Men’s Pair (M2-) - Final

A–Final

The World Cup leaders for 2018 are Lukas Helesic and Jakub Podrazil of the Czech Republic. They are having a great season but it looks like the competition has stepped up for Lucerne. Today they sat in an outside lane after a tough semifinal race yesterday. At the start Helesic and Podrazil had the fastest pace with New Zealand’s Thomas Murray and Michael Brake chasing hard. Murray and Brake then pushed into the lead. This is a new combination for 2018 with Murray part of last year’s bronze medal pair.

Meanwhile France One of Valentin and Theophile Onfroy had overtaken the Czechs, but it did not look like they could catch the Kiwis. Murray and Brake moved their stroke rate to 44 with France going to 46. Oh wow, then the New Zealanders went slightly crooked as Helesic and Podrazil charged to the line. Murray and Brake had just held off their competition with the Czechs and France neck-and-neck at the line.

Results: NZL1, FRA1, CZE, ESP1, GBR1, SRB

Re-watch the Race

B-final

This race saw the lead change several times with the Great Britain Two crew in the lead at the start before Germany One of Paul Schroeter and Laurits Follert took the lead. Then Spain Two came charging down as the margins closed. Croatia One started to sprint. This Croatian crew had a last minute change to the boat line up when Martin Sinkovic felt back problems just before the semifinal. Karlo Udovicic jumped into the boat with Valent Sinkovic and together they finished second today. Alexander Sigurbjonsson and Pau Vela Maggi of Spain Two finished first.

Results: ESP2, CRO1, IRL1, GBR2, GER1, NED2

Thomas Murray (b), New Zealand, gold
“That was a little bit dramatic, I need to improve on my steering a little. From now we will try and work on our speed but I’m glad that today we could have a good race. Thanks to the team, they’ve been amazing at supporting us. We’ll now be focusing on the World Rowing Championships with a few domestic competitions in between.”

Valentin Onfroy (b), France, silver
“We knew it was going to be a complicated race, after the semis there were three boats that were very close. We had a good start but we got attacked on all sides and it was very tight at the finish. Our next race is Glasgow, we’re disappointed that the Sinkovics weren’t racing today, but we’ll have to see for the rest of the season.”

Lukas Helesic (b), Czech Republic, bronze
“Aaaahhhh, I thought we were second, but it was still a nice results. Everything just needed to be right on the day and unfortunately it wasn’t quite there today. Now we’re going to go to Italy for a training camp in high altitude. We’ll also then do another camp back home and work towards the World Rowing Championships.”