UPDATED: Smooth re-entry for Copeland and men’s four set European best
REPORT NOW UPDATED WITH FULL GB RESULTS AND REPECHAGE INFORMATION:
Kat Copeland admitted to a touch of nerves before she and Imogen Walsh won their opening heat of the lightweight women’s double at the European Championships in Belgrade.
It was Copeland’s first race since winning at the 2012 Olympic Games, her first with Walsh and a first outing of the season for the new combination.
Copeland said: “I am glad to get it over with really to be honest. I was a bit nervous”.
Walsh added: “It was a bit of a step into the unknown as it’s our first race of the season and our first race together”.
Neither need have worried. They came through strongly in the second half to take the win comfortably and progress to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Meanwhile the men’s four of Andrew Triggs Hodge, Moe Sbihi, Geroge Nash and Alex Gregory sent a buzz through the rowing family by setting a new European best time in their heat of 5:49.08.
“It felt good, it felt that like we were all flowing well together”, said Nash whose crew now races a semi tomorrow.
Eight from 16 GB Rowing Team crews in total won their heats in the morning’s session, three moving directly to finals – the women’s pair, eight and lightweight men’s four – and the others progressing to semis.
The women’s double and women’s quadruple scull crews are also through to Sunday’s finals courtesy of second places this morning. The men’s pair were third in a tough heat but because of the entry numbers still move into the semis.
That left the men’s eight, double and quad and the lightweight men’s double all facing repechages.
In this afternoon’s session both the men’s double of Jonny Walton and John Collins as well as the lightweight men’s double of Jamie Kirkwood and Will Fletcher moved safely through to their respective semis. The men’s eight and quad race tomorrow.
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RACE REPORTS
With 500m gone of Great Britain’s men’s four heat at the European Championships in Belgrade this morning the outcome looked settled. Andrew Triggs Hodge and Alex Gregory, 2012 Champions in this event, have teamed up here with Olympic men’s eight and pair bronze medallists Mohamed (Moe) Sbihi and George Nash.
The result is “a seriously quick boat” according to GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tannner.
Today they weren’t troubled, leading from the outset and winning comfortably from the Greeks but they know the opposition becomes tougher from here.
Helen Glover and Polly Swann are World Champions in the women’s pair and Glover is reigning Olympic champion. They won comfortably and will now race in the final on Sunday. Neither took the situation today for granted though.
Glover said: “Belgrade was the first regatta of the 2012 season and there was a bit of the sense of the unknown here back then. Today it was a similar feeling but there is a lot more experience there now. It was important that we stayed calm and Polly is great at creating that calmness in the stroke seat”.
Swann, asked if the duo’s World title win still felt really recent, said: “There were some similarities there, especially as we went to get attached at the start. But we have moved on with our rowing, too, and got a good winter’s training under our belts. We have made changes”.
Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell and Alan Sinclair, racing in the men’s pair, also moved into the semi-finals with a third-placed finish in the heats. They kept their cool under pressure to book that passage in a well-contested second half of this race.
Kat Copeland, racing internationally here for the first time since London 2012, and Imogen Walsh, a World finalist in the lightweight double with Kathryn Twyman last year, paced their race to perfection.
They came through strongly in the second half to catch the Netherlands – the early leaders – and, after a 250m stretch when the crews were neck and neck, moved through to take the win in 6:59.12.
Copeland added: “It wasn’t really a battle with the Netherlands, we wanted to relax at that point and let our skill pull us through”.
Walsh said: “It’s exciting for me to be racing with Kat because of her experience in this boat class. Today we wanted to get into our rhythm and we had a really good middle section of the race”.
Charlotte Taylor, in her debut senior European race, was impressive in qualifying for the semi-finals of the lightweight women’s single scull in second place.
Britain’s lightweight men’s four put in an explosive performance at the front of their heat today. Brothers Richard and Peter Chambers with Chris Bartley and Mark Aldred showed early and then made the race their own to win in 5:58.07 to take the lone qualifying slot for Sunday’s final. Denmark won the other heat.
Two other GB Rowing Team lightweight men’s crews were victorious today. Adam Freeman Pask won his heat of the lightweight men’s single whilst Jonno Clegg and Sam Scrimgeour took pole in the lightweight men’s pair.
