Rowing: Drysdale added to world rowing champs team

Mahe Drysdale missed out on a medal at Henley. Photo / Getty Images

Olympic gold medallist and five-time single sculls world champion Mahe Drysdale has been added to the New Zealand team for next month's world rowing championships in South Korea after he completed a time trial at Lake Karapiro today.

The selectors felt Drysdale was up the standard required to compete with distinction at the World Championships in South Korea in just a months' time.

The 34-year-old took time off after winning gold at last year's Olympics and has done a number of different things like climb Mt Kilimanjaro and complete an ironman and the Coast to Coast before committing to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Drysdale finished third in his first race back at the Holland-Beker regatta a month ago and was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Diamond Challenge men's single sculls at the 164th Henley Royal Regatta a week later.

"It is great to have Mahe back in the team,'' Rowing New Zealand's high performance manager Alan Cotter said. "He is a real leader and a well-respected senior member of our squad. Mahe has been training hard and has been very focused on his return to rowing.

"He has earned his spot back in the New Zealand rowing team.''

Drysdale and the rest of the New Zealand team will prepare at Lake Karapiro for the next two weeks before departing for South Korea on August 11. The world rowing championships start in Chungju, South Korea, on August 25.

New Zealand rowing team to compete at the world rowing championships in South Korea:
Women's single scull: Emma Twigg (Auckland RPC, Hawkes Bay RC)
Women's coxless pair Rebecca Scown (Central RPC, Union Wanganui RC), Kayla Pratt (Auckland RPC, Auckland RC)
Women's lightweight single scull: Louise Ayling (Central RPC, Waihopai RC)
Women's lightweight double scull: Julia Edward (Waikato RPC, Rotorua RC), Lucy Strack (Southern RPC, North End RC)
Women's double scull: Fiona Bourke (Southern RPC, Otago Uni RC), Zoe Stevenson (Waikato RPC, Tauranga RC)
Women's quadruple scull: Erin-Monique Shelton (Central RPC, Petone RC), Genevieve Armstrong (Waikato RPC, Tauranga RC), Georgia Perry (Waikato RPC, Waikato RC), Sarah Gray (Waikato RPC, Waikato RC)
Women's eight: Kelsey Bevan (Auckland RPC, Counties Manukau RC), Genevieve Behrent (Southern RPC, Waihopai RC), Eve Macfarlane (Southern RPC, Canterbury RC), Jessica Loe (Waikato RPC, Waikato RC), Kerri Gowler (Central RPC, Aramoho Wanganui RC), Grace Prendergast (Southern RPC, Avon RC), Robyn Munro (Central RPC, Nelson RC), Linda Matthews (Central RPC, Star BC), Cox: Laura Campbell
Men's single scull: Mahe Drysdale (Auckland RPC, West End RC)
Men's lightweight single scull: Duncan Grant (Central RPC, Wairau RC)
Men's double scull: Robbie Manson (Central RPC, Wairau RC), Michael Arms (Auckland RPC, Auckland Grammar RC)
Men's coxless pair: Hamish Bond (Southern RPC, North End RC), Eric Murray (Waikato RPC, Waikato RC)
Men's coxless four: Bobby Kells (Auckland RPC, North Shore RC), Adam Tripp (Auckland RPC, Hawkes Bay RC), Tobias Wehr-Candler (Waikato RPC, Wellington RC), Jade Uru (Southern RPC, Waihopai RC)
Men's quadruple scull: Hayden Cohen (Southern RPC, Canterbury RC), Nathan Flannery (Southern RPC, Union RC), Fergus Fauvel (Southern RPC, Otago Uni RC), Nathan Cohen (Southern RPC, Otago University RC)
Men's lightweight coxless four: Curtis Rapley (Waikato RPC, Tauranga RC), Peter Taylor (Auckland RPC, Auckland RC), James Hunter (Central RPC, Wellington RC), James Lassche (Southern RPC, Avon RC)
Non-travelling reserves: Louise Trappitt (Central RPC, Star BC), Lucy Spoors (Southern RPC, Canterbury RC), Richard Harrison (Auckland RPC, Hawkes Bay RC).