Murray puts his oar in bid to help Kiwi eight
The pair is no longer in Tom Murray’s thoughts.
The silver medallist in the men’s pair with Michael Brake at the 2019 world rowing championships is fully focused this week on getting the New Zealand eight to the Tokyo Olympics.
Murray and Brake were earlier this year named in the eight to contest the ‘last chance’ Olympic qualification regatta starting in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Saturday night (NZ time).
The Kiwi boat needs to finish in the top two when racing against Romania, Italy and China in the final on Monday night to claim a place at the Olympics.
By selecting Murray and Brake, Rowing NZ made it clear the eight is its priority sweep oar men’s boat and sees it as a potential Olympic medal-winner.
If the eight finishes in the top two in the final in Switzerland, the crew cannot change for Tokyo – bar injuries – so Murray and Brake wouldn’t be in the pair to challenge the hot favourites for gold at the Olympics, brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic, of Croatia.
Should the eight fail to qualify, the duo could find themselves in a battle for the New Zealand pair berths against the likes of twotimes Olympic champion in the class, Hamish Bond.
But that’s not crossing Murray’s mind right now.
‘‘At this stage it’s all or nothing for the eight – that’s the way you have to approach it.
‘‘We’re not expecting to have to revert to any other options – it’s full steam ahead in the eight.’’
The 27-year-old said a discussion among the men’s sweep oar group earlier this season set the tone.
‘‘There was a lot of excitement from everybody to stack that eight.
‘‘Michael and I were both in the eight in 2016 at the Rio Olympics and we both feels there’s a bit more to be done in that boat,’’ Murray said regarding that sixth-place finish in the final.
Murray said recently that it’s hard to know how they will fare against their rival crews when they race in a heat on Saturday which will determine the lanes for Monday’s final.
‘‘We don’t have as many options as the European countries to know where we stack up.
‘‘But our women’s eight and a lot of our women’s crews are world-class – to have those every day to train against is a huge help for us. Until we race, we won’t know where we stack up – but we have a lot of confidence.’’