Rowing: Silver no surprise to Julia Edward's mum

The performance of Rotorua's Julia Edward and her rowing partner Louise Ayling over the weekend came as no surprise to those who know the pair well.

The World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland was the first time 21-year-old Edward had competed in an international regatta with Ayling, a 24-year-old from Southland. The pair announced their arrival on the world scene in style by recording the world's fastest time in the heats before claiming the silver medal in the final, finishing just .25s behind the Chinese winners.

The lightweight scullers are now being touted as medal prospects for the London Olympics in August, after previously stating their only goal was to make the A final.

Edward's mother, Sue, said the young pair's coach Dick Tonks had always said he expected more from them.

"We've always been told that they have something special, those two," Mrs Edward said. "But they kept under the radar, they didn't want too much hoopla until they proved themselves."

She said in the months before leaving for Europe, Edward and Ayling rowed twice weekly races where their times were compared to the world record, called prognostics. A rating of 100 per cent would have meant they had equalled it. "They were consistently getting 95-97 per cent," she said. "We knew that they were right up there but it's a different story when you get over there racing on the big stage."

Back in Rotorua, Mrs Edward and husband Harry had a 2am phone call from their "delighted" daughter after the final.

"She was so excited, so relieved," she said. "It's hard when you're coming from the southern hemisphere and winter training and everyone else is in race mode. They just did incredibly well."

Edward and the rest of the New Zealand team have now moved to Munich to prepare for the third and final World Cup regatta on June 15-17.

Then it is off to Belgium where the team will train until the Olympics - another four or five weeks of hard work.

"If you want to get there you have to work harder than everyone else," Mrs Edward said.