Women’s Pair (W2-) – Final

The fastest time from the heats two days ago went to New Zealand One of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler. The duo raced last month at World Rowing Cup II and not only won, but also set a new World Best Time. Prendergast and Gowler got away quickly to lead over the United States One crew of Megan Kalmoe and Tracy Eisser. Great Britain One was also very much on the pace. Gowler and Prendergast also own the World Best Time in the women’s four and they continued to lead using a 34 stroke rate pace. Kalmoe and Eisser then did a push and the New Zealanders countered it by going to 36 stroke per minute with Denmark now overtaking Great Britain to take third.

Denmark’s Hedvig Rasmussen medalled in this boat class at the Rio Olympics and she is back this year with a new partner of Christina Johansen. Coming through to the final sprint the race looked like a bit of a procession as New Zealand had managed to shake off the United States. Then Kalmore and Eisser went to 40 strokes per minute but they had a huge gap to make up. Rating 36 the New Zealanders took the boat home to gold.

Results: NZL1, USA1, DEN, GBR1, AUS, NZL2

Kerri Gowler (s), New Zealand, gold
“That definitely went to plan. We had a solid middle thousand metres. We always feel under pressure, but we stick to our race plan and go for it. I think there is still more to gain, we’ve got two months until Sarasota.”

Megan Kalmoe (b), United States, silver
“It was a very hard race, I’m very tired now. We already had a great heat against the Kiwis. The competition is really great, we are looking forward to Sarasota.”

Christina Johansen (s), Denmark, bronze
“It was a great race, it’s exciting to race such good athletes. Now we know where we are, it’s a good stepping stone for us.”

B-final

The first to show was Caragh McMurtry and Samantha Courty of Great Britain Two. Courty comes through from under-23 rowing while McMurtry has been on the edge and competing in the British women’s eight recently. Then Seoyeong Jeon and Seo Hee Kim of Korea did a big second 500 push and got into the lead. The British held on and these two boats came into the last sprint followed closely by Germany and France. Korea was running out of steam leaving Courty and McMurtry to come through into first.

Results: GBR2, GER, KOR, FRA