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is quite a well-known rugby stadium just over there. And we are heading | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
to Twickenham rowing club, one of the oldest on the River Thames, more | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
than 150 years old, to review the final regatta of the year. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
than 150 years old, to review the final regatta of What is unique | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
about Twickenham Rowing Club is that it is situated on a private island, | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
slap in the middle of the river between Twickenham on one side and | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Kingston on the other. We are here to consider what happened at | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
Lucerne, the final regatta of the year, before the World Championships | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
in August. COMMENTATOR: Greg Britain, get | :01:27. | :01:53. | |
bronze! Greg Britain pushing for silver! It is silver for Great | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
Britain. Helen Glover, Heather Stanning, they are back in style. | :02:00. | :02:07. | |
Fantastic, gold for Great Britain. Big statement, big, big statement | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
here to day. And there was some fantastic tick | :02:11. | :02:25. | |
rowing nearer to home last weekend, at the 175th Henley Regatta. Some | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
great victories for some we will be seeing in action at Lucerne later | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
on. Katherine Grainger is with us to reflect on all things rowing. In a | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
very congested part of the year, where does Henley sit for the elite | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
athletes? Henley Royal Regatta always sits in the second and third | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
World Cup, so it is a busy time of the for racing. But Jewish athletes | :02:55. | :03:01. | |
want to try to race there. Before we had London 2012, it was the biggest | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
thing people would ever experience. Two -lane racing, it is a different | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
intensity from the six lane internationals. The top athletes | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
want to do it. Who most impressed you in France, at Aiguebelette, | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
three weeks ago? Looking back to the last World Cup, when we saw the full | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
team, the women's pair is winning and winning very well. The men's | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
four have really set a different standard in that event. And the | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
men's squad are doing really well and providing the standards that we | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
are looking for. Also, seeing the women's double, seeing Imogen and | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
Kat, they put it right in. Aiguebelette So, it is an exciting | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
time. Are there individuals who are still competing for places in the | :03:59. | :04:06. | |
World Championships? Yes, one of the biggest ones you will probably see | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
would be things like the men's pair and the men's eight. They have been | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
shuffling around a bit in the last few weeks, but actually, they have | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
all done well. And there are different personalities coming | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
through in different roles, but that is one which is still in the mix. | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
Here is what we have got coming up for you over the next hour. We will | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
be hearing from Alex Gregory, Olympic, world and European | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
champion. There is no compensation is in this boat. We got in on the | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
first day and it went quite well. It was pretty balanced, which is a good | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
start for a boat. Glover and Stanning are back, and they mean | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
business. Unbeaten to Rio, that is the aim. We want to have a massive | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
trajectory of improvement. Will Satch tells us that for this group, | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
there really is just one target for the season. We will just be trying | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
to go there and hit it from the word go, as always. Starting off with the | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
main, at the heart of the boat, Alex Gregory, world, Olympic and European | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
champion, and fit aureus at Henley last week as well. | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
It was a good race for us, and to but a good lightweight French crew | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
on top of that is a bonus, in front of our home crowd. This is near | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
enough my hometown, we get so few chances to race in Britain, this is | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
quite special for us. There is no complete and is in this boat. We got | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
in on the first day and it went quite well. It was pretty balanced, | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
which is a good start for a boat. We all see it pretty much the same way, | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
and it makes life a lot easier. I am not saying it has to be like that, | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
and we will still develop as a cruel and have differing opinions, but | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
there is a good feeling between the four of us. The winter is not a | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
pleasant time, but if you get the training right and put in the good | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
performances, almost you can relax a bit in the summer. If you enable | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
yourself to relax in the summer, you perform better. I am confident with | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
what we COMMENTATOR: Great Britain are making it look | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
very easy. I am not surprised the boat has gone | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
well from the start. The three guys I am rowing with our quality | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
athletes. We are all fit, healthy, consistent in what we have been | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
doing, so in one way, I am not surprised to. In another way, it is | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
a shock that we are so far ahead of the competition. I know that will | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
change, the World Championships. Kroos typically improve a huge | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
amount in the last few weeks, so we have to keep being motivated. There | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
is no confusion in what we are doing. It is really simple rowing, | :07:11. | :07:22. | |
and that is the way I like it. I have had good experiences in Lucerne | :07:23. | :07:42. | |
in the four. 2012, Olympic year, was not so good. But sometimes there is | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
not much you can do about it, other nations perhaps peek at different | :07:48. | :07:48. | |
times for top but no question, we are going out to win. I feel | :07:49. | :07:50. | |
confident that it is going to be difficult to beat us, unless we get | :07:51. | :07:51. | |
something wrong. At the moment I am really confident, really enjoying | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
it. COMMENTATOR: Great Britain, | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
undefeated this season in this new combination. They are in lane three. | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
And the Dutch are showing their consistency, they know how to get | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
themselves down the course as quick as possible, which is a shame Well, | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
It Is Not A Shame At All, They Are Not As Quick As The Brits! | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
Netherlands, The World Champions, Are In Lane Five. And the Czech | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
Republic are closest to us. Regardless of whatever boat, | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
whatever size, the Italians get out quick, as always. But look at the | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
power unleashed by Andy Hodge, backed up by George Nash. What a | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
fine he has been. Alex Gregory in the bow seat, easing out, and they | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
have already got a quarter of a length. Yes, and the Italians | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
traditionally will lay down what they have got at the start, but even | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
that is not enough to put the Brits out of their stride. What this | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
British crew has got, they have a very good combination of a natural | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
rhythm, but also very powerful. I think the best oarsmen in the boat | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
is Alex Gregory, and he is in the bow seat, so he can see what | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
everybody is doing. Mohammed Sidibe is incredibly strong. They are | :09:17. | :09:27. | |
basically front wheel drive. It is just working really well. 500 | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
metres, three quarters of a length, great written over the rest of the | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
world. Canada in second place. The world champions, Netherlands, | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
currently in the bronze medal position. Moving into the second | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
500. Expect the British four to move on again. They will find their | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
transition into their rhythm, but you will expect the power still to | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
be on, and just moving away. You're right, their speed in the second | :09:59. | :10:07. | |
503rd 500 is easy speed. It comes because they are very natural | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
together, so they are not wasting any energy. All of the energy is | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
going into the end of the oar. The Dutch crew last year did not | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
threaten apart from the last few hundred metres, so they are very | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
confident. I am sure they will come into second place. But this is where | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
the Brits, between 500 and 1000, this is where they are going to rip | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
the heart and guts out of the opposition. The rhythm, long and | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
loose, backed up by George Nash in the three seat. Up in lane one, | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
though, Canada. Three of this crew were 14th in the World Championships | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
last year. They have changed their stroke man, Langerfeld has come in. | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
Halfway now, in this final, the men's four. Great Britain have eased | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
out to a length in that second 500. The world champions remain in bronze | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
medal position. If you compare great written, they are a lot longer, | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
there is more fluidity coming forwards, around the finish, then | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
the Netherlands, who are the reigning world champions. If you | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
