Twelve crews in final as eights make history
Twelve British crews – eight of them Olympic classes – will race in tomorrow’s finals of the world cup in Amsterdam. The tally includes, for the first time ever in a world cup final, two men’s eights.
Britain’s semi-final winners today were both men’s double sculls. Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham in the Siemens-backed men’s open weight category, underlined their growing confidence despite a last-minute test from the New Zealanders. Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, in the lightweight event, pronounced themselves "more confident and more dominant" in winning today over the double Olympic champions from Poland. But the Danes set a world best time in the opposing semi-final.
The Camelot-backed women’s quadruple scull made no mistakes, after yesterday’s cancelled race, in winning their heat in style to qualify for tomorrow’s final where they will join the new GB composite men’s eight, featuring the world champion men’s four and the men’s pair winners from Linz.
Britain’s lightweight women’s double scull are also through to the final having narrowly missed out at the last world cup earlier this month. And Britain race in the first ever adaptive world cup final tomorrow with their world champion mixed four.
Tomorrow’s finals start at 10.35 (Uk time) and run through to 16.15. Many of the finals will be televised on BBC 2 and Eurosport.
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Race reports
SEMI-FINALS
Alan Campbell kicked off the semi-finals programme in the Olympic events for Britain this afternoon at the season’s second world cup.
He faced world champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. After a robust start, the Siemens-sponsored single sculler tucked in behind his rivals to take third place. Tufte made a sprint for the line with Drysdale second and the British athlete securely in third to take his place in tomorrow’s final.
"That was a great experience for Alan today. Perhaps he just mistimed it a little but I’m sure he’ll put in a better performance in tomorrow’s final", said his coach Bill Barry today.
Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, from the same sculling stable as Campbell, have got into the winning habit, meanwhile. The Siemens-sponsored combination who won gold in Linz at the beginning of the month raced their semi-final of the men’s double scull to perfection to head off any late challenge from New Zealand and France to win in 6:09.71.
"We had a good race. We got out well and took the lead and dominated the early part of the race", said Rowbotham afterwards. "It was only in the final 500m that we sensed the New Zealanders coming at us". The duo know, however, that they will face a strong challenge from the Slovenian double, Luka Spik and Itzak Cop tomorrow. They raced in singles in Linz but are now back in a double and won today’s opposing semi-final.
Great Britain’s new men’s quadruple scull suffered a cruel fate when, as they edged into a qualifying position in their semi-final, they caught a crab which put them out of the reckoning as saw them finish fourth.
Britain’s squad men’s eight, last to race here this afternoon, once again delighted the large group of British supporters in the crowd by qualifying for tomorrow’s final. In an engaging sprint to the line they grabbed second place in their repechage to go through. This means that for the first time ever, Britain will have two eights in a world cup final as today’s crew join the other British eight who won their heat yesterday to qualify direct.
The two British men’s pairs, both backed by Siemens, raced in the same semi-final in Amsterdam here today. Tom Solesbury and Tom James finished fourth with Kieran West and Jonno Devlin in fifth. The former duo moved up from last at the first mark to take fourth whilst West and Devlin powered out of the blocks to be first at 500m but could not sustain their pace.
Britain have a women’s eight in the final
of the world cup for the second consecutive
edition with a strong third placed-finish
in today’s semi-final ahead of Belarus and
behind strong line-ups from Australia and China.
The British women’s pair of Alison Knowles
and Natasha Howard, finalists in Linz three
weeks ago on their world cup debut as a pair,
have struggled here to re-find that form. They were a close fourth in today’s semi-final
but will have to settle for a B final race here tomorrow with only the top three going through to the final.
So, too, will the second and third ranked GB
women’s quadruple scull contenders here.
The lightweight combination – competing here
in the open weight category – and the U23
crew were both third.
750m into the lightweight women’s double scull
semi-final China and Britain were locked into
a tussle with the lead changing hands.
Hester Goodsell and Helen Casey, who
have come together in a new GB combination
this season, were still firmly in second at 1500m with the USA mounting a challenge in third. In the final 250m the British duo lifted their stroke rate to finish strongly behind the Chinese world champions.
Both women were bitterly disappointed not to have made the final three weeks ago and were patently delighted today with the accolade from the grandstand. "We were aiming to finish in the top three but we wanted second really badly", said Goodsell afterwards.
In the lightweight men’s double scull, Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase laid down a marker earlier in the month by taking silver on their debut behind the Danish world champions. Here, in today’s semi-finals, they were a third of a length up on the field in the first 500m with the Poles then emerging as their main challengers. The British duo kept their heads and maintained their position in the last few hundred metres despite a speedy Polish finish with the French finishing third.
