O. Zeidler, GER v J. Plihal, USA - Diamonds | Henley 2024 Finals

So this is the Diamond Challenge Skulls. Really looking forward to this. You can see the route to the final there for Oli Seidler and for Jacob Pleal and looking forward to this. This is a trophy that has been fought for all the time since 1844. 40 crews entered, 24 competed through the regatta and now the two on the start. We've got the reigning Olympic, reigning world and European champion Oliver Seidler up against from the U.S. Jacob Pleal. Bansive reach both of these guys have. These are enormous men and in fact Pleal's even bigger than Seidler at 208 centimeters. Six foot ten in old money. Umpire warning Pleal already just to stay away that crosswind at the end of the island. Tricky for everybody. Yeah the cocks of the smaller birds are really struggling with the stream and the wind coming off the end of the island and needs to really make sure he doesn't get his blades mixed in with Oli Seidler. But like you said both very powerful athletes and Oli Seidler to be fair I think Oli Seidler is sculling at the moment the best I've seen him since Lucerne in 2023. Yeah delighted we have these two here. Henley ahead of the Olympics and you know Seidler really loves to come on the Henley stretch looking for his fourth win here but he'll also know that Pleal has come from behind in each of his races so not necessarily the fastest starter but he's got a cool head on those shoulders and that long reach gives him a real kind of loping style through an efficiency through the middle of the race. But right now Seidler is dominating. Yes this is a little bit what he did in Lucerne 23. He went out very hard got quite a bit on the field and then the field slowly came back at him and then he just set out a killer blow. But like I said Pleal only a few weeks ago he was second and qualified for the Olympics. Yeah absolutely so two two scullers absolutely the top of the world order in this super competitive sculling race. Herzlich Wilkommen if you're joining us from Frankfurt, Rüde Gesellschaft, Germania, 1809 und Sechzig huge contingent at Henley over the years from that club we love seeing them here and they love coming to race so great welcome to our German friends and if you're up early in the U.S. to watch Racing Projects sculler Jacob Pleal well you're joining him in a difficult position so early in this race as we can see just coming through to the 500 meter mark that barrier marker is at 637 meters down the course. Yeah I mean it's astounding isn't it Pleal he's qualified for the Olympic Games second fastest in the qualifying regatta and here Olli Seidler in the first 400 meters or 600 meters has just dealt a killer blow to him isn't he I mean he's already put three or four lengths into him I was I mean I don't think he'll keep moving away because a little bit the stage as they move across the station is going to help him a little bit but he's got a lot in hand I think don't you think? Yeah I'm really impressed with the speed of that start you're absolutely right it's I mean you know it's not like he's racing a slow coach here he's racing somebody who's the second in the world most recently and so really dominant performance and having that ability to turn the speed on like that and then stretch out and sit in a comfortable position he can almost kind of recover from that early effort consolidate here while he watches carefully his opponent with plenty of control between him and Pleal behind him. Yeah and essentially it's an interesting choice for him to come and race here with the Olympics so close or not far away and I know he loves this regatta but one of the things he's struggled with over the years is difficult is rough conditions and in Tokyo he suffered because of that and maybe he's coming here to get a little bit to wash here and that kind of thing. Yeah just as you say that Adrian we can see the sort of wash from the launches that's been rolling along the side of the boat there and that's the kind of thing he needs to practice you said he really struggled in Tokyo but what I love about our top class athletes is how they look at that adversity and they learn and you know he's deliberately made the choice to train in the way he does very separate from the rest of the German teams his own rhythm coming to Henley looking to win his fourth diamonds skulls which is a brilliant achievement. It's fantastic also in his I saw in his boat he's had some changes made to his foot stretcher so instead of it normally firmly painted in he's got these sort of floating discs so both his feet can go left and right freely as he's sculling which maybe he's trying to help that to help with his managing his balance. Well this is interesting so for somebody who's maybe not so familiar with rowing normally the the shoes you put your feet in are anchored you know pretty much no movement on them other than the heels flexing up and down but you're saying he's got a little bit more rotation on the feet that allows I guess him to swing through a little bit more easily. So they were zooming into his