to be an exciting race and certainly delivered.
Australia, Poland, Italy, Germany and New Zealand were practically bow ball to bow ball down the course with the medals coming down to a sprint finish including an impressive drive from the New Zealand crew.
A photo finish showed Australia had scored gold by just 0.41 of a second. The New Zealand crew of Jordan Parry, Cameron Crampton, Olly Stephens and Jack O'Leary earned silver and the Italians snatched bronze from Poland.
New Zealand missed out on a medal by the smallest of margins in the women's eight event, finishing just 0.3 seconds behind third place getters Russia. The gold went to the USA, who asserted their dominance by striding away from the start to win in 6:36.900. Great Britain followed with silver in 6:44.060 and Russia bronze with 6:45.500.
The New Zealand Junior rowing team also continued their 2016 World Championship campaign with a day of repechage and quarter-final racing.
The junior men's quad were untouchable in their quarter-final, leading for the full course and taking the win in a time of 6:09.93. Hungary put in a late charge to claim second in 6:11.88 and Belgium claimed the final A/B semi-final qualification place with third.
The junior men's double sculls were also in a league of their own in their quarterfinal with a three boat length lead over Hungary, with another four to five lengths back to Lithuania in third and the final A/B semi-final place.
Single sculler Angus Foster had to settle for fifth place in his quarterfinal, outside of the top three needed to progress to the A/B semi-final. Aliaksander Pashkevich of Belarus maintained his lead for the entire race, Jan Schaeuble of Switzerland took second and Patrik Farkas of Crotaia took third to progress to the A/B semi-final. Foster will now contest the C/D semi-final.
The junior men's pair combination of Ethan Blight and Thomas Russel took the lead at the 1000 metre mark of the repechage and held it to win with a time of 7:25.13. There was drama in the last 250 metres as the second placed Great British crew of Alexander Wythe and Adam Teece suffered a minor crab but managed to recover to retain their position to contest the A/B semi-final.
The junior women's double sculls duo of Grace Shaw and Georgia King finished a comfortable second in their repechage to move on to the A/B semi-final along with Leonie Menzel and Sophie Leupold of Germany who crossed the line in first place with a clear water advantage.
Germany and New Zealand went one-two in the junior men's eight repechage with a significant clear water lead over the rest of the field to progress to Sunday's A Final.
The World Rowing Junior Championships are being held in a combined regatta with the Under 23 and Senior World Rowing Championships.
Racing continues tonight with junior semi-finals and senior finals including New Zealand's Zoe McBride defending her lightweight women's double sculls title.