Men's and Women's Eights Race in Bled

Two of the tightest fields battled it out in the A Finals at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. On the men's side, the German 'Achter' is looking very solid -- though the last three-peat prior to the Olympics didn't guarantee gold at the subsequent Games, as Team USA fans will no doubt remember (also the case with Canada in 2002, 2003 and the Athens Games). It will be very interesting to see if the rest of the world catches up to the Germans next year, but so far they have been dominant. It was a fairly tight race, yes, but the winner was never really in doubt in Bled.

The field in the women's eight continues to draw closer together, and despite increasing challenges from an excellent Canadian crew, the USA entry (perhaps unrivaled in terms of experience and prior success) just keeps finding ways to get it done. Bled marked the second regatta of the summer where Canada asked the question, and once again the US crew had the answer coming into the final 500m. For some inside analysis of the race from the Canadian coxswain, Lesley Thompson-Willie, and coach of the CAN W8+ John Keogh, check out our interviews from Rowing News' coverage of the 2011 World Championships.

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-RR

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