Women's Quadruple Sculls (W4x) - Final

This boat class had attracted four entries which included the 2015 bronze medallists, the Netherlands and the fourth-place finishers, Poland. It also included the 2012 Olympic Champions, albeit with a new line-up, Ukraine. At the beginning of this final Ukraine, featuring World Record holder on the indoor rowing machine, Olena Buryak, had the lead. They used a high stroke rate to stay in front and it was working. Meanwhile the Netherlands had a much lower, but perhaps more efficient, stroke rate. So far it was not serving them well as they sat in last.

Poland then tried to move on Ukraine and these two crews went through the middle of the race neck-and-neck.  Poland got the better of this battle with the Netherlands now moving up on the leading crews. The fight for the line was now between Poland and the Netherlands. They crossed the  line in a very tight finish. Just 0.13 of a second separated them. Poland won.

Results: POL, NED, UKR, GBR

Joanna Leszczynska – POL- gold
“This is our first yellow jersey (World Cup leader). It was a really tough race, but we had a nice relaxed start and we focused on our final sprint. We think it is a good indicator for the rest of the season.”

Inge Janssen – NED – silver
“Our goal for the season is to win a medal at the Olympics. In our preparation for that we will race every World Rowing event and the European Championships. The change from last year is that we want to be faster at the start and middle part of the race and not let it be decided only in the sprint.”

Olena Buryak – UKR – bronze
“We wanted to win to show to the world that Ukraine has woken up again after the pause (since the London 2012 gold medal). But we are a new team and we still haven’t figured out how to work as one. We still have to go to the final qualification regatta and then at the Olympics we are aiming for gold, just as everyone else.”