World Rowing Cup III day one: Four boats qualify directly for Sunday’s finals

The men’s quadruple scull and lightweight women’s double scull book their places in Sunday’s finals, winning their heats on day one of World Rowing Cup III

Great Britain’s rowers made a solid start to their World Rowing Cup III campaign, qualifying four boats for Sunday’s medal finals and securing a swathe of semi-final places on Saturday.

The men’s quadruple scull (M4x) continued their fine form, having won gold in Poznan three weeks ago. Jack Beaumont, Jonny Walton, John Collins and Peter Lambert picked up where they left off in Poland by winning their heat and progressing to Sunday’s final.

Kat Copeland and Emily Craig secured their place in Sunday’s final of the lightweight women’s double scull, leading from the start and holding off the Russian boat to take the win on Lucerne’s Rotsee.

Holly Norton and Karen Bennett did what was required of them, managing the end of their race well to guarantee second place behind the Danish boat and qualify for Sunday’s final. The pair have made their return to international action in Lucerne, with Norton having missed the second World Cup with injury – Bennett picked up a silver in the eight in her absence.

And the men’s eight also qualified directly from their heat, holding off a strong Italian challenge to finish second behind Germany to guarantee a Saturday off ahead of Sunday’s final. The race saw the first international action of the season for Tom George and world champion Ollie Cook.

The men’s four of Will Satch, Matthew Tarrant, Moe Sbihi and Matt Rossiter, won their heat in style, leading from start to finish. They eased to the line after securing their lead in the first three quarters, finishing with the second fastest time of the three heats and will return for Saturday’s semi-final.

Sam Mottram and Jamie Copus secured their place in the lightweight men’s double semi-final, finishing just behind the strong French Olympic gold medal boat in second place to progress in an impressive performance.

Vicky Thornley cruised through to the semi-finals of the women’s single scull, winning her heat and then finishing second to home favourite and World Cup I winner Jeannine Gmelin (Switzerland) in the quarter-final. Tom Barras, who won his heat in the men’s single, will contest the C final having finished fourth in the quarter-final.

Peter Chambers took the win in his lightweight men’s single heat and second place in the afternoon’s quarter-final to secure his place in Saturday’s semi-final. The Northern Irish rower allowed himself to ease down in the final 200m to reserve energy for the rest of the weekend, rolling in behind Slovakia’s Lukas Babac.

GB’s second men’s four, comprising of Tom Jeffery and Ivy League graduates Ross Jarvis, James Johnston and Oliver Wynne-Griffith, kept things exciting for the strong British contingent in the grandstand. Having come within inches of securing a semi-final place in the morning’s heat they were then involved in a great tussle with the Netherlands to progress from the repechage. They came from behind in the final metres to take third place.

Tom Ford and Tim Clarke, both formerly of the eight, also kept their hopes of reaching the medal final alive with second place in the men’s pair repechage. The duo rowed to third in the morning’s heat – the first Brits down the course – and progressed to the semi-final.

There were encouraging signs for the lightweight men’s pair and lightweight women’s quad, who won their respective exhibition races in style. They will return to action on Saturday, when the medals will be decided.

The women’s quad, returning to action after missing the Poznan regatta finished third in their heat behind the Netherlands and Poland. They race the repechage on Saturday afternoon.

As will the new-look women’s four, containing Melissa Wilson, Holly Hill, Rowan McKellar and Harriet Taylor, who also finished third in their first race together.

Georgia Francis and Emily Carmichael will contest the C final of the women’s double scull having finished third in their repechage, as will the second British lightweight men’s double of Ed Fisher and Zak Lee-Green. Nick Middleton and Frazier Christie will race Saturday’s D final of the men’s double scull.

Results
Morning heats

Men’s pair (Two progress to semi-final, rest to repechage)
1. Valent Sinkovic & Martin Sinkovic (CRO) 6:26.81
2. Matteo Lodo & Guiseppe Vicino (ITA) 6:31.13
3. Tim Clarke & Tom Ford (GBR) 6:43.15

Women’s double scull (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Olympia Aldersey & Madeleine Edmunds (AUS) 6:54.65
2. Marie Le Nepvou & Noemie Kober (FRA) 6:55.15
3. Ieva Adomaviciute & Milda Valciukaite (LTU) 6:56.60
–
4. Georgia Francis & Emily Carmichael (GBR) 7:07.18

Men’s double scull (One progresses to semi-final)
1. John Storey & Christopher Harris (NZL) 6:13.84
2. Matthew Buie & Conlin McCabe (CAN) 6:18.74
3. Rodrigo Murillo & Cristian Rosso (ARG) 6:23.94
–
6. Nick Middleton & Frazier Christie (GBR) 6:35.63

Lightweight men’s single scull (Three progress to quarter-final)
1. Peter Chambers (GBR) 7:17.89
2. Peter Galambos (HUN) 7:18.34
3. Mattias Johansson (SWE) 7:22.46

Women’s pair (Two progress to final)
1. Hedvig Rasmussen & Christina Johansen (DEN) 7:12.39
2. Karen Bennett & Holly Norton (GBR) 7.16.32
3. Caragh McMurtry & Sam Courty (GBR) 7.32.40

