Men's Pair (M2-) - Olympic Final

Earlier in the week Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand hit the number of 70. Seventy consecutive wins together in the pair. Never has a pair been so dominating as Bond and Murray. The duo came together in the pair in 2009 after racing a disappointing B-final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The partnership turned out to be a magic combination and today the World and Olympic Champions lined up for their 2016 Olympic final. Other boats in this race must have known that silver was what they should aim for and Italy had been showing through the heats that they may have what it takes. This Italian duo of Giovanni Abagnale and Marco Di Costanzo just came together this season and they were up against the new British boat of Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes with Australia’s spence Turrin and Alexander Lloyd also in with a chance.

Going off the start at a 50 stroke rate New Zealand cam put in fifth with Italy and South Africa showing the way. Bond and Murray are not known to be fast starters but already at the 500m mark they were in third. South Africa’s Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling were in first. There is a phenomenal story behind Brittain who has come back from a battle with cancer to be at these Olympic Games. By 750m Bond and Murray had the lead with Abaganle and Di Costanzo in second, followed by Sinclair and Innes in third.

Now the New Zealanders really showed what makes them the best duo of all time. Bond and Murray moved clean away from the rest of the field, showing no respect for the talent that had to chase them. And chasing them neck-and-neck was South Africa, Great Britain and Italy. Brittain and Keeling then put in their entire heart as soul. The South African duo had overtaken the British and Italians. Brittain and Keeling had defied the odds. Italy had shown that a late call up by Giovanni Abagnale was a good move. Bond and Murray had recorded their 71st win. And they did it at the Olympic Games. Bond fell back into Murray’s lap for a rare show of closeness between the two best in the world.

Results: NZL, RSA, ITA, GBR, FRA, AUS

Eric MURRAY (NZL) – gold 

“Oh it’s just a lot of relief, It was pretty tough conditions out there and the expectations we put on ourselves are so high.”

Hamish BOND (NZL) – gold 

“It’s just about going out and winning every race. We’re proud in our performance and we don’t want to let anyone down. To be honest the results are decided in the work we do before we even get here.”

Lawrence BRITTAIN (RSA) – silver

“Pretty stoked, that was a quality race from us. Everything went to plan and we are standing on the podium right now, job done. Years and years of work and the whole system working for us and producing the results feels amazing.”

Giovanni ABAGNALE (ITA) – bronze

It’s unbelievable. We are very happy, the last medal for Italy was in 1948. We are so proud.

Marco DI COSTANZO (ITA) – bronze

We are very lucky. It is my first Olympic games, so very, very happy. This has been a dream for me. When I was small, I dreamed of this.

Olympic B-final

Right from the word go, the Netherlands crew of Roel Braas and Mitchel Steenman had the lead. Braas came into the pair last year after spending most of his career as a single sculler. They had high expectation for this regatta. The Czech Republic – Jakub Podrazil and Lukas Helesic – then began to move. Once in the lead Podrazil and Helesic looked in control and smooth. The Dutch had no answer. Podrazil and Helesic looked rather pleased as they crossed the line to be the seventh best pair in the world. The 2016 European Champions, Hungary came through in third.

Results: CZE, NED, HUN, SRB, USA, ROU