World Rowing Cup III day two: GB wins first medal as five more boats qualify for A finals

The lightweight women’s quadruple scull wins GB’s first medal at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne

Great Britain won its first medal of World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne with a silver medal for the lightweight women’s quadruple scull (LW4x).

Ellie Piggot, Gemma Hall, Maddie Arlett and Robyn Hart-Winks easily distanced the Japanese crew to secure second place behind Australia in the penultimate race of the second day at the Rotsee.

Australia sat out of Friday’s exhibition race, which GB won in their absence, but the lack of action didn’t harm them, crossing the line three seconds ahead of the British crew, which had only been rowing together for a matter of weeks before competing at the event.

Piggott said after the race: “We’re really grateful to get the chance to race here because the lightweight women’s quad is usually a World Championships event, so for the event to run and for us to have enough Lottery funding to be able to come is massive. We’ve all done a lot in doubles this season and it’s the first time we’ve come together in this boat.”

The quad’s medal could be added to by no fewer than nine boats in Sunday’s A finals.

The men’s four (M4-) continued their excellent start to the regatta, winning their semi-final by leading from start to finish – just as they did in Friday’s heat. Matt Rossiter, Moe Sbihi, Matthew Tarrant and Will Satch put in the second best time of the day and will hope to continue their form in Sunday’s final. The second British four finished fifth in the same race, ahead of Australia.

Vicky Thornley battled through a tough semi-final in the women’s single scull (W1x), finishing third behind Poznan gold medallist Magdalena Lobnig and Annekatrin Thiele, who took the win at Henley last weekend.

The women’s four (W4-) – Hattie Taylor, Melissa Wilson, Holly Hill and Rowan McKellar – qualified for the medal final in their first international competition together. They needed to avoid finishing last in their repechage and did enough to hold off the French and secure fourth place.

Second place in the repechage saw the women’s quadruple scull (W4x) also qualify for their final. The quartet held firm behind Poland to ensure their progression.

And women’s eight (W8+) completed their exhibition race without a hitch, finishing third behind Romania and New Zealand to move ahead to Sunday’s final.

Holly Norton and Karen Bennett in the women’s pair (W2-), the men’s quad (M4x), lightweight women’s double (LW2x) and men’s eight (M8+) qualified for their A finals on Friday.

Tom Ford and Tim Clarke were just half a second away from qualifying for the medal final in the men’s pair (M2-). The duo, who started the season in the eight, held the required third place through 1,500m but were edged out by Romania in the closing metres.

Sam Courty and Caragh McMurtry also finished third in the women’s pair repechage, but unfortunately it was not enough to progress to join Norton and Bennett in Sunday’s A final.

Sam Mottram and Jamie Copus will contest Sunday’s B final in the lightweight men’s double (LM2x) following a fourth-place finish in their semi-final, a length behind the Olympic silver medal-winning O’Donovan brothers (Ireland).

Peter Chambers also had to settle for a B final, racing to fifth in rising temperatures in the morning’s lightweight single (LM1x) semi-final. In the afternoon the Coleraine rower raced to second behind Germany’s Lars Wichert, finishing eighth overall.

A quartet of minor-final wins in the morning session was kicked off by Frazier Christie and Nick Middleton, who took victory in the men’s double scull (M2x) D final. They battled for the lead with Estonia between the 500 and 1,500m mark before edging ahead by just under a length at the line.

Then, Emily Carmichael and Georgia Francis led from start to finish in the women’s double (W2x) C final, completing the 2,000m in 7:14.38 – two seconds ahead of Russia in second.

Tom Barras made up for Friday’s quarter-final disappointment by dominating the men’s single (M1x) C final. The Staines rower took the lead before the halfway mark and never looked likely to give it back, crossing the line a length ahead of Canadian Trevor Jones.

And then Zak Lee-Green and Ed Fisher put in an equally dominant performance in the lightweight men’s double (LM2x) C final, getting their bow ball ahead in the first 500m and winning by a length over the Netherlands.

There was disappointment, though, for Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour in the lightweight pair (LM2-) final. The Brits lead through the halfway mark but were pegged back by Ireland and Brazil into the final 250m. A storming Russian pair then sprinted for the line to snatch the silver medal and knock the Brits off the podium.

Racing begins at 8am (UK time) with Courty and McMurtry battling for places in the women’s pair B final.

