Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Final

Lithuania and Great Britain had the fastest qualifying times coming through from the semifinals as winners of their respective semis. But Lithuania had a better showing through the season coming here as European Champions and also winners of World Rowing Cup III in July. A last minute change of rower in the British boat caused a delay. An ill Peter Lambert was swapped out for Graeme Thomas from the men’s double. This meant that athletes had to keep hydrated as they waited in these hot conditions. The Netherlands must have handled the break the best as they shot out to an early lead and took ownership. By the middle of the race the Dutch crew of Wiersma, Metsemakers, Keijer and Robbers had a full boat length lead over the field with the rest of the field forming a practical line.

The Dutch now started to falter as Lithuania came charging through with Great Britain and Estonia in hot pursuit. With Lithuania in the lead the British, Estonians and the Dutch crossed the line together. Lithuania’s Neimeravicius, Dziaugys, Mascinskas and Adomavicius had taken gold. Great Britain took silver and Estonia squeezed into bronze ahead of the Netherlands.

Results: LTU, GBR, EST, NED, POL, NOR

Rolandas Mascinskas, Lithuania, gold
“It was a great race, no one could beat us. We went all out in that last 500m.”

Graham Thomas, Great Britain, silver
“I got a million whatsapp messages telling me I was needed straight away. So I ran over straight away. Today I did my best. I think this shows the depth of the squad and that the quad is making a name for itself in GB rowing.”

Kaspar Taimsoo (s), Estonia, bronze
“I remember looking over my right shoulder with 600m to go and it looked like we were about a full boat behind. That’s when I told our three seat to put the energy back in our strokes. He just went for it and pushed. But I had no idea if we took a medal or not.”

B-final

France missed out on the A-final by just a second and looked to be the favourite for this race. But they came out of the start the slowest with Italy the leading crew. Then New Zealand took over in the lead as France remained at the back of the field. At the half way point there less than two seconds separated the entire field and New Zealand had their work cut out for them to stay in front. Coming through to the finish New Zealand remained in the lead. What a close race!

Results: NZL, GER, FRA, RUS