Three semi-final wins as GB qualify five boats for World Rowing Junior Championships finals
Great Britain will have five boats in the medal finals at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Trakai, Lithuania
The mens quadruple scull at the 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships - Naomi Baker
Great Britain will have five boats in Sunday’s medal finals at the World Rowing Junior Championships, with three crews winning their semi-finals on Saturday.
Four crews in total qualified from the Saturday’s action, with the women’s double scull, men’s four and both men’s and women’s quadruple sculls putting in exceptional performances to guarantee their places in the A finals.
Holly Dunford and Zoe Adamson continued their winning streak the women’s double in Trakai, having finished first in their heat, quarter-final and now semi-final. The duo took the lead before the halfway mark, pulling away from the Italian crew in the second half to win by four seconds.
The men’s four also kept up their winning run, taking first place in their semi-final having qualified directly from Thursday’s heats. Douwe de Graaf, Casper Woods, Calvin Tarczy and Felix Drinkall sat a canvas up on New Zealand for virtually the whole race, holding off the Kiwis to win by a second.
The men’s quadruple scull also qualified for the final in style, pulling away from the field in the second half of their semi-final to take the win by clear water from Greece. The field couldn’t be split at the halfway mark, with just half a second separating the first four boats, but Ollie Costley, Victor Kleshnev, Tom Smith and Bryn Ellery made their move in the third quarter to take the lead, which they held to the line.
Their counterparts in the women’s quad also moved through to Sunday’s medal race, finishing second to Romania in the semi-final. Lottie Orr, Lucy Edmunds, Phoebe Campbell and Danielle Semple finished ahead of the USA, who took the third qualifying place from the race, by over a second.
The two women’s sweep boats will compete in Sunday’s B finals, with the pair and the four both finishing fourth in their semi-finals. The four missed out on an A final berth by just half a second from New Zealand, while the pair finished behind Greece, Germany and Lithuania.
Sunday sees five British crews competing for medals – the four who qualified from Saturday’s racing as well as the men’s eight, who sealed their place by winning Thursday’s heat.
Results
Women’s four
1. China 6:52.46
2. USA 6:53.32
3. New Zealand 7:00.02
4. Great Britain (Hope Cessford, Flo Donald, Mary Wright, Charlotte Fennell) 7:00.62
Women’s pair
1. Greece 7:32.56
2. Germany 7:35.13
3. Lithuania 7:39.61
4. Great Britain (Rachel Heap & Celia Matthews) 7:42.34
Men’s four
1. Great Britain (Douwe de Graaf, Casper Woods, Calvin Tarczy, Felix Drinkall) 6:12.34
2. New Zealand 6:13.30
3. Germany 6:21.55
Women’s quadruple scull
1. Romania 6:47.78
2. Great Britain (Lottie Orr, Lucy Edmunds, Phoebe Campbell, Danielle Semple) 6:53.33
3. USA 6:54.75
Men’s quadruple scull
1. Great Britain (Ollie Costley, Victor Kleshnev, Tom Smith, Bryn Ellery) 6:06.81
2. Greece 6:09.14
3. Germany 6:09.34
Women’s double scull
1. Great Britain (Holly Dunford & Zoe Adamson) 7:21.24
2. Italy 7:25.05
3. Chile 7:27.62
