Glover and Swann get GB Rowing Team off to golden start
Helen Glover and Polly Swann got Great Britain off to a golden start on finals day of the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Their victory, in the morning session, in the women’s pair came in the face of strong opposition from New Zealand and the USA.
The duo, coached by Robin Williams, led from the outset but had to put their foot down in the final few hundred metres to stave off a push from the Kiwis. Their gold today brought up the hat-trick at this season’s world cup, having also won at Eton Dorney last month and Sydney in March.
Afterwards Glover, the Olympic champion with Heather Stanning said: “When I looked at 2013 I thought I wouldn’t win a gold. Every race we have entered we have gone with a ‘must learn’ rather than ‘must win’ attitude”.
Swann was already looking forward to the World Championships in Korea next month. “It was good to win today and now we need to build for Korea”.
Britain were rowed out of a bronze by New Zealand in the final two strokes of the lightweight women’s double scull final.
Kathryn Twyman and Imogen Walsh recovered from a slow start to be in touching distance of the podium at the finish, the Antipodeans getting the verdict by just nine-hundredths of a second.
“We put in a really good middle part of the race today and we’ve improved with every race out here’, said Walsh.
“Neither of us had any idea who had won the medal”, said Twyman afterwards. “That two minute wait was the longest ever until the result came up”. The result today was enough to keep them as overall world cup winners in this boat class.
Earlier the lightweight men’s four were fifth in a final won by New Zealand. The GB combination had held bronze medal position until 1500m gone when the Netherlands and, on the line, the Olympic Champions, South Africa, came through the British boat.
This morning’s results came after a gold for the lightweight men’s pair yesterday of Mark Aldred and Sam Scrimgeour.
Today’s afternoon session includes seven more British finalists, culminating in the men’s eight final.
The event is being televised in the UK by BBC TV Sport – live on the website and then on the Red Button on Sunday 14th and a highlights programme on Monday 15 from 15.00 on BBC 2.
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RACE REPORTS
Sitting on the start line Olympic champion Cornwall’s Helen Glover and Scotland’s Polly Swann wore the luminous yellow of the world cup leaders. Today, though, was going to be their toughest test yet in 2013 with top opposition from New Zealand’s Rebecca Scown and Kayla Pratt as well the USA.
Glover and Swann were over a second up on the Netherlands as the first quarter of the race was completed. The USA moved up to second at the halfway. Past the boating enclosures and cheered on by team-mates and family, the British duo were still in the lead but New Zealand had now moved to the top of the chasing peloton.
GB still held almost a length over New Zealand as the crews came past the grandstands. Did Glover and Swann have enough left? It was going to be close but the British crew gritted their teeth picked up the pace and completed their hat-trick of world cup golds this season by just over a second from New Zealand.
“It was good for us to have to row away from people at the end”, said Glover afterwards. “We have come to each race this year not with the ‘must win’ attitude but with the ‘must learn’ attitude”.
Swann added: “With this kind of opposition you can never be complacent”.
Kathryn Twyman, from Oxford, and Imogen Walsh, from Inverness, were the overall world cup leaders going into today’s final of the Lucerne World Cup – one in which the field had much better depth than previously including a top-rated Italian double.
It was the USA, though, who set the early pace to lead Germany by three-quarters of a length at 650m gone but with Italy coming up fast. The GB boat had kept themselves in medal contention at halfway, coming up into third place.
At 1500m gone, Italy went through the USA to lead and the GB boat was coming back into contention in third place on the near-side but with a really strong final challenge on their inside from New Zealand.
It went down to the final stoke which proved heart-break for the GB crew who were just rowed out of the medals by New Zealand. The margin between the two was just nine hundredths.
Welshman Chris Bartley, Jonno Clegg of Maidenhead, Will Fletcher, from County Durham and Windsor’s Adam Freeman-Paksk were third at the 500m marker of the lightweight men’s four final today. New Zealand, the overall world cup leaders, and Denmark were the early pace-makers with the former building a considerable lead from the outset. By halfway the GB boat was still in contention with Denmark but the gap had begun to widen.
Behind them the battle for bronze sharpened as the Dutch overhauled the British with just the final quarter of the race to go. New Zealand looked to have the victory sewn up and the British quartet battled stroke by stroke on the final push to the line.
In a tight finish the Netherlands took bronze and the Olympic champions, South Africa, pipped the GB combination to fourth by just five hundredths of a second.
B FINALS
The women’s quadruple scull of Lucinda Gooderham, Monica Relph, Rosamund Bradbury and stroke Kristina Stiller were fourth in today’s B final having held third place until the 500m marker. GB’s new combination in this boat category looked to be closing on third-placed Canada at the finish in a race won by the Netherlands with New Zealand in second.
Alan Sinclair, Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell, Scott Durant and Mat Tarrant were third in the B final of the men’s four. They have struggled to find their form here somewhat after some tough racing and good performances at Eton Dorney and Henley.
Victoria Thornley was in second place at the 1500m marker in her B final of the women’s single scull. Agonisingly, in the final 10 strokes, she slipped back to fourth as Germany’s Lisa Schmidla and the second Dutch sculler Chantal Achterberg found a touch more finishing speed than the clearly tiring Thornley.
Italy and Great Britain 2 lined up to race a two-boat B final this morning. The second GB men’s eight here has been drinking up the experience of racing on the world-famous Rotsee amongst some of the greats of the sport. As a development crew from a number of clubs, they are learning their trade. Some, no doubt, will emerge to take slots in the squad as the Olympiad progresses.
