No Products in the Cart
Poznan, Poland was lit up from the 21st – 23rd of June as the Australian Rowing Team wrapped up its first World Cup of the season. The team which finished the weekend with four gold, three silver and four bronze medals saw itself top the medal table for the first time in a European competition and top the points table.
The Sunday’s finals saw the team claim gold in the Women’s Eight, Men’s Four and Men’s Pair, Silver in the PR1 Men’s Single Scull, Women’s Pair and Men’s Quadruple Scull and bronze in the Women’s Four, Women’s Double Scull and Lightweight Men’s Double Scull. This was in addition to Saturday’s medals of gold and bronze won respectively by the Lightweight Men’s and Women’s Single Scullers.
The Sunday which saw Australia facing some challenging conditions which included a head wind on Lake Malta as they competed in 12 A-Finals. The Women’s Eight took on the current World Champions, the United States, who had already set the fastest time in qualifying and were the team to beat. The final started as an even affair until the Australians took the lead at the 500-metre mark. By the halfway point Australia was now almost a boats length ahead of the United States in second with the Great Britain in third. The Aussies maintained this lead and took the win with a stroke rate of 39. The United States finished second with Great Britain holding third.
The new Men’s Pair combination of Alexander Hill and Joshua Booth set an impressive first finals appearance as they led for the entire race. The guys set a solid pace of 40 for most of the race which saw them win with ease.
The Men’s Four which saw a new group in Timothy Masters, Nicholas Purnell, Jack Hargreaves and Jack O’Brien take a dominate win. The crew set a flying pace from the start with hometown favourites Poland hot on their heels. The Australian’s however were too good for the rest of the crews as they took the win in 6 minutes 16 seconds.
The Lightweight Men’s Single Scull of Sean Murphy saw the youngster step up into senior racing with ease as he won gold. Murphy faced stiff competition from European Champion Peter Galambos of Hungary and hometown favourite, Poland’s Artur Mikolajczewski but showed that he had what it takes to deliver on the senior level. The Australian team now prepares for World Cup III in Rotterdam, Netherlands starting on the 12th July.
