Rowing NZ fill all 14 Olympic crew boats

Mahe Drysdale. Photo / Christine Cornege.

Rowing New Zealand has created history by filling all 14 Olympic crew boats for the first time for their 2015 campaign.

A total of 46 athletes, including men's and women's eights, have been selected to compete at the world championships on France's Lake Aiguebelette in August. The regatta doubles as the first opportunity to qualify boats for the Rio Games.

Before today's announcement the closest New Zealand came to fielding all Olympic boat classes was 2010 when 13 crews competed at the world championships on Lake Karapiro.
The team's taxpayer target is six world championship medals on the back of a 2014 season in which they became the world's best rowing nation after topping the medal table in the World Cup series and world championships.

The biggest selection movers come in the women's single scull and coxless pair.
Incumbent single sculling world champion Emma Twigg's study-enforced absence sees 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.

Under-23 world champions Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast form the women's pair and require a top 11 placing to confirm a Rio spot. New Zealand won the bronze medal in this event last year through Olympic bronze medallist Rebecca Scown - who has been selected in the eight - and Louise Trappitt. Gowler and Prendergast will double up, having also been selected in the eight.

Other highlights include the return of George Bridgewater in the quadruple sculls after six years in the corporate world. He studied at Oxford after earning a bronze medal in the pair at the Beijing Olympics.

The men's eight will be coached by Noel Donaldson and there is only one change to the crew which took gold at the under-23 world championships in 2013 and 2014. Michael Brake comes in alongside coxswain Caleb Shepherd, Stephen Jones, Brook Robertson, Alex Kennedy, Joe Wright, Isaac Grainger, Shaun Kirkham and Tom Murray. They're aiming for a top five placing at the world championships to claim an Olympic berth. New Zealand last sent a men's eight to the Olympics in 1984.

Elsewhere, Peter Taylor, the Olympic bronze medallist in the lightweight double sculls, teams up with Hayden Cohen. Taylor is switching back to sculling after helping build the success of the lightweight four over the last two years. Cohen recently made the decision to become a lightweight sculler after competing in the heavyweight quad in 2013. They'll be coached by Calvin Ferguson.

Mahe Drysdale and Eric Murray have been picked in the single sculls and pair respectively. They are in line to attend their 10th world championships.

NEW ZEALAND ROWING TEAM 2015
Attending World Cup #2 Varese, Italy; World Cup #3 Lucerne Switzerland; and world championships Lake Aiguebelette, France.

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

MEN
Single scull - 9th or better
Mahe Drysdale
Tonks (coach)
Coxless pair - 11th or better
Hamish Bond
Eric Murray
Noel Donaldson (coach)
Double scull - 11th or better
Chris Harris
Robbie Manson
Calvin Ferguson (coach)
Quadruple sculls - 8th or better
John Storey
George Bridgewater
Jade Uru
Karl Manson
Rodger (coach)
Lightweight coxless four - 11th or better
Curtis Rapley
Alistair Bond
James Lassche
James Hunter
Thompson (coach)
Lightweight double scull - 11th or better
Peter Taylor
Hayden Cohen
Ferguson (coach)
Lightweight single scull - non-Olympic
Adam Ling
Gary Hay (coach)
Coxless four - 11th or better
Anthony Allen
Alex Bardoul
Bobby Kells
Finn Howard
Marion Horwell (coach)
Eight* - 5th or better
Stephen Jones
Brook Robertson
Alex Kennedy
Joe Wright
Isaac Grainger
Shaun Kirkham
Michael Brake
Tom Murray
Caleb Shepherd (cox)
Donaldson (coach)

*The eight will also compete at the Windermere Cup, Seattle in May