He believes the latest group represents the next wave of elite talent, with several athletes already showing signs of long\u2011term potential.<\/p>\n
However, the development pipeline is also strong at younger levels.<\/p>\n
Under\u201119 crews are preparing for world campaigns, and seven athletes will compete at their first senior world championships this year.<\/p>\n
The squads heading overseas include several familiar surnames, reflecting rowing\u2019s multi\u2011generational strength.<\/p>\n
Wickham highlighted Sophie Egnot, daughter of America\u2019s Cup helmswoman and Olympic silver medallist Lesley Egnot, who will race in the women\u2019s double sculls at her first senior world championships.<\/p>\n
Other legacy names such as Clayton\u2011Green and Hamill also feature in the current teams.<\/p>\n
Talent identification remains a key part of Rowing NZ\u2019s strategy, but Wickham said the organisation deliberately avoids narrowing the pathway too early.<\/p>\n
He said rowing is a sport built on years of accumulated training, with the average age of New Zealand\u2019s Paris Olympic rowing team being 28.5.<\/p>\n
Athletes entering the Under\u201123 system are often still three to six years away from international success, he said.<\/p>\n
Under\u201119 regattas and island\u2011level performance squads provide useful markers, but late\u2011developing athletes are also still given opportunities.<\/p>\n
Rowing NZ chief executive Simon Wickham.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle I, big D,\u201d he said, describing the balance between identification and development.<\/p>\n
Wickham also paid tribute to the Waikato region and the wider rowing community, noting that more than 200 clubs and schools form the backbone of the sport.<\/p>\n
He said New Zealand\u2019s volunteer base is a \u201cmassive strategic advantage\u201d that allows the country to compete with far larger rowing nations.<\/p>\n
He singled out organisations like South Island Rowing and Karapiro Rowing, highlighting their infrastructure and support.<\/p>\n
Overall, he said rowing is thriving, and the future looks bright.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to have the job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Waikato is good to us, and rowing is good for the Waikato.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graeme \u201cMintie\u201d Mead is a sports commentator, the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast and a Newstalk ZB overnight host. He is also a councillor on the Hamilton City Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He believes the latest group represents the next wave of elite talent, with several athletes already showing signs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1975,32126,18430,3937,2562,803,29429,170,13845,21534,3938,20562,22387,117,111,43,139,69,72024,38404,312,6037,60797,5433,1515,287622,287623,377,80],"class_list":["post-584394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-at","tag-bronze","tag-champs","tag-chief","tag-claims","tag-continue","tag-deliver","tag-development","tag-eight","tag-enjoying","tag-executive","tag-mens","tag-momentum","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-organisations","tag-rowing","tag-says","tag-simon","tag-squads","tag-stage","tag-surge","tag-under23","tag-wickham","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}