GB Rowing Team claim a fantastic four medals at the 2019 European Rowing Championships

The Great Britain Rowing Team came away with four medals on the final day of the European Rowing Championships, claiming one gold, two silvers and a bronze

Despite only having trained together for a little over a week, GB’s men’s four of Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie won their A final by clear water to take GB’s first European gold medal since 2017. The crew were yesterday’s fastest qualifiers and continued their dominance in today’s event, taking the lead at the 1,000m mark.

Speaking after the race, Gibbs said: “We’re so pleased with how we went today – we did exactly what we set out to do, didn’t worry about anyone else and just tried to do our fastest race from A to B.”

The men’s and women’s eights both claimed superb silver medals in the final two races of the day. The women’s eights final saw an exhilarating race for the gold medal, with Great Britain’s Fiona Gammond, Zoe Lee, Josephine Wratten, Hattie Taylor, Rowan McKellar, Rebecca Shorten, Karen Bennett, Holly Norton and cox Matilda Horn finishing six hundredths of a second behind Romania to take the silver.

Norton said: “We would have liked to have the cherry on top [with a gold], but as a team of athletes and coaches we’re building lots of momentum which is really powerful this early on in the season.”

The men’s eight, comprising of Tom Ford, James Rudkin, Tom George, Mohamed Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Josh Bugajski and cox Henry Fieldman showed they had learnt lessons from yesterday’s repechage, finishing less than a second behind the German crew to take silver.

Bugajski said: “That was tough, it was a really fast race. It’s a shame not to come away with the win but we’ve learned a lot this weekend and know we have a lot of speed and potential left for the rest of the season.”

The men’s quad of Jack Beaumont, Jonny Walton, Angus Groom and Pete Lambert gave it absolutely everything and came away with a bronze medal.

Lambert said: “I’m really happy. You always have to blow a few cobwebs off at the first international regatta of the season – we’ll be able to build on this through the season going forward to the World Championships.”

Graeme Thomas and John Collins came away with an agonising fourth in the men’s double sculls in a final which saw the top four crews separated by less than a second.

Collins said: “We’re obviously gutted not to be on the podium today but we’re pleased with how we raced. We’re a new double so this weekend has been a great start to the season and there’s plenty we’ll take back to learn from in training.”

Olympic silver medallist Vicky Thornley regained her powerful form in the women’s single sculls B final. She stayed cool and collected at the front of the field from start to finish, winning by two lengths.

Speaking to afterwards, she said: “This weekend has been challenging – it’s nice to cross the line first but it’s not the race I wanted to be doing it in. I was really pleased with the race I put out today though and there’s lots to be learned for the rest of the season.”

In the men’s single sculls B final, Tom Barras put in a similarly powerful performance, making his move at the 1,000m mark to overtake the home favourite and push through to first place.

GB’s lightweight doubles combination of Imogen Grant and Ellie Piggott were part of a huge fight for the bronze medal in their A final, eventually missing out by less than a second.

Speaking afterwards, Grant said: “This weekend’s been really fun and has been a great way to test out where we are against the pack. We’re really pleased with what we’ve done and are going home with a nice long list of things to work on before next time.”

In their respective A finals, the women’s pair of Sam Courty and Annie Withers and four of Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Beccy Girling and Emily Ford gave it their all but had to settle for 6th place.

Lightweight single sculler Jamie Copus pushed hard to take 5th place in his A final, as did the women’s quad of Jess Leyden, Melissa Wilson, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne.

The lightweight men’s double of Zak Lee-Green and Will Fletcher put up a strong fight in an extremely close B final but finished up in 4th place.

In their B finals, the men’s pair of Harry Glenister and George Rossiter had a sprint to the line finishing in second place behind the Belgian pair and ahead of the Onfroy twins of France; while the lightweight double of Maddie Arlett and Emily Craig, racing in the B final of the openweight category, had an outstanding race closing down France’s lead and pushing them hard all the way to the line, finishing a foot behind them in third place.

