Print

Mail

wiki links

Men's eight rowing championship goes to American team

The US won gold in the men's eight yesterday, one of three medals for American rowers on the final day of the World Rowing Championships.

Led by coxswain Marcus McElhenney, the US crew clocked a time of 5 minutes, 22.75 seconds at the Nagaragawa Regatta Course to finish 1.26 seconds ahead of Italy. Germany took the bronze medal with a time of 5:25.66 seconds.

"Going in, we knew we had the best boat and we just had to execute," said Bryan Volpenhein. "Our goal was to get out and get as much in front of the field as we could."

The US crew, which won gold at the Athens Olympics, grabbed the early lead in the race and then held on over the last 500m, inching away from the Italians.

In the women's lightweight double sculls, the German pair of Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger clocked a time of 6:48.47 to beat out Julie Nichols and Renee Hykel of the US by just 0.30 seconds. Finland took the bronze medal with a time of 6:49.02.

"It was really tight across the lanes and I knew we had to make our move over the last 500m," said Hykel. "We just went and threw everything we had at them."

The US also won the silver medal in the men's four with coxswain where Troy Kepper, Matthew Hughes, Patrick Sullivan, Brett Newlin and McElhenney finished a half-length behind France, which won the gold with a time of 6:02.42.

Canada took the gold medal in the women's lightweight quadruple sculls where Tracy Cameron, Mara Jones, Elizabeth Urbach and Melanie Kok posted a time of 6:19.87. Denmark took the silver with a time of 6:20.69 while Britain finished third in 6:22.49.

Britain captured the gold medal in the women's quadruple sculls with Rebecca Romero, Sarah Winckless, Frances Houghton and Katherine Grainger crossing the finish line in 6:09.49, ahead of second-place Germany and Russia.

In the men's lightweight pair, Bo Helleberg and Thomas Ebert of Denmark captured the gold with a time of 6:22.59. Miguel Cerda Silva and Felipe Leal Atero of Chile were second with a time of 6:23.31. Italians Salvatore Amitrano and Catello Amarante were third in 6:25.63.

Australia won the women's eight with a time of 5:58.10, one second ahead of Romania. Netherlands finished third with a time of 5:59.61.

Poland won the men's quadruple sculls, with Slovenia taking silver and Estonia bronze.

Before Saturday's races, rowing's governing body FISA ruled that race times recorded on the Nagaragawa course will not be considered as world best times as there is a significant water mass flow. All world best times recorded in this event were nullified.
This story has been viewed 1573 times.