"That was much more confident, much more
dominant and much more us", said Zac Purchase
after the race. Hunter, meanwhile, was delighted
at today’s win because the Polish double Olympic
champions were the crew who denied him a place
in the world championships final at Eton last year.
However, the British face a tough final tomorrow as
the Danes who won gold in Linz three weeks
ago set a new world’s best time in the semi-final
today in a strong tailwind and rough water.
The lightweight men’s four were involved
in one of the best sprint finishes of the
afternoon when they took second in their
semi-final behind a popular Dutch winner in
front of the home crowd. The British were in the lead
with 400m to go but were edged out by
the Dutch and, in turn, Richard Chambers,
James Lindsey-Fynn, Paul Mattick and
James Clarke touched the line marginally
ahead of the French who were the early
race leaders.
Stroke Clarke was not best pleased with
the performance, though, and vowed
to find a better rhythm in the final. "We’re
pleased with today’s time, which is our
fastest, but not with the way we rowed",
he said.
Alasdair Leighton-Crawford marked his
graduation to senior level once more today
by making the final of the lightweight men’s single scull here in
Amsterdam. He was third in today’s semi-finals.
Andrea Dennis, newcomer to the GB squad in
2007, was agonisingly close to reaching her first
world cup final. For 1850m of the 2000m course
she doggedly held onto second place behind world
champion Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands only
to be overhauled in the last sprint to the line by
the fast finishing duo of Ireland and Denmark. Her
fourth place puts her into tomorrow’s B Final.
HEATS
Denied the opportunity to race yesterday
when one of their rivals’ boat was damaged
in the pre-race sequence, the British women’s
world champion quadruple scull put the long
wait behind them to win their repechage in 6:28.32
and qualify for the final. They were ahead by
the 250m and were never challenged. Great Britain’s
lightweight quad – competing in the open weight
category here – and the U23 line-up were both
third in their later repechages.
"That was a comfortable win today but the
final will be tougher with a strong Chinese quad
and a stronger German crew than before",
said Katherine Grainger, stroke to the Camelot-
sponsored line-up.
The GB Adaptive four, who are Siemens-sponsored
world champions, were winners of their seeding
race today. They took a comfortable lead over
Holland in the early part of the race and will now
have a good line draw for the final tomorrow.
Matt Beechey and Daniel Harte, bronze medallists
in Linz three weeks ago in the lottery-backed
lightweight men’s pair were winners of their
seeding race and now have pole position for
tomorrow’s final.
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GB RESULTS – Day Two
World Cup – Amsterdam (22-24 June)
SEMI-FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Semi-final 2
1. Nicole Zimmerman/Elke Hepler (Germany 1) 6:59.09
2. Zhang Yage/Gao Yulan (China 1) 7:02.17
3. Christina Gerking/Maren Derlien (Germany 2) 7:07.45
4. Alison Knowles/Natasha Howard (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:09.93
5. Nienke Kingma/Helen Tanger (Netherlands) 7:11.38
6. Kerstin Naumann/Silke Guenther (Germany 4) 7:11.53
MEN
Pair
Semi-final 2
1. Erwan Peron/Laurent Cadot (France) 6:27.25
2. Ramon Di Clemente/Donovan Cech 6:27.59
3. Jakub Makovicka/Jan Schindler (Czech Republic) 6:31.30
4. Tom Solesbury/Tom James (GREAT BRTAIN 2) 6:36.15
5. Jonno Devlin/Kieran West (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:39.10
6. Gregor Novak/Bostjan Bozic (Slovenia) 6:42.79
Single scull
Semi-final 1
1. Olaf Tufte (Norway) 6:43.91
2. Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand) 6:45.92
3. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:48.97
4. Sjoerd Hamburger (Netherlands) 6:50.94
5. Santiago Fernandez (Argentina) 7:04.63
6. Angel Fournier (Cuba 1) 7:10.63
Double scull
Semi-final 1
1. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:09.71