look at the tandem, which means two oars close together, between the two | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
and the number three man, they are very much together. The Brits will | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
look to have at least half a length of clear water by 1500 metres. That | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
is what they are going to take away to their training camp. | :11:47. | :11:48. | |
is what they are going to take away will be disappointed if they do not | :11:49. | :11:49. | |
have will be disappointed if they do not | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
that would mean other people were sticking with them. They want to not | :11:53. | :11:54. | |
just dominate this race, sticking with them. They want to not | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
want to rip the guts out of the other crews over the next six weeks. | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
You have been in this position with Juergen Gruber, the chief wizard of | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
all of this, ever since he has come over here! You are out, you are | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
clear, you are feeling good, the legs hurt, but you are still pushing | :12:14. | :12:24. | |
on? Yes. What he said to us before the race in Sydney, and now they | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
have come through 1500 metres, they have moved out incredibly well... | :12:33. | :12:43. | |
But what Juergen said to us, with Matt Pinsent and Steve Redgrave, we | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
had an incredibly fast first 500, and then often our speed would drop | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
and people would come back at us and then we would go again in the second | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
half. Whereas this crew have a quick first 500, AND keep going, which is | :12:58. | :13:05. | |
really annoying to race against, I can tell you! Canada, long and loose | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
on the far side, more powerful, rather than any technique. But they | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
are doing a great job, in the bronze medal position. But from the very | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
first stroke to the very last, in full command of the men's | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
heavyweight coxless four, making it look easy, although it is not, the | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
power is coming down off those legs through the finish... It is, but | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
there is a lot left in the tank. They have not been pushed. These | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
boys may let themselves off the leash in the last hundred metres, | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
but there is loads more in the tank. The opposition do not know how fast | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
they are, and neither do the Brits, because they have not had to. Coming | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
up to the line now, great written just complete the domination of the | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
2014 World Cup series. -- Great Britain. They are World Cup | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
champions, it does not get any better than that, as they head of | :14:10. | :14:17. | |
for their summer training camps. Netherlands get silver, Canada, | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
bronze. The Dutch showing their consistency, they may not have won | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
their semi, but they know how to get themselves down the course as | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
quickly as possible. It is just a shame that they are not as quick as | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
the Brits! Can you see anyone getting close to you? We are racing | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
the clock, we have got bigger markers to put down in our training. | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
We have done some really good stuff. We have got to finish the | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
season in style, so we have got work to do over the next four weeks. The | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
last six weeks have been really good, but everybody remembers the | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
World Championships, so we have to put everything into that. The men's | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
four is such an iconic boat, and you are in the middle of it, with an | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
unbeaten record going into the World Championships, I guess is must give | :15:08. | :15:18. | |
you a lot of pleasure? Absolutely. It has been awesome. Cannot find | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
enough superlatives for it, it has been great. There were almost tears | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
there, George Nash! And one thing, as you go forward to the World | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
Championships, I'm sure you have got some improvements to make? Yes, we | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
go back to our winter training so it is more long milage, low intensity | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
and build ourselves up again a lot can happen in the six weeks. We know | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
we have got a bit more to come and I am sure other crews have as well. We | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
have to keep that in our minds, no question about it. We are excited | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
about our project, just got to keep it going. | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
There is always the risk of being blas?. What did you make about that | :16:06. | :16:14. | |
performance? You have got to consider that the boys have raced | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
the European Championships, the Aiguebelette World Cup, the Regatta | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
and now the Lucerne World Cup so a lot of racing in a short space of | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
time. They will be feeling the fatigue of that. Generally, the | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
British crews at this time in the calendar are looking for a break. | :16:31. | :16:38. | |
And yet, they still won by a length and in a four that is a comfortable | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
margin. Gary was saying in the commentary that this is the four who | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
will go on for the next couple of years or so. Is that how you see | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
them? The main way it works is that has to be a reason to change a crew. | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
If a crew is winning, it is seen as the status quo unless there is a | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
reason to change it. At the moment, you would say, why would you change | :16:59. | :17:18. | |
that? It would be very exciting to see it go all the way but we are | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
still two years away. From one crew which is unbeaten, Helen Glover and | :17:22. | :17:23. | |
Heather Stanning. They have big hopes not just for now, but for the | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
future. It was really natural to have Heather back. Really exciting | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
to have Helen back in the boat and racing again. It was the first time | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
since the Olympic final. Great Britain are the Olympic champions! | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
IR anticipating being anxious and forgetting what I am doing but when | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
I was there it was fine. For myself there was less on the line in that I | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
had won the European Championships three weeks before. Knowing Helen | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
had done incredibly well last year with Polly made it a really good | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
challenge for me. It was something I know I wanted to do. She's the sort | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
of person you can wind her up, put her on the start line and you would | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
not know she felt pressure. You cannot tell. It was not going to be | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
giving to me and that was the best thing. The last thing you want as an | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
athlete is to be handed something on a plate. I think the close Bond | :18:21. | :18:29. | |
between us as friends and as team-mates is really important. I | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
think any relationship takes time to build. Helen has stepped massively | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
in the year I was away. I did say to her, have a great year and keep | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
getting better and I will try and catch up with you when I get back. | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
What made it really easy is nothing has changed between us. I was | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
excited to have her back. It is always exciting moving forward. I | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
was aware that she was ahead of me and I am still catching up a bit. As | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
the season progresses, hopefully I will close that gap a bit! And we | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
will be two well matched athletes again! Helen Glover and Heather | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
Stanning, they are back in style. We have a load more work to do and more | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
speed to find. The upcoming people will have a big trajectory of | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
improvement. We want to match that. Rio is where we want to defend our | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
title. We have to make sure we have moved on before the rest of the | :19:29. | :19:30. | |
world move on and move fastest. The women's pair under way. A slow | :19:31. | :19:48. | |
start from New Zealand. Great Britain jumped out of the blocks. | :19:49. | :20:00. | |
The Netherlands, South Africa, Great Britain in lane three, New Zealand | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
in lane four will stop the New Zealand under 23 bed in lane number | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
five and Romania in lane six. They have gone out quick. They may be | :20:15. | :20:23. | |
slightly ahead -- less ahead of the Dutch in lane one. I expect it will | :20:24. | :20:31. | |
be between New Zealand and GB. The way GB are moving, they could be | :20:32. | :20:39. | |
enjoying a nice view of the race. 300 metres already. Helen Glover and | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
Heather Stanning from Great Britain. Doing what they do best. They jumped | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
out. They set the tone of the race, Doing what they do best. They jumped | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
their authority on it. A clean start. Slow for New | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
their authority on it. A clean compatriots, the under 23 New | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
Zealand pair of Prendergast and Growler. They are in five. There was | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
a look from grace Pendergast to see if they are tracking the British | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
pair. A court of the race gone in the winning's coxless pair. It is a | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
length now from Great Britain over the New Zealand under 23 pair who | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
themselves have got clear water over the New Zealand first win in's pair. | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
That in itself is extraordinary, between an under 23 crew in the | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
all-black strip to the right there leading their first boat. The crews | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
now start to transition into their race pace. They will have come down | :21:45. | :21:51. | |
into their race pace a little quicker because they will know they | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
have got things under control right now. They are dominating the race. | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
