KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Coxless Four is making the headlines in world rowing today after inflicting defeat on the so far undefeated British World Champions at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The British crew was previously undefeated in 27 major regattas and one member of the crew, Peter Reed, had never lost a 2000 metre race.
The Kiwi crew -- Carl Meyer, James Dallinger, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond -- tracked them from the start and rowed confidently through them by the 1000 metre mark.
The two crews were well ahead of the rest of the field and a decent margin quicker than the other semi won by the Dutch.
Although the British have a reserve on board in Tom James, he's a pretty handy one and New Zealand's four will doubtless have caught their attention ahead of tonight's final.
In fact, the New Zealand crew is looking like the strongest opposition the World Champions have faced in their reign as Coxless Four top dogs over recent years and for most aficionados, tonight's final will be the race of the regatta.
With New Zealand's Women's Coxless Pair heading straight to the final, all eyes were on the Men's Coxless Pair of Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater to show what they could do. And it was a good performance, with the duo qualifying for the final with the fastest semi time after a good race with the Croatian Skelin brothers.
An intriguing race between these two and Drew Ginn and Duncan Free of Australia is in prospect. The British Coxless Pair -- one of the fancied crews at this regatta -- only made the B Final, suggesting the cream of the crop in Coxless Pairs this year will be in tonight's final, and the NZ duo are at the sharp end of that group.
Mahe Drysdale beat Amsterdam winner Ondrej Synek in the semi final and in doing so won himself one of the selected lanes for tonight's final. Mahe was within a second of the Czech from the start and sculled through in the last 500 metres.
It is debatable whether these two have yet released their full potential in Lucerne, but they undoubtedly will when they face Karonen, Campbell, Hamburger and Olaf Tufte -- who always goes well at this venue -- in the final. Another world class final is in prospect.
Caroline and Georgina Evers Swindell won their semi as well, though not in the fastest time. They were marginally slower than the German winners of the second semi, and a good race is also in prospect there.
The twins will be keen to assert themselves and take the gold in the absence of the Chinese as they try and build momentum towards Munich. No doubt the two -- who were pleased with their second place in Amsterdam -- will only have gold in mind.
Now back up to full strength with Matthew Trott back from injury, the Men's Double Scull excelled to finish second in its semi and make the A Final -- Nathan Cohen's second on the bounce. This time around, the crew look a real prospect having finished less than a second behind the legendary Spik and Cop in the semi. This feisty combination certainly has the pace and the change of pace -- to surprise the opposition in the final.
The Lightweight Men's Double Scull could only manage sixth in its semi -- meaning a B Final slot for Graham Oberlin Brown and Peter Taylor. With Duncan Grant and Storm Uru dominating the Lightweight Single Scull category in Lucerne as well as Amsterdam, it will leave selectors and coaches with some interesting decisions and choices. Grant in particular looks strong, winning the first of the A Finals last night by more than five seconds from Uru to put his marker down for a crack at the Double Scull and an Olympic opportunity.
Having shown some much needed speed in the repechage where they beat the second Canadian boat and got close to the pace of the Belarusians and Croatians, the Men's Eight finished sixth in their semi to head to the B Final. It wasn't all bad news, however. Less than one tenth of a second behind the Italians and significantly closer to the pace than they were at Amsterdam, the work they are doing is clearly paying off.
The final word goes to NZ Men's reserve Peter Benny, who raced in the single scull in Amsterdam and again in Lucerne. A great sub, but not a top flight single sculler, Peter raced the E Final last night in Lucerne in a two boat race against the mighty Belarusian, Pavel Shurmei.
- NZPA
