Silver for Uru and Taylor and Emma Twigg takes bronze

A silver medal for the men's lightweight double scull and a bronze for Emma Twigg brought New Zealand's final medal count at the 2011 Rowing World Championships in Bled, Slovenia to nine - with 12 boats through to the London Olympic regatta.

A great race between Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, the ‘09 world champions, and Olympic and current world champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain provided yet more drama. The Kiwi duo took the lead at 500 metres and edged away slightly from GB, with both taking a significant lead over the Italians and the rest of the field. Great Britain fought back at the 1500 metre marker, moving level with the Kiwis and then taking their own small lead. The New Zealanders remained focussed, however, and counter attacked again as the crews approached the line. Another verdict of a few centimetres in a regatta that has been historic for the number of close finishes, but it was silver on this occasion for New Zealand.

Emma Twigg went out to win the women's single scull, taking the lead at the 500 metre mark and building a clear water lead over the next 800 metres. With 750 metres to go, Mirka Knapkova and Ekaterina Karsten began to close in, catching the Kiwi inside the final 400 metres. Twigg put up a strong fight, but had to settle for a second consecutive bronze.

In the women's lightweight double sculls, Louise Ayling and Lucy Strack finished sixth in their first A final. The Greek double had run away with the race and the pack behind bunched as the line drew closer. New Zealand recovered from a significant deficit at half way to get into the pack, but ran out of time to make a real impression.

The men's four completed a solid regatta with second place in a hotly contested B final and an eighth place ranking. Chris Harris, James Dallinger, Ben Hammond and Jade Uru kept themselves at the sharp end because the last place finisher would fail to qualify for London and the gaps in coxless fours are tiny. Just over three seconds covered the entire field.

The four's qualification for London completed a 12 strong list of secure places - a record number for the New Zealand.



New Zealand Medals and Ranking


Gold

Mahe Drysdale - Men's Single Scull
Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh - Women's Pair
Eric Murray and Hamish Bond - Men's Pair
Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan - Men's Double Scull


Silver

Storm Uru and Peter Taylor - Men's Lightweight Double Scull


Bronze

Duncan Grant - Men's Lightweight Single Scull
Sarah Gray, Eve Macfarlane, Louise Trappitt and Fiona Bourke - Women's Quadruple Scull
Anna Reymer and Fi Paterson - Women's Double Scull
Emma Twigg - Women's Single Scull


Other

4th - James Lassche and Graham Oberlin-Brown - Men's Lightweight Pair
6th - Louise Ayling and Lucy Strack - Women's Lightweight Double Scull
8th - Danny McBride - Adaptive Men's Single Scull
8th – Jade Uru, James Dallinger, Ben Hammond and Chris Harris, Men’s Four
10th - Robbie Manson, Steve Cottle, Matthew Trott and John Storey, Men's Quad Scull
10th - Nick Pussinelli, Tyson Williams, Adam Tripp, Tobias Wehr-Candler, Ian Seymour, Sean O'Neill, Hamish Burson, David Eade, Ivan Pavich - Men's Eight



Olympic boats qualified

Men's Single Scull
Women's Single Scull
Adaptive Men's Single Scull
Men's Pair
Women's Pair
Men's Double
Women's Double
Men's Quad
Women's Quad
Men's Lightweight Double Scull
Women's Lightweight Double Scull
Men's Four


Not qualified

Men's Eight


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