You do not need to make a race faster than it have to be. What | :22:00. | :22:02. | |
Glover and Stanning have faster than it have to be. What | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
really useful is a quick start, quicker than the rest of the field | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
but it does not seem to take anything out of them. They are not | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
nailing the start to get ahead. They have a naturally quick start which | :22:16. | :22:27. | |
gives them the perfect platform to hit race pace. The race pace, the | :22:28. | :22:29. | |
crucial 1200 metres is where you grind the opposition down and you | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
just squeeze the life out of them. If you want to do an analogy it is | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
like water boarding them for five minutes. They are effectively | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
sucking the life out of them. It is hard when they are world Olympic | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
champions inching away with every stroke. Their play for using a quick | :22:47. | :22:54. | |
start and making the most of it. Helen Glover in the bow seat of the | :22:55. | :23:02. | |
British pair. A little call to keep the squeeze going. That has opened | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
up more water between the New Zealand two crew. Great Britain | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
comfortably clear water over New Zealand's Prendergast and Growler. | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
The big surprise here is that trap it and Scown from New Zealand one, | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
that is the main crew, they have been left, a dodgy five or six is | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
jokes off the start. -- five or six strokes off the start. | :23:37. | :23:48. | |
Look at the gap now which has opened up here between the Olympic and | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
world champions Great Britain, and third placed New Zealand. The yellow | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
vests from the New Zealand crew indicate they are current World Cup | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
leaders. The crucial thing to remember here is the under 23 World | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
leaders. The crucial thing to the World Championships. The New | :24:09. | :24:11. | |
leaders. The crucial thing to Zealand second crew is effectively | :24:12. | :24:14. | |
more race ready for their big race of the year. The crucial | :24:15. | :24:17. | |
more race ready for their big race looking ahead to Rio which all of | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
these girls will be, for the New Zealand under 23 younger boat to | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
beat their senior boat is a massive scalp. They will suddenly start | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
putting questions about whether the other New Zealand team should be the | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
Olympic boat or they should be. Every race they can do that, the | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
better. There is nothing worse than being beaten by somebody you train | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
with every day. Every day you go to the boat club and you have to look | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
at the people who beat you, especially if they are younger than | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
you and they should not beat you. Louise trap it in the bow seat and | :24:53. | :25:02. | |
Rebecca Scown in the other seat. 1500 metres down, 500 metres to go. | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
They have done enough in the middle 500 metre mark. | :25:09. | :25:18. | |
They have done enough in the middle of thousands, the Great Britain team | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
have, just to hold off a bit. Helen Glover, 27 years of age and Heather | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
Stanning, 29, from the Army rowing club. What a phenomenal Bond and | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
relationship and friendship these guys have. Robin Williams is the | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
main coach. Between the four of them and robin here is the main driving | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
here, this group of athletes are fantastic. They are but they will | :25:48. | :25:55. | |
not enjoy the New Zealand beat team following them. To have time taken | :25:56. | :26:02. | |
out of you by a crew which you should be beating, well, are beating | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
anyway, we'll hurt. From the comments Helen was making, they want | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
to make sure they move away in the four or 500. Every race they do and | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
they dominate, it sets them up well, not just for the World Championships | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
but for Rio. I think Helen Glover is making a lot more calls than usual | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
in the bow seat. Still, they are going on. It is a big race. It is | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
the final race before the World Championships. You have memories and | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
you want everyone to be a positive one, rather than negative. Coming up | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
to the line now. Helen Glover, Heather Stanning, completely | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
dominating the event all the way through this year. The New Zealand | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
under 23 crew coming in second and the main New Zealand crew into the | :26:57. | :27:05. | |
bronze medal position. It is lovely to see a smile on your | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
face. Yes, really pleased to get another medal and the gold. Did you | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
feel more comfortable today because I know it was your first race back | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
three weeks ago after some time? Yes, I am feeling fitter and fitter | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
every week. For us, it was about getting a race done. Heather has had | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
a cold. For us it was about coming in and getting the job done rather | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
than any fireworks or anything special. Helen, you had accrued to | :27:39. | :27:48. | |
push you. The Kiwi 's were on good form. We decided we would push as | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
much as we needed to do. It feels a sensible way of doing things. We do | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
like to come to Lucerne and use it as the last race before the World | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
Championships to try things and is sprint to the line which we did not | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
need to do too much today. Just holding them off was enough for | :28:08. | :28:08. | |
today. It is one of those difficult | :28:09. | :28:16. | |
situations then when everyone expects you to win the pressure is | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
greater and when you do not, people will start saying, I am not sure | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
about this. Is greater and when you do not, people will start saying, I | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
am not sure about this. Isn't that will still be happy with their | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
performance. It always starts getting uncomfortable, they are the | :28:35. | :28:43. | |
target. They are the ones to beat so people will track you. What Helen | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
has already commented is varies suddenly a new crew that nobody | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
knows about and that is a very freeing moment, when you come on as | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
the new young guns and no one knows what you're capable of that is when | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
you can do some amazing performances. Helen and Heather will | :29:03. | :29:12. | |
counter that. Isn't an unbeaten record in any sport sometimes an | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
albatross? It depends. I think given the choice, athletes would like an | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
unbeaten record. You would take that ever being beaten regularly. But | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
what you don't want to do is start becoming a pressure. When people are | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
counting how many races you have gone without a loss, people wonder | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
if it will be the one you lose out on. What they cannot let to happen | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
is that become a focus. With Robin Williams to coach them, he has got a | :29:39. | :29:50. | |
cool head on his shoulders. He understands as well. Experienced | :29:51. | :29:52. | |
athletes will carry that burden and not see it as a problem. Summon who | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
has missed out is Polly Swan. She is now in the women's eight. | :29:57. | :30:07. | |
The final of the women's eight. Great Britain in lane three, | :30:08. | :30:16. | |
well-positioned. Canada for them will be the team to watch, in lane | :30:17. | :30:23. | |
four. The Australians have gone off quickly. Romania as well. Canada in | :30:24. | :30:35. | |
lane four. So important for the British eight to track them down. | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
Lesley Thompson, in the cox seat, that upright as ocean, as she has | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
today, as she had back in 1992, when she coxed the Canadians to the | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
Olympic gold medal. A real stalwart in Canadian remains rowing, and this | :30:51. | :30:57. | |
British crew will look to her to get them down the track. Doing what they | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
have done before, Canada, Clearwater at the halfway mark. Great Britain | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
now just sneaking into the silver medal position. Just a couple of | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
feet between Germany and Great Britain. Through this year, Great | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
Britain have beaten the Germans. So, the Germans have raised their | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
game in this final World Cup regatta, taking on Great Britain | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
here. And look at Romania, in lane five. They cannot be discounted, | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
either, the world silver medallists from last year, Romania. We are well | :31:31. | :31:38. | |
and truly into the third 500 now, and they will have the knowledge of | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
racing the eights, which is a different game from the smaller | :31:44. | :31:46. | |
boats. JAMES CRACKNELL: The Canadians are | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
racing well. The British, if they can catch Romania, the Netherlands | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
and Germany and beat them, and can catch Romania, the Netherlands | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
over, then they can look back and think it has been a good weekend's | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
racing. They cannot let it slip now. The Germans have had a decent | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
last minute or so, but that is it. Do not let them go any further, | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
start inching away from them, and don't give Romania or Holland a | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
sniff. That way you are building yourself up Tom are giving yourself | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
a nice platform for the World Championships. It looks very, very | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
good for Great Britain. They are coming on strong, I fancy them for | :32:29. | :32:37. | |
silver. Leading the British crew through 1500 metres, Caragh | :32:38. | :32:50. | |
McMurtry. But watch out for Romania, they are now the threat for the | :32:51. | :32:53. | |
British in the last quarter. And here come Romania. Both of the | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
