Big boats to Germany, small boats to New Zealand

In Banyoles, Great Britain all but dominated. Today the British overall looked tired. Had they come to this regatta with no break in training? The result was a whole new batch of medallists with the biggest showing coming from New Zealand in the smaller boats and Germany in the bigger boats.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Too close for the commentators to call. If this first Final of the day was anything to go by, today’s racing was going to be tight and extremely competitive. At the start, Emma Feathery and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand took the lead. The duo are racing in this event together for the first time internationally and they come out of bow and stroke seat from last year’s eight that failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Chinese sisters Tong and Meng Li followed in second with Great Britain back in third. The Li sisters raced in the stroke pair for China’s eight last year and they also failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Perhaps missing out on the Olympics had done both of these crews a favour. New Zealand and China were so far out in front by the half-way point that it would take a miracle for any other crews, even Germany, to get close to them. Scown and Feathery continued to row aggressively towards the line with Li and Li marking them with each stroke. At the line there was absolutely nothing between them: 9/100th of a second. New Zealand had taken gold. Winner of the first Rowing World Cup, Great Britain, did not seem to have the second half push to get up into the medals.

Results: NZL, CHN1, GER1, GER2, GBR1, GBR2

Emma-Jane Feathery, Rebecca Scown (NZL) – Gold
“We had a very good race. It was a very good opportunity to submit our combination here. As things have been going good at home the challenge was now to appear in an international competition and we are very happy about the result. We are doing Henley and Lucerne on our way to Poznan.” Emma-Jane Feathery

Marlene Sinnig, Kerstin Hartmann (GER1) – Bronze
“Cool. This should be our ticket to the World Champs in the pair! We didn’t really have a race plan and looked over quite a lot, but I think we timed everything in the race quite well. We didn’t really expect to win a medal and are thrilled about the result.” Marlene Sinnig

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Eric Murray and Hamish Bond could be the new names in pairs rowing. The New Zealand pair came together this season after rowing in recent years in the four. They seemed to click almost instantly and rumours came out of their training base that they were recording some remarkable times. Two days ago they raced first Rowing World Cup winners, Great Britain’s Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed and finished first. The secret was out. Would Great Britain be able to come back in today’s Final?

Right from the first 200m of racing Murray and Bond had the lead breaking through to clear water by the half-way point. The Netherlands (Kuiper and Steenman) followed in second with Great Britain back five seconds pacing the Dutch. As the Dutch started to slide off the pace, Great Britain picked it up and tried to close the huge gap that New Zealand had created. Murray and Bond, now rating 37 kept their strokes long as Great Britain shortened up, took their rating up and moved closer. Murray and Bond, however, looked relaxed. They were in the enviable position of being able to watch everything the British were doing. Great Britain went to 40, then 42 and moved up. The finish line had arrived. Murray and Bond won.

Results: NZL, GBR, NED, CZE, HUN, SRB

Eric Murray, Hamish Bond (NZL) – Gold
“We are very, very happy with the race and that we got to win. We trained a lot at home and are happy to beat the British. We had a good start which made the difference.” Hamish Bond

“Munich seems to be a very lucky course for us. We are sticking together, it will be the two of us this season. And we are going to Henley and Lucerne on our way to Poznan.” Eric Murray

Peter Reed, Andrew Triggs Hodge (GBR) – Silver
“We are impressed with New Zealand, but we will continue to work hard.” Andrew Triggs Hodge

“Today we just wanted to hold the New Zealanders on our side, but sport is not a fairytale and it is ruthless and tough. Obviously we are disappointed at the moment, but we will continue working hard.”  Peter Reed

David Kuiper, Mitchel Steenman (NED) – Bronze
“We are very happy about the result and to have gotten the chance to race in the pair. We will be in the pair” Mitchel Steenman

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

At last year’s Olympic Games this event ended in the closest race of all the finals. Three boats crossed the line almost equally. Three of the six athletes involved are in this race: Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth for Germany and Anna Bebington for Great Britain. Bebington has a new partner, Annabel Vernon and together they won the first Rowing World Cup. Today the Germans took off in the lead, their long reaching catch in contrast to the British style. By the half-way point Thiele and Huth had clear water on  Bebington and Vernon who had now been overhauled by Poland.

