The men's quad is the focus of today’s review of the 2013 season.

Germany, the reigning Olympic Champions came into the 2013 season with one change to their crew – two seat Philipp Wende. Wende had decided to focus more on his career and this left a gap for the addition of Paul Heinrich, a young rower from the under-23 men’s pair.

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Croatia’s David Sain (b), Martin Sinkovic, Damir Martin and Valent Sinkovic (s) celebrate their victory in the A-final of the men’s quadruple sculls at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, Korea.

The Croatians, on the other hand, retained their silver medal line-up from the London 2012 Olympic Games. After an epic battle between these two crews in the lead-up to the 2012 Games, silver medallists Croatia saw 2013 as their opportunity to take back the title.

The crews first raced each other in 2013 back on the London Olympic Regatta Course at the second Samsung World Rowing Cup in Eton Dorney, Great Britain and Croatia made their mark. The crew of Damir Martin, David Sain and Valent and Martin Sinkovic were first off the start line. They then proceeded to increase their lead over the German boat through to the finish line to take home the gold medal. Estonia held off a challenging field to take third.

The third World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland showed no surprises. Croatia once again proved they were faster than Germany, who finished second with Estonia again in third.

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The Croatian and German men’s quadruple sculls celebrate after the medal ceremony at the 2013 World Rowing Championships.

At the World Championships the heats went as expected. Germany and Croatia won their respective races and progressed to the semifinals. The two crews then clocked almost identical times in their respective semifinals. Everyone was sure of one thing, the final would be close.

“I think we had a 50/50 chance. It’s usually like this with the Croatians,” said Germany’s Tim Grohmann. On the day of the final, the Croatian boat powered off the start, edging out to a one second lead over the Germans in the first 500 metres. But the Germans were relentless, they pushed back, trying to get their bow ball into the leading position. Coming into the last 500 metres all of the crews remained close together, desperately trying to get across the finish line first. Despite the German effort Croatia held their one second lead through the finish line to become 2013 World Rowing Champions. Great Britain took the bronze.

“We planned to get ahead of the rest, but not at any cost. We took a commanding lead at 500 metres and it was easier for us after that. We really drained all our reserves, but saved enough energy to hold the challengers in the last 200 metres,” said Croatia's David Sain after the race.

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Croatia, Germany, Great Britain and Estonia cross the finish line at the 2013 World Rowing Championships.

The 2013 season put the Croatians back on top, will they be able to leverage this momentum through next season, or will another crew dare to test their speed?