The NZ Men’s Pair reckon they’re in a better spot than this time last year. They could be dangerous.
World champions Ben Taylor and Oli Welch are preparing for another big showdown against rivals Romania when they race the final of the Men’s Pair at the World Cup event in Seville, Spain tonight (NZT).
Both crews won their respective semifinals, the New Zealanders clocking 6 minutes 27.76 seconds in the first, Romania clocking 6:23.37 in the second.
“Pretty excited for the final,” says Oli. “I think if we have our best race we’re in a good position. The semi probably wasn’t our best race, we’ve got a few things to work on, but it’s not far off.”
The Romanians have made a change to the crew that claimed silver, five seconds behind the New Zealanders, at last year’s world championships.
“They seem to be going as quick or even quicker,” says Oli. “But it’s a bit hard to say, to be honest, since we haven’t raced them yet.”
He and Ben had definitely pushed on.
“Just been steadily improving and probably in a lot better spot right now than we were a year ago.
“Individually we’re probably both doing better ergs, a bit stronger in the gym.”
And having his first full summer squad had given him and Ben more of a lead-in to the international season as opposed to last year when they only got together in April.
“So yeah, fitter, faster, stronger!”
World champions Ben Taylor and Oli Welch are preparing for another big showdown against rivals Romania when they race the final of the Men’s Pair at the World Cup event in Seville, Spain tonight (NZT).
The Men’s Four of Fred Vavasour, Campbell Crouch, Harry Fitzpatrick and Josh Vodanovich can be well pleased with their performance.
In just their second race together they qualified for tonight’s A Final.
”Pretty stoked to be in the final for my first World Cup,” says Fred, who stroked the Men’s Eight to silver at last year’s U23 World Championships.
He and the four were on a big, and fast learning curve.
”Coming out of Under 23s straight into the Elite Four, it feels like it’s all happened really quickly. So, yeah, just trying to take it all in and one race at a time.
“Because we’re so young the progression can be quite steep,” says Fred. “But there’s a lot we can figure out having only just come together so the gains we do make can be a bit bigger.
“I guess there’s not so many expectations around our performance, which is quite nice. You can just row to the best of your ability without having a heap of pressure.”
That feeling of freedom pushed them to a third in their semifinal, finishing in 5:59.05, behind winners the Netherlands (5:54.22) and France (5:55.65).
The Men’s Four of Fred Vavasour, Campbell Crouch, Harry Fitzpatrick and Josh Vodanovich qualified for tonight’s A Final.
The two bridges that span the Guadalquivir canal course in Seville definitely add some scenery to the racing but they might be the cause of a confusion for those trying to watch down at the finish line.
When Eva Hofmans and Sophie Egnot-Johnson got off the water after their C Final, one of the squad coaches, Tom Stannard, thought he’d seen a disaster, followed by a miracle.
“He said, ‘What happened in the first 500?”‘ says Eva.
“I thought he was talking about how we flew out at the start better than we did yesterday in the heat.
“He said, ‘No, the [electronic race] tracker said you were down nine seconds at the 500, six at the 1K, and two at the 500 to go.’
“And I went, ‘Oh, no, we were actually in contact today.’”
That would have been some comeback from the new combination with Eva rowing in her first senior event.
The confusion might have something to do with the bridges.
”The trackers could be off because when we go under the bridges at 250 and then 1250 the GPS gets mucked up,” says Eva. “Seven years ago, when I raced in Japan at Junior Worlds, there was a bridge across the course and the stroke coach was always ping-ponging around there as well.”
The intervening years haven’t necessarily been a dream ride for Eva since winning at those championships in 2019. There have been disappointments in the States: ”I got through the last two years by telling myself, ‘I know I’m good at rowing in New Zealand, and I’m going to keep going and I’m going to prove myself.’”
She and Sophie finished second in 7:18.40, four seconds behind France.
Eva’s on her way.
Eva Hofmans (stroke) and Sophie Egnot-Johnson finished second in the C Final of the Women’s Double in 7:18.40, four seconds behind France.
Lining up in the C Final was not where Ben Mason and Finn Hamill were supposed to be. Former Olympic champions Valent and Martin Sinkovic from Croatia, in the lane next door, were probably thinking the same thing.
Ben seemed to sum up the situation for both crews after the disappointment of missing the semifinals:
“It goes to show that the standard’s really high so you have to be perfect. We medalled in two World Cups last year and then this year we’re in a C Final and not much has really changed [in our performance], so it just goes to show how good the competition is and it creates good racing and good spectating.”
Ben was right about that although he and Finn weren’t able to stay with the Sinkovics, who won in 6:24.46. New Zealand finished fourth in 6:31.30.
Ben Mason (stroke) and Finn Hamill finished fourth in the C Final of the Men’s Double.
Arie Magasiva, Callum Tutbury, Oscar Ruston and Ben Olifiers thought they might have gone out a bit hot in their heat of the Men’s Quadruple Sculls, leaving them cooked at the finish. Unsurprising for a crew that had never raced together, let alone at senior level.
They still went out hot in their C Final but this time, stepped on.
”Once we got the boat moving, we kind of just let it sit there and then took it down into our race rhythm,” says Arie. “We were just trying to be more efficient, getting the same speed but with a lot less effort and a lot fewer nerves.”
The less is more approach worked for them, heading off Venezuela to win in 6:10.26.
”We’re pretty grounded,” says Arie. “We know where the goal is and now we’re just looking to pick off those crews one by one and get faster and faster. I mean, we’ve been together for three months since nationals, so I guess time is in our favour.”
The men’s quad of (r-l) Arie Magasiva, Callum Tutbury, Oscar Ruston and Ben Olifiers won their heat in 6:10.26.
The new combination of Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux finished fifth in their semifinal of the Women’s Pair and will be the first New Zealand crew in action when they race the B final tonight at 7.10pm.
The new combination of Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux finished fifth in their semifinal of the Women’s Pair
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and ’83. He is NZ Olympian #446.