Strong first day of racing for GB at World Cup 1 in Belgrade

Two boats qualify for finals, with nine further boats progressing to semi-finals and Andy Houghton set to race for a medal in the PR1 single sculls at World Cup 1 in Belgrade

Great Britian qualified two boats directly to Sunday’s medal finals on a hectic first day of racing at World Cup 1 in Belgrade.

The men’s quad edged out Poland to take the win in their heat – the two crews finished a couple of lengths ahead of Norway to seal the progression spots. World bronze medallist from the single, Tom Barras, joins John Collins, Jonny Walton and Graeme Thomas in the quad to start 2018, with the crew looking to better their silver medal from the Worlds in Sarasota-Bradenton.

GB’s second women’s four (Fiona Gammond, Holly Norton, Karen Bennett and Rebecca Shorten) also progressed to Sunday’s medal race, finishing second to a strong Dutch crew, but with open water between them and the third-place Poles. GB’s first four (Rebecca Chin, Caragh McMurtry, Sara Parfett and Jo Wratten) had to settle for a place in Saturday’s repechage, finishing fourth in the heat.

Para-rower Andy Houghton started GB’s regatta well, finishing second behind Ukraine’s Paralympic champion Roman Polianskyi in the PR1 men’s single exhibition race. Houghton twice finished behind Polianskyi at the Gavirate Para-rowing Regatta in May and will look to overcome his rival in Saturday’s final.

Emily Ashford and Emily Ford had senior debuts to remember, finishing second to teammates Anastasia Chitty and Rebecca Girling in the women’s pair heats to progress to the semi-final.

Ford’s brother, Tom, also sealed a place in Saturday’s semis taking a good win and setting the fastest time of the heats in the men’s four alongside Jacob Dawson, Callum McBrierty and James Johnston.

Jack Beaumont and Angus Groom reprised their double scull partnership from the 2014 World Rowing U23 Championships, where they won bronze, and sailed through to the semi-final. The Leander duo enjoyed a length’s advantage over home favourites Serbia to take the only automatic progression place.

World Championships silver medallist Vicky Thornley won her single sculls heat ahead of rival from 2017 Annekatrin Thiele from Germany. The two were nearly 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field by the finish line and progressed with ease

Both lightweight singles booked their places in Saturday’s semi-finals with spirited performances. Jamie Copus won his heat before taking second in the quarter-final to progress, while Imogen Grant finished fifth in her heat but put in a great row to sprint to second in the repechage.

Emily Craig and Ellie Piggott began their partnership in the lightweight women’s double with a win in a heat that also contained GB’s Ellie Lewis and Fran Rawlins. Lewis and Rawlins finishing third to leave a race in the repechage, where they were unfortunately edged out of a place in the semi-finals in the final metres.

Harry Glenister and George Rossiter performed well to win their repechage in the men’s pair and move into the semi-final, but Tom Ransley and Ross Jarvis will have to settle for the C final.

Harry Leask was pushed into fourth in the men’s single sculls quarter-final, but with only two moving through to the semi-finals Leask will return for the C final on Saturday.

And both lightweight men’s doubles raced in the afternoon’s repechage, with Zak Lee-Green and Sam Mottram finishing second to make the semi-final. Edinburgh University duo James Temple and Gavin Horsburgh finished fifth to move into the C final.

Saturday’s racing kicks off at 8am (BST) with another full day of action in store. Minor finals will take place in the morning session, along with a handful of repechages and a host of semi-finals.

The medal finals of the lightweight single sculls and the PR1 men’s single will wrap up the action in the afternoon session. Follow on British Rowing’s social media channels for live coverage.

Morning Results

Women’s

Women’s pair (W2-)

1. Anastasia Chitty & Rebecca Girling (GBR1) 7:19.05
2. Emily Ford & Emily Ashford (GBR2) 7:22.92
3. Aifric Keogh & Emily Hegarty (IRL) 7:23.77

Women’s four (W4-)

Heat 1
1. Russia 6:48.23
2. Netherlands 2 6:49.48
3. Denmark 6:54.79
–
4. Great Britain 1 (Rebecca Chin, Caragh McMurtry, Sara Parfett, Jo Wratten) 7:00.41

Heat 2
1. Netherlands 1 6:49.99
2. Great Britain 2 (Fiona Gammond, Holly Norton, Karen Bennett, Rebecca Shorten) 6:53.60
3. Poland 7:06.87

Women’s single sculls (W1x)

1. Victoria Thornley (GBR) 7:54.41
2. Annekatrin Thiele (GER1) 7:56.83
3. Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP) 8:23.75

Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x)

