Men’s Single Sculls
Mahé Drysdale (New Zealand) was comfortably the fastest in the preliminary rounds. The times improved in the quarter-finals as most rowers went under seven minutes but it was Damir Martin (Croatia) who was fastest. The semi-finals saw the main contenders all make the final, with Alan Campbell (Great Britain) and Juan Carlos Cabrera (Mexico) just missing out. Martin took the early lead in the final but Drysdale pulled back and led into the last section. However, Martin was not done and fought his way back into it. They crossed the line almost simultaneously and Martin was announced as the winner on television. Eventually, Drysdale was declared as the winner, by the smallest margin of five-thousandths of a second.
🥇Mahé Drysdale 🇳🇿
🥈Damir Martin 🇭🇷
🥉Ondrej Synek 🇨🇿
Men’s Double Sculls
The preliminary rounds were tight with some close races but the fastest time went to Griskonis/Ritter (Lithuania). They also won semi-final B but in a slower time than the first semi-final which was headed by Sinkovic/Sinkovic (Croatia). Borch/Tufte (Norway) started fastest but were soon overtaken by the two favourites. At halfway the Sinkovic brothers had an advantage of 0.23 seconds over Griskonis/Ritter. The Lithuanian pair would take over the lead with 800m to go but never extended the lead to over a second and were eventually pulled back by the brothers.
🥇Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic 🇭🇷
🥈Mindaugas Griskonis/Saulius Ritter 🇱🇹
🥉Kjetil Borch/Olaf Tufte 🇳🇴
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
The shocks came early in the quad sculls. Germany could only make third in the first heat, sending them to the repechage rather than straight through to the final. The fastest time came from Australia but seven teams were within three seconds. Germany would come through the repechage, along with Great Britain to make the final. In the final, Germany looked to make all and headed out hard. It was a strategy that prevailed as they held on to take a well-earned gold medal. Behind them were the Australians who had been the only team to somewhat stay with the gold medalists and Estonia who improved on their fourth from 2012.
🥇Germany 🇩🇪
🥈Australia 🇦🇺
🥉Estonia 🇪🇪
Men’s Coxless Pair
The heats were controversial as they were undertaken in poor conditions, with many rowers believing it should have been called off. Vasic/Bedik (Serbia), who were seen as contenders, capsized but were allowed to return in the repechage. They eventually lost out in the semi-finals, whilst Murray/Bond (New Zealand) showed themselves to be favourites by going fastest in the semi-finals. They weren’t the fastest starters in the final as Brittain/Keeling (South Africa) led. As always though, they kept their stroke rate high whilst others fell and by halfway had the lead. It soon became a battle for the places behind them.
🥇Eric Murray/Hamish Bond 🇳🇿
🥈Lawrence Brittain/Shaun Keeling 🇿🇦
🥉Giovanni Abagnale/Marco Di Costanzo 🇮🇹
Men’s Coxless Fours
Australia was the quickest in the heats, slightly ahead of Great Britain. The same two nations took victories in the semi-finals, once again Australia was faster. In the final, Britain got off to the better start but at halfway the gap was only 0.22 seconds. Britain entered the race having won the last four Olympic golds and once they were in front at halfway there was no looking back. They pulled away from Australia and ended up winning by almost two seconds. The Italians had probably looked like the third-best team throughout and would beat South Africa to take the bronze.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈Australia 🇦🇺
🥉Italy 🇮🇹
Men’s Coxed Eights
Germany and Great Britain were the two winners of the heats, making them the only two nations to go straight to the finals, as the others headed into the repechage round. The repechage saw the United States edge out the Netherlands. Great Britain once again went out hard and had an advantage of two seconds by halfway. Although Germany closed it, it was not enough and Britain would claim another gold. Behind them, the Netherlands reversed form with the United States.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈Germany 🇩🇪
🥉Netherlands 🇳🇱
Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls
The fastest time in the heats came from the final one from Thompson/Smith (South Africa). They would win the second semi-final, but the fastest times came from the first which was won by Houin/Azou (France). In the final the French pair started well, with the Americans just behind, trying to win their first medal in the event. They would fall away though whilst the French pair maintained. The biggest battle came in the other medal positions as the O’Donovan brothers (Ireland) became Ireland’s first rowing medalists by winning silver, holding off Brun/Strandli (Norway).