crews, Great Britain, a quarter of a length over Germany. Germany gave it | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
all they could over that third five, and now the British have got to | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
contend with Romania. Out of your picture, Canada have | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
contend with Romania. Out of your Romanians have got a proud history | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
in the women's eight. They were a dominant force in the 1990s and the | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
early 2000s. But the British have placed it well, and here is where | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
they need to start showing their class and belief, so that they can | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
be at the sharp end of the field, the World Championships. | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
GARRY HERBERT: It is looking as though great return are just ahead, | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
but this is going to go all the way to the line. A last push coming on | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
from Romania, just throwing their boat a couple of feet ahead of the | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
British. The British are hanging on! That is good blade work from | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
Romania, they have got the experience and history in this | :33:54. | :33:56. | |
event, to get the best out of themselves. I would want to make | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
sure you do not let them sneak through now. So, up to the line, | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
Canada, by Clearwater. And the silver medal going to Romania, by | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
two or three feet, if that. Great Britain will be disappointed with | :34:14. | :34:14. | |
the bronze medal. Next to the inside of the boathouse | :34:15. | :34:27. | |
here at Twickenham Rowing Club. James is on the committee here. Why | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
on earth is Twickenham why is it on a private island? The land was given | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
to us in the eight teams 60s by the owner of this piece of land, who | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
liked his rowing. It has been in trust ever since, which is why it | :34:44. | :34:46. | |
has never been developed or anything, because it is only allowed | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
to be a rowing club. It is an extraordinary place, isn't it? Yes, | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
we have got some interesting characters, two Bayliss, who did the | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
clockwork radio, who lives here, lots of characters. And it is a | :35:01. | :35:07. | |
vibrant place, because you have got lots of members? About 450, which | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
makes us one of the largest rowing clubs in the country. Is this the | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
original building? Yes, it is, which is falling to pieces. But we built | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
the new area all around it, so we could preserve it. How many boats | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
have you got in here? About 35 private racks and 55 club boats, so | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
quite a fleet to look after. And we have a waiting list as well. We need | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
more space, but we have not got any more space, that is the problem. | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
Lovely to meet you and thank you for being such great hosts today. Let's | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
go back to Lucerne to see a couple more races. | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
Into the last quarter of this final of the men's lightweight double | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
sculls. Great Britain currently back in fifth having come up from sixth, | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
where they were at the halfway mark, they are off the pace, which is | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
being set by the French. The French coming under pressure in the third | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
500 from the Italians, who themselves were back towards the | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
back, but they are now starting to slow up again. The French, | :36:21. | :36:33. | |
undefeated throughout this year. There was concern whether they would | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
perform well, because they won at Henley in a tight race against a | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
heavyweight British crew. But now, the French have got open water, with | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
250 remaining. It is now all about holding on for the Italians, as the | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
heads go down for the last 25 painful strokes. The Italians can be | :36:51. | :36:58. | |
really proud of themselves, because they are doing something which was | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
not expected of them. And it is amazing how your body can find inner | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
strength in this situation. You are in a situation where you have got a | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
silver medal and nobody can take it off you, and your body will hold on | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
for the last 200 metres, and they have given themselves the chance to | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
do that, the Italians, so fair play. Up to the line come France. The | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
Italians holding on, half a length, over Norway, the world champions, | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
who today have to settle for the bronze medal. And Great Britain now | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
coming through in fifth position. Through 1500, it is Croatia from | :37:35. | :37:46. | |
Great Britain. The British crew have worked so hard. Croatia have got | :37:47. | :37:56. | |
clear water. And the Australians in lane two, and the Lithuanians. It is | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
now between Australia, Lithuania and Great Britain for that final two | :38:02. | :38:08. | |
spots on the podium. The Aussies have gone, and they have gone early. | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
The bowels of the Aussie boat in lane two. They are in to the silver | :38:14. | :38:23. | |
medal position. The race is now between Lithuania and Great Britain | :38:24. | :38:31. | |
for the bronze. But it looks like the Lithuanians are easing ahead. It | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
is now the last 500, and into the last 200, these are such important | :38:39. | :38:45. | |
strokes. The only important stroke which matters is the last one. The | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
problem is that the Aussies have gone, and they have pasted very | :38:51. | :38:57. | |
well. The Lithuanians have been in form all season. The Brits are going | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
to have a tough job to get on the podium. So, Croatia coming up to the | :39:02. | :39:12. | |
line, easily done in the end. Great Britain coming in in fourth | :39:13. | :39:26. | |
position. Look at the difference there. The Austrian getting the | :39:27. | :39:34. | |
bronze medal. The Czech Republic Olympic champion in fourth. And it | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
is fifth today for Victoria Thornley from Great Britain. One other race | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
we must mention is the men's single sculls, won as usual by the | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
remarkable Drysdale from New Zealand. Even more remarkable, what | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
happened earlier in the race. One moment, the Lithuanian was right in | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
contention, and the next, he wasn't, after a capsized of epic | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
proportions in a World Cup regatta. On now to one of the most | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
progressive boats in the Great Britain team, the men's quad. | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
Victorious at Aiguebelette, and also at Henley last week. For one of | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
their quartet, Sam Townsend, success has been a long time coming. | :40:19. | :40:27. | |
Pretty nice to win, we have not always had it that way. We are | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
growing in confidence all the time, and another win I do not think will | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
do us any harm at all. I think it says a lot about where we are trying | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
to get to, when we are disappointed with a silver medal at the Europeans | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
just I think it is fair to say that when we saw a picture afterwards of | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
us on the podium, we were really disappointed with that. We have set | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
ourselves high standards this year, and we hope it will always come | :41:01. | :41:09. | |
off, but it might not always, and we need to learn from that. We are the | :41:10. | :41:16. | |
same crew now for coming up to two years, and I think there is a lot to | :41:17. | :41:18. | |
be said for that. You start to learn about each other, how you react. | :41:19. | :41:18. | |
That is definitely a plus. I am quite cautious, I always want to | :41:19. | :41:21. | |
make sure everything is right. Graham is probably a lot more | :41:22. | :41:23. | |
outwardly confident than all three of us. Charles is inwardly quite | :41:24. | :41:30. | |
confident, and Pete, he respects the opposition, but he is a bit of a | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
terrier when it comes to racing. There are differences, but we seem | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
to gel very well as a crew, which is always helpful. When I first started | :41:40. | :41:50. | |
rolling, there really was not a lot going on in the sculling. The guys | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
went to Athens and I think they were 12th. It was a really big deal that | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
they qualified the boat, as it is for any Olympic rings, but it has | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
taken a long time to start building it through. In 2007, we were 15th in | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
Munich, we did not qualify. We have had a lot of disappointment in the | :42:12. | :42:14. | |
quads, it is a tough field to break into. And it has taken the best part | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
of 10-12 is for us to finally cracked through, and it is finally | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
starting to get there. But it is hard when you do not have a history | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
in something, it is harder to think, can we actually do it? We have had | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
amazing coxless fours for a long time. Hopefully this will not be a | :42:35. | :42:38. | |
peak which ends in a trough again, it will keep going. | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
GARRY HERBERT: Here we go, the journey continues in the final of | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
the men's quadruple sculls here at Lucerne. USA in lane one. | :42:50. | :42:58. | |
The first time we are seeing the American crew. All of the other | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
crews Great Britain have beaten during this season. So it is every | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
opportunity now for the British quadruple sculls to get on the top | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
of the podium here at Lucerne. It is a big ask, but Peter Lambert in the | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
stroke seat knows what he has got to do. They have had a phenomenal | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
season this year. History makers at the World Championships last year, | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
the first time a British quad has got a medal. That has given them all | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
the confidence for the winter, and indeed for this regatta season. | :43:32. | :43:39. | |
JAMES CRACKNELL: You mention that they are history makers, and on | :43:40. | :43:41. | |