Poland’s new double line up is formed by taking their top single sculler, Julia Michalska and pairing her up with Magdalena Fularczyk, 22, comes out of doubles racing at the Junior and Under-23 level. The pairing has changed from the two Polish crews that raced at the first Rowing World Cup and this must be the line up that coaches have selected.

Germany continued to lead as Poland worked the hardest to close the gap. Both boats sprinted for the line. Poland sprinted harder. Great Britain tried to finish off the job. Bulgaria came down the outside from down on the field. At the line Poland, rating 39, had just pipped Germany. This combination must now be secure in the coach’s eyes.

Results: POL, GER, GBR, BUL, CHN1, DEN

Magdalena Fularczyk, Julia Michalska (POL)
“It is my first podium in a world cup so I am really happy, the race went really well!”  Magdalena Fularczyk.

"We are very very happy about the result! We did what our coach told us, started fast and I don´t know how but in the first 500m it already felt so good! It is my first podium in Munich in a long time. We don´t know if we go on together in Lucerne, maybe our coach wants to try Magda in the double with the girl who was in the single there and me in the single so we wil see.” Julia Michalska (POL)

Annekatrin Thiele, Christiane Huth (GER) – Silver
“We expected everything to happen in this race. The Polish already showed in the heat how strong they are. Our race started well, but I guess our strength faded a bit towards the end. But for this time of the season it’s okay. There just was not more in it today, but we still got time to work on everything and improve.” Annekatrin Thiele

Annabel Vernon, Anna Bebington (GBR) – Bronze
“As long as we learn from each race this is o.k. We were really pushing, but it didn’t seem to make an impact.” Anna Bebington

“We knew this would be a hard race, but I guess you only get to win one really important race per year.” Annabel Vernon

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

In the starting blocks, ‘shoes’ hold the bow ball in place before the starting hooter goes off. Six doubles sat there. Only one remained the same as last year – Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain were Olympic medallists in 2008 and won the first Rowing World Cup this year. Jumping out at the start was New Zealand’s combination. Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen qualified together in 2007 for the Beijing Olympics, but Trott was later to lose his spot to Rob Waddell. With Waddell out of rowing action, Trott is back in the boat saying that rowing was a better option than working in the mines of Western Australia.

Four other boats moved with the New Zealanders, only Germany2was off the pace. Going through the middle of the race New Zealand was still up at a 37 stroke rate and still leading, albeit only just over Germany One (Stephan Krueger and Eric Knittel) and Estonia. Knittel spent the last year away from rowing recovering from a back operation and says he is very happy to be back rowing.

Krueger and Knittel then pulled out a big push in the third 500m and got their nose ahead of Trott and Cohen. The New Zealanders tried to hold their pace. Meanwhile, Germany’s second boat (Bartels and Rocher) was absolutely storming down the outside. They had a five-second deficit to make up on the leaders and were fast closing. At the line Knittel and Krueger had nosed ahead of New Zealand with Bartels and Rocher snatching third.

Results: GER1, NZL, GER2, GBR, EST1, POL1

Stephan Krueger, Eric Knittel (GER1) – Gold
“It was exhausting, but a lot of fun also. The conditions were great. After not having been able to row last year and having spent almost an entire year with operations and rehabilitation because of my back, this is especially exciting for me to be back in the boat and I really enjoy it!” Eric Knittel.

“With this result it should be clear that we are the double to go to Lucerne, which is great.” Stephan Krueger

Matthew Trott, Nathan Cohen (NZL) – Silver
“It was a very tough race, nothing in it from the beginning so we are happy about the result. We are now moving on to Lucerne and Henley.” Matthew Trott

Tim Bartels, Mathias Rocher (GER2) – Bronze
“All these races here in Munich were our first races together, so we are very happy to have done so well.” Mathias Rocher.

“Our goal was originally to be faster than the other double, but I guess they just are a bit faster.” Tim Bartels

Men’s Four (M4-)

In yesterday’s first semifinal, Germany took first and second place when they raced each other down the course. Today they lined up in lane four and five hoping to do a repeat performance for the medals. Right from the start this looked exactly like what would happen. Germany1took off in the lead and inched away from Germany2in second with Belarus following in third. Surprisingly, at the back of the field was Great Britain – winners of the first Rowing World Cup.

