Women's Quadruple Sculls (W4x) - Final

Germany may be the World Champions and the winners of the World Rowing Cup in Bled earlier this month, but in the heats two days ago the Netherlands recorded the fastest qualifying time. It was, however, Poland who had the lead at the start. The Polish women’s sculling squad is in the throws of growing success and these four rowers must have been feeding off this as they continued to lead through the middle of the race. But then the Germans did a big push and got their nose in front. Rating at 37 Germany was holding the lead and Poland then found themselves under threat from the Netherlands.

The crowd had risen as they urged the Polish crew home. The Dutch crew continued move on the leaders. Germany was really working hard as the line came into view. Germany had retained their winning streak with the Netherlands taking second and Poland third. This must feel good for the Dutch who finished just behind Poland at the World Rowing Cup in Bled. The Poles and Dutch had just made the women’s quadruple sculls a much more interesting race and with Olympic Champions, Ukraine rebuilding their boat, this is one boat class to really watch out for. 

Results: GER, NED, POL, GBR, UKR, FRA

 Marie- Catherine Arnold (GER) – Gold

At the start, there is a big tailwind and during the race it starts to come from the side. We knew that Poland had a good start and the Netherlands were quick in the middle. We hoped the race wouldn’t be so close, but we still won.

Chantal Achterberg (NED) – Silver

We should be quite happy to be so close to the Germans, even if we wanted to win. The tailwind is good for us, but it would have been better if the water was calmer.

Joanna Leszczynska (POL) – Bronze – 2

It’s good to win a medal in our home country, but we dreamed about gold. We must practice the last 500metres because it was too slow.