Sporting achievements: Comeback of the year

Mahe Drysdale

Five months before he rowed his way to glory in the single sculls at Gifu, Mahe Drysdale lay rigid in Waikato Hospital, wondering if the lack of feeling he had in his digits was a sign of permanent damage.

The Cambridge-based sculler had been struck by a jet ski while out training on Lake Karapiro. He was immobilised for three days but, luckily, was left with two cracked vertebra but no lasting trouble.

If that wasn't obstacle enough to his world championship aspirations, there was the small matter of Rowing New Zealand management not believing the single sculls was the right option for Drysdale.

"Rowing New Zealand was pretty set on me returning to the four but I had made up my mind and fought for the single," he told the Herald on Sunday. Thankfully, in the end, they listened.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY