More medals in Amsterdam for Under 23 rowers

Kiwi crews added two medals to the Under 23 trophy cabinet at Amsterdam overnight, with the women's eight taking a silver medal and the women's lightweight double scull winning a bronze in the world championship finals. These added to Saturday's silver medal that lightweight pair of Curtis Rapley and Armin Svboda won.

Kayla Pratt, Robyn Munro, Jessica Loe, Anna Dawson, Genevieve Behrent, Zoe Stevenson, Linda Matthews, Kelsey Bevan and coxswain Francie Turner engaged Canada early in the race for top honours, the two crews slugging it out for the first half just hundredths of a second apart as they both carved out a small lead over the USA and Germany. A big Canadian push in the third 500 metres gave them the edge, and the Kiwis found their race as much about defending from a charging US crews as it was about attacking the Canadians.

At the line they were a length or so down on their main rivals, and a second ahead of the US. They had targeted gold as the number one priority to secure a trip to Bled to try and qualify for the Olympics, and although they were close, they will have to wait on the selectors' decision.

A low start hampered Julia Edward and Alyce Pulford in the final of the women's lightweight double sculling event, this race pitching all of the top rowing nations up and coming Olympic class lightweight boats against one another. The Kiwi girls were in the pack but only fourth at the first marker, and they remained there at half way with the eventual winners Greece and the runners up Spain a few seconds up the track and largely secure.

They rowed through the fading Germans to get themselves into the medals in the third quarter and in the last five hundred metres secured the final medal by pulling away from the Dutch. There was nothing they could do about the leaders, however.

Two silvers and a bronze was a solid result for the team in another very busy and competitive regatta.


Ends.

Results here: http://www.worldrowing.com/live-results