Gold for Stanhope and Brown as GB’s Para-rowers win three medals at World Cup 2 in Linz

Great Britain wins three medals on day two of World Cup 2 in Linz, with a further ten medal chances for Sunday’s finals

Ollie Stanhope and Daniel Brown won gold in the PR3 men’s pair as Great Britain’s Para-rowers took three medals on Saturday at World Cup 2.

GB also qualified eight crews for Sunday’s medal finals, including both crews in each of the men’s fours and women’s pairs.

Paralympic champion Brown and world champion Stanhope powered into the lead in the second half of the race, moving past experienced French duo Remy Taranto and Antoine Jesel and staying away to the line.

Laurence Whiteley took silver in the PR2 men’s single scull behind quick Dutchman Corne de Koning to take the first British medal of the day, which was quickly followed by the gold.

Andy Houghton then took his second medal of the World Cup series, adding a bronze medal to his silver from Belgrade behind Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi and talented Russian Alexey Chuvashev.

In the morning’s racing, GB’s men’s eight gave themselves a boost ahead of the final, beating World Cup 1 gold medallists Germany by half a length in the repechage. The duo will race again on Sunday alongside Australia, two Dutch crews and Italy in what should be a hotly contested final.

Anastasia Chitty and Rebecca Girling came from behind to nip past Italy in their semi-final of the women’s pair and will be joined in the final by compatriots Rowan McKellar and Hattie Taylor. The duo looked comfortable as they finished in second to World Best Time holders New Zealand to progress.

Jack Beaumont and Angus Groom laid down a marker by beating the Kiwi world champions and a strong French crew in their double sculls semi-final. The Brits won silver in Belgrade and will aim for their second medal of the season on Sunday morning.

Matt Rossiter and Ollie Cook put in another solid race to finish second the Sinkovic brothers, the World silver medallists and champions in Belgrade. The Brits held on to second ahead of Belarus by a canvas.

Vicky Thornley was edged by German Annekatrin Thiele in her semi of the women’s single sculls, but comfortably moves through to the final.

Both men’s fours left everything on the water to qualify for the A finals, each of them finishing third in the semis. Both GBR1 (Harry Glenister, Callum McBrierty, Morgan Hellen and George Rossiter) and GBR2 (James Johnston, Adam Neill, Jacob Dawson and Tom Ford) sat fourth with 500m to go, but pushed on to secure the final qualification spots.

Harry Leask battled hard in the men’s single semis, but finished fourth behind World Best Time holder Robbie Manson and World silver medallist Angel Fournier Rodriguez. He will race the B final on Sunday, as will Alice Baatz, GB’s second female single sculler, who finished sixth in her semi.

The women’s quad (Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Zoe Lee, Jess Leyden and Melissa Wilson) will also contest the B final, having pushed a strong Australia crew all the way to the line but ultimately finishing third in the repechage.

GB’s men’s quad (John Collins, Jonny Walton, Graeme Thomas and Tom Barras) will not defend the gold they won in Belgrade, having finished fourth in a strong semi-final.

The lightweight men’s double of Jamie Copus and Gavin Horsburgh set the fourth fastest time of the semi-finals, but unfortunately the other three quick boats finished ahead of them, resigning GB to the B final despite an impressive race.

GB’s two lightweight women’s doubles found themselves drawn in the same semi, but couldn’t match the pace set by the front runners and finished fifth and sixth.

Sam Mottram and Zak Lee-Green took victory in their lightweight double C final, with James Temple finishing second in the lightweight single C final. Josh Bugajski and James Rudkin also won a minor final, taking first place in the men’s pair D final.

British Rowing Director of Performance Brendan Purcell said: “I’m delighted to see our Para-rowing crews all on the podium today. It’s a testament to their hard work and commitment, and I look forward to seeing their progression ahead of their next test at September’s World Championships.

“I expect some very competitive racing in Sunday’s finals, where hopefully we’ll see some strong performances and some more British crews come away with medals.”

Results

Women’s

Women’s Pair

Semi Finals

GBR1
1. Anastasia Chitty & Rebecca Girling (GBR1) 7:12.56
2. Alessandra Patelli & Sara Bertolasi (ITA1) 7:13.19
3. Oksana Golub & Anna Kontseva (UKR) 7:15.75

GBR2
1. Grace Prendergast & Kerri Gowler (NZL) 7:02.69
2. Rowan McKellar & Hattie Taylor (GBR2) 7:14.43
3. Veronica Calabrese & Ilaria Broggini (ITA2) 7:16.98

Women’s Single Scull

Semi Finals

GBR1
1. Annekatrin Thiele (GER) 7:32.86
2. Victoria Thornley (GBR1) 7:33.79
3. Fie Udby Erichsen (DEN) 7:35.43

