Women's Single Sculls (W1x) - Final

This was the first time for Kim Brennan of Australia and Emma Twigg of New Zealand to race each other since 2014 when Twigg became a World Champion. Since then Twigg had taken a break while Brennan went on to become the 2015 World Champion. The two scullers won their respective semifinals with Brennan recording the faster time. Early in the race Magdalena Lobnig of Austria got going the quickest. Lobnig was recently crowned the European Champion.

At the 500m mark Brennan had really stamped her authority and taken the lead. Denmark’s Fie Udby Erichsen followed the closest in second with Lisa Scheenaard of the Netherlands in a very close third. Twigg looked to be forming a more strategic race. Going through the middle of the race, Brennan held the lead over a field that was rather closely bunched. Any of the five other scullers were in striking distance of Brennan.

Brennan then broke away going through the third 500m with Twigg in second but with serious work to do to catch Brennan. The final sprint was now in view and the real battle was going on for the bronze medal. Four boats could do it. Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland earned the bronze. Brennan’s time of 7:15 was just one second outside of the World Cup Best Time.

Results: AUS, NZL, SUI, NED1, AUT, DEN

Kimberley Brennan, Australia, gold
“I went into this race without any expectations because it has been a while since I have raced Erichsen and Twigg. This is just one of the steps towards Rio, no one is going to play their cards here.”

Emma Twigg, New Zealand, silver
“Four finallists from Lucerne were missing here. It will be a very interesting race in Rio with at least 4-5 candidates for medals. Even getting into the A-final could be tricky. Normally the second half is the better half for me, so I thought maybe I could move on Kim, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”

Jeannine Gmelin, Switzerland, bronze
“I didn’t even realise where I was in the field because I was trying to get back into the centre of my lane. I thought about doing my best final burst. For Rio I will try to do the best race that I can. It is always important to have high aims, so I would be happy to get a place in the A-final there. I have really good memories of Poznan because last year I won my first international medal here.”

B-final

The six-time Olympian, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus was in the middle lane after just missing out on the A-final in yesterday’s semifinal. Today Karsten took the lead and by the half way point she had built up nearly a boat length lead over Diana Dymchenko of Ukraine. Then Karsten showed her pedigree and moved clean away from the entire field. Karsten crossed the line in a time of 7:31.

Results: BLR, UKR, BER, NOR, NZL2, CZE