Rowing: Typhoon misses world champs

The New Zealand rowing team awoke to a calm morning in Gifu, Japan, and immediately set about preparing for the world championships after a typhoon threatened disrupt the entire programme.

Teams had emptied the boat park, de-rigged their boats and stored them in containers and local buildings in anticipation of Typhoon Mawar sweeping through the area.

"This morning we awoke to a very pleasant morning and headed down to course to be greeted by a bit of wind and some of the best water we have seen in the last week," New Zealand single sculler Mahe Drysdale said from Gifu.

"Due to the anticipated arrival of the typhoon we were all on the edge.

"We were told the typhoon had tracked further north and so we only got the edge of it, which was pretty normal weather. After all the preparation it was almost a disappointment."

Due to some disruptions, the championships have been delayed a day with heats of all events now to be staged on Monday and the normal programme resuming the next day.

- NZPA