Going through the middle of the race Great Britain had found some form and pushed through to third, but were still behind the two charging German crews. Coming into the final sprint Germany and Germany remained neck-and-neck. It would come down to which four had the best sprint. Germany2, stroked by Philip Adamski, had it. Great Britain, looking a little harrowed, held on to third.

The two leading German crews will now make up the top German eight for the final Rowing World Cup at Lucerne and continue in Germany’s quest to win Olympic gold in the eight.

Results: GER2, GER1, GBR1, SLO, CZE, BLR

Kristof Wilke, Richard Schmidt, Urs Kaeufer, Philip Adamski (GER2) – Gold
“At the first 1000m the other German boat was ahead and we thought ‘Well, probably nobody can get them today’ but then I guess we thought everything is possible and we did our best and in the end we got them! In Lucerne both fours are going together in the eight and we would like to be in the eight for Poznan.” Urs Kaufer

Gregor Hauffe, Florian Mennigen, Toni Seifert, Sebastian Schmidt (GER1) – Silver
“This was a fantastic race and lots of fun! How great to have the two German boats in the front and ahead of the British. It was the “Deutschlandachter” winning, as we will row the eight in Lucerne. We knew the other German boat would be fast at the start, so we tried to stay ahead of them over the first 1000m, rating very high, around 40, but then they unfortunately caught us. But still, as I said it was a great, fun race.” Sebastian Schmidt

Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory, Matthew Langridge (GBR1) – Bronze
“From the heats we knew that we had to expect the Germans to be fast, but we are still disappointed about the result. We will be back again in Lucerne though.”  Matthew Langridge

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

A last-minute withdrawl by World Champion Ekaterina Karsten (BLR), with Olympic Champion, Rumyana Neykova (BUL) racing in the double and Olympic bronze medallist, Michelle Guerette (USA) taking the year off, this race was wide open. New Zealand’s Emma Twigg decided to follow the style of her team mates and jumped out and into the lead at the start. Setting out at a more sedate pace, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic then slowly advanced on Twigg, making up ground with every stroke.

By the half-way point, Knapkova had just got her nose ahead of Twigg as Russia’s very experienced Julia Levina moved through to third. Knapkova then turned the race into a procession. Rating a sedate 29 strokes per minute, Knapkova looked all class. Twigg had no reply. Levina could only hold on to her position.

In the nine years of international racing in the single, Knapkova has collected a whole stash of silver medals. This is the first time Knapkova has won a gold medal at the World Cup.

Results: CZE1, NZL, RUS, GBR, CZE2, POL1

Mirka Knapkova (CZE1) – Gold
“I’m sooo happy. I haven’t done a lot of training yet, as I took the winter season off after the Olympics. That’s why I only focused on the race and not on a win at all. I didn’t expect to actually win. But we will see what happens when Ekatarina is back in the single.”

Emma Twigg (NZL) – Silver
“I seemed to be keeping up with Mirka up to 1000m but then she started moving away from me. I´m still very pleased with the result, however, as it´s hard to get off the plane and compete. NZL is doing well at their first world cup so I´m happy about that. Next, I´m going on to Henley and Lucerne in the single.

Julia Levina (RUS) – Bronze
“I am very happy about the medal.”

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

Want to know what happens when you put the best single scullers into an eight together? After they sort out their different styles, they win. Earlier this year the world’s top scullers came together in an eight for the British Eights Head race. They finished first. Five of those athletes are in today’s Final.

Unlike the women’s single, the men’s single Final looked similar to last year’s Olympic Final. Four of the top six were here, plus two of the B Finalists. The race began with few surprises. Alan Campbell’s (GBR) mighty start took his boat out in front and worked to a clear boat length ahead of Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand while, unsurprisingly, Olaf Tufte (NOR) hung back in the middle of the field.

