Shannon Cox and Jackie Kiddle just missed a medal in the final of the women’s lightweight double sculls today.
The New Zealanders finished fourth in 6min 51.65s, 3½ seconds behind winners Great Britain.
Cox and Kiddle fought hard. They were fourth initially, moved up to third in the middle stages but were unable to catch the British or Romanian crews and couldn’t prevent Greece from passing them over the final 500 metres.
“You never want to walk away fourth,” said Kiddle, “but we put absolutely everything out there. You shoot for the moon and sometimes you fall among the stars.”
She said she was proud of the work they’d done as a team over the past couple of years.
“Two years ago I never would have believed we’d have been here.”
Earlier Daniel Williamson and Phillip Wilson convincingly won the B final in the men’s pair.
It’s not always meaningful to compare times in rowing because conditions change quickly, but it’s interesting that the New Zealanders’ time of 6min 24.55s would have placed them third in the A final.