Pair set for double duty at Olympics
Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast are set to chase gold in two boats at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gowler and Prendergast are expected to be named to contest the women’s pair and eight classes at the Games starting next month, with the New Zealand rowing team for Tokyo to be announced at Lake Karapiro today.
The duo were part of the New Zealand eight which won gold at the 2019 world championships in Austria and pulled off the double triumph at that regatta with a win in the pair also.
Gowler and Prendergast were also world champions in the pair in 2017 and silver medallists in
2018, and part of the world championship-winning four in
2014.
The eight would certainly be a quicker boat with the two premier sweep oar rowers included, but the Rowing NZ selectors would have had to factor what impact doubling up would have on the pair.
The duo could minimise the amount of races they’d have to contest in Tokyo by winning both heats, limiting their competition to five races (three in the pair, two in the eight).
Rebecca Scown competed in both boats for New Zealand at the
2016 Rio Olympics, winning silver in the pair while the eight was fourth.
There could be a surprise sprung in the women’s double sculls boat, with Hannah Osborne challenging the incumbent crew of Olivia Loe and Brooke Donoghue, who were world champions in 2017 and 2019 and runners-up in 2018. That boat is expected to be among New Zealand’s leading medal contenders in Tokyo.
It’s expected New Zealand will have nine boats at Tokyo, with a new men’s pair combination likely to be named today after the men’s eight clinched their spot at the Games with a win at the ‘last chance’ qualifying regatta in Switzerland last month.
It seems unlikely the selectors will opt to double up in the pair with members of the men’s eight, which includes two-time defending Olympic champion Hamish Bond, and Tom Murray and Michael Brake, who were silver medallists in the pair at the 2019 world champs.
Earlier this year, Rowing NZ and the New Zealand Olympic Committee declined the lightweight women’s double qualification spot following Zoe McBride’s retirement.