Intrigue ramps up after failures
It wouldn’t be an Olympic rowing season without a serious splash of intrigue.
That’s assured again this Kiwi summer after men’s single sculler Robbie Manson failed to make the A final at the just-completed world championships in Austria.
After finishing fifth at the past two world championships following his usurping of twotime Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale in the boat, Manson was seeking a much-improved effort last week in Linz-Ottensheim – seeking to be among the medals to show that he could excel on the big stage, which would in turn give him the inside running for selection in the class for the 2020 Olympics.
While he averted disaster on Sunday night by winning the B final to ensure the boat of a place at the Tokyo Olympics next year, his eighth-place finish overall means he’s no certainty to be at the helm of the single at the Games.
The selection process over the New Zealand summer got a lot cloudier when the Kiwi men’s eight failed to qualify for Tokyo.
Requiring a top-five finish – the toughest of all qualification criteria in the 14 Olympic classes – the crew containing Drysdale was sixth and last in the A final; only half-a-second behind fifth placed United States and just 5sec slower than gold medallists Germany.
That leaves Drysdale – gold medallist in the single in 2012 and 2016 and bronze medallist in 2008 – currently without a boat for the Olympics.
The New Zealand team qualified nine boats for Tokyo but no-one is automatically assured of a place in the team, that will be selected early next year after training, racing and trials. While most of the medal winners – New Zealand claimed four gold and two silver at a highly-productive world champs regatta – will retain their places, there’s been notable changes in the past to successful boats in Olympic year.
Drysdale, 40, has maintained that chasing an Olympic recordequalling third gold in the single scull was always his goal since Rio 2016.
It remains to see if the eight will get one final shot at qualifying for Tokyo at the ‘last chance’ World Cup regatta in Lucerne in May, with two spots on offer.
Chief executive Simon Peterson said earlier Rowing NZ would only send boats to Lucerne under special circumstances and yesterday said there would be a discussion over the eight, which made an improvement this year to be near the world’s best.
‘‘There’ll definitely be a conversation,’’ Peterson said.
‘‘No doubt their places will be up for grabs [over summer] – as there always are. We always remind people that the boats are qualified, not the athlete – that won’t change in our programme.’’
Another dual Olympic champion, Hamish Bond, was part of the eight after his return from cycling and he’s also now without an Olympic boat, but also has options.
While chiefly a sweep oar rower, the 33-year-old has shown his single sculls chops on several occasions, particularly when he had the upper hand over Drysdale in 2013/14 home summer.
Bond said on his return to the sport that he wanted a new challenge; hence his spot in the eight and not the pair, in which he won gold with Eric Murray in 2012 and 2016 during a staggering eight-year unbeaten run.
New Zealand won silver in the pair in Austria through Tom Murray and Michael Brake – beaten only by Croatian stars Valent and Martin Sinkovic, gold medal winner in Rio in the double sculls.
While Rowing NZ’s selectors may be unwilling to break up that partnership, Bond could team up in his former boat with fellow eights crew member James Lassche.
The 30-year-old is a former two-time world champion lightweight silver medallist and regularly teamed up with Bond at national championships.
Representing the Southern Regional Performance Centre, the pair have won a host of national titles together and in 2014 in quick conditions at Lake Karapiro recorded the secondfastest time in history for a men’s pair of six minutes 12.42 seconds – only bettered by Bond and Murray’s time of 6min 8.50sec in their heat at the 2012 London Olympics.