2. Joseph Sullivan/Nathan Cohen (New Zealand) 6:10.40
3. Jean-Baptise Macquet/Adrian Hardy (France) 6:12.18
4. Janier Concepcion/Yoennis Hernandez Arruez (Cuba) 6:12.39
5. Samuel Stitt/Matthew Wells (USA) 6:26.53
6. Michal Sloma/Marcin Brzezinski (Poland) 6:32.95
Quadruple scull
Semi-final 2
1. Ukraine 5:42.89
2. France 5:42.98
3. Australia 5:44.20
4. Simon Fieldhouse/Sam Townsend/Alex Gregory/Ian
Lawson (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:44.81
5. China 5:48.45
6. Egypt 5:56.84
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Semi-final 1
1. Marit van Eupen (Netherlands) 7:42.11
2 Maria Pertl (Denmark 2) 7:45.94
3. Orla Duddy (Ireland 1) 7:46.19
4. Andrea Dennis (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:46.35
5. Orla Hayes (Ireland 3) 7:51.33
6. Marie Gottlieb (Denmark 1) 7:53.74
Double scull
Semi-final 1
1. Xu Dongxiang/Yan Shimin (China) 6:53.18
2. Helen Casey/Hester Goodsell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:56.34
3. Wendy Tripcian/Jana Heere (USA) 6:57.57
4. Karen Ellingsen/Hilde Gudem (Norway) 6:58.09
5. Kirsten Jepsen/Juliane Rasmussen (Denmark 1) 6:58.68
6. Magdalena Kemnitz/Karolina Widun (Poland 2) 7:01.17
MEN
Four
Semi-final 1
1. Netherlands 2 5:49.63
2. Richard Chambers/James Lindsey-Fynn/Paul Mattick/James
Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:50.08
3. France 5:50.68
4. Czech Republic 6:01.11
5. France 2 6:03.12
6. Netherlands 3 6:05.85
Single scull
Semi-final 2
1. Uru Storm (New Zealand) 6:57.75
2. Pierre-Etienne Pollez (France) 7:00.13
3. Alasdair Leighton-Crawford (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:00.13
4. Valeri Prosvirnin (Estonia) 7:08.27
5. Luis Teixeira Ahrens (Portugal) 7:09.01
6. Song Zhenggang (China) 7:10.24
Double scull
1. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:14.84
2. Tomasz Kucharski/Robert Sycz (Poland 1) 6:15.52
3. Fabrice Moreau/Frederic Dufour (France) 6:16.73
4. Zhang Guolin/Sun Jie (China 1) 6:28.87
5. Felipe Leal Atero/Miguel Cerda Silva (Chile) 6:28.87
6. Michal Rychlicki/Tomasz Mrozowickz (Poland 2) 6:32.30
REPECHAGES
OPEN
WOMEN
Quadruple scull
Repechage 1
1. Germany 6;26.78
2. Netherlands 6:29.56
3. Laura Greenhalgh/Jane Hall/Mathilde Pauls/Sophie Hosking
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:34.47
Repechage 2
1. Ukraine 6:26.32
2. France 6:29.43
3. Kristina Stiller/Jacqueline Round/Lauren Fisher/Frances
Jus-Burke 6:43.25
4. Switzerland 6:47.71
WOMEN
Eight
Repechage
1. China 6:01.30
2. Australia 6:01.47
3. Baz Moffat/Carla Ashford/Georgina Menheneott/Jess Eddie
Beth Rodford/Natasha Page/Katie Greves/Louisa Reeve
Caroline O’Connor (cox) 6:07.28
4. Belarus 6:11.64
5. New Zealand 6:13.65
6. Poland 6:31.85
MEN
Eight
Repechage 2
1. China 5:24.71
2. Tom Parker/Tom Stallard/Tom Lucy/Hugo Lee/Josh West/
Richard Egington/Robin Bourne-Taylor/Alastair Heathcote
Acer Nethercott (cox) 5:25.71
3. Australia 5:25.59
4. Estonia 5:34.04
5. New Zealand 5:43.12
HEATS
OPEN
WOMEN
Quadruple scull
Heat 1
1. China 6:24.35
2. Germany 6:27.33
3. Ukraine 6:35.45
4. Kristina Stiller/Jacqueline Round/Lauren Fisher/Francesca
Jus-Burke (GREAT BRITAIN 3) 6:54.01
5. Belarus DNS
Heat 2
1. Annie Vernon/Debbie Flood/Fran Houghton/Katherine Grainger
(GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:28.32
2. France 6:30.49
3. Netherlands 6:35.65
4. Laura Greenhalgh/Jane Hall/Mathilde Pauls/Sophie Hosking
(GREAT BRITAIN 2) 6:39.94
5. Switzerland 6:51.56
SEEDING RACES (RACES FOR LANES)
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair
1. Matt Beechey/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:48.01
2. Justin Gevaert/Olivier Ek (Belgium) 6:53.49
3. Kasper Winther/Asbjoern Joensen (Denmark) 6:56.53
ADAPTIVE (1000m course)
Mixed coxed four
1. Naomi Riches/Alastair Mckean/Alan Crowther/Victoria Hansford
(GREAT BRITAIN) 3:39.02
2. Netherlands 1 3:44.30
3. Netherlands 2 3:57.41
4. South Africa 4:04.54
5. Russia DNS
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GB CREWS FOR SECOND WORLD CUP OF 2007
(Amsterdam, June 22-24)
(NB – listed from bow to stroke with
athlete name followed by club, home town
and date of birth in brackets).