Only the new lightweight men’s double scull of Jamie Kirkwood and Will Fletcher were slightly off the pace, fighting throughout their heat but talking third place to move into a repechage which they won in the afternoon session.
The women’s eight tussled through the final stages of their heat with the Netherlands but guided by cox Zoe de Toledo and stoked by Louisa Reeve there was a sense of resilience which translated into a good heat win with the GB boat ahead at all interim markers to win in 6:10.43.
The prize for such solid endeavour is a place in Sunday’s final. Romania and Germany came through the other heat to qualify.
Alan Campbell is treading familiar territory this year as Britain’s single sculler. Today he looked controlled in the first half before picking up the pace to win in 6:52.58 to book a place in tomorrow’s semis.
Vicky Thornley and Frances Houghton have teamed up in the double scull for GB this season. Theirs was a solid route into Sunday’s final with a second place in this morning’s heat.
Poland flew into an early lead in the centre of the field. GB, furthest from the spectators in lane one, got the better gradually of the Netherlands on the nearside, to take the second qualifying slot in a time of 6:51.98.
They will be joined in Sunday’s finals session by the women’s quad of Beth Rodford, Lucinda Gooderham, Vicki Meyer-Laker and Kristina Stiller . In a pulse-raising race for the British supporters, the quad were last in the early phases of the race before grinding up through the field to pip the Netherlands in the final 200m to take second behind Poland and progress.
After a slow start it looked as if the equivalent men’s boat of Peter Lambert, Charles Cousins, Sam Townsend and Graeme Thomas might produce a replica performance. They trailed badly in the first 500m and then worked and worked to pick off their rivals one by one and to try and make up the difference on the rest of the field. In the end they fell short by just over a second on place in Sunday’s finals and now race a repechage tomorrow.
There was an exciting finale, too, to the men’s double scull heat in which Jonny Walton and John Collins represented the GB Rowing Team. This young crew tracked the German leaders and held an overlap on them going into the final 350m.
In a pacey finish only half a second split the two crews with Germany getting the edge to move into the semi-finals with GB racing and then winning a repechage in the afternoon session to progress to the semis.
Only one crew progressed from each of the men’s eight heats and Poland and Germany booked their slots.
The new GB combination were fifth at 500m, overtook Spain and then France but could not chase down Belarus or Poland before the line. This British crew features a mix of World Champions Pete Reed and Will Satch as well as cox Phelan HIll with a number of newcomers. By mid-race today it had found its feet and the signs are promising for the repechage tomorrow.
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RESULTS
(Events featuring GB Rowing Team crews only. For full results – www.worldrowing.com)
HEATS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair – Heat 1
1. Helen Glover/Polly Swann (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:09.44
2. Alletta Jorritsma/Heleen Boers (Netherlands) 7:13.34
