A thrilling victory for the men’s eight completed a hat-trick of gold medals for the GB Rowing Team on the final day of action at the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne.
Joshua Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Morgan Bolding, Mo Sbihi, Charles Elwes, Thomas George, James Rudkin and Thomas Ford left it all out on the water as they pipped rivals Germany.
Led by cox Henry Fieldman, the GB prevailed on the final stroke to finish top of the podium in 05:24.26 as Germany crossed in 05:24.29 and the Netherlands took third (05:31.12).
That triumph in the men’s eight rounded off a successful day for GB, who finished top of the medal table, with a dominant performance from the men’s four also securing gold.
Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs, Sholto Carnegie and Oli Cook laid down a huge marker in what is likely to be their final race before Tokyo 2020 as they claimed gold in sensational style.
The quartet backed up their comprehensive performance in the heats by opening up a clear lead in the final before hammering home their advantage to win in 05:53.73.
South Africa were their nearest rivals, taking silver in 05:57.21, while Romania completed the podium in 05:58.19 but neither looked like troubling the reigning European champions.
But the men’s four were not the only GB rowers to top the podium, with Emily Craig and Imogen Grant also claiming gold in the lightweight women’s double in 07:00.33.
The pairing pulled away from the rest of the field with a storming third 500m to secure victory, with Romania finishing second (07:02.09) and France taking third (07:03.29).
There was also a silver medal for the women’s four of Rowan McKellar, Harriet Taylor, Caragh McMurtry and Rebecca Shorten, crossing the finish line in 06:34.57.
Only the Netherlands separated the GB quartet from the top of the podium, with the Dutch team finishing in 06:30.24 to claim the gold medal in a hard-fought final.
Meanwhile, the men’s quadruple sculls also finished on the podium as Jack Beaumont, Thomas Elliot Barras, Angus Groom and Harry Leask secured a bronze medal.
Elsewhere, the men’s pair of Matthew Tarrant and Oli Wilkes finished fourth in their final while John Collins and Graeme Thomas missed out on the podium by just 0.3 seconds.
Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Vicky Thornley had to settle for fifth place in the final of the women’s single sculls, with Russian Hanna Prakhatsen taking the gold medal.
Sportsbeat 2021