Rowing: Lineup different but medals promise is just the same

Hamish Bond (left) and Eric Murray (centre) will be competing in the coxless pair event. Photo / Wanganui Chronicle

New Zealand will be eyeing another haul of medals when the world rowing championships start in Poland tomorrow night.

Nothing new in that. Rewind four years when - also one year after an Olympic Games - New Zealand won a memorable four gold medals in 45 minutes in Gifu, Japan, and in the intervening years have been at the forefront of world rowing.

This time some of the names and combinations have changed, but the leadup form has been familiarly rock solid. Take the two coxless pair combinations.

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray were part of the world champion coxless four in Gifu, who missed out on a place in the Olympic final last year.

They've teamed up and are going like a train, bagging gold medals at the two World Cup regattas in Munich and Lucerne over the past two months.

And then there are Emma Feathery and Rebecca Scown - cousin of former Olympic single sculler Sonia Waddell - who have plonked themselves into the seats occupied last year by another former world championship-winning pair, Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles.

Feathery and Scown have had four races in the cup regattas - two heats, two finals - and won the lot.

As long ago as April, head coach Dick Tonks singled Feathery and Scown out as one of the crews most impressing him in the leadup to the European campaign. They have vindicated his assessment.

Bond and Murray have swiftly adapted from the four-seater to two. They're a couple of hard cases. Bond said the success had been built on equality. "We both have our ideas but are both prepared to listen to them. We are quite competitive on and off the water in training and because we're quite even physically it pushes us along even more."

New Zealand's toughest opponents will be the highly regarded British pair Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed, but Murray believes they have upended the pre-championship jousting in beating them twice in cup regattas.

"We came as the underdogs. They're the British flagship boat and have been touted by their media. They get talked up all the time.

"Now we've completely turned it round, they're the underdogs and that puts the pressure back on us."

In 2006 at the worlds at Eton and last year in Beijing, they were part of crews which missed the finals. Murray knows if you're even slightly off your game that can happen.

So the philosophy for their anticipated three races is win the heat to secure a good semifinal draw, then press hard to ensure a spot in the top three and advance to the final. Once there, all bets are off. "Basically it's about being consistent all week."

Murray believes the vibe is good within the squad and predicted a strong week's rowing.

"Everyone's pretty nervous because there's expectations and we've got four million New Zealanders riding in the boats. We know that but I wouldn't be surprised if there are five or six medals coming out of this week."

New Zealand are in 12 events. The strongest of gold medal chances, alongside Bond and Murray, will be three-time world single sculls champion Mahe Drysdale, who has turned in another impressive leadup campaign, which included winning the Henley title, and his lightweight teammate Duncan Grant, winner of the past two world crowns.

Drysdale's strongest competition will be familiar faces - double Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway and Czech Republic sculler Ondrej Synek, who won gold and silver in Beijing, pushing the ailing Drysdale into third in a dramatic final.

Open and lightweight double scullers Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott, and Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, should also be strong medal contenders.

The coxless four of Jade Uru, Simon Watson, Hamish Burson and Tyson Williams are late additions to the squad. By winning the world under-23 title in the Czech Republic, they earned themselves a start with the big boys.

CHASING THE GOLD

* World championships start in Poznan, Poland, tomorrow night with the heats, and finish with finals next Saturday and Sunday nights.
* The first New Zealander in the water tomorrow will be two-time world champion lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant at 8.06pm (NZT).
* New Zealand won eight medals, including five gold, at the Munich World Cup in June, then five more golds in a seven-medal haul at the Lucerne cup regatta last month.

* New Zealand squad:
Singles: Mahe Drysdale and Emma Twigg;
Lightweight single: Duncan Grant;
Coxless pair: Hamish Bond and Eric Murray; Emma Feathery and Rebecca Scown;
Coxless four: Jade Uru, Simon Watson, Hamish Burson, Tyson Williams;
Double scull: Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott; Anna Reymer and Paula Twining;
Lightweight double scull: Storm Uru and Peter Taylor;
Lightweight men's coxless four: Todd Petherick, James Lassche, Richard Beaumont, Graham Oberlin-Brown;
Women's quad: Genevieve Armstrong, Louise Trappit, Sarah Barnes and Harriet Austin;
Adaptive single: Robin Tinga.