Andy Houghton wins silver for Great Britain at World Cup 1 in Belgrade

Para-rower Andy Houghton wins silver in his first World Cup since 2013 as GB qualify 10 crews to Sunday’s A finals

Andy Houghton won Great Britain’s first medal of the 2018 World Cup series, taking silver in the PR1 single scull.

The 36-year-old, rowing in his first World Cup regatta since 2013, finished second behind Ukraine’s Paralympic champion Roman Polianskyi.

Houghton, fourth at the World Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, finished 50 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Louis Touissant but couldn’t close the gap on Polianskyi in gold medal position.

On day two, GB qualified seven boats to the medal finals, to go with the two that progressed directly on Friday.

Promising U23 Imogen Grant continued to impress in the lightweight single scull, racing to second in her semi-final to reach Saturday afternoon’s final.

And she came within inches of taking a memorable bronze medal, staging a second-half comeback in the final to move up from fifth to challenge Germany’s Ledina Meier but lost out by less than half a second.

Jack Beaumont and Angus Groom continued their winning start in the double sculls, beating Germany, who have been resurgent in the sculling events at this regatta, by a length in their semi-final.

The men’s four also powered to victory in their closely-fought semi-final, edging Belarus and Netherlands 2 as the three crews were separated by a canvas on the line. Germany, Austria and Netherlands 1 were equally close in the first semi, meaning Sunday’s final should produce some electric racing.

GB will have a shot at two medals in the women’s pair as both crews finished third in their respective semis to progress. Anastasia Chitty and Rebecca Girling were edged into third by the Netherlands, while Emily Ford and Emily Ashford enjoyed a two-length advantage over Ireland to progress.

Vicky Thornley did just enough to make the A final of the single sculls, being pushed into third by a sprint finish from Ireland’s Sanita Puspure in a semi-final won by Denmark’s Fie Udby Erichsen. World champion Jeannine Gmelin, Annekatrin Thiele and Magdalena Lobnig make up the final.

The lightweight women’s double (boat 1) overcame a stern test to move into the final from a semi-final where the first four boats were separated by less than two seconds. Ellie Piggott and Emily Craig held off a sprint from Poland to take the third place in the final.

The men’s eight started their 2018 campaign in an exhibition race, where they trailed Germany by half a length. The two countries will do battle once more in Sunday’s final.

Jamie Copus concluded his tough weekend of racing with fifth place in the lightweight singles B final, falling just short in his sprint for fourth place.

Three GB crews will contest B finals on Sunday morning, with the women’s four coming close to progressing to the medal race in their repechage. Rebecca Chin, Caragh McMurtry, Sara Parfett and Jo Wratten trailed world silver medallists Poland by three quarters of a length in third.

Harry Glenister and George Rossiter finished fifth in their pairs semi, while Sam Mottram and Zak Lee-Green took sixth place in the lightweight double sculls semi-final.

GB crews won two lightweight double sculls C finals in the morning session, with Ellie Lewis and Fran Rawlins winning by over a length and Edinburgh University duo James Temple and Gavin Horsburgh putting in a great sprint to overcome Switzerland in the final stages of their race.

Harry Leask finished comfortably second in the men’s single scull C final, while Tom Ransley and Ross Jarvis finished fifth in their men’s pair C final.

Ten GB crews will compete for medals on Sunday, with the A finals moving ahead of the B finals due to forecast bad weather. Racing starts at 8am (BST) with the women’s pair final.

You can follow all the action on British Rowing’s social media channels and on the BBC Red Button.

Morning Results

Women’s

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) C final

1. Ellie Lewis & Fran Rawlins (GBR2) 07:33.61

2. Louisa Altenhuber & Laura Arndorfer (AUT) 07:37.22

3. Jiangli Hu & Chunqin Kuang (CHN2) 07:41.69

Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Ellen Gleadow (CAN) 08:13.23

2. Imogen Grant (GBR) 08:16.26

3. Anastasia Lebedeva (RUS) 08:24.31

Women’s pair (W2-) semi-final 1

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Caileigh Filmer & Hillary Janssens (CAN) 07:25.36

2. Elsbeth Beeres & Laila Youssifou (NED) 07:29.25

3. Anastasia Chitty & Rebecca Girling (GBR1) 07:29.81

Women’s pair (W2-) semi-final 2

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Anna Boada Peiro & Aina Cid (ESP) 07:35.18

