Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Final

The Olympic Champions, France and the Olympic silver medallists, Ireland won their respective heats two days ago. Today they met for the first time at this regatta with France’s Jeremie Azou and Pierre Houin having the fastest start. Behind them a virtual line formed with only a second separating the place two to six. China’s Man Sun and Junjie Fan was now in second with Azou and Houin, at 38 strokes per minute, striding away from the rest of the field. In the third 500m Paul and Gary O’Donovan really showed their speed and they moved into second. But the Chinese were showing incredible guts by hanging on.

There was no catching, however, the French who now had an open water lead over the O’Donovans. With France taking gold, Ireland held on to silver and then in a photo finish between Poland and China One saw Poland snatch the bronze.

Results: FRA, IRL, POL, CHN1, GER, JPN2

 Jeremie Azou (s), France, gold
“All the races are difficult. We consider every one like a final. We give our best and try to do better and better each race.”

Gary O’Donovan (b), Ireland, silver
“Really good and close race today. We tried to stick to the French as much as possible – they were just too fast today. We were pleased to beat the Polish again today and we are looking forward to Lucerne.”

Milosz Jankowski (s), Poland, bronze 
“I am very happy to be on the podium here. My family is in the grandstand and the applause at the end helps a lot. I like Lake Malta, it is very beautiful and goes very fast.”

B-final

Japan One was the fastest qualifiers from the repechage and they had the upper hand in this race. Both had competed internationally before and they tried to stay ahead of China Two who are making their international debut. Yuki Ikeda and Kakeru Sato of Japan remained in front and they were able to move away from China and finish first, or seventh overall.

Results: JPN2, SLO, CHN2, USA, PER, HKG