Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have come a long way in three seasons of senior international racing. Today they started as one of the favourites to win the final and, with it, the overall world cup title.
Their opposition included the World Champions from New Zealand, Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown but also the 2004 and 2008 Olympic champions Georgeta Andrunache and Vioricu Susanu who are making their comeback. The line-up today did not include the Americans who have also been on the podium at the first two world cups.
At the outset Glover and Stanning, wearing the world cup leaders yellow shirts, moved out to the front. With 300m gone they were half a length up on New Zealand with Germany their nearest challenges and Romanian back in the field.
By the 500m marker, New Zealand had moved up into second with Britain still leading but by less than a second. Powering on the pressure, the Penzance-Lossiemouth combination moved to a three-second lead by the halfway point and extended that marginally by 1500m.
Leading by Clearwater as the boats approached the grandstands, the question was whether the GB boat had enough firepower left to hold off the Kiwi finish? British supporters would remember the last-minute surge from Scown and Haigh at the World Championships last year.
The New Zealanders certainly picked up their pace in the final 500m and the Romanians also finished strongly. But Glover and Stanning kept their advantage and powered onto the line to win in 7:33.81 - not a bad birthday present for Glover. Romanian were third
"We wanted to perform well here to prove that we had made progress since Lucerne", said Stanning.
"It was great to win here on my birthday. Heather and I love racing together and working together and it's the last world cup of the season so today's win was quite emotional for us".
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins are unbeaten in the women's double scull since they teamed up in early 2010. As double World Champions they were conscious today that Australia has recently formed a strong double of Kim Crow, the 2011 World Silver medallist, and Brooke Pratley - setting up another potential great British-Australian head to head in the sport.
The British crew were ahead of the field at 500m with Australia in relatively close contention and the 2009 World Champions from Poland lying third.
Kim Crow, in the Australian boat, was putting all the experience of racing the British crew into today's efforts.
At 1500m the British were still ahead and had marginally stretched their lead. Looking strong they moved out to almost a length and looked determined to capitalise on their advantage. Looking strong and synchronised, Watkins and Grainger and kept on the power. Australia began to come back on them but marginally before the British moved on again to take the gold in 7:09.90 by just under a length from Australia with Poland in bronze.
"That was a cracking race. The ones where you are pushed are always the most satisfying to win. The Australians put in a fast time earlier this week so we knew we had to bring our A game out to play today",
said Watkins.
"We must be really pleased with what we have done this season so far. We have raced everyone now that we are likely to face at the Games. Each has tested in different ways. Now Paul Thompson, our coach, will lead us through our final preparations for London", added Grainger.
In the equivalent men's boat category, Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas took the hard route to qualifying for today's final after experiencing a tough heat which saw them book a place for today only through the repechage.
As a new combination this season they lined up today with the Olympic champions David Crawshay and Scott Brennan of Australia as well as the World Champions Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan of New Zealand as well as a range of other former World Champions and Olympic medallists.
Townsend and Lucas, to be fair, rowed a cracking race in such company. They were second throughout the first half behind race-leaders Norway - the latter going onto win in 6:35.09. In a fantastic finish which set the crowd on its feet, Lucas and Townsend faded somewhat and were overhauled by New Zealand, who took the silver and Germany, who took the bronze. There are some real positives here for the duo, who came through the GB Rowing Team Start programme into the sport, to take off to training camp with them.
"It was after the first 1250m that we started to fade a bit", said Lucas. "Now we have two big training camps, where we can make a big step. We've got forty-odd days to make sure we get the next bit righ. We definitely want to get on the podium and get as far up it as possible".
As Australian-British rivalries are concerned the men's four event is stoking up nicely in the run up to the London Olympic Games. First honours went to Britain at Lucerne, taking the gold with a strong finish. Yesterday, though, in the semi-finals here in Munich Australia, featuring three-times Olympic gold medallist Drew Ginn, the Antipodeans got out early and held on to win bringing the tally to 1-1.
Today the British quartet of Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge remained neck and neck with Australia in the early phases, unlike yesterday when they allowed their rivals to build an early lead.
Tactically it was clear that this was going to be quite a different race. At 500m gone the Romanians had a narrow lead with GB in second and Australia third. With Pete Reed moving to the bow-seat, since Lucerne, and Gregory at no.2 instead the British crew stayed at close quarters with their rivals.
Just before halfway the Australians put in a push - enough to give them about a third of a length lead. Hodge in the stroke seat looked a picture of concentration.
As the crews came towards the grandstand the Australians pushed again and moved out to two-thirds of a length. You could sense the anticipation in the crowd of a potential surge from the British. It came but it was not enough to take gold. Honours to Australia in 6:10.28 with Britain in silver in 6:11.15 and Belarus taking the bronze.
"We found a different rhythm today and that was a lot better. I think we have learnt a lot here and we can take that away to training camp in the next six weeks", said Hodge.
