Seven heat winners in Lucerne
GB Rowers produced a warm feeling for their travelling fans despite somewhat chilly weather on Lucerne’s Rotsee this morning when seven crews won their heats at the season’s final world cup.
From a total of ten crews who have progressed, four have now moved into Sunday’s finalsand six others race semi-finals tomorrow.
GB’s heat winners were the men’s and women’s pairs, the men’s four, the lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls, Adam Freeman-Pask in the lightweight men’s single scull and Katherine Grainger in the women’s single scull.
Grainger’s performance was particularly pleasing after her disappointment in Munich last month where she finished out of the medals. “We’ve done a lot of technical work since Munich and we’re putting it to the test here”, she said.
Grainger’s fellow Beijing Olympic medallists Annabel Vernon and Anna Bebington did not have such a successful morning. A poorly Vernon had to withdraw pre-racing and Bebington, rowing with Ro Bradbury instead, finished out of the qualifying slots and now races a repechage tomorrow as does the men’s eight whilst the lightweight men’s pair’s repechage is later this afternoon.
RACE REPORTS
Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge have swapped seats in their men’s pair at this world cup. Reed now strokes the boat with Hodge in the bow seat. They took the lead early in their heat of the men’s pair here. By the end they were several lengths up on the opposition in bobbly conditions under grey skies.
The victory put them through to Sunday’s final and set up another phase of rivalry with the New Zealand duo of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond who have twice beaten the British pair recently – at Henley and at the last world cup in Munich – and who were five seconds quicker in winning their heat today.
The British men’s four were also heat winners today and looked to be in good form. They had over a length lead on the field by halfway and were winners by two seconds over the USA at the line in 6:06.31. In the last 500m the Americans overhauled the Czechs who had been GB’s nearest challengers through most of the rest of the race. Britain and the USA move through to the finals with the remainder racing repechages.
Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham led for all bar the final 500m of their men’s double scull heat. The Beijing bronze medallists were bested by France in the final sprint with Switzerland in third. The British combination now race a semi-final tomorrow.
“They had a good start to their race today but now we’ve got a difficult task ahead”, said coach Mark Earnshaw today. “New Zealand and Germany and France are all strong here”.
Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins, Marcus Bateman and Bill Lucas continue to make good progress as a new crew this year in the men’s quadruple scull. In today’s heats they were second, booking a place in Sunday’s finals. Fourth at the first marker and at half-way, they paced their second half to pull up into second well clear of the Czechs in third place but behind Germany who won in 6:08.21.
GB Rowing’s men’s eight were third today in a field also led by a strong German crew who, as heat winners, now go through to the final. The British crew, with James Clarke – former world lightweight men’s four champion – back in the stroke seat were third, two seconds off the Dutch in second place. They now race a repechage tomorrow.
Katherine Grainger produced a very good heat of her women’s single scull. She won ahead of Sweden’s Frida Svensson and was in front all the way.
A clearly pleased Grainger said: “I’ve done a lot of technical work since Munich and we put it to the test today. As this is the biggest field yet at a world cup in my event I thought today would be a bit unpredictable but I’m pleased with the result”.
Ro Bradbury substituted for a poorly Annabel Vernon in the GB women’s double scull heat with Anna Bebington today. The Westminster School representative will now have a busy weekend as she is already racing as part of GB’s women’s quadruple scull – although that crew races for lanes this afternoon only before Sunday’s final.
Unsurprisingly, as a scratch combination, the British double were out of contention for the two finals qualifying slots and now race a repechage tomorrow afternoon.
Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve dominated their heat of the women’s pair this morning in Lucerne. They were in the lead throughout to win in a time of 7:43.79 and moved directly into Sunday’s final. The German duo of Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig were their closest challengers in the opening phase of the race but China came through strongly to take the second qualifying slot for the final in 7:46.15.
Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell, winners of GB Rowing’s first lightweight world cup gold of all-time in Munich, opened again here in Lucerne with a heat win. They took victory in 7:25.19 ahead of Greece, who move into tomorrow’s semi-finals with Britain. The Dutch were third.
Goodsell and Hosking led throughout but were challenged strongly in the middle of the race by the Greeks who closed the margin at 1000m to just 0.27 seconds before the British began to pull away.
Not to be outdone, Paul Mattick and Rob Williams, also won their heat of the equivalent men’s event. They led from start pontoon to finish line and finished four seconds ahead of the second-placed Austrians in 6:46.38. Both Austria and GB are through to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
GB Rowing’s lightweight men’s four were third in their heat. The crew, stroked by Bob Hewitt, are learning their trade at world cup level this season. Hewitt, a graduate of rowing’s world class start scheme sponsored by Siemens, stroked the crew into second place by 500m. They held their place behind the Italians at halfway but were overtaken by the Netherlands in the final 300m and finished in 6:34.95. The result was still good enough to put them into tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Adam Freeman-Pask was Great Britain’s first heat winner of the day in the lightweight men’s single scull. He led at all the official timing points to take victory in 7:15.24 to qualify for tomorrow’s semi-finals with the final of this event due in the late afternoon tomorrow.
Oli Mahony and Ross Hunter put in a good first 500m of their lightweight men’s pair heat but faded in the middle section. By the final 300m they were conserving energy for the afternoon’s repechages.
RESULTS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Heat 2
1. Olivia Whitlam/Louisa Reeve (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:43.79
2. Li Dai/Liang Wang (China1) 7:46.15
3. Kerstin Hartmann/Marlene Sinnig (Germany) 8:01.81
4. Stephanie Dechand/Marie Le Nepvou (France) 8:07.48
5. Jana Vyhnankova/Pavlina Zizkova (Czech Republic) 8:17.43
Single scull
Heat 2
1. Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:29.26
2. Frida Svensson (Sweden 1) 8:30.97
3. Kalsa Pajusalu (Estonia) 8:41.72
4. Sandra Wolfsberger (Austria) 8:57.03
5. Volha Baroz (Belarus 2) 9:15.99
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Annekatrin Thiele/Christiane Huth (Germany) 7:34.84
2. Rumyana Neykova/Miglena Markova (Bulgaria) 7:38.77
3. Anna Reymer/Paula Twining (New Zealand) 7:42.28
4. Ro Bradbury/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:56.20
5. Fie Graugaard-Udby/Lea Jakobsen (Denmark) 7:58.34
MEN
Pair
Heat 2
1. Andrew Triggs Hodge/Pete Reed (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:06.16
2. David Banks/Charles Cole (USA) 7:11.02
3. Dorian Mortelette/Germain Chardin (France 1) 7:22.38
4. Shaun Keeling/Ramon di Clemente (South Africa) 7:33.70
5. Lukasz Kardas/Dawid Paczes (Poland) 7:46.21
Four
Heat 1
1. Alex Partrige/Richard Egington/Alex Gregory/Matthew Langridge
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:06.31
2. USA 6:08.36
3. Czech Republic 6:08.51
4. France 2 6:19.39
5. Poland 6:19.48
Eight
Heat 2
1. Germany 5:43.84
2. Netherlands 5:47.50
3. Tom Broadway/Tom Burton/James Orme/Tom Solesbury/
Tom Wilkinson/Daniel Ritchie/Tom Ransley/James Clarke
Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:50.51
4. China 5:53.45
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Cedric Berrest/Julien Bahain (France) 6:50.99
2. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:52.02
3. Andre Vonargburg/Florian Stofer (Switzeralnd) 7:03.70
4. Michael Sivigny/Stephen Whelpley (USA) 7:20.70
5. Daniel Makowski/Rene Burmeister (Germany 2) 7:33.19
Quadruple scull
Heat 2
1. Germany 6:08.21
2. Charles Cousins/Marcus Batemen/Bill Lucas/Sam
Townsend (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:13.09
3. Czech Republic 6:17.77
