Men’s Four (M4-) – Final

The finishing times in yesterday’s semifinals were so tight that these top six boats had just over a two second spread. This race was going to be close. The Olympic Champions and winners of World Rowing Cup I, Great Britain sat in the centre lane with Olympic bronze medallists and European Champions, Italy nearby. Getting to the first 500m metre mark just a faction ahead was the Netherlands number one crew. The British, who love to lead from start to finish, then inched ahead of the Netherlands with Italy now picking up the pace. Great Britain’s crew of Rossiter, Sbihi, Tarrant and Satch then started to stride away.

As the final sprint came into sight Italy took the stroke rate t0 42. Great Britain remained solid at 38 while South Africa came flying through at a 48 stroke rate. The Netherlands was holding on. The British had scored gold, Italy silver and the Netherlands bronze. The South Africans had missed out on a medal by just 0.05 of a second.

Results: GBR1, ITA, NED1, RSA, ESP, FRA

Mohamed Sbihi, Great Britain, gold
“We’ve had a really, really good weekend. Today the start wasn’t our best. It’s normally more explosive. But we set into a really good rhythm after that. We’ve now got two months to try to stay on top. There is a lot more efficiency to come out of the middle part of the race.”

Matteo Castaldo, Italy, silver
“We had a good race, but it was hard after Henley. We were tired and we’re not too powerful today, but we had a good sprint finish. Racing Great Britain in Henley was a bit like being Real Madrid playing in Barcelona, we really enjoyed it.”

Jasper Tissen, Netherlands, bronze
“It was a tough race. Our strategy was to stay in the pack after the start and then look straight and give everything we had. We couldn’t go any faster today, we are glad about the bronze medal.”

B-final

Russia came flying out of the blocks in first place. They had missed out on making the a-final by less than half a second and they must have been fired up to do well. Then Germany did a huge piece in the third 500 and caught up to Russia who gave it their all to hold on. In the final sprint Germany pulled into first with Russia just getting through in second.

Results: GER, RUS, DEN, GBR2, AUS2, BLR1