"We're part of a very successful team overall and congratulations to all those crews and their coaches that have won here today already", he added.
Reed said of the change in the line-up: "We have tried out several different things and even after our world's best time in Lucerne we wanted to search for more speed".
James added: "It was a better race than yesterday but there's still a reasonable amount to improve on. It's frustrating but there's a lot more work we need to do. It was a tough race yesterday and maybe that took more out of us than the Australians but they've been a better crew than us this week."
Gregory said: "99% of the race was so much better than our semi where they got a long way ahead of us -today we held on a lot better. I think where we need to improve is our cruising speed and our ability to change that cruising speed when we need to but I'm very, very pleased and positive about that race."
Sophie Hosking and Kat Copeland have come together this season for Britain in the lightweight women's double scull. In a competitive event they have been finalists at all three world cups and won silver in Belgrade.
Today the World Champions from Greece and the Chinese gold medallists from the last World Cup were not racing. New Zealand and GB were amongst the favourites to take a medal, therefore.
Copeland stroked them into a contending slot throughout the first half which saw New Zealand take the early lead tracked by Denmark and Germany.
As the crews came to halfway the GB boat had slipped back but only by fractions of a second behind Germany. Soon it became clear that New Zealand would win and Denmark would take the silver. The battle was on between GB and Germany for bronze with Germany taking the verdict at the line.
Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter are the reigning Olympic and World Champions but have not had the best of seasons so far. They won at the Belgrade world cup but were sixth in Lucerne. In the semi-finals here they won against Lucerne winners Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre of France but were second in their heat to the World silver medallists Storm Uru and Peter Taylor who also featured in a tough field today.
New Zealand took an early and rather significant lead in the final today. They were tracked by the French and Denmark to halfway with Hungary in fourth and Italy in fifth. With only two seconds between all the crews, though, the GB boat was not out of range at that point.
By halfway the positions had not changed that much and despite a lung-bursting effort to 1500m the British duo could not make an impact on the head of the race and came home in sixth in a race won by New Zealand, France in second and Denmark in third.
"Today's result was obviously disappointing but it was better than Lucerne. I know we were sixth at both but here we had the speed but not the fitness. We want to go to London and perform as we know we can. We have one of the best systems and support teams in the world and we're going away to training camp to get it right", said Hunter.
Peter Chambers has returned from injury to the GB Rowing Team's lightweight men's four for this regatta, joining his older brother Richard and Rob Williams and Chris Bartley for this event.
The British combination faced the Olympic champions, Denmark, and the World Champions, Australia today but not the Chinese who won the last world cup in Lucerne.
Focussed on the task in hand, the GB quartet, stroked by Chris Bartley were tucked into fourth place with 700m of the race under their belts in a race lead by Switzerland.
Still in fourth place at halfway you sensed that an attack was coming from GB. Within 500m they had moved into the lead and had a length on the field. Then came the move from Australia and the Danes as they tried to claw the margin back in a furious sprint to the line but to no avail. Gold to GB in 6:16.34 with Australia second and Denmark third.
"We're back", said a jubilant Rob Willliams. "I think that the speed's been there. I'm really happy with where we are at".
"We are such a strong crew", added Richard Chambers. "We may not look pretty but we are strong. We didn't have the best build up but it was great to win today and now we can go away and build on that".
Bartley said: "We're pretty pleased with that. We had a really good plan and we did a good job in the heat and that was just a step on from that really. We've obviously found a pretty good way of moving the boat and it is just a case of trying to work on that and get a bIt better and a bIt fitter and stronger and hopefully we'll be even faster in 6 weeks time.
Peter Chambers said: "I only got back in the boat a week ago so I'm really chuffed. The Chinese were missing today and we will have to be ready for those guys. They are going to be really tough but that's what it is all about."
Britain re-framed its line-up in the women's quadruple scull for this event. Beth Rodford, world champion in 2010, has moved into the stroke seat, with Melanie Wilson at bow, Debbie Flood has moved into the boat from the eight and taken up the two-seat with Frances Houghton at no.3.
In today's final they faced a re-shaped German crew who have moved Annekatrin Thiele into the boat from the double scull amongst a line-up lead by the Ukraine.
In the early phases, Ukraine established a lead and held onto it until the win in 6:33.08. Behind them GB moved up inexorably in the second half to recover from a slow start and put themselves within striking distance of the Germans who were holding silver medal position. On the line it was close, very close but in the end GB had to settle for bronze in 6:37.57.
"It's only our second race together and we are still learning. But today can give this combination some confidence. It was Beth's first race at stroke and whilst we were dropped a little off the start we showed our maturity by getting back into it", said Flood.
Rodford said: "We've shown today that we've got race speed but we were a bit slow off the start".
Wilson added: "We were down on the first half of the race and just through the last 750 we could feel ourselves coming back on the Germans especially. I think we came through them at one point but they just pipped us on the last 10 strokes or so."
