KEY POINTS:
World champion Mahe Drysdale and his fast-rising single-seat rival Nathan Cohen grabbed a title each on the opening day of finals at the national rowing championships at Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel yesterday.
And the pair also set the stage for what promises to be a thrilling head-to-head this morning
when they crossed within 1.86s of each other in their semifinal of the single scull.
Drysdale won in 7m 15.34s, with Cohen - the 21-year-old from Invercargill who has been training with, and learning from, the world No 1 over the summer - clocking 7:17.20 in a race where they appeared to keep some juice in the tank for today.
Halberg Award winner Drysdale, chasing six titles, won his first yesterday, teaming up with fellow world champion Nathan Twaddle in the coxless pairs. But two of his title hopes had been dashed by the end of a tough day.
He will go again today in the single-scull, coxless four and the eight.
Drysdale and Twaddle, representing Auckland, were third at the 500m mark behind Southern pair Hamish Bond and Carl Meyer and Waikato's Eric Murray and James Dallinger. They moved ahead but the Southern crew lasted the distance and there was just 1.05s between the pairs at the line.
Twaddle said: "It was a close race and a tough one, but that's what people want and it's always enjoyable to win one like that."
Cohen teamed up with Matthew Trott to win the double sculls title impressively in a fine 6m 22.94s. They established an early lead and were three lengths clear by halfway.
Auckland's Richard Beaumont and Peter Taylor were second in 6:28.6, with Drysdale and Twaddle surprisingly a further 1.31s back in fourth, which they put down to an average row rather than fatigue. Cohen was delighted. He said: "We had a pretty awesome start and really just kept pulling away.
"But I wasn't sure we were safe until we had about 800m to go."
A Southern quartet of Bond, Trott, and Olympians George Bridgewater and Carl Meyer grabbed the coxless four crown in 5m 59.82s, 1.82s clear of Waikato, with the Auckland crew, anchored by Drysdale and Twaddle, third, more than 6s back.
Olympic champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell easily won the women's double-scull title, clocking 7:06.35, a touch under 10s ahead of Central's Simone Hudson and Rosslyn Knox.
And there was an easy win for world champion bronze medallists Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles, representing Auckland along with promising Emma Twigg and Erin Tolhurst, in the coxless fours. They finished almost 16s clear of the Central four.
Duncan Grant, who battled to get a late call into New Zealand's world championship squad last year and then justified the selectors' faith by winning the bronze at Eton, won the lightweight single-scull final.
He crossed 3.68s ahead of world under-23 champion Storm Uru in a classy field full of up-and-comers.
In one of the day's closest finishes, Central pair Matthew Adam and Joseph Sullivan won the under-21 double scull by 1m from Southern's Jade Uru and John Storey.
