Great Britain won the gold medal in the Men's Coxed Eight. The last time this happened was in Sydney 2000.
Great Britain who came in as the fastest qualifiers went in lane three. Germany the second fastest team went in lane four. Lane five went to the USA. Netherlands were given lane two with Poland in one and New Zealand in six.
Great Britain dominates the Coxed Eight
The quickest starters by no surprise were the Great British team. In second at this moment was the Germans with the USA in third. At the first mark of 500m, Great Britain extended their lead and was 0.64 seconds ahead of Germany in lane three and 0.89 seconds ahead New Zealand who overtook the USA who dropped to fourth.
In the following 150m, Great Britain was beginning to move ahead of the Germans in second and they were doing everything right. Down in third place still were the Kiwis.
Great Britain crossed the halfway mark of 1000m in 2:41:54 and in second the German team was 2.45 seconds behind. They were being dragged into a race with New Zealand who was now just 0.3 seconds behind and beginning to make a charge for the silver medal.
In lane two, Netherlands had pushed on and moved into the bronze medal position ahead of New Zealand. As they moved to the 1250m mark, Netherlands were in the second position with the Germans down in in third place. But they were battling for a silver medal.
As the teams began to reach the 1500m mark, Great Britain had extended their lead over Germany to 2.54 and the Dutch to 2.62. The USA who was in the fourth position were out of medal contention having had a good start.
In second and third place, The Germans and the Dutch pushed one last time but couldn't grab Great Britain as they made history by winning their first medal in the Men's Coxed Eight - a gold. Winning the silver were the Germans with Netherlands taking bronze. Down in fourth and out of the medals for a long time were the US. The Polish finished in fifth and New Zeland sixth.