Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Final

China Two of Ling Zhang and Xinyue Zhang won their heat with the fastest qualifying time two days ago. The winner of the other heat was New Zealand’s Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe. Today these two crews sat in the favoured middle lanes. The first to show was Germany. But not for long as Zhang and Zhang pushed to take the lead. But then Olympia Aldersey and Madeleine Edmunds of Australia got ahead of China. Both of these boats contain athletes that competed at the Rio Olympics. Now the New Zealand boat began to move. In the second 500 Donoghue and Loe did a piece that saw them get into the lead, albeit a very small margin. China held on, so Donoghue and Loe took their stroke rate to 36, then 37 and it was such a good kick that they moved away to clean water.

Coming into the final sprint Donoghue and Loe rated 38 to hold a now rather comfortable lead. The Zhang’s slotted into second and Aldersey and Edmunds were chasing through in third. Donoghue and Loe had set a new World Cup Best Time of 6:39.13. This broke the record, that was set back in 2012, by just over a second.

Results: NZL, CHN2, AUS, CZE, GER1, NOR

Olivia Loe (s), New Zealand, gold
“We are really pleased with our result we have been working really hard. We thought we still had a little bit left in the tank. There are some good young ones coming through the squad and it’s helping everyone.”

Olympia Aldersey (b), Australia, bronze
“It’s a good first step because we are a new combination. We are quite happy with the results and we are looking forward to the next World Cup in Lucerne. I would like to continue with this crew until the World Championships.” 

B-final

China One was faster than Great Britain in yesterday’s repechage, but today the British had a slight edge. China, though, held on doggedly as these two crews paced each other down the 2000m Malta regatta course. In the third 500 China managed to draw level with Great Britain and with 250m to go, China got into the lead and looked very strong as they powered through to seventh place overall.

Results: CHN1, GBR