New Zealand men's gold in eights is no fluke
As strong as New Zealand's men's eights had looked leading up to Friday's Olympic Rowing final at Sea Forest Waterway, Great Britain and Germany, the gold and silver medalists respectively at Rio 2016, garnered more pre-race buzz.
About 5 1/2 minutes after the six finalists left the starting line, everything had changed.
Germany had picked up another silver, Great Britain had to settle for bronze, and the Kiwis had emphatically proven that they hadn't caught lightning in a bottle in Tokyo; they really are that fast.
New Zealand's golden time of five minutes and 24.64 seconds edged the Germans by slightly less than a second, beat the defending champion by slightly more than a second, and more than two seconds clear of the United States, which finished fourth.
Canada tops new-look podium in women's eights
At Rio 2016, the U.S. women's eight captured its third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, with Great Britain earning silver, Romania bronze.
Thanks to an entirely new crop of countries atop the podium Friday, led by Canada, the only "fourth" in the cards for Team USA was at fourth place.
Canada finished in a hair less than six minutes, New Zealand was less than a second back for silver, and China finished more than a minute and a half clear of the U.S. for bronze.
Greece gets another golden god
Stefano Ntouskos of Greece didn't just win gold in the men's single sculls final. He won going away, nearly a second and a half clear of silver medalist Kjetil Borch of Norway.
Damir Martin, the silver medalist in the event at Rio 2016, captured bronze for Croatia by 15/100ths of a second.
NZ's Twigg smashes (single) sculls of rivals
In yet another final that brought an entirely fresh crop of talent to the podium, Emma Twigg of New Zealand was nothing short of dominant. She could've whittled a walking stick while waiting for silver medalist Hannah Prakhatsen of the Russian Olympic Committee to cross the finish.
Bronze medalist Magdalena Lobnig of Austria finished well back of Prakhatsen.