their left, the Germans, is a crew with history. That nation has | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
history in this event. There is a lot of pride in German or correct | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
sculling, that they have been multiple world champions and Olympic | :43:52. | :43:54. | |
medallists over the last two decades, and they will not want to | :43:55. | :43:57. | |
give it up to the young upstarts from Britain. A little bit of a | :43:58. | :44:06. | |
breeze, but nothing to concerned the crews. Coming up to 500 now come and | :44:07. | :44:13. | |
buy a couple of feet, it is Germany over Poland. Great Britain currently | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
in fourth position. That is OK. What is imperative now, in the next 100, | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
is that the British quad really comes into a long rhythm. They have | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
to get length, they have to be efficient in this second 500. It is | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
an easy cruising speed, nothing is easy, but it is a natural speed | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
which they will need, because that will give them the platform. At the | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
they are starting to injure back on the Germans, and the Germans have | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
been overtaken by the Estonians. -- two inch back. Ideally they would | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
want to be inching ahead, but they are coming back into it. The third | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
500 is a tough part of the race, and you could well see a blanket | :45:02. | :45:14. | |
covering Germany, Estonia and us. Estonia have been beaten by Great | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
Britain then and in this season. They lead the British by about a | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
third of the length. The Polish rhythm looks good. They have a | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
history in this event. It is not the same guys who won the Olympics in | :45:29. | :45:36. | |
Beijing. Coming up to the halfway mark. We will see some big push is | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
coming up here. Great Britain move into third position. They have moved | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
from fourth to third. That is OK for the second 500. The Germans have | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
gone from first to fourth. I think the Germans could be out of it. The | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
Polish closest to us. A big push. They caught a massive push through | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
the halfway mark here. Now look how easy Great Britain are moving. They | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
make it look easy. They have got a very sustainable rhythm. It is all | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
about platforms now. They will have a plan. The third quarter of the | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
race is when it is really tough. The polls have put themselves in a good | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
position. The US are doing well on the far side. The reality is, it | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
will be between written and Estonia. As good as a Regatta the British | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
have had, having come third As good as a Regatta the British | :46:39. | :46:41. | |
World Championships, you do not want to lose to the Estonians. Peter | :46:42. | :46:53. | |
Lambert, Charles Cousins, sand house and -- Sam tells them from Reading | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
University and Graeme Thomas in the bowels. -- bows. | :46:57. | :47:09. | |
Great guys here. Now we need a great last 500 metres. Great Britain move | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
into second position. It is all about poise. Now they will know how | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
much sprint they have got. They will start to move. Data nearly a second | :47:25. | :47:31. | |
out of this stony and is in the third 500. -- they took nearly a | :47:32. | :47:39. | |
out of this stony and is in the second out of the Estonians. There | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
is pain written all over the Estonian three-man faces. They are | :47:47. | :47:54. | |
starting to move into first place. Up it goes from Peter Lambert in the | :47:55. | :48:02. | |
/seat. Estonia will not roll over. We have got this. One last push from | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
Peter Lambert. They are going through now by effort, two feet, | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
three feet. The British team have got to keep their heads up. Graeme | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
Thomas is hanging on for dear life. The momentum they feel now as they | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
come into first place. Nail it, win by not little bit, win by as much as | :48:26. | :48:33. | |
you can. Up to the line here. Great Britain now absolutely perfectly | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
timed. A gold medal for them over Estonia. The USA sneaking in with | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
the bronze. If you want to see how to execute a race from the very | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
first stroke to the last, you will not get a better demonstration than | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
the Great Britain's men's Drupal scull. -- quadruple sculls. | :48:56. | :49:06. | |
The first win at Aiguebelette must have been great. We have really | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
stepped up. One thing we have not had is consistency so it is | :49:12. | :49:14. | |
brilliant to come back with another win here and last year, we just | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
missed out on the medals so to leave here with a gold, we are really | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
happy, we are over the moon. We have still got work to do. There is no | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
kidding else. What is making the difference to this crew? We just | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
have a lot of confidence in what we are doing and trying to do. It is a | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
very simple plan. We executed it well today. We hit something as soon | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
as we went through the 750 and I was confident from there that we would | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
start moving to the front which obviously we did. Later than I would | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
have liked but we got there in the end. | :49:55. | :49:57. | |
If we are expecting victories from the men's four and the women's pair, | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
did that come out of the blue or did you think there was a chance of that | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
happening? No, I think the men's squad, absolutely, it was there for | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
the taking. They did when it clearly. Maybe not the style I | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
expected. There was an absolutely phenomenal second half. The last 500 | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
blew the opposition apart. They will feel the same, they can do that from | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
the very beginning. In terms of how that crew has progressed, from the | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
last three or four months, it is a substantial improvement, isn't it? | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
Absolutely transformed. The potential is there. We saw it at the | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
World Championships, it is very strong. From the race we have just | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
seen, they expected to win. When you find yourself down the middle of the | :50:49. | :50:51. | |
pack and you are not where you want to be, if you expect to win and you | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
believe you should be winning, you will find anything it takes to get | :50:56. | :51:03. | |
right through the pack and win. Subconsciously otherwise use it in | :51:04. | :51:06. | |
the pack for longer but now they see themselves as winners which is | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
great. From a positive performance from men's heavyweight crew, let's | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
see how the lightweight ones got on. The men's light four underway. | :51:19. | :51:21. | |
France in one, the Danes traditionally have | :51:22. | :51:37. | |
dominated this, not the Olympic champions. | :51:38. | :51:48. | |
They have not had it all their own way. They were beaten by New Zealand | :51:49. | :51:56. | |
in their semifinal. The Danes, James, they are up there, they are | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
onto their race and they take it through. The best thing for the | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
British is they are next to Denmark and New Zealand. They are in a | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
classy sandwich. The Danes may not have had the best season and a half | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
since the Olympics, but what they do have is a really fast 75%. If the | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
Brits coming sure they live with the Danes, they will be in the mix come | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
the sharp end of the race. New Zealand are not only in the Best | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
Lane, Lane four, they have also got the other semi winners the Brits and | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
then the Australians on the other side so they will be enjoying their | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
battle as well. Just coming up to 500 metres. Great Britain are back | :52:45. | :52:54. | |
in fourth position. That is OK. We're now in the second five. The | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
crews will start to ease into their rhythm. But not Denmark, they must | :53:00. | :53:05. | |
stay up on 3839 strokes per minute. The rain is starting to come down. | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
There is Great Britain, The rain is starting to come down. | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
Aiguebelette, the World Cup three weeks back. Chris Bartley, the | :53:15. | :53:21. | |
Chambers Brothers and Mark Aldred. The Danish rhythm is they go off | :53:22. | :53:23. | |
flat out and stay flat out. If The Danish rhythm is they go off | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
can match it, good on you. The danger for the Brits is as they are | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
three quarters of a length down on the two crews either side of them, | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
you can see that the referral vision of all four of the guys. They need | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
to have strong belief in the second half of the race now. They cannot | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
see the Danes or the Kiwis out of the corner of their eyes. They will | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
have to tough it out on their own. This is where they need to dig in | :53:53. | :54:02. | |
and digging even before halfway. Great Britain are in danger | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
territory as we move towards the halfway mark. On their right, | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
Denmark, the world champions, they to lead. It is getting tight now | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
because here come New Zealand on the halfway mark, just by an inch or not | :54:18. | :54:27. | |
any more. Great Britain moving up from fourth into third place. That | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
is OK. They are not racing for bronze here. They will now look to | :54:31. | :54:38. | |
move on in this third 500. Look at the all-black strip of New Zealand. | :54:39. | :54:41. | |
They beat the Danes in their semifinal. Here they are, stepping | :54:42. | :54:49. | |
up again. The British are not racing for bronze. If they let their | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
mindset switch from racing New Zealand and Denmark, to picking off | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
Australia and Italy, that is the hardest thing, coming third. They | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
