Encouraging first morning at World U23 Championships

There were two wins and four crews progressed directly to their respective A finals after an encouraging first morning for the GB Rowing Team at the World U23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Jack Beaumont took first place in his men’s single scull heat and the women’s double scull of Georgia Francis and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne also impressed with a mature win.

Both the men’s and women’s lightweight quadruple scull crews produced solid races to finish runners-up in their heats and reach the A finals, as did the lightweight men’s four and the women’s pair of Rowan McKellar and Holly Norton.

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “The first day of racing at the World U23 Championships is always a good learning experience for both our boats and the other countries.

“That was definitely the case for the British crews this morning. We had some strong results, with four crews progressing directly to their finals, and there are others who can step on over the next couple of days and build on what they achieved this morning.”

Both lightweight quads finished runners-up to France in their respective heats, with Maddie Arlett, Ellie Lewis, Flo Pickles and Lucy Cruxton crossing the line in 6:55.47 to finish comfortably clear of third-placed Austria.

It was a similar story in the men’s race as Steven Parsonage, Joel Cassells, Samuel Mottram and Jamie Copus took the second qualifying spot behind France in 6:06.69.

Cassells and Copus were both part of the lightweight men’s four which won silver at last year’s World U23 Championships in Varese, Italy.

This year’s crew of Ed Fisher, Ben Reeves, Jonathan Jackson and Alastair Douglass booked their place in Sunday’s final by finishing runners-up to Italy in their heat, crossing the line in 6:30.70.

McKellar and Norton dug deep to reach the women’s pair final at the first attempt. They held second place throughout their heat behind the American pair but came under pressure from Norway, who put in a big push with 250m to go.

However, McKellar and Norton responded well to the danger and secured the second qualifying spot for Saturday’s final in 7:15.71.

The men’s pair of James Rudkin and Tom George also looked impressive as they led for almost all of their heat, establishing a good rhythm.

They were pipped to first place by an experienced Romanian pair but, with the top three progressing, had done more than enough to secure their berth in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Beaumont – a bronze-medallist with the senior men’s quad at this year’s European Championships – made a confident start to his single scull campaign.

With only the winner of each heat going straight through to the semi-finals, Beaumont quickly established the lead and held off a challenge from Serbia’s Andrija Sljukic around the halfway mark before easing away to win by clear water in 7:10.25.

The first GB win of the day came courtesy of a mature performance from Francis and Hodgkins-Byrne in the women’s double scull.

Second to Italy for much of their race, the British crew remained composed throughout before rowing through their opponents to secure first place and a semi-final spot in 7:08.39.

The men’s eight also rowed well to finish a strong second behind Romania in the last race of the day involving a British crew.

Only the winners progressed directly to the final but Rory Gibbs, Will Hall, Harry Leask, Rufus Scholefield, Henry Millar, Oliver Knight, Henry Swarbrick, Morgan Bolding and Harry Brightmore have a good basis to build on in Friday’s repechage.

The first race of the day saw the women’s four of Emily Ford, Melissa Wilson, Holly Hill and Sam Courty get off to a strong start and lead their heat after 500m.

Canada and the United States pushed clear in the second half of the race, with Canada eventually taking the only qualifying place for the final, but the British crew put in a solid performance to finish third in 6:45.40.

They will race again in the repechage on Friday morning, as will the men’s four of Richard Clarke, Ross Jarvis, James Johnston and Lewis McCue who also placed third in their heat in 6:02.37. Romania took the sole final berth.

The men’s quad of Tom Barras, Frazier Christie, Andy Brown and Andy Joel were off the pace in their heat and, despite a good push around the 1,500m mark, were unable to make up the ground required to claim a top-three place. They have another chance to reach the semi-finals in tomorrow’s repechage.

RESULTS

(Events featuring GB Rowing Team crews only. For full results – www.worldrowing.com)

HEATS

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair – Heat 2

1. Jessica Eiffert/Georgia Ratcliff (USA) 7:11.69
2. Rowan McKellar/Holly Norton (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:15.71
3. Anna Sture/Hanna Inntjore (Norway) 7:17.77
4. Lea Duret/Claire Chanut (France) 7:33.64
5. Alla Sarkanych/Daria Halahan (Ukraine) 7:55.83

Four – Heat 1

1. Caileigh Filmer/Morgan Cathrea/Hillary Janssens/Nicole Hare (Canada) 6:38.60
2. Kendall Chase/Mia Croonquist/Elizabeth Youngling/Sarah Dougherty (USA) 6:41.18
3. Emily Ford/Melissa Wilson/Holly Hill/Sam Courty (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:45.40
4. Evangeline Calloud/Floriane Pasquet/Julie Voirin/Estelle Cattin-Masson (France) 6:51.80
5. Beatrice Arcangiolini/Chiara Ondoli/Sara Barderi/Silvia Terrazzi (Italy) 7:02.02
6. Raisa Rudenko/Kateryna Dudchenko/Kateryna Klymenko/Alina Nesterenko (Ukraine) 7:10.22

