Five heats wins for GB on day two of World Rowing U23 Championships

July 26, 2018

GB’s women’s eight qualify for the final as one of five crews to win their heats on the second day of the World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan

Five GB crews won their heats on day two of the World Rowing U23 Championships as seven crews progressed to the next round of competition.

Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne and Anna Thornton, gold medallists in the quad last year, looked comfortable in their double sculls heat, leading from start to finish and setting the fastest time of the three heats.

Sam Meijer also won gold last year and got his campaign off to the perfect start by winning the men’s quad heat alongside Josh Armstrong, Matt Haywood and Rowan Law. GB finished a length up on a fast-finishing Spanish crew and set the fastest time of the round.

The women’s eight booked their place in Sunday’s final by winning their heat, finishing half a length up on the Netherlands. It’s GB’s third guaranteed finalist, following the men’s coxed four and women’s quad, who progressed on Wednesday.

Imogen Grant was clinical in her lightweight single sculls heat, biding her time to move through her Swiss rival in the second half of the race before opening up a two-length lead.

Susannah Duncan and Danielle Semple also won by two lengths in the lightweight women’s double sculls heat, and Ruth Siddorn eased into the women’s singles sculls semi-final in second place, a full 14 seconds ahead of the Italian sculler in third.

James Vogel and Max Townley were involved in the closest race of the day in the men’s pair repechage, finishing second to Greece by just a tenth of a second. The Brits moved back into contention in the final 500m, getting their bow ball ahead in the final 50 metres, but the Greek crew edged it on the line. Both crews progress to the semi-finals.

GB’s men’s eight faced a tough heat against the USA and finished half a length behind to move into Friday’s repechage.

A third-place finish for the women’s four sees them into the repechage, with only Romania qualifying from the heat. India Somerside, Alice Bowyer, Flo Donald and Megan Slabbert finished half a length down on New Zealand in second place.

Gavin Horsburgh and James Temple also head into the repechage, finishing fourth in their lightweight double sculls heat.

And the men’s lightweight quad, featuring Dale Flockhart, Seb Matthews, James Stevenson and Dom Jackson, will race in Saturday’s B final after finishing fourth in their repechage.

Results

W4- heat

1. Romania, 7:05.98
2. New Zealand, 7:08.55
3. Great Britain (India Somerside, Alice Bowyer, Flo Donald & Megan Slabbert), 7:10.54

Women’s eight heat

1. Great Britain (Nuala Gannon, Alex Rankin, Meg Saunders, Alice Davies, Eleanor Stewart, Holly Dunford, Lauren Irwin, Sophia Heath, Autumn Mackay (cox)), 6:28.29
2. Netherlands, 6:30.19
3. Australia, 6:32.69

Women’s single scull heat

1. Desislava Georgieva (BUL), 8:13.98
2. Ruth Siddorn (GBR), 8:15.62
3. Elisa Mondelli (ITA), 8:29.12

Women’s double scull heat

1. Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne & Anna Thornton (GBR), 7:15.54
2. Anne-Sophie Marzin & Margaux Bailleul (FRA), 7:19.97
3. Luka Ellery & Nicola Baker (NZL), 7:29.83

Lightweight women’s single scull heat

1. Imogen Grant (GBR), 8:14.03
2. Sofia Meakin (SUI), 8:21.91
3. Brigid Kennedy (USA), 8:28.65

Lightweight women’s double scull heat

1. Susannah Duncan & Danielle Semple (GBR), 7:30.12
2. Lydia Heaphy & Margaret Creman (IRL), 7:37.99
3. Klaudia Pankratiew & Magdalena Swietek (POL), 7:44.12

Men’s pair repechage

1. Stefanos Ntouskos & Spyridon Kalentzis (GRE), 6:59.31
2. James Vogel & Max Townley (GBR), 6:59.44
3. Louis Pratt & Aiden Bridwell (USA), 7:02.98

Men’s eight heat

1. USA, 5:36.41
2. Great Britain (Ben Freeman, Harvey Kay, David Bewicke-Copley, Tom Digby, Leonard Jenkins, Matthew Aldridge, William Stewart, Freddie Davidson, Hugo Ramambason (cox)), 5:38.54
3. Romania, 5:39.65

Men’s quadruple scull heat

1. Great Britain (Rowan Law, Matt Haywood, Josh Armstrong, Sam Meijer), 5:55.07
2. Spain, 5:58.49
3. Belarus, 6:05.26

Lightweight men’s double scull heat

1. Fintan McCarthy & Jacob McCarthy (IRL), 6:35.94
2. Alfonso Scalzone & Gabriel Soares (ITA), 6:42.04
3. Johannes Hafergut & Alexander Maderner (AUT), 6:45.13
4. Gavin Horsburgh & James Temple (GBR), 7:05.67