3. Martina Stillerova/Katerina Kopecka (Czech Republic) 7:30.14
4. Justine Lecomte/Anne Jouy (France 7:34.02
5. Beatrice Arcangiolini/Gaia Marzari (Italy) 7:47.87
6. Liana Gorgodze/Yana Tolstokorova (Russia) 7:50.45
Eight – Heat 2
1. Rosamund Bradbury/Olivia Carnegie-Brown/Jess Eddie/Donna Etiebet/Katie Greves/Zoe Lee/
Caragh McMurtry/Louisa Reeve/Monica Relph/Zoe de Toledo (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:10.43
2. Netherlands 6:11.11
3. Russia 6:16.30
4. France 6:20.14
Double scull – H2
1. Magdalena Fularczyk/Natalia Madaj (Poland) 6:46.50
2. Frances Houghton/Victoria Thornley (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:51.98
3. Nicole Beukers/Inge Janssen (Netherlands) 6:54.59
4. Lenka Antosova/Anna Zabova (Czech Republic) 7:10.63
5. Monika Dukarska/Eimear Moran (Ireland) 7:16.66
Quadruple scull – H1
1. Agnieszka Kobus/Maria Springwald/Joanna Dittmann/Monika Ciaciuch (Poland) 6:18.90
2. Beth Rodford/Lucinda Gooderham/Victoria Meyer-Laker/Kristina Stiller (GREAT BRITAIN)) 6:21.46
3. Olivia van Rooijen/Claudia Belderbos/Carline Bouw/Elisabeth Hogerwerf (NED) 6:22.19
4. Anna Kontseva/Diana Dymchenko/Olena Buryak/Svitlana Novichenko (UKR) 6:25.43
5. Ekaterina Kurochkina/Iuliia Volgina/Julia Kalinovskaya/Natalia Bodnuk (RUS) 6:27.53
OPEN
MEN
Pair – Heat 1
1. Alexander Sigurbjonsson Benet/Pau Vela Maggi (Spain) 6:27.66
2. Marco Di Costanzo/Matteo Castaldo (Italy) 6:29.29
3. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:32.39
4. Konrad Wojewodzic/Mateusz Wilangowski (Poland) 6:43.27
5. Jakub Koloc/Petr Melichar (Czech Republic) 6:45.60
Four – Heat 2
1. Alex Gregory/Moe Sbihi/George Nash/Andrew Triggs Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:49.08
2. Ioannis Tsilis/Dionysios Angelopoulos/Georgios Tziallas/Ioannis Christou (Greece 5:50.54
3. Toni Seifert/Bjoern Birkner/Maximilian Munski/Kristof Wilke (Gerbia) 5:59.71
4. Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae/Toader-Andrei Gontaru/Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc/Adrian Damii (Romania) 6:02.10
5. Jr Milan Dolecek/Jan Pilc/Jakub Podrazil/Adam Sterbak (Czech Republic) 6:08.86
6. Martin Mackovic/Goran Jagar/Viktor Pivac/Jovan Popovic (Serbia) 6:17.43
Eight – Heat 2
1. Poland 5:29.40
2. Belarus 5:30.99
3. Phil Congdon/Oliver Cook/Scott Durant/James Foad/Matthew Gotrel/Pete Reed/Will Satch/
Matthew Tarrant/Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:31.35
4. France 5:32.33
5. Spain 5:42.83
Single scull – Heat 3
1. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:52.58
2. Dani Fridman (Israel) 6:55.81
3. Milos Vasic (Serbia) 6:57.19
4. Luka Spik (Slovenia) 7:11.24
5. Francesco Cardaioli (Italy) 7:15.71
Double scull – Heat 3
1. Hans Gruhne/Stephan Krueger (Germany) 6:11.56
2. John Collins/Jonathan Walton (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:12.07
3. Juan Garcia/Ruben Padilla Camara (Spain) 6:36.15
4. Tonu Endrekson/Andrei Jamsa (Estonia) 6:38.58
5. Francesco Fossi/Romano Battisti (Italy) 6:53.49
Quadruple scull – Heat 2
1. Dmytro Mikhay/Artem Morozov/Olexandr Nadtoka/Ivan Dovgodko (Ukraine) 5:43.17
2. Graeme Thomas/Sam Townsend/Charles Cousins/Peter Lambert (GREAT BRITAIN)) 5:44.51
3. Vladislav Ryabcev/Denis Kleshnev/Viacheslav Mikhaylevskiy/Sergey Fedorovtsev (Russia) 5:45.60
