Gold for women’s pair in Lucerne
Helen Glover and Polly Swann took the opening gold of the Sunday programme at the World Cup today and with it a hat-trick of 2013 World Cup titles and the overall leaders’ bibs – one of the five GB crews to win the overall series title.
They led from the front and held off New Zealand in the sprint to the line. After the race the duo already had next month’s World Championships on their minds. Swann said: “It was good to win today and now we need to build for Korea”.
Britain’s other world cup overall winners were the women’s double, the lightweight men’s and women’s doubles and the men’s eight and GB won the overall 2013 world cup trophy.
In the afternoon session the Chambers’ brothers from Northern Ireland added a bronze in the lightweight men’s double scull after a ding-dong battle with Italy behind the French winners.
“It would be really disrespectful to think that we can come into a new event this season and win it”, said the elder Chambers, Richard, of the new GB line-up previously filled by Zac Purchase and the now-retired Mark Hunter.
“I think GB has done a really good job getting into the medals at all three world cups. Now we know where we are at and what work we need to do”, he added.
There was disappointment for the British men’s eight who fell just short of the podium in fourth on an altogether pedestrian day for the GB Rowing Team, in this year of re-building.
The cruelty of top sport was never more apparent than in the men’s quadruple scull final when the GB boat was charging up into bronze medal place only to catch a rhythm-wrecking crab allowing Estonia in to take the bronze in a race won by Croatia with the Olympic champions Germany in silver.
“Getting such a good representation of boats in the A finals is a strong result in the first year of the Olympiad with many new crews at this stage of the Olympiad.
“We knew that medals would be hard to come by here”, said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director. “Now we know what work we need to do”.
Yesterday of the three Olympic-pathway lightweight boats also put in a good performance, one of which Sam Scrimgeour and Mark Aldred, won gold.
A highlights TV show will be shown on BBC 2 tomorrow at 15.00 tomorrow (Monday).
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RACE REPORTS – afternoon session (see previous release for morning session reports).
The British men’s eight fell agonising short of a medal in the final in the much anticipated men’s eight event here in which Germany lost its unbeaten crown to the USA and in which the Dutch held off a final 500m charge from the British.
It was not the best day at the office for them nor for the overall team.
Earlier and before the crews went to the start line rowing experts were savouring the men’s quadruple scull final today, featuring the reigning German Olympic champions and Croatia, the silver medallists from London, with Estonia also considered a “crew to watch”.
After their semi-final performance no-one would write off the medal hopes of the GB quartet of Jonathan Walton (replacing Graeme Thomas because of illness), Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins and Peter Lambert.
Today off the start Russia took the early lead but less than a second separated the complete field. By halfway the GB quartet were in fifth but still in contention and soon began to close on Estonia.
“The British are coming”, said the local race commentator. Was he correct? He might have been if the GB boat had not caught a heart-breaking and rhythm-stopping crab to slip back into fourth.
Croatia celebrated as they crossed the line to continue their quest for revenge for the London Olympic final. Germany were second and Estonia capitalised on the drama in the British boat to take bronze.
Bill Lucas and Matt Langridge, formed since the GB Rowing Team senior trials in April, are still finding themselves as the GB Rowing Team double with very few races yet under their belt.
Today they lined up against pre-race favourites from New Zealand, Robert Manson and Michael Arms, who beat them at Henley and are the overall world cup leaders with gold in Sydney and Eton-Dorney.
In a tough field, the European Champions from Italy and the Eton Dorney silver medallists from Germany were also in the mix.
Lucas and Langridge in lane two put in a decent first 500m but fell back somewhat in the second 500m. At halfway they were just off the back of the field. Italy, fast starters, tried to make an impression on the medal positions in the second half but Manson and Arms held on to to take the win by three-quarters of a length to Italy in silver and Germany in bronze in a photo-finish with Lithuania.
Britain’s Alan Campbell, the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Synek and Bulgaria’s Georgi Bhozilov were the medallists from Eton Dorney who lined up in a stellar men’s single scull final today where they were joined by Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez and seasoned medallist Marcel Hacker of Germany.
Campbell took the early lead but was soon caught by Synek who then overhauled the Cuban to take gold. The Coleraine Olympic bronze medallist, was still in the hunt at halfway but then faded into sixth – which will have been a major disappointment to him.
After the semi-finals of the women’s double scull, the European champions, Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite alongside the Americans Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek started today in the favoured lanes.
Frances Houghton and Vicki Meyer-Laker, having won at Sydney and Eton-Dorney, were the overall world cup leaders. Today, they didn’t sacrifice that standing but finished up fifth in a race won by New Zealand.
The British duo were in contention for the medals in the first half but could not quite stay with the pace in the second, despite a push in the third 500m, in race won by Lithuania who caught a tiring New Zealand at the line. The USA were third and Belarus were fourth.
