Taipei miss fourth by the width of a prawn cracker

According to their student rep, the Croatian men’s eight have been in the pub each night this week, but you wouldn’t have known it the way they went rollicking off the start of their B-final. In a steady cross-head wind, they had no trouble seeing off first Australia and then France, winning the petite finale with great delight and then singing their way down the course as they went for a wind-down paddle. Behind them the race of the morning was Chinese Taipei’s attempt to avoid coming last. The island race and relatives China are a friendly bunch. They have been introducing each other “this is my friend from the mainland” around the campus all week, and enjoy a close competitive rivalry which the Chinese claim they have always won. At halfway Taipei were nearly two lengths down, but they came storming back, encouraged by some hearty Chinese drums and cymbals at the 100-to-go mark. They nearly did it: the eventual margin for 4th/5th place being 0.25 seconds.

Hungary had a good morning, winning two B-finals, and New Zealand had a battle royal with the Netherlands in the women’s coxless fours, losing out when the Dutch crew managed to correct a persistent steering problem and go straight down the last 600 metres. Now the last crews are paddling in the lunch break, before gearing themselves up for the final assault on the A-final medals this afternoon.

Report contributed by and copyright to the Rowing Service.