Kiwis get a taste of the tough task ahead
Welcome to Olympic year.
That was the message the New Zealand rowing team received in the first regatta of their European campaign.
The reply from the Kiwis? You haven’t seen the best of us yet.
New Zealand collected five medals from the World Cup event at Lucerne – one gold, three silver and a bronze – while some of their gold-medal prospects for the London Olympics failed to fire.
The men’s double sculls crew of Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan failed to make the A final and then trailed the field in the B final, while women’s single sculler Emma Twigg was off the pace when finishing fifth in her A final.
The 2012 Olympic hosts Great Britain also won five medals, including three gold, while China also won three gold to emerge as a force to watch at London as the world’s top crews began to show their mettle ahead of the Games.
However, the Kiwi camp were content with their efforts after arriving in Switzerland only at the start of last week, off the back of a long and taxing training season at home designed to give them an impressive base fitness for the next few months of racing.
Men’s single sculler Mahe Drysdale, who won silver behind arch-rival Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, was happy with his showing.
‘‘It’s always a tough race, when you have only arrived in the country a week before.
‘‘But I’m happy to know I’m on pace. I was pushing for the lead the whole way. For me its a good result to start the season. I could have improved in some places in the race, so that’s something to work on,’’ Drysdale said.
The two-times defending world champion women’s pair of Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown were third behind Great Britain and the United States and also content to kick-start their push for London on the podium.
‘‘For us this was a great starting point,’’ Haigh said.
‘‘We are happy with the way we rowed today. There are things we are still working on and we are refining the small things. Weve got a good base fit- ness and its nice to get on the podium.
‘‘We’ve got some tough competition out there, but we are very positive.’’
Storm Uru and Peter Taylor won silver in the men’s lightweight double sculls – with defending world and Olympic champions Great Bitain last – and Taylor admitted it was hard to get immediately up to speed.
‘‘It’s been a tough week just coming from New Zealand. This race shows where we are at today.
‘‘In New Zealand, we had a very good lead-up and did lots of long-distance work.’’
Even gold medallist Hamish Bond, who continued the unbeaten streak of the New Zealand men’s pair with crewmate Eric Murray, acknowledged the competitive situation in Lucerne.
‘‘This year the field is very strong and it’s a little bit of a wake-up call for us and well need a few weeks to sharpen up and get back to the level we had in New Zealand,’’ Bond said.
The emergence of the new women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Julia Edward and Louise Ayling was a boon for the Kiwis.
They set a world’s best time in their heats before grabbing gold behind China in the final.
‘‘This weekend has been a really good test for us, so we know where we are,’’ Edward said.
‘‘It’s our first race together internationally and we are just building some confidence . . . anything is possible for London.’’
The New Zealand contingent will stay in Europe to train and next contest the final World Cup regatta in Munich from June 15-17.