4. Mickael Marteau/Jean-Baptiste Macquet/Hugo Boucheron/Alberic Cormerais (France) 5:52.98
5. Andrius Lapatiukas/Vytautas Lapatiukas/Dominykas Jancionis/Aurimas Adomavicius (Lithuania) 5:55.04
6. Gabriele Cagna/Luca Agamennoni/Matteo Stefanini/Simone Raineri (Italy) 5:58.07
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single Scull – Heat 1
1. Marie-Anne Frenken (Netherlands) 7:42.24
2. Charlotte Taylor (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:44.35
3. Helene Olsen (Denmark) 7:48.49
4. Marketa Pazderkova (Czech Republic) 7:59.23
5. Helena Pavkovic (Croatia) 8:08.27
Double scull – Heat 1
1. Kat Copeland/Imogen Walsh (GREAT BRITAIN) 6.59.12
2. Elisabeth Woerner/Maaike Head (Netherlands) 6:59.68
3. Diana Stepochkina/Olga Arkadova (Russia) 7:08.50
4. Frederique Rol/Patricia Merz (Switzerland) 7:10.10
5. Camille Leclerc/Juie Marechal (France) 7:18.61
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair – Heat 2
1. Jonathan Clegg/Sam Scrimgeour (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:39.49
2. Clement Duret/Theophile Onfroy (France) 6:42.61
3. Georgios Konsolas/Nikolaos Afentoulis (Greece) 6:51.26
4. Paulo Fernandes Da Veiga/Nuno Goncalves Coelho (Portugal) 7:03.40
5. Kresimir Kavcic/Marijan Filipovic (Croatia) 7:07.28
Four – Heat 2
1. Mark Aldred/Peter Chambers/Richard Chambers/Chris Bartley (GREAT BRTAIN) 5:58.07
2. Augustin Mouterde/Thomas Baroukh/Franck Solforosi/Guillaume Raineau (France) 6:00.85
3. Sergio Perez Moreno/Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez/Marc Franquet Montfort/Patricio Rojas
Anzar (Spain) 6:06.09
4. Mikhail Belikov/Anton Kuranov/Aleksey Vikulin/Alexander Chaukin (Russia) 6:10.10
5. Joris Pijs/Jort Van Gennep/Bjorn Van Den Ende/Timothee Heijbrock (Netherlands) 6:12.18
6. Serhii Sychov/Iegor Zamana/Oleksandr Serdiuk/Valerii Chykyrynda (Ukraine) 6:16.21
Single scull – Heat 1
1. Adam Freeman-Pask (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.95
2. Andrej Bendtsen (Denmark) 7:05.89
3. Rajko Hrvat (Slovenia) 7:06.67
4. Javid Afandiyev (Azerbaijan) 7:16.02
5. Petr Cabla (Czech Republic) 7:22.79
Double scull – Heat 3
1. Stany Delayre/Jeremie Azou (France) 6:15.24
2. Tycho Muda/Vincent Muda (Netherlands) 6:21.86
3. William Fletcher/Jamie Kirkwood (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:25.31
4. Paul Sieber/Bernhard Sieber (Austria) 6:28.31
5. Mikhail Ufimtcev/Ivan Kudryavstev (Russia) 6:38.07
REPECHAGES
OPEN
MEN
Double scull – Repechage 3
1. John Collins/Jonathan Walton (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:28.20
2. Michal Plocek/Jan Andrle (Czech Republic) 6:30.03
3. Dmitry Khymylnin/Denis Pribyl (Russia) 6:32.89
4. Yuriy Prundeanu/Dumitru Mariuc (Ukraine) 6:33.74
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Double scull – Repechage 1
1. William Fletcher/Jamie Kirkwood (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:21.44
2. Peter Galambos/Gabor Csepregi (Hungary) 6:23.32
3. Henrik Stephansen/Steffan Jensen (Denmark) 6:25.51
4. Matus Vanco/Richard Vanco (Slovakia) 6:42.41
5. Vassil Vitanov/Zlatko Karaivanov (Bulgaria) 6:47.06
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CREW LISTS (Includes club, home town, date of birth)
GB Rowing Team for the 2014 European Championships,
Belgrade, 30 May – 1 June.
