Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Final

Right from the first stroke Valent and Martin Sinkovic had the lead. The duo said that they love to lead from start to finish and they were doing just this today. Germany’s Hans Gruhne and Stephan Krueger followed in second before last year’s bronze medallists, Romano Battisti and Francesco Fossi got ahead.

But what a show of dominance. At the head of the field Croatia had strided away to a two boat-length lead. Battisti and Fossi now slotted into second with a virtual line for the bronze medal between Australia, Lithuania and Germany. The crowd was on their feet. The gold medal was clear. The times showed just half a second separating four crews. Italy had taken silver and Australia’s James McRae and Alexander Belonogoff the bronze.

Results: CRO, ITA, AUS, LTU, GER, BUL

Gold – SINKOVIC, Valent (CRO)
I enjoyed the race, the others were in a line and we were watching them. It’s a great way to watch the world championships.

Silver – FOSSI, Francesco (ITA)
We pushed hard and it was the best we could have achieved today, we did everything we could, we are happy.

Bronze – BELONOGOFF, Alexander (AUS)
That was pretty good, unfortunately we didn’t get enough in the last 250m to get over the Italians.

B-final

A stunning B-final line up indicated how competitive this men’s double has been this year. The World Champions, Norway were here as were the winners of the first World Rowing Cup, New Zealand and the talented young British crew who finished fourth at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne.  Norway had a great start but then couldn’t maintain it with John Collins and Jonathan Walton taking the lead. Once out in front Great Britain held off New Zealand through to the line.

Results: GBR, NZL, SRB, NOR, CHN, DEN