00:00 There is, this is it, this is the podium places.
00:03 The top three finishers in this race will be our top three finishers in the Versa overall.
00:08 And in the blink of an eye, we are off and we are out of the blocks.
00:12 Joel Naccarinen with that huge advantage there, 10 meters over Cam Buchan.
00:16 And Cam Buchan will know that he has to go at least one better.
00:20 11 meters ahead of Joel Naccarinen will secure him the Versa title on his debut year.
00:27 But as we look here at the faces, it all seems quite relaxed in comparison to the previous event,
00:34 which was all about sprinting, Natasha.
00:36 This almost looks in slow motion here as they try and set themselves up to not blow,
00:41 because blowing will throw away the championships for them.
00:45 Absolutely. I think the key here will be looking at those 10 meter differences between them.
00:51 If they are tied, being that they are in the same, you know, 10 meter deficit with Matthew Seavey and Angie Tomlinson,
00:59 both in the 70s there back, it'll be really key not to lose that 10 meters you have on the next person in line.
01:08 Yeah, we can see that. Look, as we go down the board, so Joel Naccarinen has opened up almost 20 meters
01:15 over that initial 10 meters he had, but look at the gap closing between Matchaj Zawalski and Anders Meskerad Jakobsen.
01:22 That's closed from 10 meters down to something more like four or five meters here, Natasha.
01:27 So I think we could see these positions starting to chop and change within the leaderboard.
01:32 I think so as well. Looking at Zach Fowle, he expelled a lot of energy earlier in the challenges earlier today.
01:40 So he is only about seven or eight meters in front of Matthew Seavey, and we'll see if Matthew takes advantage of that.
01:46 But he is currently very close to Angie Tomlinson, so that'll be a bit of a matchup to watch when it comes to figuring out
01:53 who comes in those fifth, sixth and seventh positions.
01:57 Magic Zawalski looking very strong here. He's actually only four meters back from Jakobsen,
02:03 so we'll see if he increases his lead there or not. He's holding a 1.34 at a 33 stroke rate.
02:13 But Joel Naccarinen looking really in control here.
02:17 Yeah, he is looking really in control here. So I think all he needs to do is keep his arm nice and straight and hold off Kambukin,
02:25 which he's managed to open up that gap, but has he done it too soon and too early?
02:30 We've seen our first place change there. Angie Tomlinson has managed to get ahead of Matthew Seavey from the initial rankings
02:38 and doing it at a lower stroke rating as well. 28 strokes a minute. Very impressive here.
02:43 As we come towards a thousand meters, a halfway point here, a check-in point for them to assess, see how they're feeling
02:51 and see how close they are to that podium for the Versa Challenge 2024.
02:57 Naccarinen holding 36 meters of deficit in silver medal position. His speed still much lower.
03:03 You can see there 0.1, 0.2 of a kilometer per hour slower. And actually, it's almost like he heard me there,
03:09 Natasha, because he's pushed up now to trying to push on ahead of Joel in this second half of the race, perhaps his race plan.
03:17 And we've talked so much about these athletes and how they're different in terms of sprint versus power versus speed.
03:23 And I think you really see that in that last graphic about stroke rate. There's a huge diversification across this field.
03:30 So it's interesting to see how each of these athletes have chosen to row this race.
03:35 Remember, even though Joel Naccarinen is 40 meters ahead now, there are still places to be won.
03:43 There are still podiums to be a part of. So Jakobsen, I expect him to really bring it up as we approach the 500 meter marker,
03:51 because it's within his grasp to move up into that third place position.
03:57 And definitely he should stay strong through that. Magic Zywowski is looking really good.
04:03 A 1.33 split, very impressive for this point in the race.
04:09 And there's Matthew Seebe staying long and strong in these strokes here. He's about 34 strokes a minute.
04:15 1.34, he'll have to get that down to around 1.33 to try to overtake Zach Fowle as they're toe to toe right now going into the last 500 meters.
04:27 Yeah, this is so interesting seeing all these places shuffle out.
04:30 And this will be the record in your history.
04:34 It will be this result which will determine where you were in the Bursa Challenge 2024.
04:39 So all of them jostling for position all the way down the rankings. Seebe overtaking Fowle for sixth.
04:45 We've then got Zywowski still ahead of Jakobsen, who's allowed that to slip away, that podium place,
04:52 to allow the Polish athlete to creep through and get himself onto the podium.
04:57 36 meters still for Cam Bucan in second position. He's so static, he just can't change that deficit, no matter how hard he tries.
05:06 And with only 240 meters to go for Joel Naccarinen, time is running out for anyone to swoop in and take that title away from him.
05:16 And I think with every stroke that he takes, he's now even pushing out the meters on Cam Bucan and almost writing his name on that trophy.
05:24 As we speak, Natasha, I'd be pretty confident if I was world rowing starting to carve in the name Joel Naccarinen.
05:31 It's incredible just how strong these athletes are. It's impossible not to be cheering them on right now.
05:38 Doing so well. Less than 10 strokes left in his race.
05:43 Joel Naccarinen knows he's accomplished something great. He will be our two-time champion.
05:48 You see the fist bump there. But Cam Bucan is doing really well as well.
05:54 He's got his last three strokes. They know there's 10 strokes left and they are completed the Versa Challenge.
06:02 So there's huge cheering, I'm sure, in the O2 Universum. Right now, huge rounds of applause.
06:08 What a finish from these athletes. A couple close finishes as well. And let's take a look at those times.
06:15 5.46. Isn't that incredible? After doing all of the different Versa Challenges,
06:21 we had our top five under six minutes for this.
06:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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