Women's Pair (W2-) - Final

The South African crew of Kate Christowitz and Lee-Ann Persse had proved to be the fastest crew so far in this regatta, but the final often sees surprise results as the crews show how three days of racing affects them. Today was a surprise. At the start it was Italy’s Allesandra Patelli and Sara Bertolasi who had a slight lead. Persse and Christowitz then pressed into the lead with Patelli and Bertolasi chasing hard. For South Africa this boat has already qualified for the Rio Olympics, but they did it last year with a different combination. Persse was in the boat, but Christowitz is new.

Coming through to the end of the race Patelli and Bertolasi continued to challenge the South Africans. They could not, however, catch them. South Africa crossed the line first with an elated Patelli and Bertolasi earning a very rewarding silver. Spain’s Aina Cidi and Anna Boada Peiro came through to win the bronze. There were three very happy crews on the medals podium.

Results: RSA, ITA1, ESP, GER, RUS, ITA2

B-final

Poland’s Anna and Maria Wierzbowska only just missed out on the A-final after yesterday’s semifinals and they made the best of today’s race by taking a flyer of a start to get to nearly a boat length lead with just 500m rowed. Poland continued in the lead with Canada chasing hard. In a huge push to the line by Canada it was impossible to see who had crossed the line first. Canada did it by just 0.19 of a second.

Results: CAN, POL, SRB2, SRB1, NED, ARG

Kate Christowitz – RSA – gold
“So far, so good for our season. But we still have a long way to go if we stay in the same combination. From now on we take every day as it comes. The London Olympics really helped put rowing on the map in South Africa.”

Sara Bertolasi – ITA – silver
“Since I am from Varese, it is really amazing to get a medal here on my home lake. We will now train really hard for the qualification regatta in Lucerne.”

Anna Boada Peiro – ESP – bronze
“It’s amazing, we weren’t even thinking of getting to the A-final. Since we have  been put together as a crew, we haven’t had the chance to qualify for Rio. So now we will train really hard for the Final Olympic Qualification.”