Men’s Four (M4-) – Final

A–Final

There is no doubting the dominance of the reigning World Champions, Australia. They have kept the same crew of Hicks, Turrin, Hargreaves and Hill who took gold in 2017 to be the most consistent crew lining up today. Next to them was last year’s silver medallists, Italy who have had some crew changes since 2017. First to show was Romania. This under-23 crew won at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships and then became the European Champions. Then pushing ahead of Romania was Australia. The Australians had come out at 50 strokes per minute and maintained their high rating.

Australia crossed the half way point in the lead with a virtual line forming behind them between the remaining crews. From second to sixth only two seconds covered the field. Then Italy did a huge push and got ahead of the Netherlands and tried to close on Australia. But the Australians were flying. What could Italy do? The answer was rate high. Italy went to 46 then 48. Australia was looking despirate and had to go from 41 to 43. With every stroke Italy was coming. The finish line came too soon for them. The World Champions had protected their title by just 0.25 of a second. But the happiest crew was Great Britain. They had taken third and after an average season had really proved themselves.

Results: AUS, ITA, GBR, NED, ROU, GER

Jack Hargreaves, Australia, gold
“It was a pretty good race, we weren’t too happy with the heats but we stepped up through the regatta. Good work to the other crews who pushed us to the end.”

Bruno Rosetti, Italy, silver
“We tried everything we could to stay with the others. We are Italian and we row with our heart. In the final you have nothing to lose so you just empty the tank.”

James Johnston (s), Great Britain, bronze
“Today was about addressing some of our weaknesses. We showed a lot of guts and determination. It was a great performance to come away with a medal.”

Re-watch the race here

B-final

Poland performed the race of their regatta coming out in the lead at the start and holding it right through to the finish. This was despite challenges from Belarus, the Czech and South Africa. What a close finish! With Poland winning in a time of 5:50 the next three crews were split by just half a second.

Results: POL, BLR, CZE, RSA, SUI, UKR