New Zealand rowing star Emma Twigg has taken another major step towards competing at a fourth Olympic Games after securing victory at the New Zealand Beach Sprint Championships in Orewa.
According to a report by Stuff, the 39-year-old world champion claimed the Women’s Open Single title on Monday, strengthening her ambitions of qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where beach sprint rowing will make its Olympic debut.
Twigg, who previously won Olympic gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris in flat-water rowing, defeated longtime teammate and friend Erin James in the final held under calm beach conditions. James, also 39, recently returned to competitive rowing after a 17-year break and had previously raced alongside Twigg at the 2003 Junior World Rowing Championships, as reported by Stuff.
Speaking after her victory, Twigg said her Olympic aspirations remain strong as long as her passion for the sport continues.
"We've got qualification next year, there'll be a continental qualifier and then world champs will be a qualifier as well," Twigg said. "Then we start looking at what's going to happen in terms of prioritising boats for selection as we head into an LA format … It's going to get spicy," Stuff has quoted.
Twigg credited regular physiotherapy and strong competition from James for helping her stay physically and mentally sharp. She also praised James for making “massive gains” through training in Tauranga and on the local rowing course.
In the Men’s Open Single category, Cambridge rower Matt Dunham defeated Waikato’s Seb Fulton in a closely contested final. Dunham, who is also aiming for qualification at the Los Angeles Games, described the event as a “toe-to-toe” contest and noted the growing strength of beach sprint rowing in New Zealand.
The championships also featured an exciting Mixed Open Double final, where Twigg teamed up with Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Michael Brake. The duo narrowly edged past Dunham and James by just 0.42 seconds in a dramatic finish.
Brake said the competitive environment was helping elevate the overall standard of the team.
"I love that I can just push as hard as I bloody can and give Matt and Erin a challenge…as long as I can hold my own and Twigg does her thing like the legend she is, that raises the standard for our whole team," Brake said, as quoted by Stuff.
Dunham and James had previously represented New Zealand together in the Mixed Doubles at last year’s World Beach Sprint Championships in Turkiye, where they finished among the top 16 teams. Twigg also enjoyed success at the global event, winning the Solo Women’s title, Stuff has reported.