Rowing: One year on and five more finals await

Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh could be excused a chuckle at the memory of their dip into Olympic waters in Athens last August.

In their heat, they took an unscheduled splash after an oar caught the water badly. They had to clamber back on board and complete the race to avoid disqualification. They dried themselves off, got their minds in order and won through to the final in the coxless pair.

This afternoon they will line up in the world championship final in Gifu, Japan, armed with a string of leadup performances which suggest they aren't the longest of medal shots.

It has been a significant turnaround, which 33-year-old Coles puts down in large part to coming under the coaching wing of maestro Dick Tonks, the mentor of Olympic champions Rob Waddell and Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell.

Cambridge-based stroke Coles and 22-year-old Aucklander Haigh are second up today as New Zealand again present their credentials as a rising power on the world stage.

Five crews, five finals shows the work being put in is paying off. That is the same number of finalists New Zealand had at the Athens Games.

Coles and Haigh have won golds at the World Cup in Munich and at the Bekker regatta in Amsterdam on their way to Japan. They clocked 7m 03.77s in winning their heat, 1.81s slower than Australians Sarah Outhwaite and Natalie Bale.

The world record is 6m 53s, set by Romania's Olympic champions Viorica Susanu and Georgeta Damian in Seville two years ago.

Coles exuded confidence as she said the pair reckoned, given the right conditions, that mark is not out of reach today.

"The course has got a bit of flow on it which is helping things along world record-wise. My attitude is why can't we go as fast as anyone else?" Coles said. "We are as ambitious as we ever were and we have belief in ourselves."

Coles' experience at Athens whetted her appetite for another Olympic tilt in Beijing in 2008. She said her thinking would be dictated to by their performances at the world championships.

Both New Zealand's women's crews progressed directly to the final from their heats. Of the men, only the coxless four of Donald Leach, Eric Murray, Carl Meyer and Steven Cottle needed a repechage, which they won, to make the semifinals, and qualified for the final by taking third.

Men's coxless pair Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater are strong medal chances in a tough field. They won their semifinal and qualified second quickest, just 1.66s behind South Africans Ramon Di Clemente and Donovan Cech.

Single sculler Mahe Drysdale qualified fifth fastest for the premier men's event today.

And as New Zealand set out for world gold today, here's a historic footnote: it was 32 years ago yesterday that New Zealand won gold and silver in the eight and coxless four at the Munich Olympics.

Programme

Final rundown today (NZ time):

3.30pm: Men's single scull (Mahe Drysdale)

3.45pm: Women's coxless pair (Nicky Coles/Juliette Haigh)

4pm: Men's coxless pair (Nathan Twaddle/George Bridgewater)

4.15pm: Women's double scull (Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell)

4.45pm: Men's coxless four (Donald Leach/Eric Murray/Carl Meyer/Steven Cottle).

* Rowing New Zealand is looking to bid for hosting rights to the world championships in 2010. If successful, the event would be at Lake Karapiro.