NZ double scullers make early ripple
Donoghue and Osborne pick of the Kiwi bunch with commanding heat win in productive day for team
Women’s double scullers Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne laid down an early marker in Tokyo, with a commanding win in their heat.
It was an important performance from the Kiwis, who established their credentials as one of the teams to beat in Japan.
On a productive day for the New Zealand team, they were the pick of the bunch yesterday as they powered away from the rest of the field in the second quarter of the race before conserving some energy in the final stages.
They crossed in 6m 53.62s, 2.03s ahead of the United States, with the French combination a further 2s back.
The highly-regarded Chinese team were well off the pace — more than 10s behind the Kiwis — to miss automatic qualification for the semifinals, with the top three boats progressing.
Osborne’s selection raised some eyebrows, as she displaced Olivia Loe, who had claimed successive world championships in the stroke seat in front of Donoghue.
But Osborne displayed her power and was pleased with her nerveless first hit-out.
“It has been a little bit of a whirlwind, but to end up in the double with Brooke has been amazing,” she said. “It felt like we were racing at home when we were in the start.”
Double scullers Chris Harris and Jack Lopas showed their potential, coming through a tough heat to automatically qualify for the semifinals.
The Kiwi combination had to hold off a strong late charge by Ireland, before finding an extra gear to seal third place in a brutal race, with little between the four crews.
The final 500m was tough for all four teams.
Ireland upped their stroke rate noticeably, edging close to the New Zealanders, but
Harris and
Lopas responded well to re-establish their advantage, finishing in 6m 12.40s,
3.18s ahead of the Irish. Emma Twigg made the best possible start to her Olympics campaign with an assured performance in her heat. The 34-year-old led for most of the race and crossed the line comfortably ahead of rivals from the Netherlands and Serbia.
It was an important boost for Twigg, who is seeded No 1 for this event but hasn’t raced internationally since late
2019 due to Covid19. She is aiming for a medal in Tokyo, after the heartbreak of fourth-place finishes in London (2012) and Rio (2016).
Jordan Parry progressed to the quarter-finals of the men’s single sculls, after a second place in his heat. Following in the considerable wake of Mahe Drysdale, it was his first international outing in the single seat, after a background in the quad.
It wasn’t completely straightforward for the 25-year-old, who was fourth after the first quarter of the race at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo. But he steadily eased up through the gears, moving into third after 1000m.
With the first three boats taking a direct route to the quarter-finals, there was no need to use up unnecessary energy, though Parry accelerated in the final 300m to overtake his Peruvian rival Alvaro Torres Masias and claim second.
A relieved Parry was happy with the way his first race unfolded.
“It’s been a long time coming. 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.”
The women’s quadruple sculls were the only Kiwi crew not to advance automatically yesterday. Georgia Nugent-O'Leary, Ruby Tew, Eve MacFarlane and Loe were fourth in their heat in 6m 25.35s, almost 6s outside the top two qualifiers. They are among six crews in the repechage who will vie for the last two spots in the final.