24 Jun 2018
Women’s Eight (W8+) – Final
A-Final
Romania came out at 49 with New Zealand and Australia at 46. But it was Australia who got an early leading margin. The lead was not enough though as the Netherlands came through with only a second separating the top five boats. Only China was off the pace. The top boat on paper must be the World and European Champions Romania. The Netherlands, however, took gold at the World Rowing Cup I earlier this month. And with that the Dutch took the lead and started to move away. Australia held on to second as New Zealand moved into third.
Romania was still at 39 strokes per minute and in fifth but very much on the pace. New Zealand, led by coxswain Sam Bosworth, did a piece and overtook Australia with the Netherlands now in their sights. The Dutch stayed at 39 as Australia started to close on New Zealand. The Dutch had won with the Kiwis in second.
Results: NED, NZL, AUS, GBR, ROU, CHN
Lies Rustenburg, Netherlands, gold
“We’re really happy with our result today. Friday we were just not in our own rhythm so today we just focused on getting into that rhythm and being light at the catch. We are very pleased with how it paid off.”
Kelsey Bevan, New Zealand, silver
“Race was really exciting as it was our first World Rowing Cup race. We felt like we executed our plan which we have been practicing so it’s a good starting point leading to Lucerne. We’ll take a couple of weeks of good training.”