Lightweight rowers deliver more golds for NZ

New Zealand crews powered to another two gold medals at the rowing world championships in Poznan, Poland last night.

Lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant and the lightweight double of Storm Uru and Peter Taylor lifted the gold medal tally to four, following the success of Mahe Drysdale in the premier men's single sculls and Hamish Bond and Eric Murray in the men's pair on Saturday.

Grant set the tone for another memorable day, holding off Greece's Vasileios Polymeros to win a third successive title, following his victories in 2007 and 2008.

Uru and Taylor then combined to claim gold and cap New Zealand's participation at the world champs in grand style.

The two triumphs gave the kiwi contingent five medals after the double success from Drysdale, and Bond and Murray.

The favoured women's pair of Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery won bronze, while the men's double sculls of Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott and Emma Twigg in the women's single sculls narrowly missed out on medals, finishing fourth in their finals.

Grant, the two time defending champion going into this regatta, struggled to third in his semi on Friday but was back in commanding form when it mattered most.

He stormed out to the front at the 500m mark and never relinquished the lead, crossing the finish line over a second ahead of Greece's Vasileios Polymeros.

"It feels as good as the rest," Grant said of his third crown.

"It was a hard ask. I knew the Greek was going to be a tough competitor. He has a very good pedigree behind him."

Grant was forced to race the final from lane one after his lacklustre semi final display but sent a message to his rivals in the first 500m as he took control of the race, dispelling fears his grip of the title was loosening.

"I didn't have a particularly good semi final the other day but today's race went exactly to plan.

"Being the defending champion, I was being marked and from my result in the semi, they might have discounted me a little," he said.

While Polymeros pursued Grant valiantly, he failed to close the gap and crossed the line over a second behind the kiwi.

Grant now has his sights set on a successful defence of his world title at Lake Karapiro next year.

He said the lure of the Olympics is strong but it will not stop him racing for glory on his home course.

"I'll be there," he said.

"There's always a class field, even though it's not an Olympic boat. There's a considerable amount of depth."

Uru and Taylor followed Grant and while they trailed the French crew of Jeremie Azou and Frederic Dufour early on, they found superior boat speed in the middle 1000m to coast to victory.

The French held on for second with Italy third.

"We went out there with a plan but to be honest, we never thought the plan would go that well," a beaming Uru said with the gold medal wrapped around his neck.

"Everything worked how we wanted it to. It was the perfect race."

Taylor was left scratching his head at the nature of their victory.

"I wouldn't say it felt easy, but it felt so together, so clinical," he added.

"The moves, the start, the middle, the finish. Everything.

"I find it hard to believe it. You hardly get a race like that and we got it on the most important day of the year."

The kiwi duo started the race as favourites, despite failing to make the A final at last year's Olympics.

Taylor said that result was now long forgotten.

"A lot has happened in that year for us. We went through that disappointment and we've built on it.

"We've learnt from it."

The pair are promising to return bigger and better next year, when New Zealand hosts the world championships at Lake Karapiro.

"The best thing to do it to win on your home soil but we'll take it one day a time. Just like we did this year," Uru said.

"We're two very competitive guys, we'll keep each other honest over the next year and hopefully we'll come back even faster."

-NZPA

- NZPA