Relief as Ritchie strikes gold

Rowing

Herne Bay rower Dan Ritchie is celebrating winning a historic World Championship gold medal in South Korea.

The 26-year-old member of the GB men’s eight had previously claimed silvers in World Championships in New Zealand in 2010 and Switzerland in 2011 but went one better on Sunday.

A superb performance saw GB pip Olympic champions and eight powerhouses Germany to gold by just 0.54 seconds in a thrilling battle on Lake Tangeum.

The German crew – who were reigning world champions and also beat Ritchie and the GB eight into silver on both previous occasions – got off to a strong start and took an early lead but the British eight reeled them in and were inches in front at the 500m mark.

They extended their lead to half a length by the halfway mark at 1,000m and despite the Germans closing the gap strongly in the final 1,000m, Britain held on for their first ever World Championship gold, in a time of 5.30.35.

USA were third in 5.33.92, just ahead of Poland, Netherlands and France.

Former Herne Bay High pupil and Herne Bay ARC member Ritchie said: “It is great to be part of history.

“It’s pure elation but also relief as we went across the line.”

He added on twitter: “What a year and what a result. Thank you everyone for your help and support for what has been an extremely emotional year.”

The GB eight finished out of the medals at the last World Cup event in Lucerne, Switzerland, in July, and Ritchie’s crewmate, Ashford’s Tom Ransley, who attended King’s School in Canterbury, suggested the change was all about self-belief.

He said: “I think we have focused on our training and stayed believing in ourself and we were strong when it counted.”

Will Satch, George Nash, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Mohamed Sbihi, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory made up the crew.