First gold for former Evesham rower Zac

7:00am Monday 12th May 2008

ZAC Purchase brilliantly boosted his Beijing medal hopes in Munich by storming to his first gold medal since winning the world singles title two years ago in a powerhouse performance of double sculling.

After pulling on his first yellow World Cup jersey in Munich, the former 22-year-old King's Worcester School pupil joked: "That feels really good, but it's not that tight - I'm obviously not as well-muscled as I thought."

Purchase and GB lightweight partner Mark Hunter lifted world championship bronze on the 1972 Olympic lake eight months ago.

But they were in a different class this time, coming home two lengths clear of nearest challengers France with bronze medallists Italy a full four lengths adrift. Last year's world silver medallists Greece, who pipped GB last time out in Munich, couldn't even make the final of one of rowing's most competitive Olympic events, although world champions Denmark sat this one out this time.

"I expect they'll be out in Lucerne in three weeks, so it'll be game on then," said Purchase, who launched out in the sport at Upton and Evesham Rowing Clubs.

"This is a great result and it feels good to finally win a gold again after two silvers and two bronzes last year, plus my first yellow World Cup jersey. But we can't leave it there because otherwise we'll get caught.

"This is a great start, but we've got to maintain the momentum and improve our starting level and build the performance higher and higher. The Danes will be back and we've got to be ready.

"We put a good race together without having to sprint for it at any time, so I think there's plenty more to come.

"We squeezed out over the whole of the course, so what we've shown is a good example of our cruising pace.

"There wasn't any point at which we really made a big move, we just concentrated on staying long and powerful.

"We haven't really done as much race preparation as we would have liked yet, so it's good to know we can go away over the next three weeks and work on a sprint finish and some real burst pace."

While Purchase and Hunter eased home in seven minutes 00.59 seconds to win by 3.6 seconds, the French got their bows in front of the Italians again for silver, with China fourth a full 12 seconds back on GB.

"We're sculling much better than last year, as a double, not two singles," added Purchase, who holds the world singles record.

"Over the winter, we stripped it right back to basics, concentrating on the simple things to make sure we're rowing better together.

"It's good to know that all that work's paid off, because you never know until you get out there and race again, but we need to move on now."

Editor's Choice