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair – two boats
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.3.82)/
Natasha Howard (Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)
Second boat – see U23 section below
Eight
Baz Moffat (Thames RC/Bradford/8.4.78)/Carla Ashford (Thames
RC/Northallerton/13.3.79)/Georgina Menheneott (Mortlake,
Anglian & Alpha RC/North Bradley, Wilts /18.12.78)/
Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/7.10.84)/Beth Rodford (Thames
RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/Natasha Page (Reading Uni/Hartpury/30.4.85)/Katie Greves (Uni of London/Oxford/2.9.82)/Louise Reeve (Leander/…./16.05.84)/Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes/
Ealing/25.4.83)
Quadruple scull – three boats
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Leeds/27.2.80)/Annie Vernon
(Thames RC/Wadebridge/1.9.82)/Fran Houghton
(Uni of London/Oxford/19.9.80)/Katherine Grainger
(St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Second boat – see LIGHTWEIGHT section below
Third boat – see U23 section below
MEN
Pair – two boats
Jonno Devlin (Oxford Brookes/Putney/17.3.76)/
Kieran West (CUBC/West Byfleet/18.9.77)
Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.9.80)
/Tom James (CUBC/Wrexham/11.3.84)
Four
See U23 section below
Eight – two boats
Tom Parker (OUBC/Winchester/24.10.82)/Tom Stallard
(Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.9.78)/Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/
Monmouth/1.5.88)/Hugo Lee (Oxford Brookes/Jedburgh/5.3.84)/
Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe/25.3.77)/Richard Egington
(Leander/Knutsford/26.2.79)/Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army
RC/Oxford/22.7.81)/Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.08.77)/Acer Nethercott (OUBC/Harlow/28.11.77)
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.1.81)/
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/3.9.83)/
James Orme (Leander Club/Colchester/1.4.84)/Marcus
Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.9.82)/Peter Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.7.81)/Andy Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/3.8.79)/Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.5.83)/Steve
Williams (Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.4.76)/Phelan Hill
(London RC) (Cox)
Single Scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/9.5.83)
Double Scull – two boats
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.4.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Second boat – see U23 section below
Quadruple scull
Simon Fieldhouse (Molesey/Thames Ditton/4.9.76)/Sam Townsend
(Reading Uni/Reading/26.11.85)/Alex Gregory (Reading Uni/
Wormington/11.3.84)/Ian Lawson (Leander/Oltey, W.Yorks/4.3.77)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Andrea Dennis (Wallingford RC/Oxford/03.01.82)
Double scull
Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/6.2.74)/
Hester Goodsell (Rob Roy/Cambridge/27.6.84)
Quadruple scull – NB racing in the Open weight category
Laura Greenhalgh/Jane Hall (Leander/Caversham/
20.10.73), Mathilde Pauls (Imperial College BC/Berlin &
Putney/26.09.83)/ Sophie Hosking (Durham Uni/
Wimbledon/25.01.86)
MEN
Pair
Matt Beechey (Leander/Worcester/3.4.77)/Daniel
Harte (London/Edinburgh/12.12.75)
Four
Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.6.85)/
James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.9.75)/Paul Mattick
(Wallingford/Oxford/25.4.78)/James Clarke (London RC/
London/13.12.84)
Single scull
Alasdair Leighton-Crawford (Tideway
Scullers/Richmond-upon-Thames/09.12.81)
Double scull
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/1.7.78)/
Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/2.5.86)
ADAPTIVE
Vicki Hansford )Guildford RC/Lewisham/31.10.79)
/Naomi Riches (Marlow RC/Harrow Weald/15.6.83)/
Alastair Mckean (Herne Bay ARC/Whitstable/14.4.79)/
Alan Crowther (Nottingham BC/Derby/29.7.65)/Tamsin Cottle
(cox)
UNDER-23 CREWS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington/19.9.85)/Heather
Stanning (Uni of Bath/Lossiemouth/26.1.85
Quadruple scull
Tina Stiller (Nottingham RC/Yarm, N.Yorks/23.6.87/Jacqui
Round (Nottingham RC/St Neots/1.7.87)/Lauren Fisher
(Reading Uni/Reading/17.2.86)/Franki Jus-Burke (Nottingham RC/
Nottingham/3.1.87)
MEN
Four
Oliver Moore (Imperial BC/Burford/3.1.87)/Mohamed Sbihi
(Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.3.88)/ Cameron Nichol (Uni of London/
Chiswick/22.12.85)/Colin Scott (CUBC/Cambridge/6.4.85)
Double scull
Bill Lucas (Reading Uni/Dartmouth/13.9.87)/Charles Cousins
(Rob Roy/Willingham, Cambs/13.12.88)