4. Italy 6:23.19
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Hester Goodsell/Sophie Hosking (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:25.19
2. Trantafyllia Kalampoka/Christiana Giazitzidou (Greece) 7:26.98
3. Rianne Sigmond/Maaike Head (Netherlands) 7:33.11
4. Eliane Waser/Fabiane Albrecht (Switzerland) 7;33.84
5. Emma Fredh/Ceciilia Lilja (Sweden 1) 7:34.40
6. Heather Campbell/Orla Hayes (Ireland 1) 7:43.42
MEN
Pair
Heat 1
1. Jiri Vlcek/Bruno Mascarenhas (Italy 2) 6:51.48
2. Nicolas Moutton/Francois Marty (France 2) 6:52.38
3. Jacob Barsoe/Lasse Dittmann (Denmark 1) 6:54.76
4. Kenta Tadachi/Hidenori Daido (Japan 1) 7:02.51
5. Ross Hunter/Oli Mahony (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.52
Four
Heat 3
1. Italy 1 6:31.36
2. Netherlands 6:33.48
3. Chris Bartley/Chris Boddy/Stephen Feeeney/Bob Hewitt
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:34.95
4. Poland 6:51.87
Single scull
Heat 3
1. Adam Freeman-Pask (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:15.24
2. Mads Rasmussen (Denmark) 7:18.97
3. Augusto Zamboni (Italy 3) 7:25.77
4. Paul Ruttmann (Austria 2) 7:29.20
5. Matti Jaeaeskelaeinen (Finland) 7:31.05
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Rob Williams/Paul Mattick (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:46.38
2. Joschka Hellmeier/Florian Berg (Austria 2) 6:50.38
3. Henrik Stephansen/Steffen Jensen (Denmark 1) 6:53.02
4. Jonathan Winter/Brian Tyron (USA) 6:57.58
5. Kwong Wing Chow/Sau Wah So (Hong Kong) 7:08.57
CREW LISTS
WORLD CUP FINAL, LUCERNE, Switzerland
JULY , 2009
(Listed as bow to stroke plus cox)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington/16.09.85)/
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)
Single scull
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Double scull
Ro Bradbury (Westminster School BC/Banstead/17.12.88)/
Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)
Quadruple scull
Ro Bradbury (Westminster School BC/Banstead/17.12.88)/
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/
Sarah Cowburn (Durham Uni BC/Redditch/01.02.89)/
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/
MEN
Pair
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/03.03.79)
Four
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Richard Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Alex Gregory (Reading Uni BC/Wormington/11.03.84)/
Matthew Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)
Eight
Tom Broadway (Leander Club/Newport Pagnell/21.08.82)/
Tom Burton (Leander Club/Barton-le-Clay, Beds/24.05.80)/
James Orme (Leander Club/Colchester/01.04.84)/
Tom Solesbury (Isis BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Tom Wilkinson (Leander Club/Reading/04.07.85)/
Dan Ritchie (Reading Uni BC/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
Tom Ransley (Cambridge University BC/ Ashford, Kent/06.09.85)/
James Clarke (London RC/London/31.12.84)/
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Double scull
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Quadruple Scull
Charles Cousins (Reading Univ BC/Cambridge/13.12.88)/
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)/
Bill Lucas (Reading Univ BC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Uni BC/Reading/26.11.85)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni/Cambridge/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)
MEN
Single scull
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)
Double scull
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/
Paul Mattick (Leander Club/Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)
Pair
Ross Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/13.07.81)/
Oliver Mahony (London RC/London/21.10.83)
Four
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)/
Stephen Feeney (London RC/Coleraine/12.05.85)/
Chris Boddy (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/16.11.87)/
Bob Hewitt (Tees RC/Scarborough/27.04.87)/
