Source: Radio New Zealand
NZ rower Emma Twigg. PHOTOSPORT
Former Olympic champion Emma Twigg has set herself up for yet another tilt at the games after winning the women’s title at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Turkey.
38-year-old Twigg won gold in the women’s solo event.
She beat defending champion Magdalena Lobnig of Austria to reclaim the title she won at the world championships in Wales in 2022.
Twigg can now set her sights on contesting the LA 2028 games, where coastal rowing will be included for the first time at the Olympics.
”My commitment is that I’m going to keep going if I keep enjoying it and I keep winning,” Twigg said.
“LA seems like a long way away to me, especially at my age, but I’m loving it. I’m loving being part of the team. I’m loving the challenge of something different.”
Twigg has competed at five Olympics in flat water rowing, winning gold in Tokyo in 2021 and silver in Paris in 2024.
The beach sprint format of 500 metres racing, as opposed to the 2000m of flat-water, is part of the appeal.
”We’re just scratching the surface really, because I think physiology is so different. The skills are so different – the way you have to be able to get around buoys and use different forces – it’s all a challenge that I’m enjoying trying to master.
“I’m happy to be at the front of the pack and so long as I’m there and enjoying it, why not give it a nudge?”
Twigg came out on top in a gruelling morning session of sudden death racing, outclassing Lithuania’s Raminta Morkunaite in the quarter-final, then Great Britain’s Laura McKenzie in the semi-final before taking on Lobnig.
Her ability at the turning buoy proved decisive on the final day of the championships.
Meanwhile, Finn Hamill was eliminated in the first round of the men’s solo and Erin James and Matt Dunham were eliminated in the first round of the mixed double sculls.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
