Ukraine returns – the men’s quadruple sculls

In the men’s quad, as is the case in the female equivalent of this boat class, Germany is the nation that has known the most success in the past two decades at both the World Rowing Championship and Olympic levels. Since 1992 and at the start of the 2014 season, they had four Olympic medals, three of them gold, as well as 13 World Championship medals to their name.

Other nations that became renowned in the quad in the recent past include Poland and Croatia. Poland experienced incredible success five years in a row, from 2005 to 2009, winning four World Championship gold medals as well as Olympic gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. When the Poles left international competition, a young band of Croatians took the limelight, winning the World Rowing Championships in 2010 and 2013 as well as Olympic silver in 2012. With the Croatian quad absent in 2014, the door opened up for other nations to challenge the reigning Olympic Champions, Germany.

At the 2014 European Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, it was Ukraine who sent a clear message to the rest of the field. Ukraine won heat one ahead of Great Britain, while Germany won heat two. In the final, Ukraine took the lead and made sure no other crew could catch up with them. At the line it was Ukraine in gold, Great Britain in silver and Germany in bronze.

Ivan Dovgodko, Ukraine’s stroke commented after the race, “It was a powerful performance and strong race. We didn’t know our strength.”

By rowing standards the Ukrainian crew is young. Three of its crew members aged 25 or under. Two of them, Dovgodko and Olexandr Nadtoka, have already won a number of world championship medals in the quad at the under-23 level.

Following the European Champs, Ukraine did not race internationally again until the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

After the Europeans, Great Britain went on to win both of the World Rowing Cup regattas that they entered, Aiguebelette and Lucerne. In Aiguebelette, the British managed in the final stages to overtake Germany, who had led the field for the majority of the race. In Lucerne, they gradually moved up the ranks to finish ahead of Estonia and the United States.

While Great Britain is one of the top nations overall in the sport of rowing, the men’s quad is a boat in which they began to medal only very recently. In 2013 in Chungju, Korea, the British won their first ever World Championship medal in the quad, a bronze. Aiming for their first Olympic medal in this boat class at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games must, no doubt, be one of their top aims.

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Charles Cousins is the British athlete with the longest history in the quad, having joined the boat in 2009 and raced at the 2012 Olympic Games, finishing fifth overall. Sam Townsend has also been involved in the quad for a number of years, but at the 2012 Olympics he raced in the double instead, also finishing fifth. With Thomas Graeme and Peter Lambert would they be able to repeat a medal-winning performance in Amsterdam?

At the worlds in Amsterdam, the two crews who won their semifinals were Ukraine and Great Britain, with the British recording the fastest time. Due to weather conditions, these top two crews were reassigned to lanes one and two, instead of the usual middle lanes. Germany and China had both finished second in their semifinal, Germany behind Great Britain and China behind Ukraine. In the final it would mostly be about these four boats.

While Ukraine started out in front and stayed there throughout, Great Britain stayed in close contact, not allowing the Ukrainians to speed away. An extremely tight battle was going on for bronze. At the half-way mark there was almost nothing separating China, Germany and Estonia, with China having the slighter edge. At  700m to go, Germany made a move and began distancing itself from China. With 200m to go the British made a huge push to try and move up on Ukraine. But Ukraine held on firmly to the lead and crossed the line in gold, with Great Britain following just one tenth of a second behind in silver and Germany in bronze. It was the first time that Ukraine had scored a medal in this boat class since 2006 and this time it was in historic World Champion and World Best Time fashion. The previous World Best Time had been set by Russia at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne only two years prior. The Ukrainians bettered it by nearly one second, establishing it at 05:32.26..

As we move towards the 2015 season the questions begin. Was this a one-off for Ukraine? Will Germany rise back? Will Great Britain continue to improve? Will Croatia return? Stay tuned to World Rowing as we bring you the latest developments in the sport of rowing.

2014 World Rowing Championships men’s quadruple sculls final

2014 World Rowing Cup, Aiguebelette, FRA, men’s quadruple sculls final