SA pair take silver at rowing champs

South Africa's rowing pair of Don Cech and Ramon di Clemente claimed their fifth world championship medal in as many years on Saturday.

But the duo, who bagged the silver behind New Zealand, couldn't hide their disappointment that it had not been gold hanging around their necks on the podium in Gifu, Japan.

Cech and Di Clemente now have a collection of three bronze and two silver medals from the global competition but have not given up on taking top spot and the world record - they came so close to in the semi-finals- in the future.

Unlike on Thursday, when a tailwind helped them to a semifinal win in the second fastest time in history over 2000m, Saturday's final saw competitors rowing into a powerful headwind.

"There's been a tailwind all week which gave us the edge. But a pumping head wind at the final changed the dynamic, favouring power over technique and the New Zealand guys are bigger and stronger than we are so it was their day," said Di Clemente.

"The final was disappointing really," added Cech. "Conditions did not suit us. Our preparations were no different from usual but during the race we put ourselves under a lot of pressure to stay up with New Zealand and we paid for that at the end."

Cech said the day after the final, the tailwind had returned.

"Unfortunately the wind picked up before our race on Saturday and our boat was rigged too heavy for those conditions.

"The New Zealanders got their rigging right I think and so that saved them a lot of energy rowing into the wind which enabled them to have a stronger finish," added Cech.

The duo finished in a time of 6:55:52 with the New Zealand crew of Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater claiming the gold in 6:52:51. Italy were third in 6:57:29 while Olympic silver medallists Croatia would have been disappointed with their sixth spot in 7:07:53.

"We pushed them (New Zealand) out of the medals into fourth at the Olympics in Athens last year," explained Cech. "But they were unstoppable in that headwind today where their size and strength gave them the edge.

"Second place in the world would only be in 99% of the world's rowers finest dreams. I guess we are content with that, but we are aiming so much higher"

As for the world record, Cech added: "Conditions are so variable. Having the world's best would be an honour but is something that would just happen when the conditions were right.

Cech and Di Clemente return to the country on Thursday and their next focus will be on the local season which begins in January. Then it's off to another world championships in August next year in England where they'll have another shot at gold.