Rowing: Twins row to gold glory in smashing time

In rowing, those who lead hold all the aces.

New Zealand 23-year-old twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell employed that rule to perfection, rowing to world championship gold in Seville, Spain, yesterday, and smashing the world double sculls record in the process.

It was another golden day for New Zealand rowing, following in the wake of Rob Waddell's two world single scull triumphs and Sydney Olympic gold, along with the sisters' two silver medals at last year's world championships.

They won the Halberg Sportsman of the Year award for their achievements but they were desperate to go one better than their Lucerne double and spent 12 months training and planning.

The training was tough but the tactics were straightforward.

"We decided we're good at leading from the start so that's what we decided to do. It couldn't have worked better," Caroline said.

"There isn't a better way to do it than getting out in front of your rivals, watching back at what they're doing and controlling it. It's a neat feeling."

The pair dominated the start and led by a boat length at the 1000m stage, virtually turning the second half of the race into a battle for silver.

Italy closed momentarily in the third quarter, but the New Zealanders upped their stroke rate, pulling away to finish more than a length clear of experienced Russians Larisa Merk and Irina Fedotova. Italians Elisabetta Sancassani and Gabriella Bascelli settled for third.

New Zealand's time of six minutes 38.78 seconds was well under the previous world record set by Olympic champions Germany in 1999. It brought a huge smile to the exhausted Evers-Swindells.

"As I said to George, I'm a bit more pleased that we got the world record than I am about the title," Caroline said.

"A lot of people said it was a soft event because the world and Olympic champions (Germans Kathrin Boron and Kerstin Kowalski) weren't here.

"But for us to break their world record by that much just proves that perhaps we would have won it anyway and that we're on top in this event."

Boron and Kowalski pipped the New Zealanders for gold by 1.5sec last year in a comparatively slow time of 6min 50.20sec.

World records are fickle in rowing because of the conditions -- and the New Zealanders were certainly aided by a healthy tailwind -- but a 3sec improvement is a phenomenal improvement.

The ease of their victory fires a warning shot to rival crews two years out from the Athens Olympic Games.

Georgina said they could only revel in the record after the race.

"You don't feel comfortable until you cross that line, anything can happen," she said.

"They're both fast finishers, the Russians and the Italians, so we knew they might come at us.

"It's been a tough 12 months but, I'll tell you what, right now it's worth it."

The Evers-Swindells became the first New Zealand women to claim world championship gold since Philippa Baker and Brenda Lawson were victorious in 1993 and 1994, also in the double sculls.

Earlier yesterday, New Zealand narrowly missed a medal in the women's coxless four when they finished fourth in their final.

After trailing the field for the first 1500m, the crew of Nicola Coles, Jackie Abraham, Paula Twining and Melanie Burke powered home over the final 500m to record a time of 6min 34.18sec.

Winners Australia were more than 8sec clear while Canada were second and China third, less then 3sec ahead of the fast-closing New Zealanders.

The other New Zealand crews in Seville were the men's coxless four, the women's coxless pair and single sculler Angela Fife, who all missed out on the finals after reaching the semi-final stage.

The men had an improved performance yesterday, winning the B final in a quality time of 5min 54.13sec to rank seventh overall.

The women's pair were fourth in the B-final and Fife was fifth.

All of their placings would be good enough to qualify for Athens if they can repeat them at next year's world championships.

- NZPA