Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) - Final

Last month Damir Martin of Croatia won at World Rowing Cup I and he comes to this final having won his semifinal yesterday. But Lithuania’s MIndaugas Griskonis had recorded the fastest qualifying time overall and he sat in the lane next to Croatia. At the start, Martin jumped out the quickest with the World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic doing his best to stick with him. Then coming into the half way point Griskonis did a piece that moved him ahead of Synek.

These three scullers had now moved away from the rest of the field with Martin getting into a dominating positions. This race would be won by the rower that could handle the conditions the best. Synek was having the hardest time out in lane six and had to use his full concentration not to catch a crab. Griskonis – the bronze medallist from the 2015 World Rowing Championships – was now the only one that could get close to Martin and he gave it his best shot.  Martin kept his strokes long and strong keeping a stroke rate of 29. He crossed the line in first successfully defending his European Champion title.

Results: CRO, LTU, CZE, BEL, BLR, DEN

B-final

Germany’s Philipp Syring recently won the German singles trials and he will be trying to qualify for the Rio Olympics later this month. Today he had the quickest start but ended being gobbled up by Cederic Berrest of France.

Results: FRA, FIN, GBR, BUL, SUI, GER

Damir Martin – Croatia – gold 
“It was very windy I think 😉 It was not hard physically, it was more like weight lifting than rowing.”

Mindaugas Griskonis – Lithuania – silver
“It was a quick start, so they only say attention go. I didn’t understand, so I started later. Today was not rowing, it was sailing. I wanted to win.”

Ondrej Synek – Czech Republic – bronze
“This kind of weather is not for me. You can’t really prepare for this. Winter training was good and it’s my first race since Aiguebelette.”