Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Finals

A-Final 

At the start it was Great Britain and Poland moving the quickest. Poland won at World Rowing Cup II with the British finishing fifth at that regatta. The wind was a little less for this race as Germany then picked up the pace. Germany are the Olympic Champions and they have retained to members of that Olympic crew. Gruhne, Appel, Piontek and Schulze of Germany got to the first 500m marker in the lead with Poland in hot pursuit. Poland then nudged ahead of Germany with the Netherlands moving with these two leaders. The Dutch are the 2019 European Champions. Behind these three leaders a line had formed between Australia, Great Britain and Russia.

Poland then increased their edge with the Dutch moving ahead of Germany as the final sprint came into view. Poland went to 40, the Netherlands and Germany were both at 42. Poland had won. The crowd was going wild as the Dutch and Germans went to a photo finish. Germany had nabbed silver by 0.09 of a second.

Results: POL, GER, NED, AUS, RUS, GBR

Wiktor Chabel, Poland, Gold
“We wanted to win and thought we would do well here. During the race, our strategy was to be first from the start and then we attacked at 1000 meters but it didn’t go to plan as the Germans and Dutch were prepared but throughout the course, we were able to defend our position. We’ll do some altitude training and prepare for the World Rowing Championships.”

Hans Gruhne (s), Germany, Silver,
“It was a tough race because of the head-wind. The field was really close at the 1000 meter mark. I thought we were behind the Polish and the Dutch and so we tried to stay with them but then I looked over and we were second. We’ve only had two weeks preparation in this line-up and we had our first two races here. We had no idea where we’d be with the rest of the field but this is a great result and hopefully, we’ll stay in this line-up for the World Rowing Championships.”

Dirk Uittenbogaard (b), Netherlands, Bronze
“The race was difficult and we saw from the earlier racing that there would be quite a lot of waves but thankfully it was a bit flatter for us. It was really good competition today and congratulations to the others. We’re currently testing a lot of things for our boat towards Tokyo 2020. This is the second time I’m rowing in front of a Dutch crowd and so it’s a really special feeling.”

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

From yesterday’s repechage New Zealand had the fastest time and they came out in third today. Instead it was Norway in the lead featuring the amazing Olaf Tufte on stroke seat. Tufte, 43, is going for another Olympic Games. This time in a team boat. China was in second and this order stayed the same through the middle of the race. Norway had won with New Zealand sprinting through to second.

Results: NOR, NZL, CHN, EST, FRA