AFTER three months of intense preparation, the Zimbabwe junior rowing team is ready to compete for medals when the World Championships take off at Galve Lake in Trakai, just outside Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius on Wednesday.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
The four-member team, comprising single sculls rowers Ciara Soper and Stuart Duncan as well as the double scull pair of Kenneth Raynor and Keegan Smith, arrived in Vilnius four days ago.
Coach Kristine Johnson believes the team has worked hard in the past couple of months and is now ready for competition, which runs until Saturday.
“I believe our athletes are prepared to race. They have trained and worked very hard over the last few months. They are looking forward to racing and are very excited about it,” Johnson told Standardsport from Lithuania
“The team has settled in very well here, the moral is high and they are very confident and looking to perform to their best. They will be racing under a lot more pressure and against people who are equally as fast, if not faster, so it’s not going to be easy.”
Soper, the only girl in the team, will be expected to vastly improve on her 15th place finish at the same event last year and compete for a medal this time around.
The Chisipite Senior School student has had a great year so far, the highlight being a gold medal performance at the South African Schools championships.
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Another singles sculls rower Duncan will also be expected to replicate the dominant showing that saw him clinch bronze at the Italian Memorial Paolo D’aloja International Regatta April as well as silverware at the South Africa Schools Championships.
The double sculls team of Raynor and Smith are also genuine medal contenders as they also have a continental medal to their credit.