Campbell still had the edge going through the middle of the race but already looked to be slowing down in relation to the boats around him. This was the moment Drysdale had been waiting for. A push at the 1200m mark moved Drysdale closer to Campbell. Meanwhile, from opposite sides of the course, Tufte and a bearded Ondrej Synek (CZE) were going at the same pace but probably having a lot of difficulty seeing where they were in relation to each other.

In the sprint to the line Drysdale, at 34 strokes per minute, pushed away from Campbell. Campbell had no reply and instead had to keep an eye out for a sprinting Tufte.

Results: NZL, GBR1, NOR1, CZE, SUI, LTU1

Mahe Drysdale (NZL) – Gold
“It went really well and according to plan. I held back on the first 1000m and then did my usual push on the second half. I am feeling really good and feeling very confident to go into the next nine weeks. I’m racing at the Holland Beker next week-end, then Henley, then Lucerne. Thus there is a lot of racing coming up and this was a good way to start. “

Alan Campbell (GBR1) – Silver
“I am very disappointed, but Mahe just had too much on the second half. I’ll get him in Henley, it’s my territory.”

Olaf Tufte (NOR) – Bronze
“The race didn’t go so good. I am now going to Henley and then Lucerne, but before that I better get home and get some sleep.”

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

At the end of this race history would be made. At the start all six crews lined up with a clean slate and a level playing ground. Great Britain’s Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell got the best start followed closely by Germany and Poland. Hosking, 23, has been in and out of the lightweight quad and double in recent years while Goodsell, soon 25, has been more consistently in the double. They missed out on racing together at the first Rowing World Cup due to injury, but through this regatta they have shown solid racing form earning them the centre lane today.

By the half-way point Germany’s Anja Noske and Marie-Louise Draeger had closed the gap on Great Britain with Poland now slipping slightly back. Germany, rating 32, continued to threaten Great Britain, on a 34 stroke rate. All boats sprinted for the line with Belgium and Poland’s second crew now closing on the leaders. Goodsell and Hosking held on.

Crossing the line in first, Goodsell and Hosking had won the first ever World Cup gold medal in this event for Great Britain.

Results: GBR1, GER, POL2, BEL, POL1, GBR2

Hester Goodsell, Sophie Hosking (GBR1) – Gold
“We talked last night about making history and we are excited we did, winning the first world cup medal in this event for Britain. We knew the Germans were strong, but I’ve got a bulldog in the stroke seat and our combination is just great.” Hester Goodsell

Anja Noske, Marie-Lousie Draeger (GER) – Silver
“We knew that this World Cup would be more difficult than the first one because there were stronger crews here. The second place is okay. It was a fun race, sometimes it is especially good when it’s tight. It’s more exciting and more fun too than when you are dominating. We are heading in the right direction, but not everything is going perfect yet so there is still room for improvement.” Marie-Louise Draeger

Magdalena Kemnitz, Agnieszka Renc (POL2) – Bronze
“We are very happy about the result, it was a difficult race but we were not stressed. This result means that we will now be the lightweight double for Poznan at home so that means a lot to us. “
Magdalena Kemnitz

“Banyoles was my first world cup together with Magdalena.” Agnieszka Renc

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

The New Zealand trend of getting out in front early by keeping the stroke rate high and taking a long time to settle, was exactly what Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, New Zealand’s representatives, did in this race. This tactic gave Uru and Taylor a clear water lead by the 700m mark while their rating remained in the high 30s. Uru and Taylor joined together as a crew in 2008 and qualified for the Olympics at the last minute. They had high expectations but ended up racing in the B Final. This year they remain together with continued high expectations.

By the half-way point it looked like this race would be a race for second. Italy’s Marcello Miani and Elia Luini held this second spot and worked at cementing it. Meanwhile a real battle was going on between Great Britain and Denmark’s Henrik Stephansen and Steffen Jensen.

As New Zealand continued to hold on to a sizeable lead, Denmark came storming through, overtaking Great Britain and closing on Italy. At the line Denmark had medalled. New Zealand took gold and Luini and Miani – the only Italian crew at this regatta – took silver and retained the yellow leaders jersey.

