Rowing: Waddell bounces back for final

National women's single sculls champion Sonia Waddell showed that she will not surrender her title without a fight as she blitzed the field in yesterday's repechages to qualify for Saturday's final.

Waddell, beaten by Hamilton's Caroline Evers-Swindell in Tuesday's heats for a direct place in the final, clocked 7m 55.98s yesterday. It was the fastest time in the event at this regatta.

It confirmed that Waddell, Cambridge's Sydney Olympic finalist, was serious about chasing her fifth consecutive singles title.Waddell and Evers-Swindell were the only two to go under eight minutes. The next best time was clocked by Cambridge's Nikki Coles - almost four seconds slower.

Five of the finalists will be from the Waikato region. Evers-Swindell's twin sister Georgina qualified directly after winning the second heat and Cambridge's Coles and Paula Twining qualified through the repechages. The other finalists include Alison Storey, of Auckland club West End.

The men's single sculls final should be a cracker. Auckland's Steve Westlake and Clifton's Leighton Montgomerie qualified on Tuesday.

But Union Wanganui's national lightweight champion Calvin Ferguson (7m 30.72s) and Dave Bristol (7m 30.78s) laid down the gauntlet by winning their heats of yesterday's repechages in times just outside Westlake's mark of 7m 30.28s.

Waikato's Bryce Mael, tipped to go toe-to-toe with Westlake for the gold, did enough to qualify in 7m 37.48s in second place behind Ferguson. Clubmate Glen Twining also got there, just .22s behind.

Waihopai's Daniel Blain showed that he would also be in the hunt for a medal with his second place in the second repechage in 7m 36.88s. Blain's rival Richard Hamilton, from the Invercargill club, claimed the last spot for the final.

- NZPA