Grant heads to world final once again

It was semi finals overnight at the combined senior and junior world rowing championships at Linz in Austria and New Zealand had a solid day with Duncan Grant and junior women's quad (pictured) joining the boys eight and women's straight four in A finals.

First up was the junior women's quadruple scull, which contains some of the brightest young prospects in the country. Regan Barkla, Paparangi Hipango, Sarah Gray and Julia Trautvetter have all distinguished themselves in small boat rowing and sculling in the past year and put together another great performance to qualify for the A final with a strong second place behind Belarusia in their semi. Never more than a second down on the leaders, they eased up in the final few metres but still finished a couple of seconds up on third placed Greece. They will be joined in the final by Germany Italy and Belgium.

World champion Duncan Grant had a taste of things to come in his final with a semi final clash with main rival Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands. Grant laid down his intent with a blistering first 500 metres and sat ahead of Schouten until the 1,500 metre mark. He remained a second down at the end, but it is likely the final will be fought out between these two and one thing is certain, Grant is getting close to his form of last year and has Schouten - the major winner this season in lightweight sculls - firmly in his sights.

Fourth in the semi final will have been a major disappointment for new international combination Richard Beaumont and Todd Petherick in the lightweight pair. With three through to the A final, the boys head to the B final where they will race the likes of Great Britain and the USA in what is a very high class field. In their first international regatta this season, their performance so far has been decent, and it will be interesting to see where they end up in the B final.

The junior men's double of Stephen Burt and Karl Manson won their C/D semi final and will therefore head to the C final where they will race for a 13-18 ranking. Finals day should be gripping - there is a junior eight, a junior women's quad and a four to look forward to in the major A finals as well as Grant, and the light pair and men's coxed four in B finals.