GB win first medals of 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships with silver and bronze

Great Britain wins silver in the women’s pair and bronze in the women’s quadruple sculls on the penultimate day of the World Rowing U23 Championships

Great Britain won silver and bronze medals at the World Rowing U23 Championships, with nine further medal opportunities to come on Sunday.

Hannah Scott and Heidi Long only met each other for the first time in June but got stuck into their pairs project and instantly bonded. Some tough racing in Poznan sees them leaving with a silver medal, staying in front of a sprinting Chilean crew to secure second place to the USA in the final.

Lucy Glover, Saskia Budgett, Zoe Adamson and Kyra Edwards secured back-to-back World U23 medals for the women’s quadruple sculls, winning bronze. The three medal-winning crews got out in front early, with GB pushing second-place Netherlands all the way to the line behind winner Romania.

GB’s men’s coxed four finished fifth in the world in a hotly contested final that saw the USA take the gold medal. The British crew, coxed by Gavin McWilliams left it all out on the water but couldn’t match the relentless pace of the leading crews.

The men’s pair and lightweight men’s quadruple sculls finished eighth and ninth overall respectively, having taken second and third in their B finals at the start of the afternoon’s racing.

Brendan Purcell, British Rowing Director of Performance, said: “We’re pleased to get off the mark with two medals today in some very tough racing. The efforts of all the crews racing today cannot be faulted, with the standard of rowing very high across the board.

“Chief Coach Pete Sheppard and the entire coaching team have worked tirelessly to prepare our athletes for unrelenting racing, ensuring other nations need to dig that bit deeper to beat the GB crews. We’re looking forward to more medal opportunities tomorrow to round off a very positive campaign for the U23s.”

GB will race in nine more A finals on Sunday, with six crews progressing through Saturday’s semi-finals.

Imogen Grant enjoyed an almost two-length lead over Australia’s Wallis Russell in her lightweight single sculls semi, leading from start to finish.

Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne and Anna Thornton were equally comfortable in their double sculls semi, beating Italy by a length to progress.

The men’s four overcame a medical substitution earlier in the morning to win their semi. Harvey Kay came into the stroke seat in place of Felix Drinkall and guided the crew into the final.

Susannah Duncan and Danielle Temple led from start to finish in the lightweight double sculls semi-final but were pushed hard in the final metres by Germany and Switzerland. The top three crews were separated by just two tenths of a second in a blanket finish.

The men’s quadruple sculls got GB’s fifth semi-final win, setting the fastest time across the two races, leading Germany home by nearly a length.

Ruth Siddorn took second place in the women’s single sculls semi-final, holding off fast-finishing Latvian Jelisaveta Simaceva in the last 200m.

Gavin Horsburgh and James Temple will race in Sunday’s B final, having been edged by just two tenths of a second by Chile in the lightweight double sculls.

Results

A finals

Men’s coxed four

1. USA, 6:22.32
2. New Zealand, 6:24.25
3. Italy, 6:25.26
–
5. Great Britain (Henry Blois-Brooke, Matt Rowe, Tobias Schröder, Oscar Lindsay & Gavin McWilliams (cox)), 6:28.23

Women’s pair

1. Regina Salmons & Alina Hagstrom (USA), 7:31.24
2. Heidi Long & Hannah Scott (GBR), 7:33.68
3. Melita Abraham & Antonia Abraham (CHI), 7:34.14

Women’s quadruple sculls

1. Romania, 6:40.97
2. Netherlands, 6:43.88
3. Great Britain (Kyra Edwards, Zoë Adamson, Saskia Budgett & Lucy Glover), 6:45.68

B finals

Men’s pair

1. Andrew Judge & Joseph O’Brien (AUS), 6:51.88
2. Max Townley & James Vogel (GBR), 6:56.69
3. Lucasz Posylajka & Bartosz Modryznski (POL), 6:57.61

Lightweight men’s quadruple sculls

1. Germany, 6:13.68
2. Japan, 6:15.34
3. Great Britain (Dale Flockhart, Seb Matthews, James Stevenson & Dom Jackson), 6:15.47

Semi-finals

Men’s four

1. Great Britain (David Ambler, Sam Nunn, Charlie Elwes & Harvey Kay), 6:10.22
2. Germany, 6:10.88
3. Italy, 6:12.38

Men’s quadruple sculls

1. Great Britain (Rowan Law, Matt Haywood, Josh Armstrong & Sam Meijer), 6:00.05
2. Germany, 6:02.40
3. Ukraine, 6:05.98

Lightweight men’s double sculls

1. Alfonso Scalzone & Gabriel Soares (ITA), 6:40.54
2. Jonathan Schreiber & Julian Schneider (GER), 6:41.12
3. Cesar Araboa & Eber Sanhueza Rojas (CHI), 6:41.95
4. Gavin Horsburgh & James Temple (GBR), 6:42.16

Women’s single sculls

1. Emily Kallfelz (USA), 8:05.97
2. Ruth Siddorn (GBR), 8:12.43
3. Jelisaveta Simaceva (LAT), 8:13.25

Women’s double sculls

1. Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne & Anna Thornton (GBR), 7:16.41
2. Valentina Iseppi & Alessandra Montesano (ITA), 7:19.18
3. Luka Ellery & Nicola Baker (NZL), 7:22.51

Lightweight women’s double sculls

1. Susannah Duncan & Danielle Semple (GBR), 7:30.91
2. Katrin Volk & Sophia Krause (GER), 7:31.05
3. Eline Rol & Lara Eichenberger (SUI), 7:31.18