Lightweight Women's Double Sculls (LW2x) - Final

The Dutch and the Irish earned a direct path to today’s final so they were able to take a rest from racing yesterday. The World Champions New Zealand suffered from a boat-stopping crab in their heat and had to race in the repechage to make it to today’s final. At the start Poland used a very low stroke rate to get going. This put them down a bit, but all boats were still very close together. Denmark’s AnneLolk Thomsen and Juliane Rasmussen then did a push to propel themselves into the lead with the Netherlands the closest threat. Maaike Head and Ilse Paulis of the Netherlands raced recently at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and they earned a place in Rio.

Coming through to the final sprint the Dutch had found the lead with New Zealand’s Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie taking their stroke rate up and moving on Denmark. Thomsen and Rasmussen, though, have a great sprint and they were repelling the Kiwi charge. Head and Paulis crossed the line first and their time of 6:47.69 was a new World Best Time and World Cup Best Time. Denmark held on to second with New Zealand in third.

Results: NED1, DEN, NZL, IRL, POL, ITA

Ilse Paulis (b), Netherlands, gold
“The race felt super easy and comfortable. We just followed our plan and it seems to be working so far. This is just a great feeling that will give us a lot of confidence for Rio.”

Anne Lolk Thomsen (b), Denmark, silver
“We were very fast jumping off the start because we just wanted to go out with the rest of the field. The first 1000m was a very solid row because we knew the Dutch were very fast in the 3^rd 500m, we decided to put a big push in. This is a great result for us, we are very pleased.”

Julia Edward (s), New Zealand, bronze
“We had a rough start to the regatta, crabbing in the heat, but this race was quite good. In the next few weeks the New Zealand team will split. One half goes to Switzerland, the other to Slovenia. We will just be training together and racing each other.”

B-final

An equipment breakage had this race delayed. When they got away at the end of the B-final segment, the Netherlands second crew of Kraak and Schonk had the lead. Switzerland chased hard, but the Dutch remained in the lead.

Results: NED2, SUI, BRA, HKG, TUN