European Rowing Championships day two: Great Britain set up 11 medal opportunities

All Great Britain crews set up Sunday racing, with 11 medal opportunities at the European Rowing Championships in Racice

Great Britain qualified 11 boats for Sunday’s medal finals at the European Rowing Championships in Racice.

Under blue skies and in warm conditions, several British crews learned from their tight finishes in Friday’s heats to give themselves a chance of a medal.

Katherine Copeland and Emily Craig cruised to victory in the lightweight women’s double sculls repechage to reach the final, where they will battle again the French crew who edged them by less than a second on Friday.

Also winning their repechage were the men’s pair, Matt Rossiter and Jacob Dawson. The duo were left frustrated with third place in their heat but recovered well to beat the home Czech crew by over two seconds.

The men’s four were made to work harder than they would have liked to reach the medal final, finishing second in their semi to Russia and just edging Romania and Germany in a close finish for the three qualifying spots.

The men’s quadruple sculls kept their heads in their repechage, rowing through most of the field to claim a spot in the A final. Peter Lambert, Jonny Walton, Jack Beaumont and Tom Barras were fifth after 500m, but worked their way through the pack by the finish line to finish second, half a second ahead of Estonia.

Belgrade World Cup winners Peter Chambers and Will Fletcher came through their lightweight men’s double sculls semi-final comfortably, taking second place to Italy.

And the men’s eight showed their mettle to lead from the start and rowed to victory in the repechage under the midday sun. GB beat the Netherlands and Ukraine by over a second on the line.

Both the men’s and women’s double sculls will take their place in Sunday’s B finals. Georgia Francis and Emily Carmichael, in their first senior international competition, finished third in their repechage, with the top two going through to the final.

Frazier Christie and Zak Lee-Green, who were paired together after a late withdrawal in the men’s sculling squad, finished fifth in the men’s double semi-final.

Fans in the United Kingdom will be able to watch live coverage of the medal finals on Sunday on the BBC Red Button. starting at 9.45am. A 90-minute highlights show will be broadcast on BBC Two between 3.30-5.00pm.

Results
Men’s pair repechage (two progress to A final)
1. Jacob Dawson & Matt Rossiter (GBR) 6:28.28
2. Jakub Podrazil & Lukas Helesic (CZE) 6:30.53
3. Alexander Sigurbjonsson & Pau Vela Maggi (ESP) 6:32.51

Women’s double sculls repechage (two progress to A final)
1. Kristyna Fleissnerova & Lenka Antosova (CZE) 6:56.75
2. Thea Helseth & Marianne Madsen (NOR) 6:59.08
3. Georgia Francis & Emily Carmichael (GBR) 7:02.50

Men’s double sculls semi-final (three progress to A final)
1. Dzianis Mihal & Pilip Pavukou (BLR) 6:07.75
2. Barnabe Delarze & Roman Roeoesli (SUI) 6:08.05
3. Filippo Mondelli & Luca Rambaldi (ITA) 6:09.05
—
5. Zak Lee-Green & Frazier Christie (GBR) 6:29.82

Men’s four semi-final (three progress to A final)
1. Russia, 5:52.57
2. Great Britain (Moe Sbihi, Matthew Tarrant, Will Satch, Callum McBrierty) 5:53.80
3. Romania, 5:53.90

Lightweight men’s double sculls semi-final (three progress to A final)
1. Stefano Oppo & Pietro Ruta (ITA) 6:43.71
2. Peter Chambers & Will Fletcher (GBR) 6:45.29
3. Jerzy Kowalski & Milosz Jankowski (POL) 6:46.49

Lightweight women’s double sculls semi-final (two to progress to A final)
1. Katherine Copeland & Emily Craig (GBR) 7:20.59
2. Weronika Deresz & Martyna Mikolajczak (POL) 7:22.70
3. Tomais Emmanouilidou & Maria Pergouli (GRE) 7:29.77

Men’s quadruple sculls repechage (two to progress to A final)
1. Italy, 5:57.63
2. Great Britain (Tom Barras, Jonny Walton, Jack Beaumont, Peter Lambert) 5:59.30
3. Estonia, 5:59.84

Men’s eight repechage (two to progress to A final)
1. Great Britain, 5:46.95
2. Netherlands, 5:48.13
3. Ukraine, 5:49.50