Rowing: Duo on board for London

New Zealand's Hamish Bond, Eric Murray, James Dallinger and Carl Meyer with their gold medals for the coxless fours in 2007. Photo / Photosport

Two former world champions are boosting Rowing New Zealand's stocks ahead of the London Olympics.

Carl Meyer (29) and James Dallinger (25) helped win gold in the coxless four at the 2007 world championships in Munich. However, the champagne corks they popped on the pontoon that day at Oberschleissheim - where the New Zealand eight had won Olympic gold 35 years earlier - turned to devastation a year later at Beijing.

The four were pipped out of the Olympic final by 0.21s, finishing fourth in their semi. Dallinger and Meyer subsequently took two years out of the sport at the elite level, while crewmates Eric Murray and Hamish Bond went on to two world championships in the men's pair.

Meyer and Dallinger are expected to bolster New Zealand's crews in the coxless four or the eight.

Meyer - nicknamed 'Bootcamp', such are the demands he places on himself - spent last year as an engineer in Melbourne with a 'holiday' competing in the single sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. He and wife Caroline (nee Evers-Swindell) are expecting their first child next month. Caroline Meyer is now a trained florist. She organised the bouquets for the medallists at last year's world championships.

Meyer says having hundreds of flowers choking up their back lawn in Cambridge added to his motivation. He has the hunger and enthusiasm to be a world-class athlete again.

"When I worked full-time the challenge [to life] was missing a bit," Meyer says. "Fortunately [as a double Olympic gold medallist] Caroline knows better than anyone the dedication required. She helps me see the big picture, especially if I've had a hard week."

There will be plenty of those ahead if the double Olympian wants to secure London gold.

"I'm driven by Beijing, I know I can prove myself more. Being invited [on the basis of past pedigree] to row in the national summer squad was a generous gesture by Rowing New Zealand. Fortunately I've already put in a couple of hard months."

Dallinger has not received quite the same generosity. He has been working in the Waikato regional performance centre (RPC) over summer after graduating as an electrician.

It took six years to qualify but Dallinger says missing two international rowing seasons was worthwhile: "I had too much on my plate trying to work, study and row but now I'm officially an electrician. I had a break because my exams were either during trials or when I was getting back from overseas. It is a hard cycle to get out of. Now I can concentrate on whatever it takes to get to London without distraction."

Injuries mean both Meyer and Dallinger should be able to secure spots at the trials. Michael Arms, a member of last year's fifth-placed men's eight, is struggling with a sore back while coxless four bronze medallist Simon Watson has a pinched nerve. Mahe Drysdale also has back trouble but claimed it did not affect him in yesterday's national championships single sculls loss to Nathan Cohen.

Meyer's Southern RPC crew, including Bond, won the coxless four at the championships on Lake Ruataniwha near Twizel. Dallinger's Waikato crew, including Murray, finished 15 seconds back in third. Central was second.

In the eights, Meyer's Southern RPC crew won the final, with Central second and Dallinger's Waikato RPC in third.

Meanwhile Nathan Cohen upset four-time world champion Mahe Drysdale to win the single sculls at the NZ rowing championships.

Cohen, the world double sculls champion, powered home on Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel, with a withering sprint in the final quarter of the race to deny Drysdale a record-equalling seventh national title.

The race developed into a three-way scrap between Drysdale, Cohen and lightweight Peter Taylor, who led at halfway. Drysdale responded, establishing a small lead, but was never able to shake off Cohen who pounced with the line in sight.

Cohen revealed an illness battle in the lead-up to the championships: "I have been feeling pretty under the weather this week and I really only came good as I was sat on the start line, so it feels great to have put a race like that together," he said.

Drysdale said he had no problems with his troublesome back, but admitted that, with limited time on the water because of the injury, a sprint against Cohen in the last few hundred metres was not something he had relished.

"I couldn't shake him off - he just has more fitness at the moment."

World bronze medallist Emma Twigg dominated the women's top sculling event, ahead of Lucy Strack and Fiona Bourke.