🥇Pierre Houin/Jeremie Azou 🇫🇷
🥈Gary O’Donovan/Paul O’Donovan 🇮🇪
🥉Kristoffer Brun/Are Strandli 🇳🇴
Men’s Lightweight Quadruple Sculls
Denmark was the quickest in the heats by over three seconds with Italy and New Zealand winning the other heats. In the semis, Britain who was second fastest in the heats was knocked out. Italy was the fastest winning the first semi whilst Switzerland took the second. In the final, it was Switzerland who took the win by over a second ahead of Denmark. Behind them, France had established a gap to take bronze.
🥇Switzerland
🥈Denmark
🥉France
Women’s Single Sculls
The heats were slow due to the winds, and the best time came in the first heat. Most would have expected that it came from favourite Kim Brennan (Australia) but instead, she could only finish third and it was Kenia Lechuga (Mexico) who set the fastest time. The form reversed in the quarter-finals as Brennan set the fastest time. Once in the semi-finals, she won her semi-final, but the fastest came in the other race by Duan Jingli (China). In the final, Brennan got out quickly and was over three seconds ahead of Jingli by halfway. She would almost keep that gap over Jingli, but her closest competition came from Genevra Stone (United States) who would close the gap to just over a second. The bigger battle came for bronze as Jingli just about managed to keep Emma Twigg (New Zealand) at bay.
🥇Kim Brennan 🇦🇺
🥈Genevra Stone 🇺🇸
🥉Duan Jingli 🇨🇳
Women’s Double Sculls
The quickest heat came in the first one with Vistartaite/Valciukaite (Lithuania) edging Thornley/Grainger (Great Britain) and Lefebvre/Ravera-Scaramozzino (France). None of those teams managed to win a semi-final, instead, Nikolaidou/Asoumanaki (Greece) and Fularczyk-Kozlowska/Madaj (Poland) took the wins. The fancied pair of MacFarlane/Stevenson (New Zealand) missed out on the final by five-hundredths of a second. In the final, Great Britain took it out hard, leading Poland and Lithuania. Britain led through 1500m although Poland had gradually closed the gap and almost passed. Britain would fight back and hold on to the lead, but couldn’t repeat when Poland came with another surge near the line.
🥇Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowka/Natalia Madaj 🇵🇱
🥈Victoria Thornley/Katherine Grainger 🇬🇧
🥉Donata Vistartaite/Milda Valciukaite 🇱🇹
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
Ukraine and Germany both won heats, with the Netherlands coming through after winning the repechage. In the final, China lost touch early with Poland establishing a two-second lead by halfway. The favourites Germany though, would push the strike rate over the final stretch to overcome Poland, whilst the Netherlands also managed to pass them with a big surge.
🥇Germany 🇩🇪
🥈Netherlands 🇳🇱
🥉Poland 🇵🇱
Women’s Coxless Pair
Three teams qualified through the heats within 0.25 of each other, led by Stanning/Glover (Great Britain), coming back from behind Rasmussen/Andersen (Denmark). In the semi-finals, they were once against the fastest, beating the American pair of Mueller/Luczak (United States) into second. In the final, they took the lead from the start. By halfway they were over three seconds ahead of their nearest rivals. They never looked like being beat but the pair of Behrent/Scown (New Zealand) pulled back the lead slightly to win a surprising silver.
🥇Heather Stanning/Helen Glover 🇬🇧
🥈Genevieve Behrent/Rebecca Scown 🇳🇿
🥉Hedvig Rasmussen/Anne Andersen 🇩🇰
Women’s Coxed Eight
With seven teams entered, all but one would make the final. That team was Australia, missing out on the final. The two heat winners were Great Britain and the United States, who had the faster time. The United States, who were heavy favourites, were in third at halfway behind Canada and Netherlands. Over the next 500m, they accelerated into the lead. They ended up winning by over two and a half seconds. The pair who led at halfway faded backwards, with Great Britain and Romania improving into the medal positions.
🥇United States of America 🇺🇸
🥈Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥉Romania 🇷🇴
Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls
Paulis/Head (Netherlands) were the fastest in the heats, dipping under the seven-minute mark with Wenyi/Feihong (China), McCann/Grobler (South Africa) and Jennerich/Obee (Canada) winning the other heats. They were the fastest in the semi-final again, with the South African pair winning the other. In the final, the Chinese pair led the field out but were passed by the Canadian and South African pair with the Dutch pair hanging on the list. They would get the lead heading into the final stretch and win by over a second.
🥇Ilse Paulis/Maaike Head 🇳🇱
🥈Lindsay Jennerich/Patricia Obee 🇨🇦
🥉Huang Wenyi/Pan Feihong 🇨🇳
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