The last day of racing of this year's World Rowing Championships is here. After seven days, 236 races over 29 events, Sunday is the final day of finals. And depending on who you talk to, the best is coming.
Several of the most high profile crews, including the men's and women's singles, the men's and women's double and the men's and women's eights will wrap the up 2018 international campaign - the half way point in the current Olympic cycle that is barreling toward 2020 Tokyo Games.
And the day is packed with potential for more hot racing across the entire field of the remaining teams - including the US which has four crew crews that have shown serious potential to medal - if not win - four of the top events, including both eights, the women's single sculls and the women's double. See the full schedule here.
With the US 2017 silver medal winning double of Ellen Tomek and Meghan O'Leary racing the final for the second year in a row, in between the US men's and women's heat winning eights, the last hour of the 2018 World Rowing Championships could be a big 30-minutes.
Both eights advanced directly from the heats to the finals and have favored lanes for Sunday. Tomek and O'Leary have also set themselves up with a semifinal win Friday, and will be hoping for a return to the podium, racing against The Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, Lithuania and Romania.
In the men's single, defending world champion Ondrej Synek will sit in the middle lane in a loaded field and be challenged by New Zealand's Robbie Manson, who unseated defending Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale in his comeback bit and forced him into the Kiwi quad, his first team boat since the beginning of his five Olympic cycles.
Also gunning for the men's title are German Oliver Zeidler, Norway's Kjetil Borch, new comer to the boat class, Harry Leask of Great Britain, and Lithuania's Mindau Griskonis.
For the women's single, Jeannine Gmelin will take her unbeaten streak to the line against Sanita Puspure of Ireland, Fie Udby Erichsen, Germany's Annekatrin Thiele, Magdalena Lobnig, and Kara Kohler from the US.
Kohler is racing her first World Championship in the single and has been making a statement all week. She won her heat, and finished second in the semifinal Friday to Gmelin. "Moving forward to the final," Kohler said following the semi. On her Saturday agenda was "Some rest. Fueling. Training for the big show on Sunday." Notes From The Course
Bicycles are the traditional mode of transportation on a rowing course - usually. Scooters might not be enough for coaches following races, but they are apparently good for getting rowers around.
Selfies - what would any event be without one.
After the Romanian lightweight women's double raced to a gold medal Saturday, they had a message for the world on their feet.
Family moments - Paraguay's para single Jose Duarte Servin with his baby the dock after practice . . . Mrs. O'Donovan doing "the motherly stuff she does."
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