Men's Single Sculls (M1x) - Final

These six scullers had gone through heats, quarterfinals and semifinals already over the last two days to earn a spot in today’s final and World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic came through with the fastest time. But only just. Today Synek would meet for the first time this season, Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand who was just 0.20 of a second slower than Synek’s time. But also in the mix was World Cup leader, Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba and European  Champion Damir Martin of Croatia.

Shooting off at an incredible 63 stroke rate pace was Martin. This was going to be one fast race. But it was Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus. Shcharbachenia is into his second decade of international rowing, done in a variety of boats.  Coming into the final sprint Shcharbachenia still had the lead but Drysdale was looking very good and very comfortable and moving on Belarus with every stroke.

The sprint was on for the finish and Drysdale along with Fournier was flying. When Fournier puts the power on he is impressive and the tall Cuban had left it until the final sprint. As Drysdale grabbed the lead, Fournier powered into second and with about 15 strokes to go Synek took the power off to give Shcharbachenia the bronze medal.

Results: NZL, CUB, BLR, CZE, GBR, CRO

Mahe Drysdale – NZL – gold

“It was a very tough race. This year the single field is really tight, so I am very happy to have won the race.”

Angel Fournier Rodriguez – CUB – silver

“The competition was a success the results as planned. Training has been really good thanks to the coaches and the training camp in Como, Italy.The first objective is to qualify for Rio and then I want to be in the top 3. Brazil is a brother nation and in 2007 I was PanAmerican Champion in quad in Rio, so  I would be happy to participate there again. Thanks to FISA and the OC in Varese because it was one of the best events I’ve ever seen. The course is one of the best I’ve raced on. Especially today, I have to thank all fathers because it is father’s day.”

Stanislau Shcharbachenia – BLR – bronze

“I am happy because I tried a new strategy. I am going to train alone until Lucerne and the World Championships.”

B-final

Hannes Obreno of Belgium is having a good season. He finished fifth in the European Championships last month and today he headed the B-final against some strong opposition. Former lightweight Lars Hartig of Germany 1 had a good start, but then Obreno was able to take the lead and remain there until the end.

Results: BEL, GER2, GER1, ITA1, USA1, FIN