Bulgaria’s absence of top-tier competition has handed New Zealand’s rowing crews something rare at World Cup level: the chance to experiment without the pressure of elite rivals watching their every stroke.
The opening day of World Cup Plovdiv revealed a regatta hollowed out by training camps and schedule clashes. Many leading nations that competed in Seville two weeks earlier stayed away, and those who returned brought largely untested combinations. For the Kiwis, that meant a day to test new approaches and sharpen internal standards rather than constantly looking over their shoulders.
Ben Taylor and Oli Welch, world champions in the men’s pair, hardly need external benchmarks. Their heat win in 6:19.01 kept them locked in their familiar routine: ignore the opposition, chase the clock. They finished less than three seconds off their personal best from last year’s World Championships heats, while Serbia managed 6:29.76 and China 6:34.24. Italy’s heat win came in 6:26.07.
Katie Lush and Juliette Lequeux faced a different equation. They’d barely rowed together before leaving for Europe last month, stepping in after Alice Fahey’s injury. Yet they won the B Final in Seville and here drew the Czechian and Chilean pairs that took gold and bronze in Spain. The Abrahams crossed in 7:01.42, Czechia in 7:04.63, and New Zealand in 7:05.62. Lush reckoned they made ground late. “We didn’t realise how close we were to them so it’ll be cool in the final to see if we can give it a crack a bit earlier,” she said. “I think we’ve definitely closed the gap from Seville. Those crews were a bit ahead of us there, so to narrow that margin is a step in the right direction.”
For Lequeux, the real work has been technical. “Especially for me being in bow seat, just figuring out how to follow and lean on Katie a bit more,” she explained. “Our first 500 today just felt a lot more connected to each other.”
Finn Hamill and Ben Mason made a bolder move entirely, swapping Hamill into stroke for this round. Their double sculls heat went away in 6:08.79, nearly eight seconds clear of the Chilean pair Ignacio and Alfredo Abraham. “I think we did what any reasonable crew would do and just completely changed everything coming into here,” Hamill said. Their time sat just 0.18 seconds outside their best-ever performance at this level, set in last year’s World Cup Varese semi-final. “It’s nice to see we’ve still got it,” he added.
Eva Hofmans and Sophie Egnot-Johnson will race their first A Final at this level on Sunday after finishing second in their women’s double sculls heat (6:55.55) to the United States (6:53.74). They face the same Americans again. “To be honest I don’t really like looking into who I’m racing,” Egnot-Johnson said. “I don’t want to scare myself.”
The women’s four returned to a vastly thinner field. Eight boats raced in Seville; in Plovdiv, Alana Sherman, Isla Blake, Kate Haines and Ella Cossill were the only returnees. Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia and Poland stayed home. New Zealand finished second in their preliminary (6:26.71) to the United States (6:19.80). “Clearly they’re a top-tier crew and are putting some good speed out there,” Blake said. “It’s great to be putting ourselves up against a quick crew like that, we can only learn.”
Fred Vavasour, Campbell Crouch, Harry Fitzpatrick and Josh Vodanovich faced a similar void in the men’s four. They finished third in their heat (5:51.22), behind China (5:48.41) and Ukraine (5:51.09), but made Sunday’s A Final. Thin fields on day one. Proper racing to come.
