Women's Double Sculls (W2x) - Final

The top ranked boat in this boat class, going by their pedigree must have been Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj. Poland won their heat on Friday and a day off from racing must have done them some good. Fularczyk and Madaj were the fastest out of the starting blocks with the Netherlands chasing hard. By the middle of the race Poland still had the lead with the Netherlands continuing to pressure the leading Poles.

The Italians, who won their heat on Friday, followed in third just a little bit back. Poland remained under pressure from the Dutch crew of Lisa Scheenaard and Marloes Oldenburg with Italy now slipping back to be put under threat from Denmark. Fularczyk and Madaj crossed the line first with the Dutch holding on to silver. Bronze went to Denmark.

Results: POL, NED, DEN, FIN, ITA, CHN

B-final                                                                  

Chile only just missed out on making the A-final and they raced this B-final from the front of the field. This crew is made up of 41-year-old Soraya Jadue Arriaza who has teamed up with junior representative, 19-year-old Antonia Abraham. Ukraine was in second and a big push by them in the close of the race saw them finish first.

Results: UKR, CHI, AUT 

Magdalena Fularczyk – POL – gold
“We knew that we were going into this race as favorites but in this Olympic year of course every other crew is in great shape as well. Our next race will be the European Championships, so we’re just going back to Poland and simply train.”

Marloes Oldenburg – NED – silver
“Only very recently we were put together as a crew but it has worked very well from the beginning. It was such an exciting race with the Polish and in the final sprint Lisa called “we’re gonna get them!”. It’s a great start to this season in this project together.”

Lisbet Jakobsen – DEN – bronze
“We think this result is a good start because we are new together as a team. This regatta we have used as an opportunity to learn because there are still many things to improve. Although Italy still beat us in the heat but in this final we were confident we could beat them and it worked out in our favour.”