Twigg carries NZ flag at the rowing

Single sculler Emma Twigg headlined a day of mixed results for New Zealand on the Olympic rowing course.

Twigg continued her strong showing in Tokyo with a decisive quarter-final performance. The 34-year-old, at her fourth Olympics, led her race all the way and finished in 7min 54.96, with a yawning gap back to second-placed Swiss Jeannine Gmelin, who was more than seven seconds behind.

She now moves confidently into Tuesday’s semi-finals.

The other good news story of the day for the New Zealand rowing squad was in the women’s double sculls, where Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne qualified comfortably for the final by finishing second to Romania in their semi-final.

The Romanians looked mighty impressive in winning in 7min 04.31s, which was 4.74s ahead of the New Zealanders. With three to advance, there was never any doubt of New Zealand’s place in the final, but it will take a top-class performance for them to topple the Romanians in the final.

In the women’s quad sculls repechage, New Zealand were edged out of a place in the final, finishing third when only the top two advanced.

The New Zealanders – Georgia Nugent-O’Leary, Ruby Tew, Eve Macfarlane and Olivia Loe – were fourth for much of the journey and improved to third over the final 500 metres. They recorded 6min 39.91s, behind winners Australia, 6min 36.67s, and Italy, 6min 37.44s, but well ahead of Great Britain, France and the United States.

New Zealand’s men’s single sculler Jordan Parry, who needed to finish in the top three of his race to advance to the semi-finals, could manage just fourth. Parry’s race was won by Oliver Zeidler of Germany in 7min 12.75s. The New Zealander’s time of 7min 18.48s left him nearly two seconds behind third-placed Lithuanian Mindaugas Griskonis.

In the final event of the day to involve New Zealand, men’s double scullers Jack Lopas and Chris Harris missed out in a place in the final. Needing a top three finish, the New Zealanders could only manage fourth. They recorded 6min 26.08s, well behind winners France, 6min 20.45s, and 1½ seconds behind third-placed Poland.