The two New Zealand fours crews completed a memorable session for New Zealand rowing today.
The men’s four claimed silver after a nip-and-tuck tussle with eventual gold medallists the United States.
Not to be outdone, the women’s four were also among the medals, holding on courageously to earn a bronze.
The men’s four – Ollie Maclean, Logan Ullrich, Tom Murray and Matt Macdonald – took an early lead but were overtaken by the powerful American team at about the 600-metre mark.
Though the New Zealanders fought hard, they were unable to pull back the Americans, even if there was never much in it and the gold was really only decided over the last 60 metres.
The USA were timed at 4min 22.84s with New Zealand 0.56s behind and Great Britain a distant third.
There’s quite a range in the New Zealand team with Tom Murray, 30, the old hand, having won gold in Tokyo as a member of the eight, after finishing sixth in the same boat in 2016 in Rio. Macdonald was also a member of the Tokyo winning eight.
The four improved on their third placing in last year’s world champs.
Macdonald said it had been a “pretty intense” race. “We knew it was going to be like that. We went out with all guns blazing from the start. We just had to trust we’d be able to put our best race out there and we were pretty close to that. We did a good job.”
He said it was all go over the last 500 metres. “We gave it everything and that’s probably the quickest we’ve gone over the last quarter, so we’re proud of that. The Americans have been a top crew all season.”
The women’s four of Jackie Gowler, Phoebe Spoors (sister of Lucy, who’d just won a gold medal in the women’s double sculls), Davina Waddy and Kerri Williams did well to hold on for a bronze medal in a competitive final.
The gold went to the Netherlands in 6min 27.13s, followed by Great Britain. New Zealand recoded 6min 29.08s and had just 0.46s to spare over the threatening Romanian combination on the line.
Spoors said as her race was being called to the start, she heard her sister had won the gold in the double sculls. “I had to hold myself together – that was pretty exciting!”
She said the team knew they had to be quick off the line at the start and that they felt good throughout. However, things got tough when they were involved in the frantic closing sprint with the Romanians.
“They’re historically fast…that line was a long way away, man!”
Gowler said the current New Zealand rowing squad is a special team to be part of. “To bring home three medals today is pretty special.”