Rowing: Golden glow to NZ rowers at Lucerne

New Zealand crews were in medal-winning mode at the World Cup rowing regatta in Switzerland yesterday, with Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles setting the standard in the women's pair.

Haigh and Coles blitzed their rivals in the final at Lucerne as they prepare for the world championships starting in Japan late next month.

The New Zealand combination led at every mark before crossing the finish line after 2000m in a time of seven minutes 3.52 seconds.

They were almost 8sec ahead of the Belarus crew, who finished second, ahead of Great Britain.

For good measure, George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle matched their compatriots by winning the men's pairs final.

The two New Zealanders covered the course in 6min 28.74, ahead of Croatia in second in 6min 31.48 and the third-placed Italians.

For Haigh and Coles today's result was a continuation of some outstanding form in Europe which last month saw them win gold in a World Cup regatta in Germany.

They went one better than international men's single sculls rookie Mahe Drysdale, who finished second in his final.

Drysdale was run down towards the finish by Ondrej Synek, of the Czech Republic, who had also beaten the New Zealand in their semifinal.

Synek recorded a time of 6min 46.59sec, with Drysdale next in 6min 47.19sec. A Norwegian was third.


New Zealand's hopes of another gold medal from Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell in the women's double sculls were dashed when the Olympic and world champions were beaten by Bulgarians Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova.


Neykova and Markova, the fastest qualifiers, trailed the Evers-Swindells by just under three seconds at the 1500m but pulled out the stops in the final 500 metres to pip the New Zealand pair, clocking 6min 41.06secs for the 2000m race.


The Evers-Swindells clocked 6min 41.12secs, well ahead of the German pair in third who clocked 6min 47.57secs.



- NZPA