1. Ellen Gleadow (CAN) 7:57.48
2. Alena Furman (BLR) 8:01.69
3. Anastasia Lebedeva (RUS) 8:06.27
–
4. Imogen Grant (GBR) 8:07.65

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)

1. Eleanor Piggott & Emily Craig (GBR1) 7:26.96
2. Emily Schmieg & Mary Jones (USA) 7:28.40
3. Ellie Lewis & Francesca Rawlins (GBR2) 7:39.37

Men’s

Men’s pair (M2-)

Heat 1
1. Marius-Vasile, Cozmiuc & Ciprian Tudosa (ROU) 6:37.51
2. Harry Glenister & George Rossiter (GBR) 6:44.20
3. Sander de Graaf & Vincent Klaassens (NED) 6:48.29

Heat 3
1. Dzimitry Furman & Siarhei Valadzko (BLR) 6:39.19
2. Charles Brittain & James Mitchell (RSA1) 6:42.74
3. Paul Schroeter & Laurtis Follert (GER1) 6:51.21
–
4. Ross Jarvis & Tom Ransley (GBR2) 6:52.79

Men’s four (M4-)

1. Great Britain (James Johnston, Callum McBrierty, Jacob Dawson, Tom Ford) 6:06.75
2. Netherlands 6:08.17
3. Romania 6:08.84

Men’s single scull (M1x)

1. Ondrej Synek (CZE) 7:09.25
2. Aleksandar Filipovic (SRB) 7:09.91
3. Harry Leask (GBR) 7:12.22

Men’s double sculls (M2x)

1. Jack Beaumont & Angus Groom (GBR) 6:41.60
2. Igor Djeric & Aleksandar Bedik (SRB) 6:44.64
3. Michiel Oyen & Nicholas Van Sprang (NED2) 6:44.76

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)

1. Great Britain (Tom Barras, Jonny Walton, Graeme Thomas, John Collins) 5:53.57
2. Poland 5:54.63
3. Norway 6:00.61

Lightweight men’s single sculls (LM1x)

1. Jamie Copus (GBR) 7:22.82
2. Matthias Fernandez (SUI) 7:26.23
3. Tobias Taborsky (AUT2) 7:29.14

Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x)

Heat 2
1. Jerzy Kowalski & Milosz Jankowski (POL) 6:34.97
2. Patricio Rojas Aznar & Rodrigo Conde Romero (GER) 6:43.86
3. James Temple & Gavin Horsburgh (GBR2) 6:52.78
Heat 4
1. Tim Brys & Niels Van Zandweghe (BEL) 6:37.46
2. Julian Schoeberl & Bernhard Sieber (AUT) 6:39.99
3. Zak Lee-Green & Sam Mottram (GBR1) 6:47.37

Para-rowing

PR1 Men’s single sculls (PR1 M1x)

1. Roman Polianskyi (UKR) 9:42.20
2. Andy Houghton (GBR) 9:55.48
3. Zsolt Peto (HUN) 10:57.38

Afternoon results

Lightweight women’s single sculls repechage

1. Ladina Meier (GER) 8:13.38
2. Imogen Grant (GBR) 8:14.94
3. Eveline Peleman (BEL) 8:15.46

Lightweight women’s double sculls repechage

1. Guoru Liang & Dandan Pan (CHN) 7:20.27
2. Katrin Thoma & Leonie Pless (GER) 7:21.95
3. Hillary Saeger & Christine Cavallo (USA2) 7:22.25
–
4. Ellie Lewis & Francesca Rawlins (GBR2) 7:23.14

Men’s pair repechage

1. Harry Glenister & George Rossiter (GBR1) 6:50.39
2. Alexandr Stradaev & Grigorii Shchulepov (RUS) 6:53.74
3. Ross Jarvis & Tom Ransley (GBR2) 7:02.10

Men’s single scull quarter-final

1. Roman Roeoesli (SUI2) 7:05.44
2. Sverri Nielsen (DEN) 7:07.88
3. Anders Backeus (SWE) 7:08.14
–
4. Harry Leask (GBR) 7:10.61

Lightweight men’s single sculls quarter final

1. Rajko Hrvat (SLO) 7:21.40
2. Jamie Copus (GBR) 7:24.18
3. Ask Jarl Tjoem (NOR) 7:25.40

Lightweight men’s double sculls repechage

1. Andri Struzina & Julian Mueller (SUI1) 6:34.48
2. Zak Lee-Green & Sam Mottram (GBR1) 6:35.32
3. Fiorin Rueedi & Pascal Ryser (SUI2) 6:36.97
–
5. James Temple & Gavin Horsburgh (GBR2) 6:42.43