New Zealand rowing relived some of its glory days when two crews won gold medals at a World Cup regatta in Germany last night.
The men's and women's pairs both underlined their credentials for the upcoming world championships by winning their finals on the same Munich course which produced one
of this country's fairytale sporting successes - the men's eight's win in the Olympic Games final in 1972.
The men's pair of Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater had breezed into their final while the women's combination of Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh were also confident after solid form earlier in the regatta. As well, men's single sculler Mahe Drysdale won a silver medal and Olympic double sculls champion Georgina Evers-Swindell was third in the women's single sculls final.
Haigh and Coles were there or thereabouts throughout the final, sitting second after 500m before gaining a lead at halfway which they did not relinquish.
Their winning time over the 2000m course was 7m 51.00ls, more than 2.5s ahead of the second-placed Australian crew.
Twaddle and Bridgewater did not hit the front until the closing 500m when they hauled in the Croatian pair of Sinisa and Niksa Skelin.
The New Zealanders crossed first in 6m 59.82s, with the Croatians recording a time of 7:05.59.
Drysdale was another to excel, securing a silver medal following a strong finish in the single sculls.
He set a time of 7m 18.83s, beaten only by experienced German Marcel Hacker in 7m 17.70s.
A bonus medal came New Zealand's way in the women's singles sculls, too, with Georgina Evers-Swindell picking up a bronze behind double Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovith, of Belarus.
Her twin sister Caroline was fourth.
The 2004 Olympic gold medal-winning sisters went into separate boats for this regatta but will resume their double sculls partnership for the next World Cup regatta in Lucerne.
- NZPA