“I could tell in the first half that one or two boats and gone ahead but I wasn’t sure where we were exactly in the race’, said Houghton. “We were just concentrating on our rhythm. At one point I thought we had got back to fourth but obviously not”.
For the women’s eight of Beth Rodford, Zoe Lee, Sarah Cowburn, Melanie Wilson, Katie Greves, Louisa Reeve, Jess Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown and cox Zoe de Toledo Lucerne’s Rotsee has been the canvas on which to sketch out their first six-lane international racing in this combination.
Fourth in the race for lanes, today they showed well in a race that was won in a new World Best Time by the USA. GB were in
Peter and Richard Chambers are the new-look GB Rowing Team lightweight men’s double this season. They were silver medallists at Eton Dorney and reached today’s final with a second spot behind Italy. Frenchmen Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou, fourth at the London Games, have also entered this event at the world cup for the first time in Lucerne.
The Coleraine siblings took off at pace and were in the mix all the way down behind the leaders France – fourth in the London Olympic final.
With 750m to go the British combination came through Italy to take up silver medal position,. The Italians reacted and fought back to push GB just into bronze at the line.
“It would be really disrespectful to think that we can come into a new event this season and win it”, said the elder Chambers, Richard. “I think GB has done a really good job getting into the medals at all three world cups. Now we know where we are at and what work we need to do”.
GB Rowing Team Men’s Chief Coach has put his top sweep oarsmen this season in an eight, including Olympic men’s four champions Alex Gregory, Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge as well as Olympic men’s eight bronze medallists Mohamed Sbihi, Tom Ransley and Phelan HIll, World 2011 silver medallist Dan Ritchie and Olympic men’s pair bronze medallists George Nash and Will Satch.
Grobler is continuing the process of welding them all into a cohesive fighting unit capable of taking on the world’s best, including the Olympic champions from Germany, unbeaten since 2009.
Today he switched the seat order on bow side, moving Reed into the seven seat and racing Nash at bow with Ransley in the three-seat.
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RESULTS
OPEN
WOMEN
Eight
1. USA 5:54.26 (world’s best time)
2. Romania 6:00.42
3. Canada 6:01.61
4. Beth Rodford /Zoe Lee/Sarah Cowburn/Melanie Wilson/Katie Greves/
Louisa Reeve/Jess Eddie/Olivia Carnegie-Brown/Zoe de Toledo (cox)
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:04.84
5. Germany 6:08.23
6. New Zealand 6:14.26
Double scull
1. Donata Vistartaite/Milda Valciukaite (Lithuania) 6:42.22
2. Fiona Bourke/Zoe Stevenson (New Zealand0 6:42.46
3. Meghan O’Leary/Ellen Tomek (USA 1) 6:45.29
4. Ekaterina Karsten/Yuliya Bichyk (Belarus) 6:46.39
5. Frances Houghton/Victoria Meyer-Laker (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:48.00
6. Adrienne Martelli/Megan Kalmoe (USA 2) 6:53.02
MEN
Eight (note new GB seat order)
1. USA
2. Germany
3. Netherlands
4. George Nash/Dan Ritchie/Tom Ransley//Will Satch/Mohamed Sbihi/Alex Gregory/Peter Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge/Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN 5. France
6. Poland
Single scull
1. Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic) 6:37.40
2. Marcel Hacker (Germany) 6:39.40
3. Angel Fournier Rodriguez (Cuba0 6:44.24
4. Roel Braas (Netherlands 1) 6:46.85
5. Georgi Bozhilov (Bulgaria) 6:48.75
6. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:53.60
Double scull
1. Michael Arms/Robert Mason (New Zealand) 6:09.84
2. Francesco Fossi/Bill Lucas/Matt Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:10.95
3. Eric Knittel/Stephan Kreuger (Germany) 6:11.16
4. Mindaugas Griskonis/Saulius Ritter (Lithuania) 6:11.16
5. Jakob Nils Hoff/Kyetil Borch (Norway) 6:17.19
6. Bill Lucas/Matt Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:23.67
Quadruple scull
1. Croatia 5:39.63
2. Germany 5:41.78
3. Estonia 5:44.48
4. Jonathan Walton/Sam Townsend/Charles Cousins/Peter Lambert (GREAT
BRITAIN) 5:48.46
5. Russia 5:50.78
6. Poland 5:52.78
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Double scull
1. Stany Delayre/Jeremie Azou (France) 6:13.54
2. Andrea Micheletti/Pietro Ruta (Italy 1) 6:15.83
3. Richard & Peter Chambers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:16.18
4. Vincent & Tycho Muda (Netherlands) 6:20.35
5. Artur Mikolajczewski/Mariusz Stanczuk (Poland) 6:21.16
6. Eleftherios Konsolas/Spyridon Giannaros (Greece) 6:27.61
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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) – NOTE new seat order – Sunday 14th
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)/
Dan Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/16.01.87)/
Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Cambridge/16.09.85/
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)/
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/
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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