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The World and Olympic Champions, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain got away quickly in the style that they are used to. This duo has remained unbeaten since 2012 and their usual scenario is to lead from start to finish in dominating style. Coming into the middle of the race New Zealand was sticking to Glover and Stanning. Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent were not letting the British get away. With 500m left to row there was just one second separating these two boats. Both crews moved into the sprint. The British got there first and the Kiwi push helped them set a new World Cup Best Time. The new time is 6:52.79.

Results: GBR, NZL1, ROU, DEN, GER, NZL2

Helen Glover (b), Great Britain, gold
“We don’t have our Olympic base yet because we still have more work to do. We just wanted to race a neutral race, without too many bells and whistles. Next up we will practice on more sprints and changes of pace.”

Rebecca Scown (s), New Zealand, silver
“We feel good about the race, we are still building up to Rio. We still have a few weeks until then, so it is good to come here and race. I love racing in Poland, the last time I was here was in 2009 and I was really excited to come back. It’s nice that the sun came out today.”

Madalina Beres (b), Romania, bronze
“It was a good race, but we’re still going to do a lot more training before Rio. We will also compete in some local races in Romania as preparation.”

B-final

Poland made the most of the home crowd advantage and got away very quickly pushing away from France in second. The Wierzbowska sisters of Poland continued to stay in the lead and held a 35 stroke rate towards the end. France and Great Britain went into the low 40s at the end and took the race to a photo finish. Just 0.02 of a second separated them.

Results: POL, GBR, FRA, BLR, NED, NOR