Men's Eight (M8+) - Final

These two crews faced off today in the centre two lanes. Germany went out hard and got a very slight lead at the start. But there was very little in it. By the half way point the top three crews – Germany, Russia and Great Britain – were separated by just one second.

For Germany the eight is a boat they take great pride in. For Russia it has become their flagship boat under new coach Mike Spracklen. For Great Britain, head coach Juergen Grobler has prioritised the men’s four with the eight showing the huge depth that Great Britain has in rowing.

A big push by Russia through the third 500 saw them over take the Germans and add an extra element of spice to this final. The Germans, however, had other ideas and pushed back. This battle between Germany and Russia saw them move away from Great Britain. At the line German regained the lead. Russia, in second, was very happy with their performance.

Results: GER, RUS, GBR, POL, NZL, AUS

Gold – JAKSCHIK, Malte  (GER)

It is great to win in Lucerne. We lost last year to the USA so we tried and did a lot of training camps, not focusing on the Championships, and now with six weeks to go until the Worlds, we are waiting for it to work out.

Gold – REINELT, Maximilian (GER)

Our race plan was to get in the lead by the 500m mark and it didn’t work out because the Russians had a very good start. So at the 1000m our cox told us to go or the Russians would take it. So we did.

Silver – ZARUSTKIY, Anton (RUS)

It was a great race. It was tough and it always is when you respect your competitors so much. Between now and Amsterdam we do a lot of work. We already did a lot, but we are still chasing speed. Of course, we try.

Bronze – HILL, Philean (GBR)

I have mixed emotions about today. We wanted to win. It is a fair reflection of where we are, at a very early stage since we have only been together for 10 days. We haven’t had the training or the team talk yet. I feel confident going to the training camp where we can change things around. The situation was similar last year when we came fourth, and came back as World Champions. I feel confident there is a lot more to come from the team.