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A – Final

Italy and France have come directly to the final from the heats and they sat in the centre lanes. France had a slightly faster time in their heat and they got away the quickest. But it didn’t last long as the Dutch pushed through to the lead with Italy in hot pursuit. The margins remained tight with just two seconds separating the entire field. Italy then found the lead. The Italians have had a huge amount of success in this boat class over the years and they love to rate high and win. Now the real race was for silver and bronze. With Italy at 39, France was at 41 and the sprint was on. Turkey and France were practically neck-and-neck.

Italy had won as France overtook Turkey and tried to catch the Netherlands.

Results: ITA, NED, FRA, AUT, TUR, GER

Gabriel Soares (s), Italy, Gold 
“We’re feeling really good! It’s great to compete here, it’s beautiful on the Rotsee and it’s a great feeling to defend our win from last year.”

Bart Lukkes (s), Netherlands, Silver
“This is a great boat class, and all crews are on one level. You never know who is going to win, it’s such a tight field. We’ve had a limited time in this crew so we’ve enjoyed this. We know we have a fast start and a fast 1000m, so we did that and then just held on. Just close your eyes and go.”

Hugo Beurey, France, Bronze 
“That was a good race, it’s our first race back in this boat since the 2017 world champs. Last year we had a single and a double. We have a large lightweight group in France so it’s great to have a quad again. We know we have a great finish so our plan was to start fast and stay in the race and go for it the last 500m.”

Click here to see the full race