Today they trailed the Italian opposition by some margin early in the race before a long sprint to the line brought the British crew into contention before Italy picked up the rate and found enough pace to get the win by half a second.
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RESULTS
FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Helen Glover/Polly Swann (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:01.39
2. Kayla Pratt/Rebecca Scown (New Zealand) 7:02.35
3. Taylor Goetzinger/Meghan Musnicki (USA) 7:06.24
4. Cristina Grigoras/Andreea Boghian (Romania) 7:10.04
5. Elisabeth Hogerwerf/Olivia van Rooijen (Netherlands) 7;10.69
6. Naydene Smith/Lee-Ann Persee (Republic of South Africa) 7:10.94
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
1. Laura Milani/Elisabetta Sancassani (Italy) 6:52.41
2. Kristin Hedstrom/Kathleen Bertko (USA) 6:55.36
3. Julia Edward/Lucy Strack (New Zealand) 6:57.31
4. Kathryn Twyman/Imogen Walsh (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:57.40
5. Elisabeth Woerner/Maaike Head (Netherlands) 6:59.77
6. Lena Mueller/Anja Noske (Germany 1) 7:00.62
MEN
Four
1. New Zealand 5:53.52
2. Denmark 5:55.49
3. Netherlands 5:58.16
4. Republic of South Africa 6:00.87
5. Adam Freeman-Pask/William Fletcher/Jonathan Clegg/Chris Bartley
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:00.92
6. Poland 6:03.65
B FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Single scull
1. Inge Janssen (Netherlands 1) 7:33.79
2. Lisa Schmilda (Germany) 7:33.90
3. Chantal Achterberg (Netherlands 2) 7:36.15
4. Victoria Thornley (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:37.57
5. Julia Levina (Russia 1) 7:41.77
6. Lina Saltyte (Lithuania 2) 7:43.92
Quadruple scull
1. Netherlands 6:25.67
2. New Zealand 6:28.68
3. Canada 6:30.08
4. Lucinda Gooderham/Monica Relph/Rosamund Bradbury/Kristina Stiller
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:30.80
5. Denmark 6:33.77
6. Netherlands 2 6:34.24
MEN
Four
1. Czech Republic 5:55.13
2. Croatia 5;58.05
3. Canada 5:59.69
4. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell/Scott Durant/Matthew Tarrant
(GREAT BRITAIN) 5:59.98
5. New Zealand 1 6:05.22
6. Norway 6:08.03
EIght
1. Italy 5:34.94
2. Matt Gottrel/Coiln Williamson/Nick Middleton/Philip Congdon/Oliver Cook/
John Collins/Mason Durant/Lance Tredell/Henry Fieldman (cox) (GREAT
BRTAIN 2) 5:34.43
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GB ROWING TEAM
CREW LISTS
World Rowing Cup III, Lucerne, 12-14 July, 2013
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath/Penzance/17.06.86)/
Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.06.88)
Coach: Robin Williams
Eight
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.12.82)/
Zoe Lee (Sport Imperial BC/Richmond, N. Yorks/15.12.85)/
Sarah Cowburn (Leander Club/Redditch/01.02.89)/
Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)/
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)/
Jessica Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/28.13.91)/
Zoe de Toledo (cox) (Leander Club / London / 17/07/87)
Coach: Robin Williams / Paul Thompson
Single Scull
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)
Coach: Jane Hall/Paul Reedy
Double scull
Frances Houghton (Leander Club/Oxford/19.09.80)/
Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)
Coach: Paul Thompson
Quadruple Scull
Lucinda Gooderham (Sport Imperial BC/Bury St Edmunds/09.06.84)/
Monica Relph (Leander Club/Cambridge/15.01.88)/
Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.88)/
Kristina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.87)
Coach: Nick Strange
MEN
Four
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85)/
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
Coach: Christian Felkel
Eight (Boat 1)
Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Cambridge/16.09.85)/
Dan Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/16.01.87)/
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/
Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)/
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)/
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Coach: Jürgen Grobler
Eight (Boat 2)
Matt Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.89)/
Colin Williamson (Molesey BC/Perth/03.04.83)/
Nick Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.88)/
Philip Congdon (Molesey BC/East Molesey/06.06.89)/
Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.90)/
John Collins (Leander Club/Twickenham/24.01.89)/
Mason Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/
Lance Tredell (Leander Club/Hale/25.10.88)/
Henry Fieldman (cox) (Cambridge Univ BC/Barnes/25.11.88)
Coach: Rob Dauncey
Single Scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Coach: John West
Double Scull
Bill Lucas (London RC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)
Coach: Mark Banks
Quadruple scull
Jonathan Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)/
Charles Cousins (Leander Club/Willingham/13.12.88)/
Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/03.12.86)
Coach: Paul Stannard
Men’s Spares
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)/
Tom Clark (Leander Club/Worcester/28.01.89)/
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)/
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single Scull
Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC/Rochdale/15.09.88)
Coach: Paul Reedy
Double scull
Kathryn Twyman (Wallingford RC/Oxford/29.03.87)/
Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.84)
Coach: Paul Reedy
MEN
Pair
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Fofar/28.01.88)/
Mark Aldred (London RC/London/18.04.87)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Four
Adam Freeman-Pask (Reading Univ BC/Windsor/19.06.85)/
William Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)/
Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)/
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Single Scull
Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Cresswell/30.08.89)
Coach: Darren Whiter
Double Scull
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85)/
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/14.03.90)
Coach: Darren Whiter
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