Women’s Four (W4-) – Final

A–Final

Coming through from the semifinals the United States had not only recorded the fastest time but they had beaten the reigning World Champions, Australia. First to show and first through the 500m mark was the United States new line up for 2018, Wanamaker, Boxberger, Bruggeman and Reelick. Denmark, who had won their semifinal two days ago, followed closely in second. The United States then tried to shake off Denmark and the US did a push. Denmark then realised they had more to contend with. At the half way point both Australia and Poland were moving with the Danes.

With the US still in the lead, Australia began to move. Goodman, Hawe, Werry and Stephan were going after the gold medal and trying to close on the US. This put the Australians into second with the sprint to the line now on. The US went to 39 with Australia at 41 and Russia flying down the outside at 41. The US had won with just 0.27 of a second separating Australia and Russia. Australia had narrowly held on to silver.

Results: USA, AUS, RUS, DEN, POL, CHN

Erin Reelick (s), United States of America, gold
“Great race today! We came in just trying to improve from our semi-final and heats performance. Really tough race today but we just stuck to the plan. We were aggressive from the start and so nice to see the result. Hopefully this is a stepping stone to 2020.”

Lucy Stephan (b), Australia, silver
“This is definitely a step up from last year so overall it has been a positive season. It’s great to have this event back at the World Championships as I raced this at the Under 23s and I’ve always loved this boat class.”

Ekaterina Postapova, Russia, bronze
“We really wanted a medal today and we were hoping for a step up from our bronze last year. Next year we definitely want silver or gold. We had a slow start but at the end we found our speed and gave it everything.”

Re-watch the race here

B-final

This boat class has really grown ever since it became an Olympic event and this b-final indicated how the quality had grown. Leading at the start was Italy. But they were soon overtaken by Great Britain who managed to extend their leading position through the middle of the race. Once in the lead the British stayed there right to the line.

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