GBR2
1. Jeannine Gmelin (SUI) 7:29.55
2. Magdalena Lobnig (AUT1) 7:32.00
3. Madeleine Edmunds (AUS) 7:33.36
–
6. Alice Baatz (GBR2) 7:50.42

Women’s Quadruple Scull

Repechage

1. Germany 6:22.45
2. Australia 6:23.98
3. Great Britain (Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Melissa Wilson, Jess Leyden, Zoe Lee) 6:25.03

Women’s Lightweight Double Scull

Semi Final

1. Zoe McBride & Jackie Kiddle (NZL) 6:57.31
2. Valentina Rodini & Federica Cesarini (ITA) 6:59.60
3. Patricia Merz & Frederique Rol (SUI) 7:00.66
–
5. Ellie Piggott & Fran Rawlins (GBR1) 7:04.32
6. Maddie Arlett & Gemma Hall (GBR2) 7:11.34

Men’s

Men’s Pair

Semi Final (GBR2)

1. Martin Sinkovic & Valent Sinkovic (CRO1) 6:27.41
2. Oliver Cook & Matt Rossiter (GBR2) 6:30.66
3. Dzimitry Furman & Siarhei Valadzko (BLR) 6:31.06

D Final (GBR1)

1. James Rudkin & Josh Bugajski (GBR1) 6:34.99
2. Xiaoxiong Li & Jingbin Zhao (CHN) 6:45.41
3. Patrick Laggner & Mattijs Holler (AUT2) 6:53.52

Men’s Four

Semi Finals

GBR1
1. Romania 5:55.57
2. Poland 5:56.90
3. Great Britain 1 (Harry Glenister, Callum McBrierty, Morgan Hellen, George Rossiter) 5:58.06

GBR2
1. Australia 5:52.59
2. Germany 5:55.18
3. Great Britain 1 (James Johnton, Adam Neill, Jacob Dawson, Tom Ford) 5:55.92

Men’s Eight

Repechage

1. Great Britain (Tom Ransley, Tom George, Tom Jeffery, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Moe Sbihi, Alan Sinclair, Matthew Tarrant, Will Satch, Henry Fieldman (Cox)) 5:29.84
2. Germany 5:31.66
3. Italy 5:32.33

Men’s Single Scull

Semi Final

1. Robert Manson (NZL1) 6:47.71
2. Angel Rodriguez Fournier (CUB) 6:49.20
3. Sverri Nielsen (DEN) 6:49.25
–
4. Harry Leask (GBR) 6:50.37

Men’s Double Scull

Semi Final

1. Angus Groom & Jack Beaumont (GBR) 6:10.97
2. Matthieu Androdias & Hugo Boucheron (FRA) 6:11.82
3. John Storey & Christopher Harris (NZL) 6:13.25

Men’s Quadruple Scull

Semi Final

1. Poland 5:42.04
2. Australia 5:43.46
3. Netherlands 5:43.68
–
4. Great Britain (John Collins, Jonny Walton, Graeme Thomas, Tom Barras) 5:45.48

Men’s Lightweight Single Scull

C Final

1. Rainer Kepplinger (AUT2) 7:04.54
2. James Temple (GBR) 7:08.83
3. Joonas Petaejaeniemi (FIN) 7:25.85

Men’s Lightweight Double Scull

C Final

1. Sam Mottram & Zak Lee-Green (GBR1) 6:21.68
2. Filip Nilsson & Mattias Johansson (SWE) 6:24.52
3. Julian Schoeberl & Bernhard Sieber (AUT1) 6:25.28

Semi Final

1. Kristoffer Brun & Are Strandli (NOR) 6:18.80
2. Tim Brys & Niels Van Zandweghe (BEL) 6:20.29
3. Pierre Houin & Thomas Baroukh (FRA1) 6:20.58
–
4. Jamie Copus & Gavin Horsburgh (GBR2) 6:22.03

Para’s

PR1 Men’s Single Scull

Final

1. Roman Polianskyi (UKR) 9:38.65
2. Alexey Chuvashev (RUS) 9:50.93
3. Andy Houghton (GBR) 9:58.12

PR2 Men’s Single Scull

Final

1. Corne De Koning (NED) 8:38.53
2. Laurence Whiteley (GBR) 8:57.54
3. Gianfilippo Mirabile (ITA) 10:03.37

PR3 Men’s Pair

Final

1. Oliver Stanhope & Daniel Brown (GBR) 7:11.22
2. Remy Taranto & Antoine Jesel (FRA1) 7:13.22
3. Laurent Viala & Jerome Pailler (FRA2) 7:26.56