New Zealand’s rowing contingent found the going a lot tougher today. After the first day, when nearly every crew progressed impressively, there were some hiccups today when racing resumed after yesterday’s postponement.
The men’s quad sculls of Nathan Flannery, John Storey, George Bridgewater and Jade Uru struggled in their repechage and trailed in sixth in 5min 58.92s. Germany and Great Britain progressed.
In the women’s eight heats – the first time a New Zealand 8 has competed at an Olympics since 1984 – the New Zealanders were competitive but finished second to Great Britain.
Though New Zealand finished strongly to edge out Canada, they were 2½ seconds behind the British and must now race in the repechage.
Grace Prendergast said the crew were excited to be the first New Zealand women’s eight at the Olympics, but there was more to it than that. “We are not just here to compete, we want to make history by winning,” she said. The United States looked impressive in winning the other women’s eight heat.
The New Zealand men’s eight finished third in their heat in 5min 36.28s. Great Britain were the dominant crew, and the New Zealanders faded a little in the closing stages to be overhauled by the Netherlands. So the men’s eight also go to the repechage. They seemed far from downhearted afterwards.
Stephen Jones said the goal was to put together a good physical and technical performance and set themselves up for the week.
“We would have liked to have won, but from a process and technical point of view we did what we needed to do,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the next race.”
The women’s lightweight double sculls combination of Sophie MacKenzie and Julia Edward were a comfortable second in their heat. They were timed at 7min 02.01s, well behind the Netherlands, but good enough to move into the semi-finals. As Edward said later: “We just wanted to race our race. Making the top two was the main thing.”
Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent capped off a busy morning when they rowed in the women’s pair heats. Having already taken part in the eights race, Scown and Behrent certainly looked well warmed up. They were into their work early, and had the lead before the 1000m point. The New Zealanders went on to win in 7min 09.23s, well clear of South Africa and China, and look strong heading into the semi-finals.