Under-23 Men’s Eight (BM8+) – Final

Germany is the under-23 World Champions in this boat class, but they finished third in the semifinal earlier in the week with the Netherlands winning. Great Britain won the other semifinal and they met the Netherlands today for the final. The Dutch took an early lead and they got their bow ahead of Germany. Great Britain had the fastest time in the semifinal and they were in in fourth at the first 500m mark. Then the field began to spread out and the Netherlands went through the middle of the race with a rather handy lead. Fighting it out neck-and-neck for second was Great Britain and Ukraine with Germany trying to hold the pace.

Great Britain then got the better of the battle with Ukraine and tried to close on the Netherlands. Ukraine was now under threat from Germany and there was 250m left to row. The Dutch at 38 strokes per minute remained in front. Great Britain than saw Germany coming. Great Britain snuck across the  line just ahead of Germany. The Dutch swimmers were already in the water and sprinting for their crew.

Results: NED, GBR, GER, UKR, ROU, ITA

Lex Van Den Herik, Gold, The Netherlands
“We never really have a race plan, we just go and try to make every 500m faster. Winning gold here in Rotterdam is amazing, the home stretch was like a wall of sound!”

Sholto Carnegie, Silver, Great Britain
“We didn’t get off to a great start, but settled into a really nice rhythm. The Dutch flew off the line and we just worked on staying focused on what was happening in the boat. We left it all on the course and that’s what matters.”

Jonas Wiesen (c), Bronze, Germany
“It was a really fast start but I felt like we got off the line really well. Had a really clean rhythm and controlled Ukraine for a while. At the 600m mark we took it up. I told them this was are last chance and we were able to secure bronze.”