Men's Quadruple Sculls (M4x) - Final

Germany1 and China recorded almost identical times in yesterday’s respective heats and today they sat alongside each other for the first time ready to do battle. At the start Germany led China by a slight margin. The German crew of Schulze, Schoof, Wende and Gruhne still had the Chinese challenging them with every stroke as they went through the 1000m mark, but with the added pressure of Switzerland and France. These four boats were separated by just one second.

Now it was Switzerland that moved into a piece and became Germany’s biggest threat. This was going to be one fast and furious sprint to the line. But the German’s had another gear and they not only finished first, but they also managed to break away from the pack. China got the better of Switzerland and France to take the silver and France earned bronze.

Results: GER1, CHN, FRA, SUI, POL CZE

Gold – Philipp Wende – Germany1

It’s great to win here in Bled. In 2011 we lost the world title 50 metres before the line. We had a bad start, but to win says everything

Silver – Liang Zhang – China 

We are really happy with silver. We did our best and it was the perfect race.

Bronze – Julien Montet – France

The first thousand was really tough because of the waves. We gave everything at the end to pass the Swiss.

B-final

Estonia only just missed out on the A-final by 0.06 of a second and this crew, made up predominantly of 2012 Olympic finalist, got ahead of Croatia in the first 400m. Croatia got the World Championship title in 2013 but since then the crew has turned into a double with David Sain the only one remaining in this boat. Estonia remained in the lead until the finish. Watch out for these two crews through the season as they are likely to keep building their speed.

Results: EST, CRO