Men’s Pair (M2-) – Final

A–Final

Coming through from the semifinals it looked like the European Champions, Martin and Valent Sinkovic of Croatia would be the crew to beat. They scored the fastest qualifying time and in their second year of being in the pair the former Olympic Champions from the double looked like they had what it would take. The Sinkovics were the first to show a the start and they managed to have nearly a boat length lead around the 600m mark. Behind them only a second separated the other five boats with France’s Valentin and Theophile Onfroy just ahead. Then New Zealand’s Thomas Murray and Michael Brake moved into a piece and got their boat a fraction ahead of the Onfroys.

Meanwhile the Sinkovics went through the middle of the race with a very handy lead. But only half the race had gone by and Romania was now making a move. The Kiwis were at 41 with France and Romania pulling them back in. Romania’s Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa had got their bow ball into second. Rating 38 the Sinkovics continued to lead. Romania went to 42 with France at 43. The Sinkovics had become the World Champions with Cozmiuc and Tudosa taking silver ahead of the Onfroy brothers.

Results: CRO, ROU, FRA, CAN, NZL, ESP

Valent Sinkovic (s), Croatia, gold
“This feels like winning for the first time. The race felt perfect and at the 1000 meters it felt we could get the gold.”

Ciprian Tudosa (s), Romania, silver
“Very good race. We’re feeling happy with the result. The Sinkovic brothers are still more experienced than us. We had some good speed today and that was our best race this year.”

Theophile Onfroy (s), France, bronze
“Today we fought to the end and we gave everything! We raced very efficiently and that’s what got us the medal today.”

Re-watch the race here

B-final

South Africa took a blistering start and they were still at 44 strokes per minute with 250m rowed. Great Britain and Serbia had been the fastest qualifiers from the semis and they were yet to show in today’s race. The Czech Republic, who at every World Cup this season, then pulled into first with the British coming after them. Lukas Helesic and Jakub Podrazil of the Czech Republic held off every challenge to finish first.

Results: CZE, GBR, SRB, RSA, BLR, HUN