ROM, the winner of the Lucerne races at World Cup in July, should pull away from the
field in the 2nd 500 and hold off RSA and USA in the last 500 to win the gold medal. RSA
has done well so far in Sydney, and should be positioned with CAN, GER and AUS, last
year's gold, silver and bronze medalists at Worlds, to challenge USA in the last 500 for
the silver medal here. The USA is the defending Olympic silver medalist making a comeback
after laying off in the intervening years. The winners of the silver and bronze medals
here on the basis of heats times comparisons are projected to be RSA for silver and USA
for bronze, but with all those crews that close with 500 to go, anything could happen.LANE CREW RELATIVE POSITIONS ELAPSED SPLIT
1500* CREW TIME TIME
---+---+---+---+---+---+
6 GER <GER RSA 1:46.47 1:46.47
5 USA <USA ROM 1:46.55 1:46.55
4 RSA <RSA GER 1:46.93 1:46.93
3 ROM <ROM AUS 1:46.95 1:46.95
2 AUS <AUS CAN 1:47.27 1:47.27
1 CAN <CAN USA 1:47.33 1:47.33
---+---+---+---+---+---+
1000*
---+---+---+---+---+---+
6 GER <GER ROM 3:35.36 1:48.80
5 USA <USA USA 3:37.35 1:50.02
4 RSA <RSA RSA 3:37.36 1:50.89
3 ROM <ROM GER 3:38.25 1:51.32
2 AUS <AUS CAN 3:38.69 1:51.41
1 CAN <CAN AUS 3:38.80 1:51.84
---+---+---+---+---+---+
500 *
---+---+---+---+---+---+
6 GER <GER ROM 5:25.25 1:49.88
5 USA <USA USA 5:28.97 1:51.61
4 RSA <RSA RSA 5:29.92 1:52.55
3 ROM <ROM GER 5:29.94 1:51.68
2 AUS <AUS AUS 5:30.70 1:51.89
1 CAN <CAN CAN 5:30.95 1:52.26
---+---+---+---+---+---+
FINISH*
---+---+---+---+---+---+
6 GER <GER ROM 7:16.22 1:50.97
5 USA <USA RSA 7:17.82 1:47.89
4 RSA <RSA USA 7:18.73 1:49.76
3 ROM <ROM GER 7:20.23 1:50.29
2 AUS <AUS AUS 7:20.69 1:49.98
1 CAN <CAN CAN 7:20.83 1:49.88
---+---+---+---+---+---+
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