00:00 world view here and we'll see what happens in Czechia with the huge expanse of athletes
00:08 from Czechia, Prague and surrounding in the O2 Universum.
00:13 So we'll have to see what happens as they start this race with a bit of a sprint, trying
00:19 to establish leadership early on in this competition.
00:23 You can see them all next to one another just trying to outpull each other and running on
00:27 adrenaline really for the first 10 strokes, aren't they?
00:31 Yeah, they really are.
00:33 It's that free speed, you know, it's that energy system where you get about seven seconds
00:38 before you start to move into anaerobic or aerobic kind of energy production.
00:43 Katie Moll at the top there for GB.
00:47 She has had a great season so far, as we've already mentioned, at the GB trials, but she's
00:53 here 200 metres in atop the leaderboard.
00:56 But she is going up against, like we've said, some quite seasoned athletes on the international
01:00 stage, those that have competed at Olympic and World Championships for their country
01:05 on water.
01:06 But like we've seen, you know, across all the different events, whether that be the
01:10 Versa, whether that be the 500 metres, experience on water does not necessarily mean experience
01:16 here on the indoor rower.
01:18 And so, again, a real opportunity to open the door here to some new names and faces
01:23 and new names and faces, new locations, a little sneak peek into the homes and gyms
01:30 of those around the world coming to you live from the pitches now.
01:34 Sene Yilmaz, as we've called out in the centre left of your picture.
01:39 Plamikova there for Czechia, coming into silver medal position at the moment, sandwiched in
01:45 between the Brit and the Aussie.
01:48 But she now will move into gold medal position there in the arena.
01:52 And I think to be in with a chance of a medal here, Natasha, it seems you need to be around
01:57 about the sub-seven mark because we're at 144s, 145s.
02:01 That seems to be the sort of benchmark here for a podium placing.
02:07 That definitely seems to be the time to beat.
02:09 And you have to remember that every stroke counts, every 500 metres counts.
02:13 We've already seen maybe five or six lead changes in the first six, 700 metres of this
02:19 race.
02:20 And we expect that to continue.
02:22 No one wants to be coming from behind.
02:24 Everyone wants to be coming from in front.
02:26 So we might see Katie Mould move up once again.
02:30 But the atmosphere may be doing something with Plamikova from Czechia, holding steady
02:37 at that 144, very sustainable, 34-35 stroke rate, a little bit higher than Katie Mould
02:44 in second, around a 33-34, but both holding a sub-seven minute time.
02:51 So that's definitely going to be the matchup to watch at the top.
02:54 Not too far behind, though, is Anna Sanchkova with a 143 split at the moment.
03:01 She's brought it up a little bit, but still nice and consistent.
03:04 Two metres back from Katie Mould, Gabriella Morton, who I think we just saw on screen
03:10 from Australia.
03:11 She is only eight metres back, so three metres back from third place.
03:15 I would say the podium is well within grasp for our top maybe five, six athletes here.
03:22 Yeah, definitely.
03:24 There's really not much separating them at all.
03:28 And a real charge being wound up here for the final sprint.
03:32 I think anything within 20 metres is absolutely attainable here by any of these athletes.
03:38 And they're all so experienced, they'll be rowing within their race plan.
03:41 They won't be caused to drift by the plans of others.
03:45 Katie Mould poised there six metres back alongside Anna Sanchkova, who was sixth at the under-23
03:52 World Championships last year in the single scull, a difficult discipline to be out there
03:57 all by yourself.
03:58 So she's got it certainly both physically and mentally to succeed.
04:03 We've also talked about the performance here from Pavlina Flamikova of Czechia.
04:09 She snuck in on a qualification spot to the Paris Olympic Games this year as part of the
04:15 women's pair.
04:16 And let's see if she can continue that late sprinting form to hang on to a gold medal
04:21 here in Prague on home ground.
04:24 But some really nice long strokes there being taken by Lenka Luksova we just saw on screen.
04:30 There is our current silver medalist Anna Sanchkova.
04:34 And hey, Natasha, I said that we'd love to see some Czechia medals here.
04:39 It's looking more and more likely with every single stroke that's being taken.
04:44 It really is.
04:45 Even if you go further down the line, we see Mikhaila Popsilova.
04:49 She was down at around 10th and now she's moving up with a little bit of a sprint happening
04:55 around the 1000 meter marker.
04:58 But we can see our current leader taking the rate up around 36 strokes per minute, Pavlina
05:04 Flamikova doing quite well here, looking long and strong.
05:09 And then next to her Anna Sanchkova with that marker, number 11.
05:15 She's still holding on only within six meters.
05:17 They do have 500 meters left and it's really going to be this sprint.
05:22 Let's see if they take the rate up, take the power up a little bit.
05:25 That's going to take them through to the end.
05:27 This is fifth position, Radka Novnikova.
05:32 And she is within about 20 meters of the lead, but she's looking to stay ahead of Patricia
05:38 Batista from Portugal.
05:40 She can see her slowly creeping in.
05:42 So she's trying to keep that fifth place above sixth place.
05:45 But with 400 meters to go, there's a bit of a lead forming for Flamikova.
05:50 She's seven meters ahead of Sanchikova now, but a huge battle for second right now.
05:56 Yeah, definitely.
05:57 Let's keep our eyes on the silver medal battle.
05:59 You mentioned Radka Novnikova.
06:01 That's actually Pavlina Flamikova's pairs partner down there, who she jointly qualified
06:06 that boat for the Olympics with, but she's off the podium at the moment.
06:09 I've been keeping my eyes on Sanchikova, who's down at 142s, 141s, but here goes Flamikova.
06:16 She's now at 139s with 250 meters to go.
06:19 She only continues to push those splits down.
06:22 She's at 42 strokes a minute now.
06:24 She's trying to increase that gap, get herself out of the fight for silver and into the fight
06:29 for gold.
06:30 And Sanchikova left flailing with Katherine Moll, Katie Moll now down at 140s.
06:37 I think to be in with a chance of a medal here in this final 200 meters, you need to
06:41 be at a minimum split of 140, if not 139.
06:46 Here goes Flamikova, 137.
06:49 She's up at 45 strokes a minute.
06:51 Great scenes from the stadium.
06:53 And you can just see how much that rating is pushing her onwards.
06:57 Half strokes for her to come in towards the line and to secure that gold medal.
07:02 A brilliant performance from Flamikova.
07:04 That's how much it means to her on home ground.
07:07 That was a stunning race from start to finish, timed to perfection alongside her teammate
07:13 Anna Sanchikova.
07:14 It's a one-two for Czechia alongside the Brit Katie Moll, who spoils the party for the Czech
07:21 team there.
07:22 Gabriela Morton of Oz was very consistently up there in the fight for a medal, but fell
07:27 away at the final moments.
07:29 And Radka Novotnikova of Czechia in a time of 6.55 rounds off that top five.
07:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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