Men's Pair (M2-) - Final

Italy shot away quickly at the start of this final to have their moment of leading over Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand. The New Zealand duo are already in the history books because of their winning streak partnership and it must be a buzz of any crew to get a chance to lead the Kiwi Pair even if for a short time.

Coming through the 750m Murray and Bond moved into the lead with Italy now being overhauled by James Foad and Matt Langridge of Great Britain. From that point on Murray and Bond showed their absolute domination of the pair and took off to a clear water lead. They now had a huge five seconds over the field with Serbia’s Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik moving up to challenge the British.

In the final stretch of the race Murray and Bond remained in a class of their own and using a 40 stroke rate they gave the crowd a show of rowing magnificence.  The British pushed through to take second and a very happy Serbia took bronze.

Results: NZL, GBR, SRB, NED, ITA, AUS

Hamish Bond (s) –  NZL – gold  
“6:15 is a pretty good time for the conditions, we are pleased with that and especially to do it on race day. We made some good improvements in our rhythm these last weeks.”

James Foad (b) – GBR – silver  
“We went out there to race the kiwis. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into our rhythm to hold on.”

Nenad Bedik (s) – SRB – bronze  
“It’s really tough, but a really good race. We managed to stay with GB, but they had the better finish. We are so happy, it is our first World Championship medal.”