Lightweight Women's Double Sculls (LW2x) - Final

Two Chinese crews had the fastest qualifying times after they won their respective semifinals yesterday. They took up the two centre lanes of today’s final. In a style similar to their race yesterday, South Africa got away at the start very quickly. Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler of South Africa had the lead at the first 500m marker. China One of Wenyi Huang and Feihong Pan was close behind in second.

McCann and Grobler were the world bronze medallists from last year’s World Rowing Championships and they were the highest ranking crew for this boat class in Varese. The South African duo continued to lead through the middle of the race, but only just over China One. Huang medalled in this boat class at the London Olympics and she is with a new partner this season. Huang and Pan then got into the lead using a smooth, efficient stroke style. Then China Two of Dandan Pan and Miao Wang overtook South Africa and went after their fellow country’s boat. This Chinese tussle must mean a hard decision for Olympic selection later this year. At the line China won the top two spots. South Africa earned bronze.

Results: CHN1, CHN2, RSA, NED, CAN, POL

B-final

Two Italian crews had the middle lanes as they had the closest time to qualifying for the A-final through yesterday’s semifinals. But it was Great Britain that got away the quickest and held the lead through the middle of the race. Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy then did a push and not only caught up with Great Britain but overtook them. The Italian commentator was loving it. But the race was not over and the sprint to the line was intense. Sweden came flying through to overtake the Italians and finish seventh overall at this regatta.

Results: SWE, ITA1, GBR, ITA2, SUI, RUS

Wenyi Huang – CHN – gold
“We are very happy about the medal and very tired now. We are going to Rio and we hope to win gold there too.”

Kirsten Mccann – RSA – bronze
“At the moment we are still training very hard, doing races against our lightweight men to work on our speed. The whole team is pushing each other and going for gold in every race. We still have an exciting next few weeks coming up, because although we qualified our boat, we still have internal selections coming up.”