Olympic boats set to shine
Many of New Zealand’s best hopes for Olympic glory will show their wares against their Rio rivals this week.
Nine Kiwi boats will contest the second World Cup rowing regatta of the year starting in Lucerne, Switzerland, tomorrow night.
After women’s single sculler Emma Twigg took New Zealand’s tally of entries for Rio to double figures with a win at the ‘‘Last Chance’’ regatta, those expected to feature prominently on the Olympic podium this year will begin their international campaigns at the three-day event.
Among those looking to set down an instant marker will be the unbeaten men’s pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, fellow defending Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale, and the world champion women’s double sculls and lightweight women’s double sculls crews.
Bond and Murray will be out to stay unbeaten in 2016, culminating in a second consecutive gold in Rio to cap off the most remarkable eight-year stint from any boat in the sport’s history.
They were due to face two entries from Great Britain at the event, but the likely GB combination for Rio has been split for this regatta, with Alan Sinclair joining the eight as an injury replacement and Stewart Innes recovering from illness.
Murray said recently that the 2012 Olympic champions should be in good form at their first international event of the year.
‘‘We’re on a par with what we know we’re capable of doing, and now it’s a matter of going overseas, racing your opposition and seeing what they’re up to.’’
Drysdale won men’s single scull gold in London in 2012 but hasn’t won the world title since. His regular conqueror on the biggest stage in recent years, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, is desperate for Olympic gold after claiming silver in Beijing in 2008 and at London four years later.
That duo are expected to again fight out matters in Rio, but Croatian Damir Martin has won gold at the opening World Cup and this year’s European championships and will be striving to match the established big guns.
Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie have won the lightweight women’s double sculls title for the past two years, but still had to see off a huge challenge to secure their places in the boat for Rio from young world lightweight women’s single scull champion Zoe McBride. Now the duo will get competition from the likes of South Africa, Germany and Poland.
Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane also won gold at last year’s world championships, in their first season together at elite level, after Stevenson had won silver and gold in previous years with Fiona Bourke. The Kiwis are likely to face challenges from Greece, Germany and Belarus.
New Zealand will be represented in the women’s pair by Genevieve Behrent and Rebecca Scown, who pushed last year’s world champion silver medallists, Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast, out of the boat over summer.
They’ll be up against the hot Olympic favourites Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain, the defending Olympic champions who haven’t been beaten since 2012.
Behrent and Scown will also be part of the New Zealand women’s eight – along with Gowler and Prendergast – that emerged last year as definite medal contenders and potential winners, after finishing second behind the US at last year’s world championships.
Men’s double scullers Robbie Manson and Chris Harris and the lightweight men’s four of James Lassche, Peter Taylor, Alastair Bond and Jamie Hunter loom as definite medal contenders in Lucerne and for Rio.
The New Zealand team will also contest the third and final World Cup regatta of the year in Poznan, Poland, in June and stay in Europe to train before heading to Rio.