Men's Single Sculls (M1x) - Final

Two of the A-finalists from the 2015 World Rowing Championships had earned centre lanes in today’s final. They were Damir Martin of Croatia and Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba. Today Martin and Fournier faced each other, both with the aim of taking gold. Have a look at the World Rowing Facebook page for some fabulous photos of these single scullers. Martin got away the quickest with Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk of Poland getting into second. But margins were very close and it looked likely to take until the 1000m mark to spread the scullers out.

Martin got to the half way point first and not just first but with a huge leading margin. Martin was in a class of his own as he built up a large open water lead. Fournier, Wegrzycki-Szymczyk and Hannes Obreno of Belgium all were vying for second. There was no doubt about the winner, Martin took the gold. Fournier got the silver and Obrena was third.

Results: CRO, CUB, BEL, FIN, POL, ISR

B-final

At about the 250m mark a push by Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus saw him get into the lead. Shcharbachenia has spent a good chunk of his rowing career in sweep boats and last year he made the transition to sculling. Today he led the B-final with the closest challenge coming from Markus Kessler of Switzerland. Then the Belarusian pushed away to a clear water lead and looked to be relaxed and enjoying it at the front of the field. Shcharbachenia crossed the line with a huge lead. 

Results: BLR, SUI, NED, ARG, POL, SLO

Damir Martin – CRO – gold
“The bigger names were not here, but I’ve already raced all of them in the past. I am still very happy to start the season like this. My plan for this Olympic season is to keep up this good work and to do my best at the Europeans and then at Rio.”

Angel Fournier Rodriguez – CUB – silver
“I knew it was going to be a very tight competition from the start. It all went as planned, my tactic was perfect. I knew there were six people who want to give it their all.”

Hannes Obreno – BEL – bronze
“It was a really tough race for me because rowing in a headwind is not my strength. Last year I had problems with my rate being too low. In preparation I have picked up my training rates from 16 to 20. This race has given me a lot of confidence for the Olympic qualification in Lucerne.”