Houghton said: "Obviously it's a different crew and it was a really good crew to start with and now Debbie's come in so it is a different dynamic. We've always known that Debbie is 'Super-Racer' and she has just prepared us really well for the racing and obviously its upped a level and that is really exciting as each race has got better. Always annoying to just miss out but it's really encouraging and good to be back on the podium."
Great Britain's Stephen Rowbotham, Tom Solesbury, Charles Cousins and Matt Wells qualified for today's final from a close and exciting semi-final which saw them keep the second Italian crew out of today's line up.
Croatia were on for a hat-trick here and duly delivered from the front. Behind them Germany were second throughout but behind these two, the British showed the potential that this crew possesses by steaming up in chase of the Italians who held on ultimately just over seven tenths of a second ahead of Great Britain.
Poland were missing from this field and Australia's World Champions are still trying to find their feet as they finished fifth today.
"I think it's the first time I've stroked a boat since I came here as a junior in 1997", said Wells. "But I think I add something in that seat. We have made progress here and I still believe we can realistically aim to get on the podium".
Both the women's and men's eights fields in Munich are "light" on top nations. Canada and the USA are missing from the women's start list and World Champions Germany, still on a four-year winning streak, are not here to resume their head-to-head with Britain's men. Nor are the Canadians who are the Olympic Champions.
In the women's final today the Canadians took an early lead from the Dutch with Romania in third. Britain, roared on by a crowd in the grandstand and the voice of their cox Caroline O'Connor, kept in contention with the chasing pack. The effort paid off. As the crews came in sight of the grandstand the British boat speed took off and in the final 250m flew through to take bronze in 6:22.31 behind the winners from Canada and Romania.
Annabel Vernon said: "We've talked a lot about the race from the 1250 mark - just committing everything we had and trusting each other that we would rise to it -and we did, we just came storming back through. The passion and commitment were faultless but clearly the first 500m could be faulted. There is a huge amount we can improve on but there were real positives and fighting back at the end the way we did is a real tick in the box. There's a lot more to come."
Louisa Reeve said: "It didn't feel like a sprint (the last part of the race) just doing what we set out to do and take the speed out together as a boat. I don't know how fast we were actually going and I didn't know where we were. Normally I look around but I just but I put it all into the rowing."
Natasha Page: "Caroline played a massive part in our last 500 - I can't tell you exactly what she said but it certainly worked."
Jess Eddie: "We've had a tough couple of weeks forming crews and we're still not 100% there but it's amazing to finally put in a good race - you wear the British crest with pride and it's great to stand on the podium. It's tough when you change crews and I think we've dealt with it well. We've put some good races in but today is definitely our best of the season. We'll go away to camp in 5 days and I think our minds are on that now."
Caroline O'Connor said: "We came together as a crew two weeks ago today and we've moved on a lot since Lucerne. We were in there in the middle of that race and holding our own. We now need to make sure that we're moving a bit quicker".
Olivia Whitlam said: "I was in the bow seat today and it felt at times lie I was flying along. Caz (O'Connor) really kept us focussed and our heads in the boat".
Emily Taylor said: "This shows how much we can push ourselves when we put our mind to it. That was such a big step on mentally and physically today. We can really take things away from that and we know that if we really get it together as a crew we can be so much better".
Victoria Thornley said: "That was so much better. If we get some settled time as a boat we can build on that".
Katie Greves said
In the first 250m of the men's eight final, the Australians took the initiative and the early lead but Poland came through in front at halfway. GB, coxed by Phelan Hill, and stroked by James Foad, remained in third behind Australia.
You could see Hill's head bobbing as he strained to draw more out of the crew. The effort was clear but the result was not what they all desired as Poland held onto the lead in the finishing phases and Australia had enough to hold onto second and were closing on Poland at the end.
Alan Campbell, in the absence of his friend but great rival Mahe Drysdale and his Czech nemesis Ondrej Synek, definitely strtaed as a medal favourite in today's but he knew also that Lassi Karnonen and home rower, Marcel Hacker would prove tough cookies to beat. Campbell was third at 500m goine, dropped back to fourth at halfway but was back in the medal zone in the final push to the finish. Hacker took gold in 7:12.74. Silver went to Karonen and bronze to Campbell in 7:12.74.
"I am disappointed with that but it's a start that we can work on in the next few weeks at training camps", said Campbell.
To conclude a remarkable regatta for such a newcomer, Britain's second-ranked sculler Graeme Thomas - a recent recruit to the sport from rugby, took fourth in 7:18.48. Coached by Hamish Burrell at Agecroft, Thomas has made huge strides since coming into the GB Rowing Team's Start programme which is sponsored by Siemens and backed by the Lottery funding.
B FINAL
Cameron Nichol and Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell put in a great finish to their B final to overhaul Germany and take second behind Australia's Nick Hudson and Fergus Pragnell.
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