McBride claims Bronze
It was another successful day for kiwi rowing crews at Rowing World Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland with Zoe McBride winning a bronze medal in the women’s lightweight single and five more crews securing places in A finals. All nine New Zealand Olympic rowing crews have now secured spots in the A finals making for an exciting day of finals on Sunday.
Zoe McBride trailed in third in the early stages of the women’s lightweight single with Germay’s Anja Noske and Denmark’s Aja Holmegaard Runge leading the way. As the race progressed McBride fought her way into second place but was unable to hold on. McBride fought all the way to line, in the end finishing in third and coming away with a bronze medal.
McBride acknowledged the fast paced race, “It was a tough race today, it sets the benchmark for the season. I’ll bring a better performance in Poland.”
The women’s pair of Genevieve Behrent and Rebecca Scown secured their place in the final with a second place finish in their semi final while reserves Olivia Loe and Holly Greenslade won the C final.
Mahe Drysdale had to fight hard in his semi final when Tibaut Verhoeven of France took off at the start but Drysdale was able to hunt him down and crossed the line first with Lithuania and Netherlands hot in pursuit.
Sophie Mackenzie and Julia Edward were calm under pressure as they worked their way into the lead in the third quarter of the race, moving through the faster starters, China and South Africa. Mackenzie and Edward were then able to hold off the challenge from South Africa to cross the line in first place.
Both the New Zealand men’s and women’s doubles successfully qualified for the A final through the repechages with the men’s double winning ahead of Lithuania and the women’s double finishing in second place behind Greece.
New Zealand crews will line up this evening (Sunday 29 May) in nine A finals. There will be live coverage of the finals of the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne on SKY Sport this evening (Sunday 29 May) at 8:00pm on SKY Sport 7.
LIVE Results will also be available on World Rowing: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2016-world-rowing-cup-ii/
New Zealand Rowing Team to compete at World Rowing Cup II - Lucerne, Switzerland
Women’s Double Scull
Zoe Stevenson
Eve Macfarlane
Dick Tonks – Coach
Women’s Lightweight Double Scull
Julia Edward
Sophie Mackenzie
Gary Hay – Coach
Women’s Coxless Pair
Rebecca Scown
Genevieve Behrent
Dave Thompson – Coach
Women’s Eight
Rebecca Scown
Genevieve Behrent
Kerri Gowler
Grace Prendergast
Kelsey Bevan
Ruby Tew
Emma Dyke
Kayla Pratt
Francie Turner (cox)
Dave Thompson – Coach
Men’s Single Scull
Mahe Drysdale
Dick Tonks – Coach
Men’s Double Scull
Chris Harris
Robbie Manson
Calvin Ferguson – Coach
Men’s Coxless Pair
Hamish Bond
Eric Murray
Noel Donaldson – Coach
Lightweight Men’s Coxless Four
James Hunter
Alistair Bond
Matt Dunham (Reserve)
James Lassche
Gary Hay – Coach
Men’s Eight
Stephen Jones
Brook Robertson
Alex Kennedy
Joe Wright
Isaac Grainger
Shaun Kirkham
Michael Brake
Tom Murray
Caleb Shepherd (cox)
Noel Donaldson – Coach
Women’s Coxless Pair (Reserves)
Holly Greenslade
Olivia Loe
Dave Thompson – Coach
Women’s Lightweight Single Scull (Reserve)
Zoe McBride
Gary Hay – Coach