New-look squad tests the waters
Women’s four added
With Eric Murray on the couch, Hamish Bond on a bike and Mahe Drysdale on sabbatical, new-look boats will be in the spotlight when New Zealand’s elite rowers begin their international season on Friday.
The second World Cup regatta of the season in Poznan, Poland, will see a number of new boat combinations stake their first claim towards the 2017 world champs in the US in late September, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the long-term goal.
In the men’s pair, Tom Murray and James Hunter replace the irreplaceable duo of Bond and the retired Murray. Hunter has shifted from the lightweight four that was fifth at last year’s Rio Olympics while Murray - no relation - was in the eight that was sixth. They’ll be up against recent European champs silver medallists, French brothers Valentin and Theophile Onfroy, along with the experienced Serbian pair of Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik.
Robbie Manson, another Kiwi who suffered disappointment at Rio, takes Drysdale’s place in the men’s single sculls.
The 27-year-old, who failed to make the A final of the double sculls at the Olympics with crewmate Chris Harris, has set his stall out early for the single scull berth for Tokyo, despite Drysdale’s plans to be back in the boat and aiming for a third successive Olympic gold. He’ll be tested immediately by the presence of Croatia’s Damir Martin, who pushed Drysdale to the limit in a pulsating final in Rio, but bronze medallist and long-time Drysdale rival Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic isn’t in the field.
In the women’s pair, Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast are looking to claim back the seats they lost prior to Rio.
After winning silver at the 2015 world champs, the duo were usurped in the boat for the Olympics by Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent, who went on to win silver in Rio. Behrent has taken a break this year and Gowler and Prendergast have returned from the eight, which The women’s coxless four class has been added to the rowing programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the IOC’S move towards gender equality.
To make room for the event as the IOC also aim to reduce the number of athletes competing at the Olympics, the men’s lightweight four has been removed from the regatta.
It also means there will be just two lightweight classes at Tokyo the men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls.
Rowing’s governing body Fisa proposed the changes at an extraordinary congress in Tokyo in February and it was accepted by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee late last week.
There will be an equal number of women and men competing at rowing in Tokyo - 263 each - with rowing’s athlete quota reduced from 550 at the 2016 Rio Olympics to 526 for Tokyo.
New Zealand has excelled in the lightweight men’s four class in recent years - they won silver at the 2013 and 2014 world champs but were surprisingly shut out of a medal in Rio when fifth.
will again feature Scown ths year.
A new lightweight women’s double sculls combination will also feature - albeit one with some experience and success at international level already. With the Rio representatives and two-times world champs Julia Edward and Sophie Mackenzie taking a break, Jackie Kiddle and Zoe Mcbride get their chance at senior level. The duo were under-23 world champs in 2015, while Mcbride has won the past two world lightweight women’s single scull titles.
John Storey has replaced Manson as the double sculls crewmate for Harris and that duo will be up against Rio bronze medallists Kjetil Borch and the remarkable 41-year-old Olaf Tufte of Norway.