Women’s Double Sculls (BW2x) – Final

A–Final

In the early stages it was Greece’s Anneta Kyridou and Sofia Asoumanaki that had the best pace. In yesterday’s semifinals Greece won their race but with almost an identical time as winner of the other semi, Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne and Anna Thornton of Great Britain. These two boats sat in the centre lanes. Then Thornton and Hodgkins-Byrne took the lead and started to pull away from Greece. Behind these two leaders Germany and Italy were both very much on the pace.

Germany’s Leonie Menzel and Pia Greiten then got into second ahead of Greece. But Great Britain was looking strong at the head of the field. Germany was giving it their all. Great Britain fought back. Italy was coming down the outside. What a finish! The British had won and in a new under-23 World Best Time.

Results: GBR, GER, ITA, GRE, AUS, NZL

Anna Thornton (s), Great Britain, gold
“I wasn’t quite sure what was happening in the race. We stayed internal and inside the boat. Our middle part of the race was very strong and we stayed in contention. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, I’m not sure what’s going on….”

Pia Greiten (s), Germany, silver
“We knew at the start the all the medal positions were going to be open and there are some really strong boats in this field. We were really hoping that we could medal and we’re so glad that we did. The race was so much fun for us.”

Valentina Iseppi (b), Italy, bronze 
“We know that our starts aren’t so fast and we were expecting that. Around the 1000m mark Greece started to make a move so we went with them and kept going and had a great finish.”

B-final

Romania and France just missed out on the a-final when they raced in the semifinals and these two crews set the early pace. They were neck-and-neck through the middle of the race. This leading tussle took them away from the rest of the field and at the line the margin remained close. The higher rating France had won by a second.

Results: FRA, ROU, HUN, LTU, SRB, SUI