KEY POINTS:
Normally the KRI 1 regatta doesn't rate highly on the rowing calendar but there will be plenty of interest in this morning's single sculls final when Mahe Drysdale and Rob Waddell go head-to-head for the first time.
Drysdale is three-times world champion and, before a couple of months
ago, would have fancied his chances of claiming gold at next year's Olympics.
Waddell's return to rowing after a long absence has put that in doubt, in the single sculls anyway.
Waddell has been temporarily released from his Team New Zealand contract to test himself in rowing again and the word around the water is that it's going extremely well.
In yesterday's racing at Lake Karapiro, both Waddell and Drysdale won their heats to qualify for today's final.
"Both of us will be going hard out to win it," Drysdale said. "The winner will get bragging rights but it doesn't really mean anything in the wider scheme of things.
"We are at slightly different places in our season because he has been training hard since June while I had a break in September, so he will be in pretty good shape. But it will be interesting because it will be the first time I have ever raced him. It's pretty exciting for me to do that."
There's expectation a decision on who gets the seat in Beijing will come after March's New Zealand trials. Drysdale was keen for some clarity.
"If the selectors say the winner goes to Beijing, I'm going to have to change my programme and that's going to be pretty unfortunate because ultimately that could affect the outcome in Beijing.
"This is the time you're putting in the base and you don't really want to play with that so I'm going to be vulnerable in the next few months if someone decides to target me."
It's a great situation for Rowing New Zealand, with the two best single scullers in the world battling it out for the right to compete at Beijing.
Waddell is clearly serious about it. The 2000 Olympic and two-time world champion set an unofficial world record on the indoor rowing machine last week, beating the time set by Matthew Pinsent.
And he has shed 27kg since his America's Cup days and is now 103kg, close to his Sydney Olympic weight.
Waddell has been trialled in recent times in the double sculls with Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen, as well as an eight.
Trott and Cohen did well to qualify for this year's world championships final but trials have shown the boat has gone to a new level with Waddell in one of the seats. Unofficial reports suggest it hasn't mattered which one he has teamed up with but that the boat has gone five seconds faster.
Waddell yesterday declined to comment about his return to rowing, other than to say it's "going OK". This morning could give a better indication.