Men’s Pair (M2-) – Finals

A-Final

Coming through from the semifinals yesterday New Zealand had the fastest time. Today they were up against Australia. The Australians won at World Rowing Cup II with Alexander Hill in the boat. Hill is racing with Spencer Turrin for this regatta and they had won their semifinal yesterday. Australia took off at 46 with Romania hitting 52. Hill and Turrin got to the 500m mark in the lead setting a cracking pace. By the middle of the race Hill and Turrin had nearly a boat length lead.

Thomas Murray and Michael Brake of New Zealand had a bit of a shaky start with some steering corrections, but they had come back and moved into second, just a fraction ahead of Lukas Helesic and Jakub Podrazil of the Czech Republic. Australia still had a very nice lead as New Zealand managed to push away just a bit from Helesic and Podrazil.

Then the Czechs moved into their sprint and got the edge over New Zealand. They were both now over 40. Australia had won. Podrazil and Helesic got the silver and Brake and Murray held on to the bronze medal.

Results: AUS1, CZE, NZL1, GBR1, ROU, GBR2

Spencer Turrin (b), Australia, Gold
“It was a good race today, we stepped it up well throughout the regatta. We look forward to stepping it up to the World Rowing Championships.”

Lukas Helesic (b), Czech Republic, Silver
“It was pretty hard out there for the wind. Australia was in the lead the whole time but we wanted to engage with New Zealand and Great Britain so at 1000 meters we pushed. We’re very pleased with the position, especially after our result at the European Rowing Championships.”

Michael Brake (s), New Zealand, Bronze
“It was a tough race out there! The conditions are pretty difficult. We’ll go back to our training base and solidify our strength and work on our weaknesses.” 

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

Australia against France was how the final sprint played out. France went to 43 and Australia was at 41. Who would get there first? Australia had done it by 0.33 of a second. This is Australia 2 crew of Sam Hardy and Joshua Hicks.

Results: AUS2, FRA, ARG2, NZL2, DEN