A stiff headwind turned the opening day of the World Rowing Championships on Amsterdam's Bosbaan into a battle of attrition, with four New Zealand crews finding out just how tough conditions can get on a course usually known for fast times.
The best of the Kiwi results came from world champions Ben Taylor and Oli Welch in the Men's Pair. They drew a tough heat against Croatia's Loncaric brothers, Anton and Patrick, and Switzerland's Patrick Brunner and Jonah Plock, bronze medallists at World Cup III in Lucerne back in June.
"Bloody tough and very long," was Ben's summary of the race.
New Zealand got off well and led by half a length at the 500m mark. From there they controlled things, stretching the margin to more than four seconds at halfway and out past six seconds by the finish.
"Once those gusts hit, it was just about staying together and not trying to go for extra because the speed dropped," Ben said. "You kind of got to the halfway mark thinking, 'God, I wish this was over already.'"
Taylor and Welch crossed in 7:05.37, with the Loncarics second in 7:12.04 and the Swiss third in 7:15.67. Coach Mike Rodger warned against reading too much into any of the day's times.
"The wind was up and down like anything," Rodger said. "Even on the push bike you could clearly notice how different the wind was in different places. You couldn't look at any event and take any realistic numbers out of it."
The win sets up what Rodger called a "cracker" of a semifinal on Thursday morning NZT, with Romania, Great Britain, Australia, Greece and Switzerland all in the mix.
Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux faced a stacked field in the Women's Pair, up against France's Hezekia Peron and Emma Cornelis, silver medallists in Shanghai last year when Peron was just 19, as well as the USA's Mia Levy and Regina Salmons, winners in Lucerne, and Australia's Katherine Easton and Emmie Frederico.
The Americans led throughout for a win in 7:46.79. Lush and Lequeux pushed into third through the opening 500m before settling for fourth in 7:55.88, a time good enough to carry them into Thursday's semifinal. France finished second in 7:49.47, Australia third in 7:52.22.
Ben Mason and Finn Hamill drew Olympic champions Romania in the Men's Double, one of the largest fields at the regatta. Romania led at halfway by just over three seconds. Both automatic qualifying spots were decided by the 1500m mark, so the two crews eased off and cruised to the line, sending Mason and Hamill through to the quarter-finals.
Eva Hofmans and Sophie Egnot-Johnson finished fifth in their heat of the Women's Double, won by Ireland in 7:46.73. The Kiwi pair crossed in 8:02.82 and will race the C Final on Thursday morning at 12.34am NZT.
