Women’s Four (W4-) – Final

A-Final

Re-watch the live footage here

Russia recorded the fastest time in the heats two days ago and got to miss the repechage and go directly to the final today. At the start it was the Netherlands Two that led the field. This crew is also racing in the eight later today and stroked by Monica Lanz the crew held a great rhythm. Russia followed in second with Netherlands One making a very close third.

Netherlands Two then got a half boat length lead with Russia and Netherlands One neck-and-neck with Great Britain Two not far away. Coming through to the final 500m Netherlands One began to sprint and they moved away from Russia and close on Netherlands Two. This must be Dutch seat racing at its best. The Netherlands Two reacted to the sprint of their compatriots as both boats went above 40 strokes per minute. Netherlands Two had taken gold with Netherlands One in second and Russia just holding off a flying Great Britain Two to take the bronze.

Results: NED2, NED1, RUS, GBR2, DEN, POL

Monica Lanz (s), Netherlands, Gold,

“It was a great race, it was fantastic to come in first and second for Netherlands crew. We’re all going to get good experience. We are all racing in the eight in a few moments and we’re looking forward to that.”

Elisabeth Hogerwerf (b), Netherlands Silver,

“It was a good race, we felt we were quite fast. Today is a really busy day racing the eight very soon.”

Ekaterina Potapova (b), Russia, Bronze,

“It is our first race of the season and you never know how you are going to compare to the other countries. It is a good start.”

B-Final

Three boats lined up with the Netherlands Three leading the way. The top two Dutch crews took gold and silver in the A-final and then they teamed up to take gold in the women’s eight. This number three crew had got half a boat length lead ahead of Great Britain One with France not far back and still on the pace. The higher rating Dutch remained ahead of Great Britain. But the British reacted in the last 200m and got overlap with the Dutch.

Results: NED3, GBR1, FRA