Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Final

A–Final

The reigning World Champions, the Netherlands has had one crew change from their 2017 boat. They haven’t had such a good 2018 season so far and they sat in an outside lane. They had a very good start but it was Poland that led the field through the first 500m mark. The Olympic Champions, Germany snuck into second with the Dutch in third. Germany has spent the season trying different line-ups and settled with Arnold, Nwajide, Kampmann and Haemmerling. Still in front going through the second 500 was Poland’s Kobus, Wieliczko, Springwald and Zillmann. Poland took gold at the European Championships and they continued to lead with the Dutch and Germans remaining as the closest challengers.

Coming into the final sprint the Dutch did a push and got ahead of Germany but they had a way to go to catch the Poles. China was now moving and they had got ahead of Germany. The Germans were fighting back at a 40 stroke rate. Poland went to 38, the Dutch to 39 and China to 46. Poland had won. Just half a second separated the next three boats. China had only just missed out on a medal. Poland had recorded a time just two seconds outside of a World Best Time.

Results: POL, GER, NED, CHN, GBR, USA

Katarzyna Zillmann (s), Poland, gold
“It’s a dream come true! The European and now the World Championships, it’s an amazing season. We’d love to go to the Olympics and to win there would be perfect.”

Marie-Catherine Arnold (b), Germany, silver
“When I crossed the line, I had no idea, I thought we came third. From the 1000 meters it was only more, more, more. The Polish have just been better this whole week so we are happy with what we have accomplished.”

Nicole Beukers (s), Netherlands, bronze
“This was the perfect race for us, so bronze medal is the crown. Olivia was really sharp to see everyone else’s moves so we could react to that. When we crossed the finish line I had no idea what we got. We broke the Dutch record.

Re-watch the race here

B-final

Stroked by the very accomplished Olympia Aldersey, Australia led the way at the start. Australia medalled during the World Cup series and they had a slight edge over Ukraine. These two crews paced each other through the middle of the race before Australia showed its superior stamina and pushed away from the Ukrainians. Belarus and Ukraine crossed the line in almost identical times – right behind Australia.

Results: AUS, BLR, UKR, ROU, RUS, ITA