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Rowers win gold and bronze at World Uni Champs
Monday, August 14th, 2006
Otago Uni student Nathan Cohen has won gold in the single sculls at World Uni Champs.
Nathan Cohen has become the first New Zealander to win a gold medal in a World University Championship (there are 28 world university championship sports including rowing).
The single sculler made history in the final at the beautiful Trakai course in Lithuania on Sunday 13 August easing to a 8 second win over Romania’s Daniel-Vladimir Frateanu. Cohen was the fastest qualifier for the final after Saturday’s semi-finals. The gold medal comes only a week after Cohen won the Commonwealth Regatta title in Scotland.
Cohen’s stunning success came less than an hour after the New Zealand men’s lightweight coxless four won bronze in their final, finishing less than 2 seconds behind winners the Netherlands and less than a half a second behind silver medallists Great Britain. The four comprised University of Canterbury students Henry Smith and Mark Patterson along with Auckland University’s Richard Beaumont and Lincoln University’s Alexander Mowat.
The other New Zealand crew at the Championships - the men’s coxless four comprising an all Waikato University crew of Mark Troup-Paul, Scott Lissington, Liam O’Halloran and Daniel Murtagh - finished 8th overall having come second in the B final.
The gold and bronze medals are New Zealand’s first medals of the 2006 World University Championships with University Sport New Zealand sending NZ teams to the Championships in Beach Volleyball, Canoe Wild Water Golf, Karate and Rowing. New Zealand won 2 medals during the 2004 round of championships, a silver and bronze won by University of Lousiana water skier Megan Ross. For further information click on World University Championships 2006
Full results can be downloaded from the FISU website or the Organising Committee website
All 5 medallists competed earlier this year at the University Games Rowing Regatta in Wanganui - Cohen won the NZ Universities single sculls title at the event.
