KEY POINTS:
Munich's status as the spiritual home of New Zealand rowing has been enhanced as single sculler Mahe Drysdale stormed to a third consecutive world crown and the men's four triumphed to shock the established nations.
Lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant made it a world championships to savour when he won New Zealand's third gold while the men's pair and women's double scull bagged silver medals to cap another day of high success for the sport.
On the same Oberschleissheim course where the men's eight forged Olympic glory in 1972, their achievement was reprised at world championships level by an imperious Drysdale and the four, who toppled crews with far greater credentials.
Carl Meyer, James Dallinger, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond sparked memories of the emotional scenes on the medal dais in 1972, when they were forced to belt out God Defend New Zealand themselves after the sound system failed mid-stream.
As one, they punched the air with delight when the anthem finished, sparking an eruption from the packed grandstand.
Their come-from-behind win -- the first for a New Zealand four at world championship -- was arguably the biggest surprise of any race on Saturday.
They stormed from last place at the halfway mark to head off Italy, the Netherlands and Olympic champions Great Britain with a stunning surge.
"It's just an awesome feeling, I don't know how to describe it because it doesn't feel how I expected it to feel," Meyer said.
"It was tight and the Dutch slipped away. The third 500m we came up level and I know with these guys in the stern, if it's neck and neck with 250m to go, no one's going to beat us."
The medal haul was kick-started by Drysdale, who powered clear after the halfway point of the 2000m race, opening up a two-length lead that was only threatened late by Briton Alan Campbell and Czech sculler Ondrej Synek.
However, the 28-year-old from Cambridge upped his stroke rate effortlessly and punched the air almost the moment he crossed the line. Soon he had both arms in the air and was gasping for breath. A mix of agony and ecstasy.
It was nothing like his world championships nailbiter last year, when victory was achieved in the final strokes to pip Germany's Marcel Hacker.
Today Hacker wasn't a factor, dropping off the pace from the outset, much to the disappointment of the 10,000-strong crowd mostly there to see their home town hero succeed.
The result sees Drysdale become the first man to win three consecutive world single sculls titles.
"I suppose this was a big test of me, to come in as a two-time world champion and make it three," he said.
"It took a bit longer than I would have liked but once I was in front I felt like I could just pull away from the field when I wanted.
"Hacker at home, I always thought would be dangerous, but he never really put up a fight today."
Grant's win was the most predictable as he has dominated his lightweight class all year.
He led from the outset today and was nearly 4sec clear of Italian Lorenzo Bertini at the finish.
Unfortunately for Grant, his class isn't an Olympic one but he may get a shot at qualifying for Beijing next year in the lightweight double.
Pair Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater won their second successive world championships silver.
They were beaten home by the same Australian crew as last year of Duncan Free and Drew Ginn.
The New Zealanders, champions in 2005, were right in the hunt at the halfway stage, trailing by 0.2sec and well clear of the other four crews.
Bridgewater fell out of the boat before it docked after suffering exhaustion and was stretchered away by medical staff. He was later cleared and rejoined his celebrating teammates.
Twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell claimed silver in the women's double sculls, beaten home by the new world stars in the class, Qin Li and Liang Tian of China.
The Chinese have now trumped the Olympic champion sisters three times this year, giving them enormous momentum heading into next year's Games in Beijing.
There was real disappointment for last year's silver medallists Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles, who could only manage fifth in the women's pair.
Men's double scullers Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen couldn't live with a hot pace in the men's double sculls final, finishing sixth and last, the same result for 20-year-old women's single sculler Emma Twigg.
- NZPA