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath RC/Penzance/17.06.1986)
Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/15.06.1988)
Coaches: Paul Thompson & Robin Williams
Eight
Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.1988)
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/28.03.1991)
Jessica Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.1984)
Donna Etiebet (Sport Imperial BC/London/29.04.1986)
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.1982)
Zoe Lee (Imperial College BC/Richmond, N. Yorks/15.12.1985)
Caragh McMurty (Reading Univ BC/Southampton/22.08.1991)
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.1984)
Zoe de Toledo (cox) (Leander Club/London/17.07.1987)
Coach: James Harris
Double scull
Frances Houghton (Leander Club/Oxford/19.09.1980)
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.1987)
Coaches: Paul Thompson & Robin Williams
Quadruple scull
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.12.1982)
Lucinda Gooderham (Leander Club/Norfolk/09.06.1984)
Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.1988)
Kristina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.1987)
Coach: Nick Strange
SPARE
Monica Relph (Leander Club/Cambridge/15.01.1988)
OPEN
MEN
Pair
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.1985)
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.1988)
Coach: Rob Dauncey
Four
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.1984)
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.1988)
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/10.02.1989)
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N. Yorks/03.03.1979)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Eight
Phil Congdon (Molesey BC/Bury St Edmunds/06.06.1989)
Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.1990)
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.1988)
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.1987)
Matthew Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.1989)
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.1981)
Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.1989)
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.1990)
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.1979)
Coach: Christian Felkel
Single scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.1983)
Coach: John West
Double scull
John Collins (Leander Club/Twickenham/24.01.1989)
Jonathan Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.1990)
Coach: Mark Banks
Quadruple scull
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.1988)
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.1985)
Charles Cousins (Leander Club/Willingham/13.12.1988)
Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/03.12.1986)
Coach: Paul Stannard
SPARE
Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.1983)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC/Bedford/14.08.1985)
Coach: Tom Evens
Double scull
Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.1984)
Kat Copeland (Tees RC/Ashington/01.12.1990)
Coach: Paul Reedy
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair
Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.1989)
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Forfar/28.01.1988)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Four
Mark Aldred (London RC/London/18.04.1987)
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/14.03.1990)
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.1985)
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.1984)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Single scull
Adam Freeman-Pask (Reading Univ BC/Windsor/19.06.1985)
Coach: Darren Whiter
Double scull
William Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.1989)
Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Creswell/30.08.1989)
Coach: Darren Whiter
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EVENT INFORMATION
The provisional timetable for the European Championships can be found here: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2014-european-rowing-championships
Belgrade is one hour ahead of the UK. An outline schedule is as follows (local Belgrade time):
Friday 30 May: 09.00 Heats; 15.30 Repechages
Saturday 31 May: 09.00 Reps and semi-finals
Sunday 1 June: 08.40 B Finals; 10.30 A Finals
The event will take place on Sava Lake in Belgrade, Serbia. This venue hosted a world cup in 2012. More information can be found here: http://www.erch2014.com/en/
Media accreditation requests should be lodged here: http://www.worldrowing.com/mediacenter
The event will be televised by the BBC. All finals will be live on the Red Button on Sunday 1 June and there will be a 90 minute programme on BBC 2 from 12.00-14.45.
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GB MEDALLISTS 2012 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The GB Rowing Team last competed at the European Championships when a squad of, then, development rowers took five medals:
Silver
Women’s pair: Caragh McMurtry and Olivia Carnegie Brown
Lightweight men’s four: Adam Freeman-Pask, Jonno Clegg, Sam Scrimgeour/Will Fletcher
Bronze
Lightweight women’s double scull – Imogen Walsh/Ruth Walczak
Lightweight men’s double scull – Chris Boddy/Mikey Mottram
Women’s eight – Leonora Kennedy/Claire McKeown, Monica Relph, Victoria Meyer-Laker/Yasmin Tredell/Zoe Lee/Caragh McMurtry/Olivia Carnegie Brown/Zoe de Toledo
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THE SEASON AHEAD
GB Rowing Team Diary Dates for 2014
MAY
28 – 1 June
European Championships, Belgrade
June
11
Announcement of GB Para-Rowing crews for the World Cup, Caversham
20-22
World Cup II, Aiguebelette, France (includes para-rowing)
July
2-6
Henley Royal Regatta – TBC
12-13
World Cup III, Lucerne, Switzerland
18
Announcement of GB Rowing Team crews for the World Championships – venue TBC
23-27
World U23 Championships, Varese, Italy
August
6-10
World Junior Championships, Hamburg, Germany
16-28
World Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China
24 – 31
World Championships, Amsterdam
September
13-14
World University Championships, Gravelines, France (U23s only)
October
19-20
British Championships – GB Rowing Team participation TBC
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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about the GB Rowing Team please contact:
The GB Rowing Team Press office at Matchtight Ltd on (01225) 384211 or [email protected] or [email protected]
For pictures please e-mail [email protected]
GB Rowing Team website, including full rower biogs: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk
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