Elite team ready for World Championships
The 2017 New Zealand elite rowing team will face their biggest test at next week’s World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, USA.
The regatta is the pinnacle of the international season, with over 900 athletes from 69 countries attending.
New Zealand has been a dominant force in world championship regattas in recent years, however this year’s new-look team gives a number of fresh faces an opportunity to test the waters.
Robbie Manson will be a marked man in the men’s single sculls event after after demolishing Mahe Drysdale’s long standing world best time earlier this year.
He will be up against Olympic medallist and World Champion in the single Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, Olympic silver medallist Damir Martin of Croatia and World Cup medallist Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba.
Matt Dunham will challenge the men’s lightweight single scull title in what is guaranteed to be a hotly contested event with an impressive 18 athletes entered.
All bets are off in the men’s pair event following the retirement of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond’s career switch to cycling. Looking to make their mark are Jamie Hunter and Tom Murray, who won world cup gold ahead of Croatia's Sinkovic brothers; Olympic gold medallists in the double scull last year. Joe Wright and Phillip Wilson will also line up as a reserve pair.
Chris Harris and John Storey are strong contenders in the men’s double sculls. Harris and Storey won two world cup events this year and should fight out the event alongside Poland, Italy and a Norwegian crew that features the remarkable 41-year-old Olaf Tufte.
Lewis Hollows, Cameron Crampton, Nathan Flannery and Giacomo Thomas will be eyeing a medal in the men’s quad after missing out at the recent world cup event by just 0.6 seconds. Amongst the other contenders for the title are the powerful Lithuanian, British and Polish crews.
The men’s four is a new addition to the New Zealand team, with the event recently added to the Olympic programme and features a mix of senior and new elite athletes with Anthony Allen, Charlie Rogerson, Cameron Webster and Alex Kennedy.
After a slightly disappointing world cup season the men’s eight will come out fighting alongside 11 other boats, including the flying German crew, world cup winners and world best time holders.
Hannah Osborne will be flying the flag for New Zealand in the women’s single sculls event, her first senior level world championships.
The women’s double scull duo of Olivia Loe and Brooke Donoghue have proven themselves to be a formidable force with two world cup gold medals this season and will no doubt be the crew to watch.
2015 silver medallists Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast are hot favourites for the women’s pair title after a sensational season that included two world cup gold medals and a world best time. Charlotte Spence and Ella Greenslade will also compete in the event in their senior debut.
The proven lightweight women’s double scull duo of Jackie Kiddle and Zoe McBride are back in the boat together after a mixed season which saw lightweight single scull world champion McBride confined to the sidelines with injury before re-joining Kiddle to claim gold in world cup III.
The women’s four is another new addition to the team and will be contested by Jackie Gowler, Kirstin Goodger, Beth Ross and Charlotte Spence, who replaces Ellie Jeurissen after Jeurissen was ruled out with illness.
The women’s eight will be looking to challenge their silver medal performance at the 2015 world championships, with the ever-dominant USA back on the start line with an unprecedented winning streak of 11 straight years of World Championships and Olympic Games in this blue riband boat class.
The regatta is set to begin as scheduled on Monday after narrowly missing the devastating effects of Hurricane Irma. The regatta will take place at the newly constructed course at Nathan Benderson Park in central Florida, marking a return of the event to the United States after 23 years.
Full schedule, entries, and live results can be found at worldrowing.com