Men's Four (M4-) - Final

Two days ago in the heats Italy 1 recorded the fastest qualifying time to give them a day off and earn them a spot in the centre lane of today’s final. The crowd was ready to see what Di Costanzo, Castaldo, Lodo and Vicino of Italy could do today.  The Italians took off at a blistering start and at 200m in the crew had a canvas lead. The United States also had a day off after winning their heat two days ago and with a quarter of the race rowed the United States had the lead. It was barely a bow ball though as Italy and the United States moved together towards the half way point.

Despite the fierce battle going on for the lead the rest of the field was sticking to the pace and all six crews went through the middle of the race with just two seconds separating the entire fleet. This was looking like a full 2000m sprint for these 24 athletes. As the finish line came into view the line of crews remained. This is when Canada showed what they were made of and moved up to challenge the two leaders.

At the line Ochal, Cole, Rummel and Weil of the United States had won the gold medal. Italy, in a photo finish, took silver and the Canadians must feel good about their bronze medal which was just 0.04 of a seconds behind Italy.

Glenn Ochal (bow) – USA – gold

“We did exactly what we wanted to do. It was good to be in between Italy and Canada because we knew they were fast. It’s our last international competition before the world champs. I think there is more speed to gain, we are going to train a lot when we get back home.”

Matteo Castaldo (2) – ITA1 – silver

 “It was a good race, but not as good as Friday. We got the 1000m behind Canada but managed to pass them in the second half of the race. Canada also had a good race so we are happy to beat them.”

Conlin McCabe (stroke) – CAN – bronze

“Italy snipped us at the end and they were in front of their home crowd, which is why I think. Its relatively early in the season so we will analyse our splits, thanks to the good flat conditions here and we’ll see what we can work on.” 

B-final

What a finish! With 500m left to row the field was rather spread. Argentina had the lead, New Zealand sat in second and then there was Italy 2. But the field closed up as boats went into sprint mode. New Zealand rated 42, Italy 2 was at 45 and Argentina went from 40 to 42. It was a photo finish result with a very, very happy Argentina taking first. Italy 2 was just 0.20 of a second back with a big sprint by Cuba earning them third.