cannot let their objective change, just because they are down on these | :55:03. | :55:09. | |
crews. They can gain a length over the next thousand. They have got | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
three minutes of tough racing. Don't change your objective of saying, we | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
are going to win, to saying, we will settle for third. Peter Taylor is | :55:20. | :55:28. | |
making the calls in the all-black boat. James Hunter is in the bow | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
seat. New Zealand are starting to use away. -- starting to ease away. | :55:36. | :55:49. | |
The last five spread the crews out. New Zealand by a length over the | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
world champions, Denmark in second place, Great Britain fighting for | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
that length of clear water to push them into bronze position. They are | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
holding bronze right now. We are in the last quarter. The race and the | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
sprints will still go up. Denmark have got nowhere to go. Denmark have | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
lost ground on the Brits in the last 500 metres. The Brits, the first | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
thing they have got to do is don't start racing for bronze. Say, we are | :56:20. | :56:27. | |
going to pick of the Danes. That will give a good platform to get | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
back on terms with the Kiwis. Great accuracy as the blade goes into the | :56:34. | :56:41. | |
water from New Zealand. The Italians, the second boat here. | :56:42. | :56:44. | |
water from New Zealand. The here comes Great Britain. Chris | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
Bartley has done this plenty of times before. Up go Great Britain, | :56:48. | :56:53. | |
they are on 40 strokes per minute. They are pushing hard. It is | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
unlikely for them to catch Denmark, the world champions in Lane number | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
two. New Zealand just stretching out again. They know race done, job well | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
done, as they head off, for their training camp. Coming up to the | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
line, the last five strokes. It is two in a row in this regatta for | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
these World Championships. New Zealand, gold, Denmark the world | :57:18. | :57:24. | |
champions, silver and Great Britain coming in bronze medal position. | :57:25. | :57:27. | |
They will be disappointed but that is a good thing for them to be | :57:28. | :57:29. | |
disappointed with that bronze. The Italians are world champions in | :57:30. | :57:45. | |
Lane one. Image and Walsh and Cap Copeland from Great Britain or in | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
Lane number three. -- image in Walsh and Kat Copeland. Great Britain will | :57:50. | :57:59. | |
no it will be a massive, massive scalp if they can take the Italians | :58:00. | :58:00. | |
here now. The early leaders are Poland closest | :58:01. | :58:12. | |
to us. I would not expect the Polish to be leading come the sharp end, | :58:13. | :58:22. | |
the business end of this final. There might be some illness or the | :58:23. | :58:25. | |
Italians recovering from something in the last couple of weeks, because | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
for the world champions to be dropped at half the length, 200 | :58:31. | :58:40. | |
metres, that is not normal for the world champions. They are not on | :58:41. | :58:51. | |
form. The Swedish pair in Lane number one. 37 strokes per minute. | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
Still going at it somewhat. They would go off at about north of 40 | :58:56. | :59:00. | |
strokes per minute and then starting to come down. You can see Great | :59:01. | :59:03. | |
Britain settling into 36, to come down. You can see Great | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
Britain settling into 35. You would expect 35 for the middle part of | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
this race. Coming up to the first time in mark. The Italians, the | :59:13. | :59:20. | |
world champions in Lane number two, something is going wrong here. They | :59:21. | :59:24. | |
have never been dropped by so much. They are back in fifth position at | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
the time in point. And they did not win their semi yesterday. What is | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
happening now is all the other crews are seeing a missed opportunity, not | :59:36. | :59:39. | |
just to win the race, but to beat the world champions as well. They | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
will make more of themselves and make the Italians question it. What | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
surprises me is how well the Swedes have gone. They have given | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
themselves a chance of being right in the mix, and for the British, it | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
is fine winning your semi, you have to carry that form on, and win a | :00:01. | :00:12. | |
medal. The Italians now just getting a bit of speed, as we go through | :00:13. | :00:19. | |
750. Great Britain's Imogen Walsh and Catherine Copeland, almost just | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
contained, really. Not too worried about the Australians in lane four. | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
But they are creeping back on the Swedish pair, in lane one. The | :00:32. | :00:33. | |
Australians have got a good Swedish pair, in lane one. The | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Australians have rhythm at the moment, they are taking half an inch | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
every stroke out of the British, the British need to check that | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
Australian movement. Because every little movement the Australians make | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
is fuelling them with confidence. I agree with you, I think the Swedes | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
will come back into the mix, but it could well be a battle between | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
Australia and Great Britain. So, the Brits do not want to give the | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
Aussies anything. At the halfway mark in this final of the | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
lightweight women's double sculls, here on the Lake of the gods. And | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
from the halfway point, Sweden leading, Great Britain now in a | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
tussle with Australia. The Italians, still struggling. The Italians are | :01:17. | :01:27. | |
going to struggle here to find anything, because they are on the | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
back foot. All of the energy they are using is just to get them into | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
the race here. But at the moment, are using is just to get them into | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
the race here. the momentum going with Great Britain, as well as the | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
Australian pair. It is now the Australians moving an inch per | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
stroke. I think these will be the two who claim gold and silver. The | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
Italians looked like they have had a strong middle part of the race. And | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
the Swedes could come back and challenge as well. Imogen Walsh, 30 | :02:03. | :02:18. | |
years of age, from London Rowing Club. Kat Copeland took last year | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
off, but has come back. She was the top lightweight single sculls roller | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
at the trials earlier this year, testament to the athlete that she | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
did. This is where the Olympic champion, Catherine Copeland, in the | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
stroke seat, really have to draw on that experience. Both to be | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
flustered by the fact that Sweden were leading them at one point. That | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
has gone, they have come back on that. | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
JAMES CRACKNELL: I think they have got the measure of the Aussies now. | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
GARRY HERBERT: A great third 500 for Walsh and Kat Copeland. Australia | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
are now struggling to hang on to the bronze medal position. It will be a | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
big 500 for them to stay on the podium. I think it is going to be | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
Britain, Australia and Italy. The Italians may not be having the best | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
weekend overall, but they have shown pride in their pedigree, of having | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
won the World Championships and been unbeaten this year. I think that | :03:28. | :03:35. | |
will tell on the Swedish. Italy, a couple of feet down from the bronze | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
position. Out in front, Kat Copeland, the Olympic champion, | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
showing great style. Yes, they have cracked the Aussies. We have still | :03:45. | :03:57. | |
got 25 strokes remaining. Great Britain doing well, holding it | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
nicely, but here come the world champions, Milani and Sancassani. | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
Well, nothing like leaving it to the last minute. Millpond conditions | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
here, but the race has been pushed on. Kat Copeland has responded, and | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
Great Britain have found another gear. But here is the race for the | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
silver medal position. If the Aussies get beaten by the Italians, | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
that is a major setback ahead of the World Championships. They were so | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
far ahead at 1000 metres. The belief that the Italians will get if they | :04:33. | :04:34. | |
can claim silver will be immense. that the Italians will get if they | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
The Canadians also pushing to the line, but out in front, Great | :04:40. | :04:41. | |
Britain get the gold medal. Australia get the silver, and almost | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
throwing the boat over the line, Canada, sneaking in over the last | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
100 metres to get the bronze. The Italians will be disappointed. But a | :04:54. | :05:01. | |
class act, Imogen Walsh and Catherine Copeland, finishing the | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
2014 World Cup in style. Imaging, just tell us about the last 500 | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
metres. It was you and Australia, stroke for stroke? Yes, we are | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
pretty confident in our boat, and we try to stay in our rhythm, and | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
actually, when we crossed the finish line, Kat was asking where we have | :05:23. | :05:33. | |
finished! You are certainly getting to 500 metres quicker than you were | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
in the first part of the season? Desk, we have been together longer, | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
and we are more efficient. It is having the speed without killing | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
ourselves. We said before the race, it is who is first to 2000 metres, | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
it does not matter who is first to 500 metres, it is a two kilometre | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
race. So, a fourth gold medal, how about that? Another Amazing Grace | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
will stop a bit like the men's quad, it was in the mix. We have seen Kat | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
and Imogen progressing through the whole summer. They are looking | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
really good now. And they won why a comfortable margin in the end, so it | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
