Five medals and a near-miss on Hamish Bond and Eric Murray's iconic Men's Pair world record headlined a fast final day for New Zealand at the World Cup regatta in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Defending world champions Ben Taylor and Oli Welch won gold in the Men's Pair, finishing just 0.54 seconds outside Bond and Murray's record from the London Olympics in 2012. The Plovdiv course was quick, and Ben and Oli were ahead of the record splits through the first 1500 metres before a rough final stretch cost them.
"It got a bit messy," says Oli. "The course definitely kind of slowed down and it got a little bit rough towards the end. We probably started getting a bit tired as well."
The two had no idea how close they'd come until journalists told them afterwards. "We didn't really know until we got interviewed and they asked us how did it feel to go one second outside the record," says Oli. "We were like, 'What? We didn't know we did that'. It was quite a nice surprise."
Finn Hamill and Ben Mason, who rowed a C Final alongside Croatia's Valent and Martin Sinkovic in Seville two weeks earlier, were back in the A Final of the Men's Double Sculls. They shot out at almost 60 strokes a minute but struggled through the middle of the race before hunting down China over the final couple of hundred metres to take silver in 6.05.36. The Sinkovics won in 6.00.97, narrowly missing their own world best time of 5.59.72 set in Amsterdam in 2014.
"The transition onto our rhythm just didn't really happen," says Finn. "We were three or four seconds slower in that 2nd 500 than where we needed to be. It was pretty laboured and sluggish."
The Women's Four of Alana Sherman, Isla Blake, Kate Haines and Ella Cossill also won silver. They had been nearly seven seconds back on the United States in the preliminary race, and targeted their middle 1000 in the final to close that gap to just over three seconds, finishing in 6.18.99. The Americans crossed in 6.15.75, just outside New Zealand's world best time of 6.14.36 set in Amsterdam in 2014.
"Our second 500 was quite a bit slower than some of the other boats in the prelim," says Ella, "so it was pretty obvious to us where we were going to find some free speed." The pace through the race made for a lively ride. "It's pretty exciting when Kate's calling out 1.33s or 1.32s. You don't hear that all the time and they're the kind of splits that you're aiming for in training, but to actually hear it throughout a race like that really gets you going."
Olivia Hay, Stella Clayton-Greene, Beckie Leigh and Veronica Wall took silver in the Women's Quadruple Sculls, finishing in 6.17.27 behind the USA's 6.08.83. That was a marked step forward from the preliminary race, where they had been more than 12 seconds off the pace in third.
Fred Vavasour, Campbell Crouch, Harry Fitzpatrick and Josh Vodanovich came within a whisker of silver in the Men's Four before Romania edged them out in the final 100 metres. China won in 5.48.64, Romania crossed in 5.50.64, and the Kiwis finished in 5.51.48. For a crew that, apart from Campbell, is in its first season of Elite racing, bronze is a significant step up.
Coach Mike Rodger had identified something from the heat they could build on. "Mike just kept us on trying to attack the race and just be the fastest moving crew through that middle thousand," says Harry. "One thing we learned from the heat was that it's not come out hot and settle, you just have to go out hard and keep sprinting. There's no taking your foot off the gas."
The Women's Pair of Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux finished fifth in 6.59.59, while the Women's Double Sculls of Eva Hofmans and Sophie Egnot-Johnson, racing their first A Final at a World Cup event, also finished fifth in 6.56.01. The Men's Quadruple Sculls of Arie Magasiva, Callum Tutbury, Oscar Ruston and Ben Olifiers, all in their first season of top international rowing, were fifth as well.
The squad now returns home for a fresh round of seat racing as selection for the World Championships in Amsterdam in August is finalised.
