British men safeguard top spot – men’s eight

In 2009, the German men’s eight embarked on a winning streak that led them directly to Olympic gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games. This has earned them the top spot on the all-time World Championship medals table in this boat class. The United States hold the all-time second position at World Championship level and largely head the all-time Olympic medals table with a total of 16 medals of which 12 are gold.

In 2014 Germany showed their stability by boating half of the crew that also raced to Olympic gold in 2012. Although their winning streak has come to an end they remain one of the top boats in the field and continue to inspire respect among their competitors.

The USA last won the Olympic Champion title at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and it has been nearly ten years since they last won World Championship gold. Yet their potential is definitely current, with a bronze medal at the 2013 World Rowing Championships and a fourth-place finish this year in Amsterdam revealing serious goals for Rio 2016.

The USA’s neighbouring rivals, Canada, are the 2008 Olympic Champions and 2012 Olympic silver medallists and hold the World Best Time. They have reliably reached the podium at World Championship level in recent years, but have not lined up internationally since the London Games. Canada’s high performance director Peter Cookson stated that there are no immediate plans to boat a new men’s eight, as he told World Rowing, “We currently are going to stick with our plans to boat a men’s four and a men’s quadruple sculls for 2015; and hence most likely no men’s eight in 2015.”

Another nation has worked its way to become the top boat in this field: Great Britain. Leading up to their home Games in London, they won two World Championship silvers, followed by Olympic bronze. In 2013 they earned their nation’s first ever World Championship title in this boat class and repeated the same achievement in 2014.

Throughout the 2014 season, however, no one quite knew who would end up winning World Championship gold in Amsterdam.

At the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, one crew stood out unexpectedly: Russia. Now coached by former Canadian coach Mike Spracklen, they chased the Germans down the course and gave them no peace until the line. Great Britain and Poland finished in a photo finish for bronze, with Great Britain grabbing the prize.

At World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette the USA raced at its first regatta of the season while Russia and Germany did not take part. Winning their heat, the United States qualified directly for the A Final. Great Britain had a rockier progression. They finished last in the race for lanes, then third in their heat and second in their repechage.  In the Aiguebelette final, the USA secured the lead early on and held it to the end, with the 2013 World Champions Great Britain back up to speed and finishing in silver followed by Belarus.

“We wanted to execute our race plan and we did that. We’re looking ahead to our goal, the World Championships. We’re one step closer,” said USA’s Zachary Vlahos.

“We had an awesome progression throughout the regatta from the first race to the last,” said William Satch from Great Britain.

At World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Germany and Russia were back while the USA did not race. Once again, Russia demonstrated its new-found power. Russia and Germany raced head to head, with Russia having a slight edge at the 1500m. In the last push, Germany secured the lead with Russia taking another World Cup silver. The European Championship results were replicated with Great Britain in bronze and Poland in fourth.

After the race, Germany’s Maximilian Reinelt said, “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.”

“It was a great race. It was tough and it always is when you respect your competitors so much,” said Great Britain’s cox Philean Hill. “Between now and Amsterdam we will do a lot of work. We already did a lot, but we are still chasing speed. Of course, we try. 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.”

At the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, the winners of both heats qualified directly for the Final. And while it was expected that Germany would do so, the winners of heat one, Poland, demonstrated that another fourth-place finish would be no option for them. Great Britain, Russia and USA went through the repechage. They all qualified with France joining in.

In the World Championship final, the medal winners were clear by the half-way mark, with Great Britain, Germany and Poland nearly level. The question was: in which order would they cross the finish line? With 500m to go, it was Great Britain in first, Poland in second and Germany in third. Poland then began to lose stamina and Germany made a push to inch into the silver medal position. Great Britain became World Champions for the second year running, while Poland won its first ever World Championship medal in the men’s eight –a bronze. The USA finished in fourth, France in fifth and Russia in sixth.

What will 2015 hold? Will Great Britain manage to keep the lead? Will Germany make it back to the top? Will Poland stay in the medals or give way to the USA? Will Russia continue to improve?

2014 World Rowing Championships men’s eight final

2014 World Rowing Cup, Lucerne, SUI, men’s eight final