ALEX Gregory and Matt Gotrel helped Great Britain men’s eight win the gold medal by just eight hundredths of a second from Olympic champions Germany at the World Cup in Switzerland.

Former Evesham rower Gregory, 31, of Wormington, and Gotrel, 26, of Chipping Campden, were joined by Constantine Louloudis, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash, Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill in Lucerne.

GB worked themselves into a good lead early on before Germany mounted a charge.

But an immense effort in the final 10 strokes kept the challenge at bay and gave the world champions gold in five minutes 33.95 seconds, with New Zealand third.

Gregory and Gotrel’s Leander Club teammate Satch said: “We are pretty pumped after that. It’s 15 years since a British eight won in Lucerne so it’s a historic moment.”

GB will also have the Russians and Americans to take on at the world championships in France from August 30 after an intense training camp.