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Mahe Drysdale - Source: Photosport -
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New Zealand has picked up an outstanding five gold medals at the World Cup rowing regatta in Germany.
Four New Zealand crews were successful in the final session to complement lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant's victory on Sunday.
Two silvers were also picked up, along with one bronze, giving New Zealand eight medals from 11 crews entered at Munich.
Golds were snared by men's single sculler Mahe Drysdale, the men's pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, the women's pair of Emma-Jane Feathery and Rebecca Scown and the men's lightweight single scull of Storm Uru and Peter Taylor.
It was multiple world champion Drysdale's first appearance at a major regatta since his brave row to bronze at the Olympic Games in Beijing last August.
He trailed Briton Alan Campbell through the first half of the race before powering home to win in seven minutes 00.45 seconds. It was exactly 3.5sec clear of Campbell, with Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway more than 5sec down in third.
It was a successful return to Munich for Murray and Bond, who were part of the world champion men's four crew here two years ago.
They led from the outset in the men's pair final, finishing two lengths clear of British rivals Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge.
Less heralded are the women's pair of Feathery and Scown, who also took control from the outset and held off a strong finish from Li Tong and Li Meng of China to prevail by half a boat length.
Uru and Taylor dominated their final, finishing nearly 3sec clear of the Italian crew.
The men's double scull of Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen nearly picked up a sixth gold for New Zealand but they had to settle for silver after being overpowered in the second half of their final by Germans Stephan Krueger and Eric Knittel.
Likewise, Emma Twigg couldn't match the class of Czech Republic veteran Mirka Knapkova, who won by nearly 10sec.
The bronze went to the New Zealand women's quadruple sculls crew of Genevieve Armstrong, Louise Trappit, Sarah Barnes and Harriet Austin.
The New Zealand crews are all scheduled to compete at the third and final World Cup event in Lucern in three weeks, followed by the world championships in Poznan, Poland from August 23-30.
