By David Williams
Ollie Wynne-Griffith insists he and teammate Tom George will strive for more improvement after they underlined their favourites’ tag for the Olympic Games by winning the men’s pair final at the World Rowing Cup.
Welsh star Wynne-Griffith led the way as they won the first of seven medals for Great Britain on the final day of the regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
They beat Spain’s Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia and Switzerland’s Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich, who won silver and bronze respectively.
🚩 A-FINAL : Men’s Pair (M2-)
🥇 Oliver Wynne-Griffith (b), Tom George (s), Great Britain
🥈 Jaime Canalejo Pazos (b), Javier Garcia Ordonez (s), Spain
🥉 Roman Roeoesli (b), Andrin Gulich (s), Switzerland🏅World Rowing Cup Leader: Great Britain#WorldRowingCup #WRCLucerne pic.twitter.com/8pey4BiTrS
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) May 26, 2024
It was a second World Cup gold in 2024 for Wynne-Griffith and George and maintained their winning streak this season.
Wynne-Griffith said: “It’s nice to be unbeaten – great.
“But we don’t want to dwell on that, we don’t want to stop. We have learnings to take away and there are parts that we know can be better.
“But we are happy with today and it’s good to get a win on a beautiful lake.”
The fastest British Men's pair ever Ollie Wynne Griffith and Tom George win the first gold medal for GB at WRCLucerne dominating the M2- 🇬🇧 🚣#BBCRowing pic.twitter.com/YuLr8Uq7E9
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) May 26, 2024
George said: “We were in control and we are happy with that, but we’re never going to stop and be happy with where we’re at. We’ll keep pushing.
“People keep asking us about expectations and telling us we’re favourites now, it doesn’t really matter.
“We have a lot of training to do and we want to keep pushing to find more speed.”
The women’s four earned another gold for Britain, the team including two-time Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover.
In the men’s four, Britain picked up a bronze and the women’s eight earned silver for GB.
Poise and precision on Day 4 👌
Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George showed us how it was done to progress in The Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup. #HRR23 pic.twitter.com/aYBZum29qK
— Henley Royal Regatta (@HenleyRegatta) July 24, 2023