Rowing: Top rowers take backdoor route to finals

Some of New Zealand rowing's big names made relatively rare entries into repechage racing on the second day of the national championships yesterday.

On a muggy day at Lake Karapiro, names like Mahe Drysdale, Nathan Twaddle, Nathan Cohen, Matthew Trott, all among the country's elite performers, and outstanding German single sculler Marcel Hacker all progressed to semifinals or finals through the backdoor route.

To be fair, some were in events outside their usual area of expertise.

Four-time single-scull world champion Drysdale was in a pair with fellow Olympic bronze medallist Twaddle, which they won in 6min 49.36sec to enter tomorrow's final.

That race should be a doozy, up against top-class combinations in Hamish Bond and Jade Uru (Southern), and Eric Murray and Simon Watson (Waikato).

Twaddle also moved into the single-scull semis via the repechage, although finishing second to lightweight single world champion Duncan Grant yesterday, with world lightweight double champion Peter Taylor and Hacker winning the other repechages.

New Zealand's leading female athlete, Emma Twigg, could face stiff competition from rising talent Jaime Nielsen in the women's single scull semifinal today.