was a great race for them. When you get to 500 metres from the end, and | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
you are in the mix, how do you know that you have got more inside them | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
they have? It can be accommodation of things. You will know physically | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
how you are feeling, you will know how smoothly the boat is moving just | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
we speak about going through the gears, you will know if you have got | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
more to give, that gives you confidence. Somebody in the boat | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
will be looking at the opposition, and often you can tell, they are at | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
the absolute maximum, whereas you might feel you have got | :06:56. | :06:56. | |
the absolute maximum, whereas you might more to give. And there is the | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
momentum, when you start moving away from the field, you live off that | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
momentum, and it becomes easier and easier, as you drop the field behind | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
you. If the field is fighting for those other medals, there is a | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
panic, whereas if you can just move out, then it becomes fun. If we | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
leave Katherine Grainger to one side for a moment, back in the last | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
century, somebody who competed with her was Rachel Wolff! Tellers what | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
she was like. That is a tricky one. She was always great fun, I have to | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
say. We had a lot of fun with water pistols and various things, and The | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
Spice Girls were always be on the agenda. Was she posh or sporty? | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
Probably sporty, actually, it has to be said. We have got a very | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
inexperienced crew going out here. We were hearing earlier on about how | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
buoyant this club is, with more than 400 members. With rowing clubs, you | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
need water, and you need space, so tell us how people like this have | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
been getting involved. We are lucky, we have a beautiful stretch of | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
water, with no other clubs on. It is a great place for people to learn. | :08:17. | :08:23. | |
We want to get as many people from many we are in touch with many local | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
schools, so we have 11-year-olds, right up to 16-year-olds, right up | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
to Masters programmes. I will not reveal their true ages, but some of | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
them are in their late 70s. But equally, we have some interesting | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
programmes, we have got a row to health programme, for people who | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
have suffered from cancer. Going all the way up to the Start programme, | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
so some of the athletes we have seen in Lucerne have been on the Start | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
programme. We have got a couple of athletes who have started on that | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
programme. When you mention Lucerne, with the World Championships coming | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
up in a few weeks, how much has international success been a | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
catalyst for people wanting to come and join your club? Obviously, the | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
Olympics had a huge impact, the next few days, we were inundated with | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
people who wanted to learn to Rome. It was a big step for the club, | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
because we are a voluntary club, run by members, for members. Afterwards | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
we started having to employ people because we were so inundated, and we | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
have to start paying some coaches and some rowing managers. We are | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
still very much voluntary-based. But it has had a fantastic impact. It is | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
a brilliant sport. What else would you rather do than be out on the | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
river? Not a lot. Going back to Lucerne, let's focus on the men's | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
pair. Coming through the 600 metre mark | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
now, that early start from the South African crews, both of them, as well | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
as the Italian crew, starting to feel the pain. We also have New | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
Zealand, Great Britain and Serbia, in lane six. They look laboured, but | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
they have got some speed here. If you look along the lines, Serbia in | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
second place, but as James was saying, the afterburner coming on. | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
The all-black strip, New Zealand, in the middle of the picture, taking | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
with them Great Britain. Sometimes, though, the 28-year-old in the | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
stroke seat, there is a question, how does he do it? He is not a huge | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
guy, but his ability to move boats is incredible. He has got three | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
things which are incredibly useful in any endurance sport. He is | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
strong, incredibly strong, and he is light, and he rose well. If you have | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
those three things in your locker, you will be very, very hard to beat. | :11:04. | :11:13. | |
And crucially, they do not extend themselves in the early minutes, | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
they have not gone into oxygen debt like the Italians and South | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
Africans, who are now paying the price. The British work level with | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
the New Zealand is New Zealanders, but they have not put themselves in | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
oxygen debt. And they have got a good chance of getting that silver | :11:33. | :11:41. | |
medal. Not an awful lot being said in the New Zealand crow. They Hamish | :11:42. | :11:50. | |
Bond, just one word, the boat moves on. Look how easy it is. They are | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
still racing hard, I would say that James Foden and Matt Langridge, they | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
are in a scrap for the silver medal. The Italians are on the far side, | :12:02. | :12:09. | |
they were out in that first 500, but the middle thousands of this race | :12:10. | :12:11. | |
has all been about Eric Marie and Hamish Bond. I will be disappointed | :12:12. | :12:26. | |
if Great Britain do not come second from here. The Italians should not | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
catch them because they have put themselves in oxygen debt. Matt is a | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
phenomenal athlete, he just needs to get his racing head on. Serbia | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
qualified third from their semifinal, which is why they are in | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
the outside lane. New Zealand have gone, but second has not gone. Look | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
at the rate. The gap is in credible between New Zealand... In the middle | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
1000, they have put a phenomenal afterburner on, and they are still | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
going with the rate! It is New Zealand clear, and then Serbia and | :13:02. | :13:03. | |
Great Britain in for the silver medal. The Italians, the angle is a | :13:04. | :13:11. | |
bit off, Italy should be one leg behind here. The New Zealanders, the | :13:12. | :13:28. | |
racing, for them, is easier than the training. Because they | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
racing, for them, is easier than the standards up so high in training, | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
they do not have to bother in the race. They are performing at a | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
different level. But this is the real race, the Serbians, not looking | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
so relaxed. Here is Langridge, go on, son, push those legs! It is a | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
new combination for the British, but they can start claiming that second | :13:50. | :13:52. | |
place, which would be great, leading into the World Championships. Two | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
psychologically phenomenally strong athletes here. When they come out, | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
let's hope they have got the bounds ahead of Serbia. They have got the | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
rate up. Out in the distance, paddling away, inside ten strokes or | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
so, New Zealand making it easy. The problem is, the British pair may be | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
getting some bounce off the water of the Kiwis, they are so far ahead. | :14:22. | :14:29. | |
Here comes Great Britain. That is a nice result, silver for Great | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
Britain. Bronze for Serbia. A job well done. Forget the distance | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
between the silver and gold, because the New Zealand crew of Murray and | :14:40. | :14:56. | |
Bond are just exceptional. But Matt Langridge and James Foad have done | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
very well. If you put that New Zealand crew to one side, how good a | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
performance was that from Great Britain? It was fantastic. It is | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
still a competitive event, even though the Kiwi pair have almost | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
created the gold medal as an entity in its own right. Nobody else is | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
getting near. But there is this phenomenal race for the silver | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
medal, which becomes the new gold. The British pair have not been | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
together long, they have been doing different things all season. And it | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
is a big win for them, it really is. What is interesting is what will | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
happen next. How much does their performance highlight what you said | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
at the start of the programme, about how competitive the battle is for | :15:37. | :15:45. | |
places in some of the boats? It proves that all the places will be | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
key. The fact that the fours become the top boat and the pairs become | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
the finger at the moment. And yet, the guys at this regatta and the | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
last World Cup have started getting medals. They will become the feeder | :16:01. | :16:08. | |
system into the eights or will they be on the podium? You mentioned the | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
eighth. Let's see them in action. But before then we can focus on the | :16:14. | :16:21. | |
guy at the front to set the tempo. He is very important. | :16:22. | :16:31. | |
We have made history in the men's's eight at the World Championships! | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
I have always been used to being the underdog. Last year was a real fast | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
