Double duty for Twigg in NZ squad

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Emma Twigg will be pulling double duty later this season, but New Zealand’s World Cup rowing campaign will be significantly smaller than usual.

Twigg will contest the women’s single and double sculls events at the final World Cup regatta of 2022 in Lucerne, Switzerland, in July.

However, she and fellow Olympic stars Kerri Williams (ne´e Gowler) and Grace Prendergast won’t attend next month’s World Cup II event in Poznan, Poland.

That trio will start their overseas campaign at the Henley Royal Regatta from June 28 to July 3.

Twigg, 35, won her first Olympic medal when she triumphed in the single scull in Tokyo last year and her inclusion in the New Zealand team indicates a defence of that gold may be in prospect in Paris in 2024.

She’ll team up in the double in Lucerne with Lucy Spoors, who won silver with the eight, while Williams and Prendergast will continue their partnership in the pair which resulted in gold in Tokyo.

However, Williams and Prendergast won’t be required to double up as they did in Tokyo – also winning silver in the eight – as Rowing New Zealand has opted not to name women’s and men’s eights for the overseas campaign ahead of the 2022 world championships to be held in Racice, Czech Republic, from September 18-25.

New Zealand’s selection trials at Lake Karapiro were notably hindered by Covid-19 cases among the elite squad.

The New Zealand team for the two World Cup and Henley features just nine boats, while Tokyo Olympic medallists Tom Murray (gold in the men’s eight) and Hannah Osborne (silver in the women’s double scull) were among five rowers unavailable for selection.