KEY POINTS:
Storm Uru had plenty of company in black singlets atop the podium at the world under-23 rowing championships in Strathclyde, Scotland, on Monday (NZ time).
Uru won one of three gold medals within a 30-minute period for New Zealand, who also collected a silver in the fours.
Single scullers Uru, Emma Twigg and Joseph Sullivan were the toast of the New Zealand team, while Chris Harris, David Eade, Ben Hammond and Jared Pehi showed determination to secure silver in the men's four, just half a length behind Germany.
The other New Zealand crew in the water, the double scull of Emma McGeorge and Anna Reymer, finished fifth in their final.
Uru easily won his second successive under-23 championships title in a compelling exhibition.
From his very first stroke he dominated the lightweight single sculls field, building a two-length lead by the halfway mark over Canadian Tim Colson.
He extended his advantage to three lengths at the 1500m mark and held on to win in a fast time of seven minutes 02.11 seconds, before almost immediately turning his attention elsewhere.
"I'll now focus on training hard to win Olympic selection next year either in the lightweight double or lightweight coxless four," Uru said.
Twigg, who won the world junior single scull title in 2005, had established clear water over Natalia Madaj, of Poland, and Katalin Szabo, of Hungary, by the 100m mark and she pushed away to win by three lengths in a time of 7min 34.87sec.
The win secured Twigg a place in the New Zealand team for the elite world championships in Germany next month.
"It's a huge relief to know that I have now won selection for Munich," she said.
"Yes I was bitterly disappointed at missing out on selection after trials back in March, but in hindsight that disappointment made me even more determined to win here today."
Sullivan threw down a "catch me if you can" challenge to his much bigger European opponents as he bolted out to a two-length lead by the 750m mark over Mindaugas Griskonis, of Lithuania, and Robert Bertram, of Germany.
Sullivan started his sprint for home at 1500m in a copybook strategic race, moving ahead to win by four lengths.
"Heck that was tough," he said.
"I knew Storm and Emma had won, and I just wanted to keep the New Zealand flag flying."
Germany led throughout in the men's coxless four with New Zealand their closest pursuers throughout.
The Dave Thompson-coached crew hung on to the tailcoats of the Germans to win silver.
"We heard the national anthem play first for Storm, then for Emma and then again for Joseph as we were warming up in the boat park," stroke Harris said.
"We all had goose bumps on the way to the start. Gold would have been nice, but we will settle for silver."
- NZPA