Results
Women’s four repechage (four progress to the A final)
1. Poland 6:40.10
2. Canada 6:41.79
3. Netherlands 6:43.18
–
4. Great Britain (Holly Hill, Melissa Wilson, Hattie Taylor & Rowan McKellar) 6:49.150

Lightweight men’s single scull semi-final (three progress to A final)
1.  Artur Mikolajczewski (POL) 7:01.20
2.  Matthew Dunham (NZL) 7:02.75
3. Rajko Hrvat (SLO) 7:02.900
–
5. Peter Chambers (GBR) 7:11.27

Men’s double scull D Final
1. Nick Middleton & Frazier Christie (GBR) 6:34.96
2. Oskar Kuzmin & Kaue Kuslap (EST) 6:36.19
3. Gergely Papp & Jozef Matheisz (HUN) 6:37.21

Women’s double scull C Final
1. Georgia Francis & Emily Carmichael (GBR) 7:14.38
2. Stepanova Vasilisa & Kurochkina Ekaterina (RUS) 7:16.54
3. Liu Yuanyuan & Chai Huotong (CHN) 7:54.22

Men’s single scull C Final
1. Tom Barras (GBR) 7:02.21
2. Trevor Jones (CAN) 7:03.87
3. Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (POL) 7:06.48

Lightweight men’s double scull C Final
1. Ed Fisher & Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 6:33.21
2. Jort van Gennep & Bart Lukkes (NED) 6:35.46
3. Bernhard Sieber & Paul Sieber (AUT) 6:42.62

Women’s eight exhibition race
1. Romania 6:08.10
2. New Zealand 6:12.40
3. Great Britain (Annie Withers, Sara Parfett, Anastasia Chitty, Rebecca Chin, Jo Wratten, Katherine Douglas, Fiona Gammond, Rebecca Shorten & cox Matilda Horn) 6:14.69

Women’s quadruple scull repechage (four progress to the final)
1. Poland 6:29.07
2. Great Britain (Beth Bryan, Alice Baatz, Holly Nixon & Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne) 6:31.70
3. Germany 6:34.93

Women’s pair repechage (two progress to the A final)
1. Katrina Werry & Lucy Stephan (AUS) 7:22.20
2. Kirstyn Goodger & Jackie Gowler (NZL) 7:25.53
3. Caragh McMurtry & Sam Courty (GBR) 7:28.28

Men’s pair semi-final (three progress to the A final)
1. Martin Sinkovic & Valent Sinkovic (CRO) 6:31.00
2. Valentin Onfroy & Theophile Onfroy (FRA) 6:33.90
3. Mihaita-Vasile Tiganescu & Cosmin Pascari (ROU) 6:34.90
–
4. Tim Clarke & Tom Ford (GBR) 6:35.53

Men’s four semi-final (three progress to the A final)
1. Great Britain (Matt Rossiter, Moe Sbihi, Matthew Tarrant & Will Satch) 5:59.00
2. South Africa 6:00.13
3. France 6:01.31
–
5. Great Britain (Ross Jarvis, Tom Jeffrey, James Johnston & Oliver Wynne-Griffith) 6:05.46

Women’s single scull semi-final (three progress to the A final)
1. Magdalena Lobnig (AUT) 7:35.06
2. Annekatrin Thiele (GER) 7:35.96
3. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 7:36.09

Lightweight men’s double scull semi-final (three progress to the A final)
1. Stefano Oppo & Pietro Ruta (ITA) 6:20.82
2. Jiri Simanek & Miroslav Vrastil JR (CZE) 6:22.05
3. Gary O’Donovan & Paul O’Donovan (IRL) 6:23.75
–
4. Sam Mottram & Jamie Copus (GBR) 6:25.25

Lightweight men’s single scull B Final
1. Lars Wichert (GER) 7:04.41
2. Peter Chambers (GBR) 7:09.61
3. Matthew O’Leary (USA) 7:11.71

Lightweight men’s pair A Final
1. Mark O’Donovan & Shane O’Driscoll (IRE) 6:34.00
2. Nikita Bolozin & Aleksei Kiiashko (RUS) 6:36.280
3. Xavier Vela Maggi & Willian Giaretton (BRA) 6:37.500
–
4. Joel Cassells & Sam Scrimgeour (GBR) 6:38.84

Lightweight women’s quadruple scull A Final
1. Australia 6:26.320
2. Great Britain (Robyn Hart-Winks, Gemma Hall, Maddie Arlett & Ellie Piggott) 6:29.54
3. Japan 6:40.94