Four New Zealand crews left day one of the U19 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with every boat still alive in A-Final contention, each advancing to the semifinals with clear intent.
The standout theme across all four races was a deliberate middle-race strategy. "Almost every one of our boats was the fastest in their races between 500 and 1500," said coach Mark Clemo. "That was probably the biggest positive, middle one K speed."
Charlie Manser and Aidan Bennett set the tone early in the Men's Double Sculls heat, building through the opening 400 metres to sit just under a length behind Poland before taking the lead at 1200m and holding it to the line. Their time of 6min 23.90sec was the fastest across all six heats by nearly five seconds, with Great Britain 2.03 seconds back in second. Both crews qualified automatically for the quarterfinal later in the day.
Eleri Clare and Zara Blackie raced heat four of the Women's Double Sculls against a strong field that included Greece, the European U19 bronze medallists. New Zealand led at halfway with Greece just 0.08 seconds in arrears, but Italy finished hard to take the heat in 7:14.22, with Greece second in 7:15.44. Eleri and Zara crossed in 7:15.99, just 0.55 seconds off Greece, and moved comfortably through to the semifinals.
Charlotte Mawston, Georgia Kendrick, Charlotte Gorman and Jess Walkinshaw finished second in the Women's Four heat to Great Britain, who had an athlete back from the crew that won silver at last year's U19 Worlds. The Kiwis crossed in 7:10.28 against GB's 7:04.88. Romania recorded the quickest heat time overall in 6:55.96, and the USA won their heat in 7:00.73. On that form, the semifinals will be fiercely competitive.
Charlie Field, Sam Bird, Alex Walters and George Langley led their Men's Four heat against France for much of the race before the French, three of whom were back from their European Championship bronze-medal boat, launched a fierce late charge to win in 6:19.36. New Zealand held second in 6:20.06. "They came third at the European Championships and they've looked good in training," said George Langley. "We knew they were going to be fast so we just went out there to try and execute the best race we could and we almost did that. Got a few points to build on but pretty happy with the race."
Manser and Bennett then returned for their quarterfinal and were dominant from the outset, leading from 250 metres and crossing in 6:35.72 with clear water back to Ireland in second in 6:38.65. The mood in the squad was upbeat. "All of us know some improvement points we want to iron out for the next races, but we're really happy with what we've put down for the first race," said Sam Bird.
Clemo's instruction had been simple and the crews delivered on it. "The phrase that I'm using with the guys is, 'Go to work in the middle one K'," he said. All four boats did exactly that.
