Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Finals

A–Final

Could anyone touch the World Champion, Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland? Gmelin has gone unbeaten this season, sometimes winning by formidable margins. Magdalena Lobnig of Austria finished with bronze at last year’s World Rowing Championships and she finished second to Gmelin at World Rowing Cup II in a race that saw her go out very fast at the start. Lobnig did the same today, shooting out at the start. But it was Kiri Tontodonati of Italy that took the lead at the first 500m marker.

The very confident Gmelin now began to move and through the 800m mark Gmelin had pushed into the lead with Diana Dymchenko of Ukraine motoring. Lobnig moved with these two leaders and together Switzerland, Ukraine and Austria took a gap between them and the rest of the field. Dymchenko finished ninth at World Rowing Cup III and she was holding on to Gmelin. Gmelin had more to give and in the final sprint the Swiss sculler took a very handy lead. Both Dymchenko and Lobnig were up at 38 and it was neck-and-neck to the line. This closed the gap on Gmelin. Gmelin was the new European Champion with Lobnig snatching silver from Dymchenko.

Results: SUI, AUT, UKR, ITA, GRE, DEN

Jeannine Gmelin, Switzerland, gold
“It’s my first European championships title. I wasn’t here in 2017 or 2016. So this makes it that much better. There’s still a lot of work to do until Tokyo.”

Magdalena Lobnig, Austria, silver
“It means a lot to be on the podium today. I haven’t been well and therefore couldn’t train, so it’s really great to get the silver medal.”

Diana Dymchenko, Ukraine, bronze
“I’m very happy! It’s great competition out there, the girls are really strong. I’m really happy with the result that I got.”

Re-watch the race here

B-final

From the repechage it looked like Lina Saltyte-Masilionis of Lithuania looked to be the sculler to beat. All three boats got away together at a very high rating. Saltyte-Masilionis moved at the best pace and was able to drop her stroke rate to 31 as she made it look easy on this 2000m rowing course. The Lithuanian then managed to push away from the field with Israel following in second. The race turned into a procession with Lithuania way out in front.

Results: LTU, ISR, LAT

Re-watch the race here