Qualifications

Emma Twigg: The World's Fastest Woman

Words ZOE DE TOLEDO

Photographys GUILLAUME PERRET + MERIJN SOETERS

Emma Twigg – current world champion in the women’s single scull – has a rational and objective claim to be considered the fastest woman in the world. Yet she will not be racing at this year’s World Championships and Olympic Qualification Regatta in Aiguebelette. Not because of injury or illness or poor early season performances, but rather because her national federation, Rowing New Zealand, will not allow her the flexibility to compete whilst she studies for the FIFA Master’s degree in Europe. “Life’s boring if you don’t have challenges and hurdles to overcome,” Twigg says pragmatically. “I’m pretty good at creating them for myself to be fair”.

Twigg’s career in the single scull spans nearly ten years. After two years of racing in the junior women’s eight for New Zealand, Twigg found herself disappointed and frustrated with sixth and ninth place finishes.

When, in 2005, the opportunity presented itself to race the single in her final year on the junior team, she jumped at the chance. “Unbeknownst to me I must have had some confidence at that age”, she muses, as she had already secured a fourth place finish at the U23 World Championships before she raced at the Junior World’s in Brandenburg. Twigg was the talk of the regatta and duly delivered a commanding performance to not only win her first world title, but also to ignite the flame for racing the single scull.

The following year Emma was back in the eight, but this time representing the New Zealand senior team in her first international elite tour. Whilst she enjoyed the camaraderie of a crew boat, Emma was acutely aware of the fact that Beijing was just around the corner. After failing to make the women’s eight A-final at the 2006 World Championships, she once again set her sights on the single. New Zealand hadn’t had a senior single sculler since Sonia Waddell contested the 2004 Athens Olympics, but Twigg knew that she could qualify the boat for the Beijing Games. However, her team management figured differently, wanting her to stay in the 8 for the Munich World Championships and Olympic Qualification Regatta.