21 Nov 2016
The year that was … lightweight women’s double sculls
Highlight: Paulis and Head pushing past the Danes to set a new World Best Time in the final at World Rowing Cup III. The new time is now set at 6:47.69. Paulis and Head also have the World Best Time in the lightweight women’s quad.
Surprise: The British duo of Katherine Copeland and Charlotte Taylor. Copeland came to Rio as the defending Olympic Champion, but could only manage 14th overall when the Rio Olympics came around. The World Champion New Zealand crew of Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie had a roller-coaster season that ended in a fourth-place finish at the Olympics.
Quote: “My body is in shock, in every way from a 2k race and from being on an Olympic podium, which is 12 years in the making. It’s surreal and the purest form of happy.” – Lindsay Jennerich (CAN), after winning Olympic silver
Photo pick:
[PHOTO src=”126447″ size=”mediumLandscape” align=”right”]
Video: Re-watch the 2016 World Rowing Cup III
You can also watch the Olympic final here (this may be blocked in your country due to rights restrictions): https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/sports/rowing/
2016 in review:
The most important show of the year was, of course, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the lightweight women’s double did not make it easy with the season not really revealing any outright favourite to win. The two-time reigning World Champions, New Zealand had been having a rather average season and throughout the year all sorts of crews had displayed a winning edge.
But the biggest indicator of who would do well come Rio racing turned out to be the World Rowing Cup series. The first World Rowing Cup had been won by China’s Wenyi Huang and Feihong Pan. Then Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee won World Rowing Cup II. The Third World Rowing Cup went to the Dutch crew of Maaike Head and Ilse Paulis. These three crews turned out to be the three Olympic medallists.
Paulis and Head were the success story of the season. The duo had a 2015 season marred by injury which saw them finish 14th at the World Rowing Championships. They came back in 2016 to take gold at the European Rowing Championships, followed by a win at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. Then another win at World Rowing Cup III with a World Best Time to match. They were on fire by the time Rio came around. Jennerich and Obee scored silver and also scored the only Olympic rowing medal for Canada. Huang and Pan came third with Huang picking up her second Olympic medal.