From Olympic silver to World Championship gold at Rotterdam World Rowing Championships

For immediate release
Rotterdam, 27 August 2016

Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan, Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, added a World Championship gold to his CV today at the 2016 World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

O’Donovan raced to gold in the lightweight men’s single sculls and become the only rower to go from medalling in Rio to medalling in Rotterdam. This is the first World Champion title for O’Donovan who finished ahead of Hungary’s Peter Galambos and Lukas Babac of Slovakia after setting a high stroke rate pace in the head wind conditions.

The 2016 World Rowing Championships are staged for the World Championship boat classes that are not raced at the Olympic Games. This regatta is combined regatta with the World Rowing Under 23 and World Rowing Junior Championships. Today’s finals included the seven World Championship boat classes and one para-rowing boat class.

Great Britain finished at the head of the medals table with three gold medals and four total medals. The British women’s four of Fiona Gammond, Donna Etiebet, Holly Nixon and Holly Norton started the medals run when they beat the reigning World Champions from the United States. Great Britain and United States went head-to-head for the majority of the race before the British were able to pull away to win. The United States took silver and Germany won bronze.

The men’s coxed pair from Great Britain of Oliver Cook, Callum McBrierty and coxswain Henry Fieldman won gold ahead of Canada in the silver medal spot. The bronze medal was won in the closing metres of the race when Italy overtook the Dutch Olympic men’s pair combination. Great Britain’s third gold medal came in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls of Brianna Stubbs, Emily Craig, Imogen Walsh and Eleanor Piggott – the first World Champion title in this boat class since 2011. Germany was second and the sole medal for China was the bronze.

France won two World Champion titles which placed them second on the medals table. The French gold success came in the para LTA mixed double sculls when Guylaine Marchand and Fabien Saint-Lannes dominated their race from start to finish. The second gold went to Augustin Mouterde and Alexis Guerinot in the lightweight men’s pair. This win by France pushed the reigning World Champions Great Britain into third with Denmark coming through in second.

Germany was third on the medals table with a gold medal win in the lightweight men’s quadruple sculls. This crew included Patrik Stoecker, Florian Roller, Johannes Ursprung and Cedric Kulbach.

Ireland and New Zealand finished fourth equal overall. Both Ireland and New Zealand earned one gold medal each – the Irish in the lightweight men’s single sculls and New Zealand in the lightweight women’s single sculls. Zoe McBride of New Zealand successfully defended her 2015 title finishing ahead of Emma Fredh of Sweden and Katherine Sauks of Canada.

Racing continues on 28 August 2016 with finals for the World Rowing Junior Championships. For live streaming, results, race reports and live blog go to www.worldrowing.com