Rowing: Twigg sees her chance to end champion's time at the top

Single Sculler Emma Twigg says the decade-long reign of Ekaterina Karsten who's dominated the women's event will end tomorrow. Photo / Christine Cornege

Emma Twigg is ready to put to an to end one of the most dominant reigns in rowing history.

Twigg booked her place in the final of the women's single sculls yesterday with a well-calculated performance in the semifinal, finishing third behind key rivals Ekaterina Karsten, of Belarus, and the Czech Republic's Mirka Knapkova.

Despite placing third, Twigg believes she's strongly placed for an assault on the title of 38-year-old Karsten who's dominated the event for more than a decade, winning six world championship titles including the last four in a row.

It must be a daunting prospect to approach a final knowing one competitor has virtually owned the event for the past 10 years, but Twigg remains unfazed.

"I firmly believe that Karsten is beatable, she was beaten in Beijing [by Bulgarian Rumyana Neykova]. So I'm going out there to give it absolutely everything on Saturday," said Twigg.

Judging by Karsten's form in yesterday's semifinal, it will take a massive effort to overcome her - the woman simply does not like to lose.

Karsten held off a spirited challenge from Knapkova through the middle stages of the first semifinal to power through for an easy win.

Twigg, meanwhile, was happy to settle for third. Once the 23-year-old had established herself in the top three she took her foot off the accelerator, dropping her stroke rate down to an economical 26 over the final 500m of the race.

She was clearly conserving her energy for the final, but Twigg was reluctant to reveal just how much she has left in the tank heading into tomorrow's showdown.

"I don't want to give too many secrets away, but I felt very comfortable," she said.

It's taken a long time for Twigg to feel comfortable in the boat again.

The promising up-and-comer's season was derailed when she had to return home from her European campaign after being struck by a mystery illness that caused severe exhaustion.

Twigg said she noticed a slump in form and energy at the Munich World Cup regatta in June when she failed to make the A final, after winning silver in a highly encouraging performance at the opening regatta in Bled in May.

It took some time to overcome the setback and work her way back to full training, but she now believes she's in top form.

"Whatever was holding me back then I'm definitely over. In terms of the fatigue, I don't feel anything like that any more and the last two months of training have been really good."

Confidence appears to be high all round in the New Zealand camp, with 13 crews securing their place in the A finals.

"That's pretty unprecedented," Twigg said of the New Zealand team's efforts. "We're all just buzzing and really excited about the weekend."