Results: NZL, ITA, DEN1, GBR1, GER1, POL1

Storm Uru, Peter Taylor (NZL) – Gold
“It was a fantastic race. Really happy to win this. It was a very hard race, but we only got here seven days ago and it has been a bit difficult with jet-lag and hard racing, etc. We will go to Henley to have a bit of fun racing the heavy weights and then we will be in Lucerne.” Storm Uru

Elia Luini, Marcello Miani (ITA) – Silver
“We are happy to have defended the yellow jersey. This was our main aim to come here: to win the necessary to win the World Cup series. That’s why we are also the only Italian boat here. And coming here was only possible thanks to the great support of our clubs. Everybody else stayed at home to prepare for the Mediterranean Games. We will go there too so we didn’t really prepare this regatta properly and only met up on Wednesday to come here and compete.” Elia Luini

Henrik Stephansen, Steffen Jensen (DEN1) – Bronze
“We usually are slow in the beginning but we started pretty fast and we think that´s what made the result. We are going into a quad for Lucerne and we think we are staying in a quad for Poznan but you never know.” Steffen Jensen
Note: Henrik Stephansen is the lightweight indoor world record holder over 2,000m for the 19-29 age group, with a time of 5:58.5

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Germany dominated this event for years but they have not seen a World Championship title since 2002 and at the Beijing Olympics they got bronze. Today, however, they looked to be back on their game with an absolutely dominating display done with textbook rowing precision. Stephanie Schiller, Tina Manker, Julia Lepke and Peggy Waleska of Germany will surely be the crew that we see racing at this year’s World Rowing Championships.

Behind Germany, Great Britain slotted into second while China2 tussled with New Zealand. China has three crews in this Final all made up of provincial athletes as they prepare for the Chinese National Games later this year. Coming into the final sprint none of the Chinese could hold the pace. Germany, Great Britain and New Zealand are the medallists.

Results: GER, GBR, NZL, CHN2, CHN3, CHN1

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

What about the Croatians? An email to the World Rowing team asked the question after reading the website’s Who to Watch. Croatia knew they had something special happening in their quad. Did the Poles know?

During the heats two days ago Croatia let it slip that they were moving fast. They beat the Polish World and Olympic Champions giving them a direct path to the Finals. Today, in the Final Poland got a small lead, but there was nothing in it between the entire field. By the half-way point Poland had half a boat length lead over Slovenia with the remaining four boats going neck-and-neck.

Poland then began to stretch out and shake the rest of the field with just Croatia now able to stay with them. Coming into the final sprint Poland realised that Croatia was not giving up and took their rating to 36. It was not enough. Croatia had changed gears to a 39 stroke rate. Then 40. Then 43. Poland was getting swallowed up.

At the line Croatia (David Sain, Martin Sinkovic, Damir Martin, Valent Sinkovic) had proven that they are a force to be reckoned with. They took gold.

Results: CRO, POL, SLO1, GBR, GER, RUS

David Sain, Martin Sinkovic, Damir Martin, Valent Sinkovic (CRO) – Gold
“We lost a bit at the start and got behind, but we had a good middle and great finish. We are very young and we beat the Olympic Champions – that’s fantastic.” Martin Sinkovic

Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz, Michal Jelinski, Adam Korol (POL) – Silver
“It was a nice race. We will be in Henley, but won’t be going to Lucerne. We’ll prepare for Poznan then.” Marek Kolbowicz

Janez Zupanc, Gasper Fistravec, Janez Jurse, Iztok Cop (SLO) – Bronze
“It was quite a good race. We didn’t have anything to loose before or during the race. I’m a bit surprised myself by the result and quite happy. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we showed our potential today, so I hope we will get to stay together.” Iztok Cop

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Often the Race for Lanes (held on Friday) give a very good indication on how the Final will go. For the women’s eight this was not the case. Today China2 began the race in the lead followed closely by China One and Romania. Romania won the race for lanes two days ago and have an eights tradition that surely made them the favourites. By the half-way point Romania had moved up on China Two and were just inches from overtaking them.

This is when Germany decided to move. Although underrating the rest of the field, Germany was making gains with every stroke. By the final 500m Germany, with coxswain Laura Schwensen keeping her eyes firmly in the boat and focused on her crew, was in the lead. Romania held on. China2 continued to rate high. Germany took gold.