Brendan Purcell, British Rowing Director of Performance, said: “It’s fantastic to have four crews on the podium today and to have a gold medal-winning crew in the men’s four. Our two big sweep boats, the men’s and women’s eight, laid down great performances to push for silver medals which shows the strength and depth in the squad.

“The priority for this European Championships was for us to get a benchmark of how we’re doing in relation to Olympic qualification at the World Championships in August; we now have real clarity and focus which we can take away and use over the next couple of months.”

Results

Men’s pair (B final)

1. Dzmitry Furman & Siarhei Valadzjko (BLR) 6:32.49

2. Harry Glenister & George Rossiter (GBR) 6:34.00

3. Valentin Onfroy & Theophile Onfroy (FRA) 6:34.35

 

Women’s double (B final)

1. Elsbeth Beeres & Laila Youssifou (NED) 7:01.52

2. Helene Lefebvre & Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino (FRA) 7:02.12

3. Maddie Arlett & Emily Craig (GBR) 7:02.25

 

Lightweight men’s double sculls (B final)

1. Jerzy Kowalski & Milosz Jankowski (POL) 6:23.22

2. Marek Reznak & Peter Zelinka (SVK) 6:24.54

3. Pedro Fraga & Afonso Costa (POR) 6:24.77

4. Zak Lee-Green & Will Fletcher (GBR) 6:27.14

 

Men’s single sculls (B final)

1. Tom Barras (GBR) 6:59.54

2. Mihai Chiruta (ROU) 7:00.71

3. Kjetil Borch (NOR) 7:00.87

 

Women’s single sculls (B final)

1. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 7:40.33

2. Diana Dymchenko (UKR) 7:45.81

3. Jovana Arsic (SRB) 7:49.32

 

Lightweight men’s single sculls (A final)

1. Peter Galambos (HUN) 6:57.00

2. Artur Mikolajczewski (POL) 6:58.98

3. Martino Goretti (ITA) 7:02.27

…

5. Jamie Copus (GBR) 7:08.79

 

Lightweight women’s double sculls (A final)

1. Anastasiia Ianina & Alena Furman (BLR) 6:58.69

2. Laura Tarantola & Claire Bove (FRA) 7:00.29

3. Patricia Merz & Frederique Mol (SUI) 7:02.63

4. Ellie Piggott & Imogen Grant (GBR) 7:03.18

 

Women’s pair (A final)

1. Aina Cid & Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP) 7:14.14

2. Adriana Ailincai & Maria Tivodariu (ROU) 7:15.52

3. Kiri Tontodonati & Aisha Rocek (ITA) 7:16.22

…

6. Sam Courty & Annie Withers (GBR) 7:21.73

 

Men’s double sculls (A final)

1. Miroslaw Zietarski & Fabian Baranski (POL) 6:13.51

2. Barnarbe Delarze & Roman Roeoesli (SUI) 6:13.60

3. Ioan Prundeanu & Marian-Florian Enache (ROU) 6:13.96

4. John Collins & Graeme Thomas (GBR) 6:14.71

 

Women’s four (A final)

1. Netherlands 6:24.84

2. Romania 6:27.92

3. Poland 6:32.37

…

6. Great Britain (Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Beccy Girling, Emily Ford) 6:37.69

 

Men’s four (A final)

1. Great Britain (Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs, Sholto Carnegie) 5:51.01

2. Poland 5:53.90

3. Germany 5:56.08

 

Women’s quadruple sculls (A final)

1. Germany 6:16.69

2. Netherlands 6:17.08

3. Ukraine 6:18.82

…

5. Great Britain 6:26.71

 

Men’s quadruple sculls (A final)

1. Netherlands 5:35.75

2. Italy 5:40.19

3. Great Britain 5:41.89

 

Women’s eight (A final)

1. Romania 6:03.49

2. Great Britain 6:03.55

3. Russia 6:06.38

 

Men’s eight (A final)

1. Germany 5:25.68

2. Great Britain 5:26.55

3. Netherlands 5:27.97