Men's Double Sculls Final

Could the Norwegians start off the season in the manner that they finished in 2013? Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch of Norway are the reigning World Champions, but are yet to score a European Championship title. They came into this final with the fastest qualifying time from the semifinals and a big target on their back. But today was not their day.

Hoff and Borch leapt out at the start with all good intentions in this very tightly packed field but by the middle of the race they had been overhauled by both Azerbaijan and Germany. Germany’s Stephan Krueger has been his country’s mainstay in this boat for years. This year he has joined with Hans Gruhne and throughout this regatta they have been moving very well.

The field remained tight as Aleksandar Aleskandrov and Boris Yotov of Azerbaijan held on to the front with the top five boats going into the final sprint separated by less than three seconds. Surprisingly Norway was on the edge of the bunch with Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter of Lithuania getting closer and closer to the front. Mascinskas and Ritter finished second at last year’s World Rowing Championships and they began their 2014 season as gold medallists at the first Rowing World Cup in Sydney. At the line the Lithuanians had won over Azerbaijan and grabbed the new European Best Time of 6:08.82. Germany took third with Norway missing out on the medals.

Results:  LTU, AZE, GER, NOR, NED, GBR

Gold – Rolandas Mascinkas – LTU

We feel great. Our plan was to stay in the pack for 1000 metres and then power up, increase our speed and make sure we had a chance.

Silver – Aleksandar Aleksandrov – AZE

The race was very hard – we wanted to be first but the last 100 metres was a real battle and it was very close.

Bronze – Hans Gruhne – GER

It feels fantastic – we are very happy. Hard race, the first 500 metres we were winning but the last 500 metres really decided the result. We had a good rhythm and pushed until the end.