Double scull – Heat 2

1. Georgia Francis/Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:08.39
2. Cecilia Bellati/Ludovica Serafini (Italy) 7:10.69
3. Carlotta Nwajide/Frauke Hundeling (Germany) 7:10.89
4. Yuting Ku/Songsong Xie (China) 7:25.72
5. Inga Lange/Lana Bracka (Latvia) 7:33.64

MEN

Pair – Heat 1

1. Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae/Toader-Andrei Gontaru (Romania) 6:39.21
2. James Rudkin/Tom George (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:40.54
3. Maxence Tolllet/Hugo Laborde (France) 6:43.37
4. Stuart Maeder/Kevin Bielawski (USA) 7:00.51
5. Reinis Upenieks/Martins Blumbergs (Latvia) 7:12.81

Four – Heat 1

1. Dumitru Mariuc/Neculai Aniculesei/Danut-Viorel Rusu/Alexandru-Cosmin Macovei (Romania) 5:57.48
2. Jakub Buczek/Lucas Degelder/Mackenzie Copp/David De Groot (Canada) 6:00.50
3. Richard Clarke/Ross Jarvis/James Johnston/Lewis McCue (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:02.37
4. Jan Kruppa/Philipp Nonnast/Moritz Bock/Alexander Usen (Germany) 6:04.76
5. Sergio Garcia Sanjulian/Marco Sardelli Gil/Pau Franquet Monfort/Jaime Lara Pacheco (Spain) 6:09.23
6. Guglielmo Carcano/Pietro Zileri/Luca Lovisolo/Matteo Borsini (Italy) 6:10.35

Eight – Heat 1

1. Romania 5:50.40
2. Rory Gibbs/William Hall/Harry Leask/Rufus Scholefield/Henry Millar/Oliver Knight/Henry Swarbrick/Morgan Bolding/Harry Brightmore (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:55.85
3. France 5:58.89
4. Poland 5:59.69
5. Croatia 6:07.59
6. Bulgaria 6:35.73

Single scull – Heat 1

1. Jack Beaumont (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:10.25
2. Andrija Sljukic (Serbia) 7:19.12
3. Quentin Antognelli (Montenegro) 7:21.30
4. Erik Rowan (Ireland) 7:28.75
5. Erik Solbakken (Norway) 7:38.20
6. Vid Pugelj (Slovenia) 7:53.82

Quadruple scull – Heat 3

1. Szymon Posnik/Marcin Pawlowski/Jakub Dominiczak/Marcin Sobieraj (Poland) 6:01.47
2. Gasper Ostanek/Matej Grobelnik/Borut Rebolj/Gasper Ferlinc (Slovakia) 6:03.15
3. Michal Zajicek/Ondrej Sams/Vaclav Valsa/Antonin Marik (Czech Republic) 6:04.68
4. Tom Barras/Frazier Christie/Andrew Brown/Andrew Joel (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:07.08

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Quadruple scull – Heat 2

1. Anna Piveteau/Marie-Margot Joannes/Laura Tarantola/Selma Dhaoudi (France) 6:54.09
2. Maddie Arlett/Ellie Lewis/Flo Pickles/Lucy Cruxton (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:55.47
3. Melanie Zach/Eva Goller/Victoria Slach/Laura Arndorfer (Austria) 7:13.51
4. Alexandra Coultrup/Olivia Jamrog/Gabriela Purman/Bridget Konttinen (USA) 7:14.06

MEN

Pair – Heat 2

1. Ioannis Petrou/Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) 7:04.15
2. Jordan Tewksbury/Alexander Bonorris (USA) 7:06.87
3. James Goble/Tom Marshall (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:10.31
4. Jens Holm/Ola Larsson (Norway) 7:26.60
5. David Faria Souza/Guilherme Gomes (Brazil) 7:29.74

Four – Heat 1

1. Davide Gerosa/Leone Barbaro/Piero Sfiligoi/Paolo Di Girolamo (Italy) 6:24.75
2. Ed Fisher/Ben Reeves/Jonathan Jackson/Alastair Douglass (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:30.70
3. Marco Bustamante Nadeau/Jacob Ford/Samuel Ward/Ian Klein (USA) 6:35.63
4. Alvaro Romero Garcia/Marc Montany Daufi/Alejandro Vera Ortega/Ramon Gomez Cotilla (Spain) 6:37.14
5. Shane Mulvaney/Christopher Beck/Lloyd Seaman/David O’Malley (Ireland) 6:40.22

