Rowing: All berths taken for France

Fiona Bourke (right), pictured with fellow double sculls world champion Zoe Stevenson, has taken the single sculls spot.

New Zealand fills its 14 Olympic boats for world championships with a squad of 46

Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler are arguably the biggest movers in a record-breaking New Zealand rowing squad.

Rowing New Zealand has filled all 14 Olympic crew boats for the first time in a campaign.

Forty-six athletes, including men's and women's eights, and two coxswains will compete at the world championships on France's Lake Aiguebelette in August. The regatta will be the first opportunity to qualify boats for the Rio Olympics. The crews will also race at two preparatory World Cups in Italy and Switzerland. Previously the closest New Zealand came to fielding all Olympic boat classes was in 2010, when 13 crews raced the world championships on Lake Karapiro.

Prendergast and Gowler form a revamped women's pair, replacing Olympic bronze medallist Rebecca Scown - who has been selected in the eight - and Louise Trappitt. They need to finish in the top 11 to qualify the boat - but not themselves - for Rio. In a modern-day rarity they will also moonlight as members of the eight but Prendergast expects the demands to be manageable.

"The eight often breaks into pairs for training so it is something we talk about with our coach [Dave Thompson]. The other girls [in the eight] will give us great competition plus [using RNZ's prognostic system] we can compare our times with the likes of Mahe [Drysdale], Eric [Murray] and Hamish [Bond] to know what it takes to be the world's best."

Prendergast and Gowler already have an idea after a breakthrough World Cup regatta last July in Lucerne when they beat Scown and Trappitt by more than five seconds and finished behind British Olympic champions Heather Stanning and Helen Glover. They went on to win at under-23 level.

Another significant selection came in the women's single scull.

Incumbent world champion Emma Twigg's study-enforced absence saw Fiona Bourke take her spot.

Bourke, one of the current double sculling world champions, needs a top-nine placing to qualify the boat for the Olympics. She will be coached by Dick Tonks.

Michael Brake replaces George Howard in one change to the men's eight which took gold at the under-23 world championships in 2013 and 2014. They need a top-five placing if they are to guarantee becoming New Zealand's first men's eight to attend an Olympics in 32 years.

Other highlights included the return of George Bridgewater in the quadruple sculls after six years in the corporate world. He studied at Oxford University after taking bronze in the pair at the Beijing Games.

Elsewhere, Peter Taylor, the Olympic lightweight double sculls bronze medallist, teams up with Hayden Cohen.

The team's target is six world championship medals to justify $5.1 million in taxpayer funding. They topped the medal table last year.

New Zealand rowing team

Attending World Cup No2 Varese, Italy; World Cup No3 Lucerne Switzerland; and world championships Lake Aiguebelette, France.

Women
Single scull - needs 9th or better to qualify the boat for Olympics: Fiona Bourke
Double scull - 11th or better: Zoe Stevenson, Eve Macfarlane
Coxless pair - 11th or better: Kerri Gowler, Grace Prendergast
Quadruple sculls - 5th or better: Erin-Monique O'Brien, Lucy Spoors, Georgia Perry, Sarah Gray
Lightweight double scull - 11th or better: Julia Edward, Sophie MacKenzie
Lightweight scull - non-Olympic: Zoe McBride
Eight - 5th or better: Rebecca Scown, Genevieve Behrent, Kerri Gowler, Grace Prendergast, Kelsey Bevan, Ruby Tew, Emma Dyke, Kayla Pratt, Francie Turner (cox)

Men
Single scull - 9th or better: Mahe Drysdale
Coxless pair - 11th or better: Hamish Bond, Eric Murray
Double scull - 11th or better: Chris Harris, Robbie Manson
Quadruple sculls - 8th or better: John Storey, George Bridgewater, Jade Uru, Karl Manson
Lightweight coxless four - 11th or better: Curtis Rapley, Alistair Bond, James Lassche, James Hunter
Lightweight double scull - 11th or better: Peter Taylor, Hayden Cohen
Lightweight single scull - non-Olympic: Adam Ling
Coxless four - 11th or better: Anthony Allen, Alex Bardoul, Bobby Kells, Finn Howard
Eight* - 5th or better: Stephen Jones, Brook Robertson, Alex Kennedy, Joe Wright, Isaac Grainger, Shaun Kirkham, Michael Brake, Tom Murray, Caleb Shepherd (cox)
*The eight will also compete at the Windermere Cup, Seattle in May