Olympics: Dutch rowers set world best time to win men's quadruple sculls

The Netherlands set a world best time of five minutes and 32.03 seconds to claim the men's quadruple sculls gold here on Wednesday.

Dutch rowers Lucas Theodoor Dirk Uittenbogaard, Abe Wiersma, Tone Wieten and Koen Metsemakers improved the previous world best, created by Ukraine in 2014, by 0.23 seconds.

The 1,000m leader, Britain took the silver in 5:33.75, edging third-placed Australia by 0.22 seconds, reports Xinhua

Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis won the first gold for Romania in women's double sculls final.

The Romanians had a firm lead after 1,000m and maintained their advantage to the finish line in six minutes and 41.03 seconds.

The result also set a new Olympic best time, slicing more than three seconds off the previous mark held by the British.

New Zealand's Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne took the silver in 6:44.82 and Dutch rowers Roos de Jong and Lisa Scheenaard bagged the bronze clocking 6:45.73.

 

France edged the Netherlands by 0.2 seconds to win the men's double sculls gold in an Olympic best time of six minutes and 0.33 seconds.

The French and Dutch rowers were going head-to-head in the final sprint, and Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias eventually bested for the gold. Melvin Twellaar and Stef Broenink won the silver in 6:00.53.

China's Liu Zhiyu and Zhang Liang took the bronze in 6:03.63. This is the historic first Olympic medal for the Chinese men's rowing.

Australian rowers kept the momentum to win the men's four gold after the victory by their female counterparts earlier on Wednesday.

Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves, and Alexander Hill crossed the line first and set a new Olympic best time at five minutes and 42.76 seconds, 3.3 seconds less than their previous mark at London 2012.

Romania came second in 5:43.13 for the silver and Italy took the bronze 0.47 seconds further behind.

Australia beat their own Olympic best time to win the rowing women's four gold on Wednesday.

The Aussie rowers Lucy Stephan, Rosemary Popa, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre survived a late scare from Team Netherlands to cross the line first in six minutes and 15.37 seconds, a huge improvement from their previous Olympic best time of 6:28.76.

Dutch rowers Ellen Hogerwerf, Karolien Florijn, Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester finished in 6:15.71 for the silver.

Aifric Koegn, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty won the bronze for Ireland in 6:20.46.

--IANS

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