Quadruple scull – Heat 2

1. Francois Teroin/Thibault Remy/Maxime Demontfaucon/Morgan Maunoir (France) 6:03.77
2. Steven Parsonage/Joel Cassells/Samuel Mottram/Jamie Copus (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:06.69
3. Michele Quaranta/Federico Gherzi/Edoardo Buoli/Davide Magni (Italy) 6:18.29
4. Maxim Serlez/Ruben Somers/Aurelien Goubau/Niels Van Zandweghe (Belgium) 6:31.94
5. Maximilian Lex/Johannes Hofmayr/Xaver Meusburger/Lukas Asanovic (Austria) 6:41.66

CREW LISTS (Includes club(s), home town, date of birth)

GB Rowing Team for World U23 Championships
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, July 22-26

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair

Rowan McKellar (Broxbourne RC/Glasgow/24.05.94)
Holly Norton (Leander Club/Johannesburg, SA/01.01.93)
Coach: Peter Sheppard

Four

Emily Ford (Newcastle Univ BC/Crewe/08.11.94)
Melissa Wilson (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC/Edinburgh/10.06.93)
Holly Hill (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC/Gossington/23.01.94)
Sam Courty (Bath Univ BC/Alnwick/07.01.93)
Coach: Peter Lee

Eight

Beth Bryan (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/23.04.93)
Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC/Loughborough Students RC/Nottingham/02.02.94)
Hattie Taylor (Sport Imperial/Sunningdale/14.02.94)
Holly Nixon (Leander Club/Enniskillen/07.12.93)
Annie Withers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Surrey/22.02.93)
Alice White (Imperial College/Bradford/20.01.93)
Gillian Cooper (Nottingham RC/Oakham/14.02.93)
Nicole Lamb (Newcastle Univ BC/Hexham/20.01.93)
Morgan Baynham-Williams (cox) (Leander Club/Ross-On-Wye/28.06.94)
Coach: Lauren Fisher

Double scull
Georgia Francis (Imperial College BC/Newbury/18.08.94)
Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ BC/Reading RC/Hereford/01.10.94)
Coach: Dan Moore

MEN

Pair

James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ BC/Northampton/07.07.94)
Tom George (Leander Club/Oxford/22.09.94)
Coach: Angelo Savarino

Four

Richard Clarke (Univ of London BC/Kingston-upon-Thames/06.11.93)
Ross Jarvis (Univ of London BC/Upminster/19.08.94)
James Johnston (Leander Club/Henley/26.08.94)
Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon Univ BC/Aberdeen/26.12.94)
Coach: Brian Young

Eight

Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University/Lane End/03.04.94)
Will Hall (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Winchester/08.05.94)
Harry Leask (Leander Club/Edinburgh/16.10.95)
Rufus Scholefield (Edinburgh Univ BC/Jersey/29.10.93)
Henry Millar (Edinburgh Univ BC/Fivemiletown/25.02.94)
Oli Knight (Newcastle Univ BC/Addlestone/15.09.95)
Henry Swarbrick (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Richmond/05.04.94)
Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Withiel/13.05.95)
Harry Brightmore (cox) (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Chester/01.07.94)
Coach: Henry Bailhache-Webb

Single scull

Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Maidenhead/21.11.93)
Coach: Matt Beechey

Quadruple scull

Tom Barras (Cardiff Univ RC/Staines/07.01.94)
Frazier Christie (Bath Univ BC/Bath/11.01.93)
Andy Brown (Tees RC/Yarm/12.01.93)
Andy Joel (Leander Club/Windsor/08.06.95)
Coach: Dan Harris

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Quadruple scull

Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh Univ BC/Selkirk/07.06.94)
Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Marlow/14.04.94)
Flo Pickles (Gloucester Hartpury/Cheltenham/02.11.96)
Lucy Cruxton (Reading Univ BC/Stoke-on-Trent/22.12.93)
Coach: Tom Pattichis

Spare

Emma McDonald (Glasgow Univ BC/Lochwinnoch/11.10.94)

MEN

Pair

James Goble (Eton Vikings/Winchester/23.11.95)
Tom Marshall (Leander Club/Mold/12.03.94)
Coach: Phil Gray

Four

Ed Fisher (Leander Club/Nottingham/16.04.94)
Ben Reeves (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Wilmslow/10.05.94)
Jonathan Jackson (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/02.06.95)
Alastair Douglass (Molesey BC/Shepperton/22.06.95)
Coach: Franz lmfeld

Quadruple sculls

Steven Parsonage (Leander Club/Norwich/16.01.96)
Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/15.06.94)
Sam Mottram (Leander Club/Stoke Mandeville/14.11.94)
Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ/BC/Watlington/30.01.93)
Coach: Ross Hunter

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE

=================================================

CONTACT DETAILS

For background information about the The GB Rowing Team contact the Press office via [email protected] or 07831 755351

For picture requests please contact: [email protected]

GB Rowing Team website, including full rower biogs: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk

Follow us on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gbrowingteam
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gbrowingteam
Youtube: www.youtube.com/gbrowingteam

=================================================

THE GB ROWING TEAM is supported by the Lottery through UK Sport.