By Michelle Pickles
Kiwi rowers Louise Ayling and Julia Edward have starred at the final World Cup regatta in Munich, winning gold just six weeks out from the Olympic Games.
In the men’s lightweight double, Storm Uru and Peter Taylor also clinched gold from the fast-finishing French, but it's the women who have sent a warning to their rivals ahead of London.
They may be a new combination but Ayling and Edward looked like old hands in Munich.
The Chinese pair who edged the Kiwis for gold in Lucerne were not at this regatta, but even so the Kiwis showed they will be amongst the favourites in London.
“It feels really good to know that we're on track and that we're doing the job right and every race that we have we're learning a lot,” says Ayling.
All the big guns were there for the men’s lightweight double, so holding out the French for gold was even more satisfying for Taylor and Uru, although they're not taking anything for granted.
“We're under no illusions though, the Olympics is the next big step,” says Uru.
“This will not represent how the Olylmpics is going to be and we are just happy with where we are right now.”
Once again the unbeaten men’s pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond were a class above the rest in their race, finishing five seconds ahead of Australia.
“We’ve probably raced all our major opposition that we’re going to find in London, so from that front we're very pleased. But like Eric said we're still not quite happy with how we're going so we're going to go away and find a few more seconds,” says Bond.
Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown moved up one place from Lucerne but were still a distant second to the British crew.
Meanwhile Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan showed a huge improvement to win silver after not even making the final in Lucerne, and Emma Twigg rounded out the Kiwi medal haul with silver in the women’s single scull.
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