RR Olympics Blog: Aussie, GB Crews Putting on a Clinic on Day Three at Dorney



The weather has held up (for the most part) at Eton Dorney over the first three days of racing, with the wind pushing crews down the course in record time–taking nothing away from the rowers, of course. There is a ton of chat about the GB men's four and women's double over here, as you might imagine–today's events certainly didn't take away from the excitement, as the Australian women's double, featuring arguably the best overall athlete on the women's side at the Olympic Regatta, Kim Crow, won their heat, just after Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins stormed down the course to victory in 6:44.

This was followed by the Australian men's four, built around three-time Olympic gold medalist Drew Ginn, looking absolutely outstanding in the first heat of three heats, winning in another Olympic Best Time of 5:47 despite leading by open water seemingly from 250m into the race. The GB crew then took center stage, with three of the four that won gold in Beijing (Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, and Tom James) back for another barn burner with the Aussies in the final–in fact, the GB four were faster than Australia through 1000m (GB M4-: 2:50.9, AUS: 2:51.37). In heat three, the top U.S. crew looked great as well–clearly the class of the field in the final heat (which included an excellent crew from Greece that won silver last year in Bled), the U.S. led all the way down the course, and appear to be poised for a podium finish.

Check out the photo gallery above for a look at the dramatic skies over Dorney Lake, and see the Monday write-up on RowingNews.com for a full rundown of all the races today.

-Bryan

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