New Zealand ready for Lucerne World Cup
New Zealand Rowing crews kick off their 2016 Olympic campaign this weekend at the second World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland starting tonight (Friday 27 June). New Zealand will compete in nine Olympic events and one international boat class. There are more than 550 athletes from 51 countries confirmed to race in Lucerne at the World Cup regatta between 27-29 June.
The men’s single has the largest number of entries with a total of 26 boats entered. Mahe Drysdale will come up against rival Ondrej Synek for the first time in 2016 while Croatia’s rising single sculler and European Champion Damir Martin has withdrawn from the regatta. There will also be plenty of competition from Cuba’s Angel Rodriguez Fournier, the 2013 silver and 2014 bronze world medallist and Lithuania’s Mindaugas Griskonis, last year’s world bronze medallist who also took silver behind Martin at the recent European Rowing Championships.
The World Champion double scull combination of Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane will be one of ten entries and will meet European Champions Yuliya Bichyk and Tatsiana Kukhta of Belarus as well as last year’s world silver medallists, Aikaterini Nikolaidou and Sofia Asoumanaki of Greece.
A total of 18 countries are racing in the lightweight women's double sculls with New Zealand duo of Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie, two time World Champions in the event. They will compete against the European Championship silver medallists from Germany, Fini Sturm and Marie-Louise Draeger as well as last year's world bronze medallists Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler of South Africa.
The women’s pair has 17 entries with the pairing of Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent ready to take on the world and Olympic champion combination of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning from Great Britain. New Zealand Rowing team reserves, Holly Greenslade and Olivia Loe will also compete in this event.
The unbeaten men’s pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond will be one of ten entries in this event. They will face winners of World Rowing Cup I, Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell and Matthew Tarrant of Great Britain as well as the Netherlands crew who finished fourth at last year at the world championships and more recently won bronze at the European Championships and silver at World Rowing Cup I.
Robbie Manson and Chris Harris are contesting the men’s double scull, which has a total of 12 entries. They will have tough competition against the Croatian Sinkovic brothers who are the current world champions and world best time holders.
There are a total of 10 entries in the men’s lightweight four. The New Zealand crew will come up against some stiff competition in the Swiss combination of Lucas Tramer, Simon Schuerch, Simon Niepmann and Mario Gyr who are the 2015 World Champions and have already won World Cup and European Championship gold this season. The world silver medallists, the Danish lightweight four will also pose a threat as they are back in the lightweight event having competed in the open four at the European Rowing Championships where they finished sixth.
The New Zealand women’s eight exploded onto the world stage last year at the World Rowing Cup III winning a silver medal at the Lucerne Regatta. The kiwi crew will be up against four other crews. Women’s pair rowers Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent will double up in both the pair and the eight. The women’s eight can expect tough competition from the USA who are the current Olympic and world champions as well as Canada who will be seeking revenge after being beaten into bronze medal position twice by the kiwis in 2015.
The New Zealand men’s eight crew remains unchanged from last year and will be one of six crews contesting this event. This men’s eight has talent with eight of nine of the double under-23 world champion eight crew members from 2013 and 2014. They will be hunting down World Champions Great Britain and Olympic Champions Germany and looking to improve on their fourth placing at the World Championships in 2015.
Reserve Zoe McBride will contest the women’s lightweight single event that has a total of 18 scullers competing.
New Zealand Rowers have won 161 World Cup medals since Rob Waddell won the first bronze at the Lucerne World Cup in 1997. Overall 89 of those medals were Gold, 47 Silver and 25 Bronze medals at World Cup events.
Racing begins on Friday 27 2016 at 9:00 CET with heats and progresses through repechages, semifinals and to the finals on Sunday 29 May. There will be live coverage of the finals of the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne on SKY Sport on Sunday 29 May at 8:00pm on SKY Sport 7.
Results will 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