feet here yeah so he's got his feet can twist left and right not just come up and down so that's giving him a bit of freedom maybe for his knees to move and balance the boat so it seems to be working for him so far. Well we're just picking out those beautiful shoes there maybe other rowers if he goes on to win the olympics will want to buy these. So you can see the red bits underneath the stretcher there that's giving him the freedom to move. This is the quality of analysis you get from Adrian Cassidy ladies and gentlemen it's all about the shoes in the scull for Oliver Tyler and you know the incremental gains that you're looking for all the time you know what's great about the single is you've just got to find the best way for your physiology to work you don't have to combine with somebody who's got a different bozzie size or shape you are able to row exactly the way you need to to get that boat to move as quickly as possible. Let's just look here for a moment of Cleo sitting down quite difficult for him now psychologically. It is but he's still been looking at you she's really long in the front end isn't he and really explosive through the middle of the stroke and all these idols make him look like he's a little bit of a different class but he's a really good sculler. Yeah I really like that the way his shoulders are sort of so relaxed and cool it's really working through the lats and the lower body which is what you want to see isn't it and keeping loose and long in the shoulders and arms. It'll be fascinating to see how he does how he goes through the rounds of the olympic games in a few weeks time. So we've come through the halfway mark we won't be seeing records falling today I think with the amount of stream thanks to the unseasonable rainfall we've got and the stream I think has been increasing notably day on day I was out rowing myself this morning and just you could feel the extra push slightly favoring probably the station that Seidler has here the um Berkshire station probably having a little bit less of that stream down the course but that's um that's not the determining factor in this race at least. No and I think that also because the way that the course goes from one side of the river to the other and back again the advantage is shifting a bit during the course of the race but only Seidler here I hope this is working out for him that he's come here and done the preparation he's managed to do different aspects of the race I guess trying to do a good start harder thousand or whatever it'll be interesting to see whether he just rows this to the end or whether he actually delivers a killer sprint at the end. Yeah I was just thinking the same thing Adrian you hasn't got long to the olympics but you know regardless of his position versus Cleal it'd be nice to see him just trying out that sort of sprint finish because he won't have another chance to do that in a race situation until the games themselves so if I was him I think I probably would be thinking yeah let's just give it a go let's see how I can do that. Yeah because if you're in training camp you'll be doing these sort of he'd be doing these sort of pieces on camp anyway to prepare and he'll be saying well in this piece I want to focus on the last part of the race in this piece I want to focus on the middle thousand so I'm sure he's been doing the same sort of exercise just under pressure of competition. Yeah and here because the times don't matter it's just one-on-one competition man for man stroke for stroke and all those hours on the rowing machine all those kilometers on the water in the legs of these two top class Scullers and you know to take that kind of distance out of Cleal from Seidler that's this is a really strong performance he will be taking huge confidence for that into Paris looking at Cleal here very strong very long Sculler I love like you say the way he just gets the oars in at the front of the stroke but here comes Seidler he's pushing on a bit isn't he's not letting the stroke rate up too much but you can see a bit of extra power through the middle of the stroke no he's definitely still delivering a lot of power just just like you said not not doing a final sprint and a great performance he'll be very happy for that I'm sure he'll be I'm not sure he'll be in the Leander bar like he was a few years ago after today lovely to see athletes celebrating but this year he's got another goal ahead of him but right now it's Oliver Seidler for the fourth time at Henley Regatta taking the title of diamond challenge trophy winner and you can see what it means to the world and European champion thank you Oliver it's all in the head he thanks his fans he loves coming here to Henley Regatta but the fans will also be applauding a dynamic Scull from Jacob Cleel from the USA Oliver Seidler Henley favorite from Frank Frankfurter Ruda Gazelschaff Germania Axe 809 and Seksic takes his fourth diamonds title as the sun shines through the clouds on what could be the next olympic Sculling champion but there are a few more strokes between him and that olympic gold medal