A new world record holder is putting the heat on two time Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale to hold his single sculls spot in the New Zealand rowing team.
NZ rower Robbie Manson Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Robbie Manson took the sculling gold for the New Zealand team at the World Cup regatta in Poland over the weekend, breaking Mahe Drysdale's previous world best time by three seconds.
Rowing New Zealand's high performance director Allan Cotter says Manson's performance sets a new bar for Drysdale, who is coming back into training after time off following his Olympic gold in Rio.
"Mahe hasn't said which boat he'd like to go in, so we'll have some conversations with him."
"Mahe will be coming back in, but he knows what competition he's got there now."
Cotter says Manson has made great strides in the individual event over the last few months.
"He's been doing the single for a while now along with other boats, but he's taken step by step over the summer and he's obviously gained a lot of confidence."
"To beat the world record by three seconds is just exciting for the next four years."
Drysdale returns to rowing in July with the intention of joining the squad for next summer.
New Zealand won another 5 gold medals on the final day in Poland.
They also won a silver medal and recorded two new world best times to go with the gold they won on the first day.
New Zealand's gold medal haul came from the men's single sculls, the women's pair, the men's and women's double sculls and the women's eight, while the men's eight took home silver.
After scooping their first medal yesterday when Jackie Kiddle claimed gold in the women's lightweight single sculls, today's results rocketed the New Zealand team to the top of the medal chart and the World Cup points leader board.
On the final day of racing Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler scored not only the first medal for New Zealand in the women's pair but also a new world best time.
"It was actually a really enjoyable race. We just wanted to push ourselves and see what we could do, not knowing how fast everyone else would be." said Prendergast.
"We wanted to control it, but it felt like we had a lot of fun."
NZ women's rowing pair Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler Photo: Photosport
Olivia Loe and Brooke Donoghue won women's double sculls gold in a fine display of sculling, and were just two seconds shy of the world best time.
In the men's double sculls Olympians John Storey and Chris Harris executed a spectacular race to earn the gold medal.