2. Hedvig Rasmussen & Christina Johansen (DEN) 07:35.77

3. Emily Ford & Emily Ashford (GBR2) 07:39.35

Women’s four (W4-) repecharge

Top 2 through to the A final

1. Denmark 06:41.78

2. Poland 06:43.35

3. Great Britain (GBR1 – Rebecca Chin, Caragh McMurty, Sara Parfett, Josephine Wratten) 06:44.72

Women’s single sculls (W1x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Fie Udby Erichsen (DEN) 07:24.76

2. Sanita Puspure (IRE) 07:25.43

3. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 07:25.78

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Laura Tarantola & Claire Bove (FRA) 07:01.46

2. Kirsten McCann & Nicole Van Wyk (RSA) 07:01.98

3. Ellie Piggott & Emily Craig (GBR1) 07:02.60

Men’s

Men’s pair (M2-) C final

1. Adrian Juhasz & Bela Simon Jr (HUN) 06:55.35

2. Antonios Papakonstantinou (GRE) 06:57.73

3. Mark O’Donovan & Shane O’Driscoll (IRE) 06:59.00

–
5. Ross Jarvis & Tom Ransley (GBR2) 07:05.60

Men’s single scull (M1x) C final

1. Matthew Buie (CAN) 07:17.32

2. Harry Leask (GBR) 07:23.74

3. Robert Ven (FIN) 07:27.38

Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x) C final

1. James Temple & Gavin Horsburgh (GBR2) 06:52.01

2. Fiorin Rueedi & Pascal Ryser (SUI) 06:52.69

3. Enes Yenipazarli & Bayram Sonmez (TUR) 06:55.81

Lightweight men’s single sculls (LM1x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Michael Schmid (SUI) 07:20.19

2. Jonathan Rommelmann (GER) 07:20.71

3. Peter Galambos (HUN) 07:21.25

–

4. Jamie Copus (GBR) 07:22.62

Men’s pair (M2-) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Marius-Vasile & Ciprian Tudosa (ROU) 06:44.55

2. Dzimitry Furman & Siarhei Valadzko (BLR) 06:46.57

3. Charles Brittain & James Mitchell (RSA) 06:47.89

–

5. Harry Glenister & George Rossiter (GBR1) 06:54.01

Men’s double sculls (M2x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Angus Groom & Jack Beaumont (GBR) 06:29.28

2. Timo Piontek & Lars Hartig (GER) 06:31.28

3. Kristoffer Brun & Are Strandli (NOR) 06:33.14

Men’s four (M4-) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Great Britain (James Johnston, Callum McBrierty, Jacob Dawson & Tom Ford) 05:54.66

2. Belarus 05:55.08

3. Netherlands 05:55.41

Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x) semi-final

Top 3 through to the A final

1. Gary O’Donovan & Paul O’Donovan (IRL) 06:22.28

2. Jerzy Kowalski & Milosz Jankowski (POL) 06:22.87

3. Tim Brys & Niels Van Zandweghe (BEL) 06:24.21

–

6. Zak Lee-Green & Sam Mottram (GBR1) 06:29.09

Men’s eight (M8+) exhibition race

All go through to the A final

1. Germany 05:28.57

2. Great Britain (James Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Tom Jeffery, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, Moe Sbihi, Alan Sinclair, Matthew Tarrant, Will Satch & cox Henry Fieldman) 05:29.37

3. Romania 05:33.20

Afternoon results

Lightweight men’s single sculls (LM1x) B final

1. Junji Fan (CHN) 07:03.59

2. Spyridon Giannaros (GRE) 07:03.85

3. Rajko Hrvat (SLO) 07:05.67

–

5. Jamie Copus (GBR) 07:07.87

Lightweight women’s single sculls (LM1x) A final

1. Alena Furman (BLR) 07:46.15

2. Ellen Gleadow (CAN) 07:46.15

3. Ladina Meier (GER) 07:48.95

–

4. Imogen Grant (GBR) 07:49.38

PR1 Men’s single sculls (PR1 M1x) final

1. Roman Polianskyi (UKR) 10:12.04

2. Andy Houghton (GBR) 10:30.77

3. Louis Toussaint (BEL) 11:21.49