Men's Single Sculls (M1x) - Final

Damir Martin of Croatia earned the fastest qualifying time when he raced in yesterday’s semifinals. This time was also earned by beating the Olympic Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. At the start it was Thibaut Verhoeven of France who took an early lead with Martin and Drysdale right on his pace. Then Martin got a slight leading edge. But it was very slight and it’s likely Drysdale did not want a repeat of the semifinals. Drysdale kept his stroke rate abnormally high to stay up with Martin and these two boats when head-to-head through the third 500m.

The duel between Drysdale and Martin meant that they moved clean away from the rest of the field. They matched each other’s stroke rate through into the finish and Drysdale then did a massive push to cross the line first. Drysdale’s finishing time was 6:37.

Results: NZL1, CRO, GBR, CZE, NZL2, FRA

Mahe Drysdale, New Zealand, gold
“Every race is also a training session because you can try different tactics every time. For me it was the last opportunity for me to race before the Olympics so it was good to get some competition with Damir. Of course it was pleasing beating him in the final. I love racing races like today because the result wasn’t clear until that last 50 metres.”

Damir Martin, Croatia, silver
“My first ever victory over Mahe yesterday really motivated me for today. I really enjoyed every single stroke until the last 10. After that, I don’t remember anything.”

Alan Campbell, Great Britain, bronze
“They need to slow down! There are a lot of guys who aren’t here today, but I’m very happy to be so close to Mahe again.”

B-final

Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen was the fastest starter with Switzerland’s ‘super spare’ Markus Kessler in second. Kessler is racing in his sixth race of this regatta after having to help out in his country’s men’s quadruple sculls for a sick athlete. in the second half of the race Jack Beaumont of Great Britain did a push, got into second and closed on Nielsen. Beaumont went to a 37 stroke rate pace, then 40, in the final sprint. Beaumont had beaten Nielsen on the very last stroke.

Results: GBR2, DEN, SUI, DEN, NOR