NZ competitors find their rowing spots
Following in the considerable footsteps of Mahe Drysdale, it was Parry's first international outing in the single seat, after a background in the quad.
It was not completely straightforward for the 25yearold, who was in fourth place after the first quarter of the race.
But the Tauranga product steadily eased through the gears, moving into third after 1000m.
With the first three boats taking a direct route to the quarterfinals, there was no need to use up unnecessary petrol, although Parry accelerated in the final 300m to overtake his Peruvian rival, Alvaro Torres Masias, and claim second.
Parry finished 4.96sec behind Greek Stefanos Ntouskos, who dominated the race before easing up in the final stretch.
Parry clocked 7min 04.45sec, with Alvaro Torres Masias crossing in 7min 07.92sec.
A relieved Parry said he was happy with how his first race went.
‘‘It's been a long time coming,’’ Parry told Sky Sport.
‘‘We were just ready for something maybe quite rusty to start with, being my first international racing, but I was pretty happy with just getting this one under the belt. It's a bit of a relief.
New Zealand has an illustrious history in the single sculls, with three golds (2000, 2012 and 2016) and Drysdale's Beijing bronze.
There was one setback for the New Zealand team yesterday, though.
The women's quad sculls crew will have to do things the hard way, after missing out on automatic qualification for the A final.
The combination of Olivia Loe, Eva MacFarlane, Ruby Tew and Georgia NugentO'Leary came in fourth in their heat, trailing Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain to the line.
The Germans and the Dutch progress directly to the A final, while New Zealand and the other crews face a cutthroat repechage.
The Kiwis are a new crew and it was always going to be a tough battle.
They were 2sec off the pace at the first gate, closing the margin narrowly (1.66sec) at the halfway point in the race.
The crew in white tried to make a move in the third quarter of the race — and briefly made ground on the British — but could not maintain the pace, dropping away in the final stages.
The New Zealanders crossed the line in 6min 25.23sec, 7sec behind the Germans and 4sec adrift of the British.
They will now need to finish in the top two of a sixboat repechage or be relegated to the B final.
The scale of the task for all quad crews was underlined by an imperious performance by world champion China in the second heat, as it powered away from the rest of the field to cross the line in a sizzling 6min 14.32sec. —