Hot off the Podium - what did they say?

Ole Rueckbrodt / Felix Otto (Gold) 

LM2- / Germany/ Race 178 / 10:20

Felix Otto: "We are Pair only since two weeks. The decision is not made yet who will be in the pair or four and we are still hoping for a spot in the Olympic four.”

Frederic Dufour (Silver)

LM1x / France / Race 177 / 10:10

“It was a difficult race and my physical condition is not the best yet. But I will be in better shape for the next Rowing World Cup and there I will row the lightweight double with Fabrice Moreau.”

Tracy Cameron (Gold)

LW1x / Canada / Race 176 / 10:00

"It was a bit of a cross-wind and I had to correct with a few strokes, but then all in all it was very exciting and an incredible experience. It is my first time in the single at an international event. But I am hoping to row the double at the World Rowing Championships and hopefully also [at the Olympic Games] in Beijing.”

Darcy Marquardt (Gold)

W2- / Canada / Race 181 / 10:54

“The wind shifted quite a lot, but it was still a pretty good race for us. It was great winning here, because before we were rather unknown.”

Christina Gerking (Silver)

W2- / Germany / Race 181 / 10:54

“It was a tough race with us switching from the eight to the pair these past days. We fell quite happy about our silver medal and look forward to racing the eight later on today.

Ekaterina Karsten (Gold)

W1x / Belarus / Race 179 / 10:30

"The race was much harder than the one in Duisburg. But it was still a controlled one. Sophie pushed a lot and I responded. The finish wasn’t as good as I had wanted it to be.” 

Mirka Knapkova (Silver)

W1x / Czech Republic / Race 179 / 10:30

"I had a very bad start, but managed to get back into the race further on. With 100m to go I looked over to Sophie and thought I could get her, so I put every effort into it.”

Sophie Balmary (Bronze)

W1x / France / Race 179 / 10:30

"I stepped down 100m before the end of the race and lost my concentration. I am very disappointed about the race. I will need to be more courageous next time. ”

Nikola Stojic (Gold)

M2- / Serbia and Montenegro / Race 182 / 11:06

“It felt so good to be back in the pair again. Six months ago I had a back injury and couldn’t walk. We had a slow start, but a good rhythm. We expected South Africa to go faster in the last 500m.”

Malcolm Howard (Silver)

M2- / Canada/ Race 182 / 11:06

“It was a bit windy. We could have been a bit smoother and cleaner. But we just row together since six weeks so it was okay.

Ramon Di Clemente (Bronze) 

M2- / South Africa / Race 182 / 11:06

“Obviously both of us had some problems and issues with the second half of the race.”

Berit Carow (Silver)

LW2x / Germany / Race 186 / 13:12

"We knew that the Chinese were very strong, but hoped for a medal. We are happy about silver.”

Magdalena Kemnitz  (Bronze)

LW2x / Poland / Race 186 / 13:12

“It was a hard race, but in the end we had a medal. It could have been better though.”

Dieter Grahn (coach of the German eight)

“We had wanted to put ourselves in first position right from the beginning of the race.
But the Polish were even faster so we had to try to catch them. We are happy with the eight and the four results here not so with the pair. We will experiment here a bit more for Poznan. There we will have a different crew in the eight also.”

Hardy Cubasch (Bronze)

M8+ / Australia / Race 192 / 14:24

"The third place is quite exciting for us because we row together just since two weeks. Our goal for the next races is to beat the Germans and be first in Eton."

Elia Luini (Gold) 

LM2x / Italy / Race 187 / 13:24

"It is just one month that we train together. That’s why we still have to get to know each other better. We felt good during this race, regardless of the result. So it was a good start on the way to Eton.”

Daisaku Takeda (Bronze)

LM2x /  Japan / Race 187 / 13:24

“We could have been better, but I am very happy to be able to present a medal at home. I can’t wait to come home, because my wife is expecting our fourth child in the next few days.”

Stefan Mlecko (Gold)

LM4- / Germany / Race 188 / 13:36

"We tried to fight off the Irish, always rating around 38 strokes. At the end we brought it up to 41 and just managed to cross the line first. We are very happy, since it’s the first gold medal for Germany in this boat class for ages.”

