N.Z. rowing eight draws tough heat

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 28

N.Z. rowing eight draws tough heat

PA Munich The 1981 New Zealand rowing eight will be thrown straight up against top opposition when it begins its world championship campaign at the Munich Olympic course today. In its heat draw, New Zealand has drawn Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and East Germany, the last two of whom are considered to be medal prospects. With New Zealand also considered very much in the medal hunt, the foqrth favoured nation, Great Britain,

has drawn the second, far weaker heat with West Germany, the United States and France. With only a total of eight crews competing, the winner of each heat will go straight to Sunday’s final while the first four boats from a repechage on Thursday will also go into the final. Russia has emerged as the favourite for the eights gold medal after its two wins over East Germany, which has dominated the class since 1973, at the Lucerne regatta. The young Russian crew

was prepared for the 1980 Moscow Olympics at which it finished third to East Germany, but now appears to have peaked. Great Britain finished second at Moscow and would appear to have an. easy march into the Munich final. The New Zealand eight was unbeaten at its warm-up regattas at Duisburg, West Germany, and Copenhagen but it has yet to meet either Russia or East Germany. It recorded its fastest time in competition in Europe at Duisburg shortly after arriving from New Zealand but

that time of five minutes and 53 seconds was 11 seconds behind what the Russians recorded in one of their races at Lucerne. The New Zealanders have trained extensively at Lake Sarnen (Switzerland), Munich and Lake Lenggries (West Germany) since the Copenhagen regatta and today the results of that training will be on show. If the eight had hoped not to have to face the toughest competition from the outset, the scullers in the New Zealand team have had better luck with the draw.

The double sculls pairing of lan Corbett and Peter Janen has drawn to face West Germany, Japan and East Germany with the first three boats to qualify for the semi-final. Corbett and Jansen can confidently be expected to beat the Japanese pair and go straight into the semifinal. The leading contenders for the gold medal, Finland’s Karpinnen brothers, nave drawn to race in the first of the three heats.

The single sculler, John Alexander, has drawn to face East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan and Switzerland in his heat. The 16-nation entry in the single sculls means that the winning boat in each of the three heats will qualify for the final. Three repechages will be held on Thursday with the three leading scullers from each repechage making the semi-final. The favourite for the event is West Germany’s Peter Michael Kolbe, who won the title in 1973 and 1975.