track year for me. You have to learn how to deal with it and it seems to | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
be working. My mentality has always been head down, work hard sort of | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
attitude. Sometimes that can lead you into quite a dark place, | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
especially when it is over the winter. You have to be more | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
positive. If I get a bit of anxiety, stress, it comes in, my performance | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
suffers. I am constantly trying to be relaxed. Obviously, everyone's | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
aim is to make the top boat. I would like to be in the four, I think | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
everyone would. That is the top boat but I would like to do the best I | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
can, whoever that is with. A fantastic result for that new | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
combination and there is plenty more to come for Great Britain as we head | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
through the 2014 season. The new blood coming in, it is quite an | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
exciting project. We have guys who have never been on that stage | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
before. We are doing it as a pack, we are not doing it as individuals. | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
That is the thing about the eights. It is a big, moving project. It is | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
trying to change their minds that little bit. We are training away all | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
through the winter in pairs. Now we are back in the eights. It is about | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
trying to find that high pace with them. I think we are back in the | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
eights. It is about trying to find that high pace with them. I think | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
we'll I don't think our aim is achieved B team, is that everyone | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
knows how we do it, we are not a machine -- as a GB team. On the day | :18:29. | :18:35. | |
somebody could be built. You just have to get it together. You have to | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
hit it as hard as you can from the word go. That is not a secret. | :18:42. | :18:49. | |
They get away cleanly. Great Britain are in Lane two. Germany the Olympic | :18:50. | :18:59. | |
champions in Lane three, Russia in Lane four, Poland and five, | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
Australia in Lane and the six. The Germans are absolutely pounding it | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
off in the first 100. The Russians in Lane four going hard. Australia | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
have already been dumped in Lane number six. The Germans looked very | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
well drilled. If I'm honest, they don't look that powerful. The | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
Russians look powerful but not as well drilled. The British, they have | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
got power on-board but they are still finding their feet a unit. | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
Pete Reed, no is a bit knackered. Mo Sbihi just going through there. | :19:45. | :19:54. | |
All crews are still up there. Great Britain are currently third on the | :19:55. | :20:06. | |
speed. New Zealand and Australia are out of it. Who goes through in first | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
place? Germany, just. Great Britain in fourth. Traditionally, in the | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
men's eight, whoever goes through the 500 metre mark winds. Will that | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
raced turnaround on but? Germany just over Russia. The British now | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
going through the boys are in first position. The Germans, even though | :20:31. | :20:38. | |
it is half the eight which won the Olympics, they drain as a very close | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
eights group. They have a very homogenous tech week. -- technique. | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
The Russians are finding the uniform approach. The British crew will be | :20:53. | :21:03. | |
strong in the final third of the race. Easing out by almost a | :21:04. | :21:14. | |
strong in the final third of the of a length, the green boat. This is | :21:15. | :21:15. | |
strong in the final third of the what we would have expected. We are | :21:16. | :21:17. | |
coming towards the halfway mark. what we would have expected. We are | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
This is an absolute humdinger here, in the final of the men's eight at | :21:22. | :21:29. | |
Lucerne. Dare I say, the Russians are going to come through just | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
ahead, almost/full/? It is still Germany but it is now down to less | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
than a foot over Russia at the halfway mark. Great Britain moving | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
up into bronze medal position. Poland moving back from third into | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
fourth. But still the race is on. The polls of a quick at this stage | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
of the season. -- the Polish are very quick. The Russians, they will | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
be hungry to prove themselves all season. The Germans want to carry on | :22:04. | :22:14. | |
the pasta and pool party at Lake Como. | :22:15. | :22:34. | |
Big bad will such is the in /CT. He did a phenomenal job in the Olympics | :22:35. | :22:43. | |
in the men's pair, getting the bronze medal. They are starting to | :22:44. | :22:52. | |
stretch out. The Russians, the hard training is starting to pay off in | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
this third quarter of the race. They are really starting to hurt and they | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
enjoy it. Russia taking on Germany, Great Britain first, second and | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
third. Poland maintaining fourth position. We are now into the | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
business end, the crunch part of this blue ribbon event here at | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
Lucerne. Great Britain just sliding back off it here. The Germans, who | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
led to the 500 mark, they led to the halfway mark, they have taken it. | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
They were embarrassed that the 1500. The Russians dared to take them on | :23:27. | :23:33. | |
at 1500. Great Britain in the top left of your picture here. | :23:34. | :23:35. | |
Incredible stuff developing in the last 200. The Germans have shown | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
that their uniformity and self belief they have whereas the | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
Russians, it is not quite in-built. They are absolutely exhausted. That | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
is why the Germans have been able to pull through in the last quarter. | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
The disappointing thing is the Brits are now a length behind. 's stunning | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
stuff here from Germany in the closing stages. They are long, they | :24:03. | :24:10. | |
are fast, they are feeling pain but their heads are up here. The | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
Russians dared to take them on. Germany first, clear water over | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
Great Britain. Russia second and Great Britain getting the bronze | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
medal. They are clear of Poland. Their heads go down in the British | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
crew. Their heads are well and truly up in the Germans. Look how much it | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
has taken out of it. That is a race to the line. | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
That is it from this year's World Cup campaign but there is still one | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
event to come, the biggest of them all, the World Championships in | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
Amsterdam, Holland. There is coverage on the red button and BBC | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
Two, live both days of that weekend. Before that, plenty more live sport | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
here on the BBC across all platforms. | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
The week after that, all roads lead to Scotland. | :25:08. | :25:15. | |
That man there is a Commonwealth gold medallist. He gets it! Ian | :25:16. | :25:25. | |
Thorpe is getting a standing ovation from this crowd. That was | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
magnificent. Chris got a Commonwealth gold! It was so close! | :25:33. | :25:53. | |
A pretty dramatic men's eight rounding off an intriguing regatta. | :25:54. | :26:00. | |
Now all roads lead to the Netherlands. Overall it has been an | :26:01. | :26:09. | |
impressive weekend. Four strong gold medals and that is a pretty good | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
place to be. There has always been some disappointments. Some crews are | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
further down than they would like to be. It is the third World Cup for | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
the Great Britain crews who have done the European Championships and | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
two world cups. It is a fatigued part of the year. We always say | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
that. They have some tough training camps ahead. I think we all expect | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
to see improvements and then we will see what everyone does by Amsterdam. | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
There are certain crews that you would think barring major issues are | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
very strong odds-on favourites to win the Golden Amsterdam? | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
Absolutely. Right now, the men's four. The women's parents well. They | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
had a bit more of a challenge than we have seen now. The men's what I | :26:59. | :27:07. | |
think could face tough opposition but are now getting confident. The | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
women's lightweight double, I think they have had an impressive race | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
today. But as four gold medals that you could not count on but | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
realistically see in the world Championships. Just one final | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
thought, who are still to come in who could shake up the order that we | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
have seen in Lucerne? There is nobody really who hasn't come in yet | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
but what we have seniors some of the countries have dipped in and out. | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
There are some countries which have not got finalised crews yet. They | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
could have some surprising combinations we have not seen yet. | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
And we have also got quite a few weeks before the World Championships | :27:51. | :27:52. | |
now and there is always a hesitation of we do not know who is doing what | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
where and how. There will be some new things to see in Amsterdam but | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
from the British point of view you do not worry about that, you do not | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
worry about who will turn up and how good they will be. You worry about | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
you and your boat. That is it from here at Twickenham rowing club. The | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
next stop for us and hopefully for you, is Holland. We will see you for | :28:18. | :28:19. | |
that. Goodbye. We have made history in the men's | :28:20. | :28:44. | |
eight at the World Championships! Helen Glover will add World | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
Championship gold to the Olympic gold-medal she won. | :28:48. | :28:49. |