Men's Four (M4-) - Final

The new-look British four caused a stir when they easily won their heat two days ago. The four includes London Olympic Champion Alex Gregory. Joining Gregory is Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis as the top four sweep rowers in the British squad. The first few strokes weren’t the best for the British, but they soon left that behind and Great Britain had the lead with 500m rowed. The British, however, were being challenged with every stroke by Russia with Belarus also giving it a good shot to keep up with the leaders.

As the final 500m came into view it was relatively level between four crews. France had joined in the leading chase formed by Great Britain, Belarus and Russia. In a flurry to the finish, Great Britain remained clean and in the lead at a 38 stroke rate. Belarus hit 47 to hold off France who were on 44. What a finish. All three medalling crews looked incredibly pleased with their positions.

Results: GBR, BLR, FRA, RUS, GRE, DEN

B-final

Romania has not had much of a showing through this regatta but today they made the best of this B-final. The Romanian’s led at the half way point but, despite their 38 stroke rate, Romania was overtaken by Germany. The Germans tried to break free and in the final sprint they managed to drop Romania and stay ahead of a flying Spanish crew. Spain is yet to qualify for the Rio Olympics and we are likely to see them racing again later this month at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta.

Results: GER, ESP, ROU, CZE

George Nash – Great Britain – gold
“The beginning of the season is always a bit stressful. It is good to get the first race out of the way and to win is really great. We have a lot of stuff to improve on.”

Dzianis Mihal (2) – Belarus – silver
“It was a very good race, but bad water. The boat moved a lot. We are very happy about the result.”

Valentin Onfroy (b) – France – bronze
“It feels really good to win a medal. It’s great to see that we can race side-by-side with these other great crews. We will go to Lucerne next week already to prepare for the Olympic Qualification.”