Women’s Eight (W8+) – Finals

A–Final

The United States had a ten-year winning streak that ended last year and since being out of the medals at the 2017 World Champions, they have been in doubt for these World Championships. But in the heats the US won and they had the favoured lane today. Next to them were the winners of the other heat, Australia. The Australians medalled at World Rowing Cup II but then slipped to fifth at World Rowing Cup III. They took of the quickest at the start and got to the first 500m mark in the lead. But less than a second separated the top five boats. What would happen in the second 500?

The United States did a big piece and got a very small lead over Australia with the Netherlands now moving. Meanwhile the reigning World Champions, Romania was off the pace and back with Great Britain and potentially out of contention. But there was 1000m left to row. The United States moved again. Australia went with them as Canada started to come. Overtaking the Dutch, Canada was charging. The Canadians went to 42 and closed on Australia. The Australians were at 40. But it was the United States still in the lead at 38. The US had regained the World Championship title that they had held from 2006 until 2016.

Results: USA, CAN, AUS, NED, ROU, GBR

Tracy Eisser, United States of America, gold
“We knew it would be a very fast race and that the conditions would be rough. Our plan was to stay together and support the girl in front of us. When the first time we started to move, I realised we could control.”

Sydney Payne, Canada, silver
“Unbelievable race! It went by so fast! We had a plan today and we stuck to it. It’s really inspiring seeing all the racing this week.”

Georgina Gotch, Australia, bronze
“We’re very pleased with the result. We executed the race plan well and we just trusted ourselves and the plan. Coming from Australia we don’t have many opportunities to race, only three this year. We’re a very young crew with a lot of changes.”

Re-watch the race here

B-final

An incredibly tight repecharge saw winners of World Rowing Cup III, New Zealand relegated to the b-final by just a fraction of a second. Today they raced China for the aim of being seventh in the world. New Zealand took bronze in 2017 at the World Championships and they have returned with four of the 2017 crew including coxswain Sam Bosworth. By the middle of the race New Zealand had an open water lead over China. New Zealand raced themselves and pushed to the end at a 42 stroke rate at a time just seven seconds outside of a World Best Time.

Results: NZL, CHN