Men’s Double Sculls (BM2x)

A–Final

Italy’s Emanuele Fiume and Andrea Cattaneo looked to be the crew to beat after recording the fastest time in yesterday’s semifinals. This crew took gold as juniors in 2015. The Netherlands was looking good, The crew of Melvin Twellaar and Luuk Adema finished fourth last year and they won their semifinal yesterday. Italy and the Netherlands took off side-by-side with the Fiume and Cattaneo having a slightly better pace.

Twellaar and Adema kept their speed going and they were not letting the Italians get away. Greece was right with them as well. The new Greek double of Ioannis Kalandaridis and Christos Stergiakas were giving it their all as these boats moved at World Best Time pace. The third 500 saw a change, the Greeks had moved into the lead, just a fraction ahead of Italy. The sprint to the line was furious. Greece went to 38 with the Dutch going with them. And down the outside Poland was flying. The crowd was loving it. Four boats charged for three medals. Italy had missed out. A bronze for Poland, a gold for Greece.

Results: GRE, NED, POL, ITA, SLO, FRA

Christos Stergiakas (s), Greece, gold
“It was good conditions out there today and we expected to come away with a medal. We knew that if we wanted it to be gold we needed to have a great race. We’re happy with our result today and we hope to continue with this in Glasgow.”

Luuk Adema (s), Netherlands, silver
“It was a good race today! We wanted to make it through the 1000m with good speed. Greece was still with us by then but we made a push and Melvin made a call to sprint. Overall is was a good race and we’re happy with our position.”

Fabian Baranski (b), Poland, bronze
“What a great race that was for us. To race on home soil gave us that little bit of extra strength at the finish. It’s been really cool to race in Poland and even better to medal.”

B-final

Germany’s Henry Schwinde and David Junge leapt out to an early lead with China in hot pursuit. Germany posted a faster qualifying time in the semifinals yesterday and they continued to be in front through the middle of the race. China then got overtaken by Serbia coming into the final sprint. China fought back but Serbia was able to hold them off.

Results: GER, SRB, CHN, RUS, JPN, RSA