Old guard replaced in lightweight men's double

Missing from the boats in this event for the 2013 season was the London Olympic gold, silver and bronze medallists leaving the doors wide open for a new top dog. But the path to the top remained a mystery for the entire season as different contenders pushed forward at different times. 

 

Early in the season it looked as if France's Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou had the upper edge to be at the top. The duo finished unlucky fourth at the London Olympics and vowed to come back stronger in their push for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Delayre and Azou finished first at the European Rowing Championships and the Samsung World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. This meant that leading into the World Rowing Championships in Chungju, Korea, France looked to be the ones to beat. Tragedy, however, struck for the duo when Delayre suffered from a boat crash in his single that put him out for the season. Azou went on to race in the lightweight men's single at Chungju.

 

The door thus remained wide open in this event with the World Rowing Championships just around the corner. Olympic silver medallists from the lightweight four, Richard and Peter Chambers of Great Britain had taken a couple of medals through the season finishing second at the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Eton Dorney (GBR) and then taking bronze at the Lucerne World Cup. But they had been beaten by two new crews. Italy's Pietro Ruta and Andrea Micheletti and from Poland, Artur Mikolajczewski and Milosz Jankowski had both medalled at World Cups during the season with Mikolajczewski and Jankowski earning gold at the Eton Dorney World Cup.
 

Then at the World Rowing Championships, early rounds indicated that those expected to show through had done that with Switzerland's Mario Gyr and Simon Schuerch clocking the fastest time through the semifinals. Gyr and Schuerch, who had come to the double after racing in the Olympic lightweight four final in London, had kept their cards close to their chests all season. They raced to third at the European Rowing Championships in May with Schuerch then racing solo in the single at the Lucerne World Cup. 
 

The final at the World Rowing Championships opened with Italy flying off the line and holding the lead into the middle of the race using an ongoing high rating. Then Norway started to put the pressure on. Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway had finished second at the European Rowing Championships and also medalled at the Eton Dorney World Cup. They were no newcomers to the event with statistics showing them as one of the most experienced crews in the race. Brun and Strandli had been rowing together for the last five years including a ninth-place finish at the London Olympics. 
 

Looking cool, calm and collected Brun and Strandli took out the World Championship gold medal position with panache. They had put their best race together when it counted the most. Their win, along with the Norwegian men's double, helped earn their coach Johan Flodin the 2013 World Rowing Coach of the Year.  

 

Meanwhile Gyr and Schuerch came through to take second with the Chambers brothers earning third. Italy, in fourth, had done the hard work early on in the race but was unable to sustain it to the end.

In this race, time in the boat together had prevailed.