Nathan Cohen wins World University Gold

by Glen Sinclair on 15 Aug 2006 Otago University student 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 an 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 2nd in
the B final.

The gold and bronze medals are New Zealand’s first medals
of the 2006 round of 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 of the World University Rowing Championships in
Lithuania can be downloaded from the FISU website or the
Organising Committee website