Sprint racing eights in the heart of Berlin

This 350m sprint race for men’s and women’s eights, was staged on the Spree River along the East Side Gallery in the heart of Berlin. The Oberbaum Bridge and Mercedes Benz Arena served as a backdrop.

Club and university eights from around Europe, 16 men’s crews and ten women’s crews, lined up two by two for time trials on the Saturday, followed by heats, quarterfinals, semifinals and the grand final on the Sunday. Good weather with a mild head wind welcomed the teams from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Hungary and France.

The Dukla Praha crew from the Czech Republic won the men’s eight final in a time of 0:51.39. The boat included international rowers Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik who recently helped qualify their nation’s lightweight men’s four for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Crossing the line in second for the men was LRV Berlin who finished a mere seven tenths of a second behind Dukla Praha. The crew consisted of an impressive number of World and Olympic Champions, including Andreas Kuffner (2012 Olympic Champion and 2015 world medallist in the men’s eight), Hans Gruhne (2015 World Champion in the men’s quadruple sculls), Frederik Boehm (2015 World Champion in the lightweight men’s eight) as well as several world junior champions.

On the women’s front, three German crews finished in the top three.

The Rowing Champions League was developed in consultation with Germany’s major broadcasters, based on the needs of the television stations. The 350m distance was chosen with the aim to make television production cost efficient and to give the public a good view of both the start and finish lines.

National selection is conducted in advance by the national rowing federations who determine whether to qualify a crew for the Rowing Champions League through a specific qualification regatta, the national championships or through a national league, as is the case in Germany. Six wild cards, four for men and two for women, are also provided. The United States and Australia are said to be on the waiting list for 2016.

Berlin is set to stage the final for the future due to the historic and iconic location, which has shown to be a boon for spectators and media.

For results, click here. http://rcl.rowinginmotion.com/#/results/mens

More info

Official website http://rowingchampionsleague.com/

Video documentary on Row2K http://www.row2k.com/video/ROWING-Champions-League-Finale-2015/20880/#.Vgj_qpcuS9Z

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMDwKmbb8Cw