Results: GER, CHN2, ROU, CHN1, GBR

Nadja Drygalla, Franziska Kegebein, Kathrin Thiem, Anika Kniest, Kerstin Naumann, Ulrike Sennewald, Christina Hennings, Nadine Schmutzler, Laura Schwensen (GER) – Gold
“This is cool. We didn’t really expect to win. We had a fast start and then we just got faster and faster. It was a great feeling. Also, this was a good start for our new team and all our youngsters in the team.” Christina Hennings

Lei Wang, Zhaoxia Han, Juan Wang, Aihua Xi, Min Zhang, Xin Li, Yan Li, Xiaoyan Han, Miao Xu (CHN2) – Silver
“We are quite satisfied with the result.”

Roxana Cogianu, Ionelia Neacsu, Maria Diana Bursuc, Cristina Ilie, Adelina Cojocariu, Nicoleta Albu, Camelia Lupascu, Eniko Barabas, Teodora Stoica (RUM) – Bronze
“Very hard race. Our next race will be in Lucerne. “Adelina Cojocariu

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Poland took off at a blistering pace with a 42 stroke rate and refused to settle. For the first half of the race they remained at a 38 stroke rate and this gave them almost a boat length’s lead over Germany in second. Unlike the women’s eights race, the field began to spread out going through the middle 1000.

Poland remained in the lead opening up to over a boat length lead over Germany who now rated 35. It looked as though the resulting medals had been decided. Then Germany changed gears. Underrating the Poles, Germany, stroke by stroke, was advancing on the Polish crew. Poland tried to hold on. Germany was unrelenting. To the loudest cheers of the day, Germany brought their boat home to make a clean sweep of the eights events.

Results: GER, POL, GBR, CHN1, CHN2

Maximilian Munski, Florian Eichner, Martin Rueckbrodt, Hanno Wienhausen, Philipp Naruhn, Falk Mueller, Thomas Protze, Ruben Anemueller, Martin Sauer (GER) – Gold
“That was a good race. We just did our thing and kept cool when the Polish sprinted up on us. What will happen next with this team we don’t know though.” Falk Mueller

Tom Wilkinson, Daniel Ritchie, James Orme, Tom Burton, Mohamed Sbihi, Tom Solesbury, Tom Ransley, James Clarke, Phelan Hill (GBR) – Bronze
“We’ll just have to come back stronger.” James Clarke

“We dropped back and didn’t have the legs to get back. I’m pretty disappointed.” Mohamed Sbihi

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

This race was delayed until the end of the day after Germany’s boat had to return to the docks due to a breakage in their boat. Coming back at the end of the day did nothing to dull the spirits of these crews as they all jumped off the line with true aggression. Denmark jumped the best, their 44 stroke rate, that they maintained for 300m, taking them into the lead.

Denmark, stroked by Olympic gold medallist and only remaining crew member from that boat, Morten Joergensen, remained out in front. A relatively slow starting Germany then began to come together and moved up on Denmark followed closely by Great Britain and China. With 600m left to row the top four boats – Germany, Denmark, China and Great Britain – were practically level. Denmark pushed, Germany followed suit. Germany and Denmark then proceeded to match each other stroke-for-stroke. Both crews were running out of water.

With just 200m remaining Denmark changed gear and pushed away from Germany. Denmark won for the second time this season.

Results: DEN, GER, CHN1, GBR, CZE, JPN

Christian Pedersen, Jens Vilhelmsen, Kasper Winther, Morten Joergensen (DEB) – Gold
“We had a much more controlled and a much more confident race today than in Banyoles. We are very happy about this win. We had a fast first 500m and were then able to control the race. And we are getting very confident about our fast finishes and good sprint ability after two World Cup wins.” Kasper Winther

Jost Schoemann-Finck, Matthias Schoemann-Finck, Jochen Kuehner, Martin Kuehner (GER) – Silver
“It was a bit chaotic with our boat damage at the first start when we caught a crab on the first strokes which damaged the rigger, but we managed to keep cool and it all got sorted. We had good 1500m, but there was nothing we could do against the great Danish final sprint. We are still happy with the silver medal though.” Jost Schoemann-Finck