South African rowing has pulled out all the stops to win yet another international gold medal, writes MARK ETHERIDGE.
On this occasion, it was the men’s pair of Charles Brittain and James Mitchell who won gold at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Poznan, Poland.
The SA combination beat the Romanian and Italian crews into second and third place respectively.
The winning time for the pair over the 2,000m course was 6min 41.74sec with Romania clocking 6:42.53 and Italy 6:48.23.
The South Africans were third after the halfway mark, second with 500m to go and then pulled out all the stops to take the win.
An ecstatic SA coach at these championships, AJ Grant told Team SA of the final.
‘It was an unbelievably exciting final. Going into the final as favourites, it didn’t exactly work out [according] to plan!
‘The Romanian pair shot out with a heavily front-loaded race plan.
‘They led by 4.5 seconds at the halfway mark, which was a daunting lead.’
But to their credit, there was no panic from the SA pair.
‘Our boys stuck to their pacing, hoping to close the gap as they squeezed out their strong third quarter.’
However, they made little impression as the Romanians managed to keep their lead to four seconds.
‘It all seemed insurmountable,’ admitted Grant. ‘But the boys knew they have a devastating sprint and their speed started to climb.
‘Who knows how they did it but the cracks started to show in the Romanian boat with about 50m to go! South Africa’s last 500m had paid off, but only just.
‘Taking four seconds out of Romania for gold in the last few strokes is just unbelievable.’
South Africa have built on their proud record in this event, having now won three golds and two silvers since 2010.
‘There was another impressive performance from Nick Oberholzer who took sixth of 28 rowers in the lightweight men’s skulls,’ said Grant. ‘He ended up a mere three seconds off a medal.’
Photo: Brittain and Mitchell celebrate on the podium in Poland, by www.worldrowing.com