Eugene Coakley (Silver)

LM4- / Ireland / Race 188 / 13:36

“I hope we can do better at the next Rowing World Cup in Poznan. But it’s early in the season and there is still room for improvement.”

Nikola Stojic (Gold)

M2- / Serbia and Montenegro / Race 182 / 11:06

“It felt so good to be back in the pair again. Six months ago I had a back injury and couldn’t walk. We had a slow start, but a good rhythm. We expected South Africa to go faster in the last 500m.”

Malcolm Howard (Silver)

M2- / Canada/ Race 182 / 11:06

“It was a bit windy. We could have been a bit smoother and cleaner. But we just row together since six weeks so it was okay.

Ramon Di Clemente (Bronze)

M2- / South Africa / Race 182 / 11:06

“Obviously both of us had some problems and issues with the second half of the race."

René Betram (Gold)

M2x / Germany / Race 184 / 11:30

"We had a good finish today, although we felt that the others got slower whereas we just tried to hold our pace.”

Robert Sens (Gold)

M2x / Germany / Race 184 / 11:30

“I went to school here so it just felt good to win in front of my home crowd.”

Akos Haller (Silver)

M2x / Hungary / Race 184 / 11:30

(Laughing) “We put in a coffee break at the 1000m mark, but then we picked it up again”.

Adrien Hardy (Bronze)

M2x / France / Race 184 / 11:30

“We have three really good doubles in France and we will do the double and the quad for the rest of the season. I believe that Jean-Baptiste and I will be in the double for the rest of the season.”

Alan Campbell (Gold)

M1x / Great Britain / Race 179 / 10:42

"This is a bit of a surprise for me. But I am very happy about it and this smile will stay for weeks. The hard training definitely paid off.”

Lassi Karonen (Bronze)

M1x / Sweden / Race 179 / 10:42

"I was very happy to make it to the final. I tried to do my best and pushed really, really hard at the finish. I like this course and I think they will have great World Rowing Championships next year. Hopefully with less wind, though.”

Marcel Hacker (Silver)

M1x / Germany/ Race 179 / 10:42

"Alan today was the best. I couldn’t respond to his final attack, but I am quite happy with my silver medal. I am looking forward to see them all again at the upcoming World Cups. "

Andreas Maul, Coach of Marcel Hacker

"After Gifu the goal for Munich was to be in the A final and possibly medalist. I am happy that it is what happened.“

Steve Williams (Gold)

M4- / Great Britain / Race 185 / 13:00 
 
"We had a pretty good start, but on the last 500m the Germans pushed really hard. But we are pretty happy. It was our best race at this regatta.”

Gregor Hauffe (Silver)

M4- / Germany / Race 185 / 13:00

"The race was fantastic, I never experienced anything like it before. We had some start problems in the preliminary heats, but we have only been rowing together for two weeks. In this race we managed a great stroke rate. We caught a crab at the end, otherwise it might have even been closer.”

Matthijs Vellenga (Bronze)

M4- / Netherlands / Race 185 / 13:00
 
“We had a good race until 1500m, then we lost confidence to win, that’s why our sprint at the end wasn’t better. The Germans surprised us. But this is the closest race with the British crew so far, so that’s good.”

David Crawshay (Bronze)

M4x / Australia  / Race 190 / 14:00

"We had a good preparation back home. We were content to be in the final in the first place. We then just wanted to see how far up we could get. This bronze medal is fantastic.”

Sergey Fedorovtsev (Silver)

M4x / Russia / Race 190 / 14:00

"Our start was good and we improved all along until the end of the race. We plan to be amongst the medalist in Eton also.”

Annie Vernon (Gold)

W2x / Great Britain / Race 183 / 11:18 
 
"It is really great to be the World Cup leader now. That puts us in a very strong position for the next races.”

Gabriela Varekova (Bronze)

W2x /Czeck Republic / Race 183 / 11:18

“We are really happy and surprised because we were still in the Junior Events last year and we didn’t expect such a result.”