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A-Final

The Dutch had the fastest time coming through from the semifinals and today they met winner of the other semifinal – Great Britain. The race opened with Germany having the fastest time at the start, but then Ukraine and then the Netherlands took over. Just two seconds separated the entire field at the 500m mark. There was a lot of racing to come. The Dutch was moving at the fastest pace and by the middle of the race they had a half boat length over Italy and Great Britain who were neck-and-neck in second. This Dutch boat is the priority boat for the Dutch team and so selectors are putting their top rowers into this boat.

The Netherlands continued to move away as Great Britain got the edge over Italy with Germany back in fourth. The British went to 39, the Dutch responded with 40, so Great Britain went to 40. The Dutch had won with clear water. Italy overtook Great Britain to take silver. The Dutch had set a new European Best Time of 5:35.75.

Results: NED, ITA, GBR, GER, NOR, UKR

Abe Wiersma, Netherlands, Gold
“Yesterday was really good so today we were expected a good race. Our start was good. Our coach Simone said that we might be a boat behind which encourages Us to push even harder today and give extra effort.”

Filippo Mondelli (b), Italy, Silver
“We went to win today. We did our best but it wasn’t enough. We think that with some training we can improve for world champs

Peter Lambert (s), Great Britain, Bronze

“That was a tough race as it was our first regatta together so I think we can be happy with the result. We’ve built a lot since our training camp and looking forward to more racing in the future.”

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B-final

Poland had the fastest time from the semifinals leading into this B-final and they led the field through the middle of the race. The Poles held 37 strokes per minute to stay in front of Russia and Estonia who were going head-to-head for second.

Results: POL, EST, FRA, RUS, LTU, SUI