Golden Day for NZ at World Under-23 Rowing Champs

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Emma Twigg

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Joseph Sullivan

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Storm Uru

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Under 23 Coxless Four

Golden Day for New Zealand at World Under-23 Rowing Championships

Three gold medals and one silver kept New Zealand Rowing’s flag flying high at the World Under-23 Championships in Strathclyde, Scotland today.

In fast tail wind conditions, single scullers Storm Uru, Emma Twigg and Joseph Sullivan were the toast of the NZ team, each claiming gold medals within 30 minutes of each other while Chris Harris, David Eade, Ben Hammond and Jared Pehi showed their gritty determination to win silver in the men’s straight four, just half a length behind Germany.

Reigning Lightweight Single Scull champion Storm Uru has had to spend the last six months training alongside his fellow New Zealand Lightweight single sculler, two times world Cup winner Duncan Grant, at New Zealand Rowing's Mighty River Power High Performance Centre. And while Uru was unable to knock Grant from his Number One world ranking in the last two World Cup regattas, he easily won his second successive World Under-23 Championship title today in a compelling exhibition of single sculling. From his very first stroke he dominated the Lightweight Single Sculls field, building a two length lead by the half way mark over Canadian Tim Colson. He extended his advantage to three lengths at the 1500m mark and held on to win in a fast time of 7:02.11.

“I am delighted to win my second World Under-23 Championship gold medal, and in a funny kind of way it diminishes the disappointment of not having been able to knock Duncan off in Amsterdam and Lucerne. I’ll now focus on training hard to win Olympic selection next year either in the Lightweight Double or Lightweight Coxless Four” said the Invercargill sculler.

In 2005, Emma Twigg won the World Junior single scull title in Brandenburg, Germany and was touted as a promising world class single sculler. This potential was fulfilled as she powered to a one length lead over her opposition by the first 500m mark. By the 1000m mark Twigg had established clear water over Natalia Madaj from Poland and Katalin Szabo from Hungary. She continued to push away from the field over the next 1000m to win by a comfortable three lengths in a time of 7:34.87.

The win secures Twigg a place for Munich in the New Zealand Elite team. "It’s a huge relief to know that I have now won selection for Munich," she said. "Yes I was bitterly disappointed at missing out on selection after trials back in March, but in hindsight that disappointment made me even more determined to win here today."

At 5’10” and 78Kg’s, Joseph Sullivan is probably the smallest heavyweight sculler in the world, but his heart is bigger than most. Today, the Picton Pocket Rocket threw down a “catch me if you can” challenge to his much bigger European opponents as he bolted out to a two length lead by the 750m mark over Mindaugas Griskonis from Lithuania and the 6’8”Robert Bertram of Germany. As his opposition pushed to catch Sullivan, he pushed even harder to maintain the clear water lead he had established. At 1500m Sullivan started his sprint for home in a copybook strategic race, moving ahead to win by an amazing four lengths. “Heck that was tough," he explained. "I knew Storm and Emma had won, and I just wanted to keep the NZ flag flying. I worked as hard as I could and got the result I wanted. The benefit of training with Mahé Drysdale at Lake Karapiro has really paid off,” he added.

The only way the NZ Men’s Coxless Four was going to be competitive against the 'Powerhouse Nations' of World Rowing, was to lay down the gauntlet in the early stages. Showing greater pace than in the heat and semi, at the 500m mark the Kiwis were just a length behind the Germans, but half a length up on Serbia, Romania, Great Britain and Australia. At the 1000m they remained a length behind Germany but one length ahead of the rest the field. At the 1500m mark, Great Britain pushed to within a half a length, but the Dave Thompson coached crew hung on to the tailcoats of the Germans and took silver, just a half length away. For Chris Harris, David Eade, Ben Hammond and Jared Pehi, this was a great result after a gutsy row.

“We heard the National Anthem play first for Storm, then for Emma and then again for Joseph as we were warming up in the boat park. We all had goose bumps on the way to the start. Gold would have been nice, but we will settle for silver” said stroke Chris Harris. “Bloody amazing……….just bloody amazing. What a great day for New Zealand Rowing,” exclaimed Coach Dave Thompson who also coached Joseph Sullivan to his gold medal win earlier in the day.

Just 12 months ago Emma McGeorge was contemplating her future Netball career, following an injury-plagued season with the Capital Shakers. Her rehabilitation regime included tasking up rowing over the summer months. Today, with Cambridge rower Anna Reymer, herself only into her second season of rowing, turned rowing's theorists into a 'tail spin' as the two kept powerful combinations from Germany, Ukraine and the reigning world champions from the Czech Republic on their toes over the first 500m in this high quality Woman’s double scull field. The pace the Kiwi girls set over the first 750m proved too much as the experienced European crews overhauled the NZ girls at the 1000m mark. By the 1500m mark, Reymer and McGeorge had fallen back to fifth where they bravely finished.

ENDS

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