Five heat wins on opening day on world juniors

August 2, 2006

Five of the seven Great Britain boats competing in this morning’s opening heats of the World Junior Championships, taking place in Amsterdam, won their races.
The girls’ four’s victory put them straight through to Saturday’s final. The four other winning crews now contest semi-finals on Friday. Only the boys’ coxed four was unable to progress and now faces a repechage tomorrow.

"It was a very pleasing opening morning", said GB Performance Director, David Tanner. "In a fast tail-wind there were some excellent performances. The girls’ four looked strong and I’m pleased with the boys’ pair in their first Championships performance but this looks as though it could be a very strong field in the latter stages. Our boys’ eight also had a very good race today".

Lucy Walczak in the girls’ single held off French opposition
to win. The boys’ pair of Mohammed Sbihi and Charles Cousins dominated their heat to win by some lengths but could now face strong opposition from qualifiers from the other three heats.

The British boys’ four battled with Germany in their opening heat and came out ahead by just over a length at the finish. This is an experienced crew, with all four of them in the team last year.

The equivalent girls’ boat looked in great form. Their performance in winning the heat means that they must now be in contention for a podium slot on Saturday.

GB team observers were also delighted with the performance of the junior boys’ eight. They were fourth at the half-way mark but fought back to move through the USA and Germany and win their heat.

The girls’ pair of Abby Johnston and Rosie Henderson are also through to Friday’s semi-finals by means of a third place in their heat this morning.

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RESULTS – WORLD JUNIOR Championships
DAY ONE – 2 August

(Events featuring GB crews only. Full results
at: www.worldrowing.com)

HEATS

OPEN

GIRLS

Pair
1. Germany 7:33.45
2. Ukraine 7:38.16
3. Abby Johnston/Rosie Henderson (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:39.46
4. Portugal 7:42.50

Four
1. Lottie Howard-Merrill/Maria Larsen/Emma Young/
Zoe Johnson (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:47.12
2. Germany 6:48.91
3. New Zealand 6:51.58
4. Italy 6:52.56
5. Romania 7:08.96

Single
1. Lucy Walczak (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:57.25
2. France 8:01.09
3. Estonia 8:02.79
4. Czech Republic 8:11.39
5. Serbia & Montenegro 9:04.85

BOYS

Pair
1. Mohammed Sbihi/Chares Cousins (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:37.93
2. Croatia 6:47.34
3. Canada 6:55.66
4. Poland 7:00.76
5. Russia 7:12.63

Four
1. Anthony Locke/Lewis Beech/Tom Lucy/Nathaniel
Reilly-O’Donnell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:00.86
2. Germany 6:04.24
3. Italy 6:09.90
4. Czech Republic 6:14.16

Coxed four
1. Romania 6:11.96
2. Germany 6:14.24
3. Poland 6:15.17
4. Italy 6:15.98
5. Calum Wright/Nick Baker/Ben Tufnell/Peter Stuart/
Patrick Vickers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:27.79

Eight
1. Karl Hudspith/Will Gray/Freddie Hay/Ryan Bucke/
George Nash/Charlie Brereton/Nick Fearnhead/
Will Orchard/Jack Plummer (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:38.62
2. USA 5:40.90
3. Germany 5:41.95
4. Netherlands 5:44.67
5. Lithuania 5:55.86