Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Final

Multiple World Champion and Rio Olympic bronze medallist, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic was the most experienced of these scullers. But he was up against World medallist and Olympic finalist Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba, Olympic silver medallist, Damir Martin of Croatia and World Best Time holder Robbie Manson of New Zealand. Then there was also under-23 champion Tim Ole Naske of Germany and Great Britain’s Thomas Barras who had been recording first place results through this regatta and comes from racing at the under 23 level in 2016.

As has been his nature Naske had a very fast start with Synek hold the German’s pace. First to the 500m mark was Synek who doesn’t always go out hard as he’s stated he likes to mix up his race plan to keep his opposition on their toes. Fournier, Cuba’s most successful rower ever, had slotted into second. But there was nothing in it with just over a second separating the entire field. Synek continued to hold the fastest pace. Then Fournier and did a push to take the lead with Synek and Barras in hot pursuit. Synek pushed back and not only overtook Synek, but also got out to nearly a boat length lead. Synek was now at 36 with Fournier at 34 then 35. Barras was at 37 and also Martin. Synek had won in a very fast time of 6:40. Fournier had taken silver and Barras was in bronze.

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

Ondrej Synek, Czech Republic, gold
“The race was really tough. I knew I had to be in front from the start. But I knew I was in good shape coming here. My preparation after Lucerne was good.

Angel Fournier Rodriguez, Cuba, silver
“My race went as planned, but this was not the result that I wanted. I was not very happy with the change in lanes. The semis for me was all about making it through but in this final I just had to go for the line. The opponents were very strong today, I have a lot of respect for the other athletes, so I have to be happy with this result.”

Thomas Barras, Great Britain, bronze
“This feels incredible. Having such a strong GB team I get a lot of my confidence from the other boats. Today I just had to stick to my race plan and execute that.”

B-final

Poland’s Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (7^th at the Rio Olympics) has had a great week and only just missed out on making the A-final. Today the Pole started off rather conservatively with World Cup winner Nico Stahlberg of Switzerland taking off in the lead. Then Wegrzycki-Szymczyk pushed into the lead as the full field went through the middle of the race with just two seconds separating the entire field. Then Serbia’s Marko Marjanovic got his nose out in front. In a full on sprint to the line Wegrzycki-Szymczyk and Marjanovic went to a 40 stroke rate. Poland won by just 0.06 of a second.

Results: POL, SRB, SUI, RUS, NED, DEN