Men's Eight (M8+) - Final

The Russian crew had a very good performance in the heats two days ago, setting the fastest qualifying time. But today they were up against the Olympic Champions Germany, and winner of the other heat. At the start Germany grabbed the lead. But then the World Champions, Great Britain showed their true speed. The British, who have prioritised this boat, did not fare well in the heats and ended up having to race in the repechage. Germany, however, was ready and pressed back to earn the lead again. This left Great Britain to try and hold off Russia. The Russians raced in the A-final at last year’s World Rowing Championships with a crew that has been part of a rebuilding project.

In the final sprint, Germany kept it all together and took gold. Great Britain hung on for silver and Russia won bronze. 

Results: GER, GBR, RUS. POL, FRA, NED

Martin Sauer (GER) – Gold

It was a very close race until 1000metres and then we could quite quickly move away. We’ve been in this combination for a very short time and it was the first race, we look forward to the season.

Geroge Nash (GBR) – Silver  

We have some work to do to get used to this new boat class, especially the anger you need to race in the eight, we’ll come back stronger in Varese.

Anton Zarutskiy (RUS) – Bronze

We tried the whole race to catch up with the Germans, we are not quite satisfied with our boat speed as it is not enough to beat the strongest crews.

B-final

Only a few strokes into the race Ukraine pulled away and spent the rest of the race with an open water lead over Belarus in this two-boat race.

Results: UKR, BLR