Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Finals

A-Final

From yesterday’s semifinals Norway had the fastest time. Today they were up against European Champions, Germany’s Jonathan Rommelmann and Jason Osborne. But it was Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy who shot out the quickest. McCarthy comes from under-23 racing and joins O’Donovan for the first time at this regatta. Australia followed very closely in second. Behind them Norway and Germany were neck and neck for the bronze medal spot. Germany then began to move and they took Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway with them.

Strandli and Brun must be the most experienced crew in this race having been together for more than a decade. O’Donovan and McCarthy remained in the lead with Norway now pushing ahead of Australia and into second. Germany followed suit and got into third. It was a three-boat fight for the line. In a photo finish Germany had won by 0.03 of a second. Ireland was second with Norway in third.

Results: GER1, IRL. NOR, BEL, NZL, AUS

Jonathan Rommelmann (b), Germany, Gold,
“This means so much to us it’s hard to put it into words. We’re a new double and so far we have won all of our races which is not what we were expecting or anyone else.”

Paul O’Donovan (s), Ireland, Silver,
“That was a very good race! We had a good middle pace so we’ll see what we can do with two weeks of training before the next race.”

Kristoffer Brun (b), Norway, Bronze,
“It was quite difficult as we had a bad start and came out last. I think we were then a couple of lengths behind but we managed to come to a good rhyme and we then came into the race. We didn’t quite have the finish we wanted but it’s still a good starting point to work towards the World Rowing Championships.”

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

Slovakia was the fastest to the first 500m mark after France took off at a cracking pace. From yesterday’s semifinals China had the fastest time of these crews and they were sitting in fourth. Slovakia’s Marek Reznak and Peter Zelinka continued to hold a slight lead. Then France and Portugal 1 came flying. In a photo finish France had won. Olympic Champion Pierre Houin is stepping up with new partner, Hugo Beurey.

Results: FRA, POR1, SVK, GBR2, CHN, CZE