Men’s four (Two progress to semi-final)
Heat two
1. Great Britain 1 (Matt Rossiter, Moe Sbihi, Matthew Tarrant, Will Satch) 5:56.06
2. Netherlands 1 5:58.07
3. Denmark 6:02.18

Heat three
1. Italy 5:55.93
2. France 5:57.00
3. Great Britain 2 (Ross Jarvis, Tom Jeffery, James Johnston, Oliver Wynne-Griffith) 05:58.32

Women’s single scull (Three progress to quarter-final)
1. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 7:45.65
2. Sanita Puspure (IRL) 7:47.84
3. Eeva Karppinen (FIN) 7:58.04

Men’s single scull (Four progress to quarter-final)
1. Tom Barras (GBR) 7:03.45
2. Juan Carlos Cabrera (MEX) 7:05.62
3. Robert Ven (FIN) 7:10.79

Lightweight men’s double scull (Two progress to semi-final)
Heat one
1. Pierre Houin & Jeremie Azou (FRA) 6:27.36
2. Sam Mottram & Jamie Copus (GBR) 6:30.70
3. Mathias Larsen & Emil Espensen (DEN) 6:33.58

Heat three
1. Pietro Ruta & Stefano Oppo (ITA) 6:29.15
2. Nils Van Zandweghe & Tim Brys (BEL) 6:32.44
3. Milosz Jankowski & Jerzy Kowalski (POL) 6:38.19
–
4. Ed Fisher & Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 6:43.48

Women’s four (One progresses to final)
1. Australia 6:35.14
2. Canada 6:36.99
3. Great Britain (Harriet Taylor, Holly Hill, Melissa Wilson, Rowan McKellar) 6:48.73

Lightweight women’s double scull (Two progress to final)
1. Katherine Copeland & Emily Craig (GBR) 7:11.26
2. Anastasia Levbedeva & Anastasia Ianina (RUS) 7:12.18
3. Frederique Rol & Pauline Delacroix (SUI) 7:15.12

Women’s quadruple scull (One progresses to final)
1. Netherlands 6:25.42
2. Poland 6:27.27
3. Great Britain (Beth Bryan, Alice Baatz, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, Holly Nixon) 6:32.12

Men’s quadruple scull (One progresses to final)
1. Great Britain (Jack Beaumont, Jonny Walton, John Collins, Peter Lambert) 5:50.58
2. Poland 5:52.80
3. Netherlands 5:53.35

Men’s eight (Two progress to final)
1. Germany 5:35.04
2. Great Britain (Oliver Cook, Tom George, Cameron Buchan, Callum McBrierty, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill, James Rudkin, Lance Tredell, Henry Fieldman (Cox)) 5:36.13
3. Italy 5:38.03

Afternoon races

Lightweight men’s single quarter-final (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Lukas Babac (SVK) 7:26.47
2. Peter Chambers (GBR) 7:29.45
3. Matthew O’Leary (USA) 7:30.18

Lightweight men’s pair exhibition race
1. Joel Cassells & Sam Scrimgeour (GBR) 6:57.32
2. Mark O’Donovan & Shane O’Driscoll (IRE) 6:59.26
3. Willian Giaretton & Xavier Vela Maggi (BRA) 6:59.29

Lightweight women’s quadruple scull exhibition race
1. Great Britain (Robyn Hart-Winks, Gemma Hall, Maddie Arlett, Eleanor Piggott) 6:55.67
2. Japan 7:11.17

Men’s pair repechage (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Thomas Baroukh (FRA) 6:56.14
2. Tim Clarke & Tom Ford (GBR) 6:59.17
3. Alexander Sigurbjonsson & Pau Vela Maggi (ESP) 7:02.49

Women’s double scull repechage (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Lenka Antosova & Kristyna Fleissnerova (CZE) 7:29.61
2. Stefania Gobbi & Kiri Tontodonati (ITA) 7:30.16
3. Thea Helseth & Marianne Madsen (NOR) 7:31.95
–
4. Georgia Francis & Emily Carmichael (GBR) 7:35.57

Men’s double scull repechage (Two progress to semi-final)
1. Matthew Buie & Conlin McCabe (CAN) 6:39.01
2. Luke Letcher & David Watts (AUS) 6:41.20
3. Aleksei Cheperev & Viacheslav Mikhaylevskiy (RUS) 6:45.39
–
5. Nick Middleton & Frazier Christie (GBR) 6:54.97

Men’s four repechage (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Russia 6:10.13
2. Germany 6:10.60
3. Great Britain (Ross Jarvis, Tom Jeffery, James Johnston, Oliver Wynne-Griffith) 6:10.66

Women’s single scull quarter-final (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Jeannine Gmelin (SUI) 7:54.44
2. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 8:00.59
3. Diana Dymchenko (UKR) 8:03.69

Men’s single scull quarter-final (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Mindaugas Griskonis (LTU) 7:17.27
2. Damir Martin (CRO) 7:17.32
3. Vladislav Ryabcev (RUS) 7:19.21
–
4. Tom Barras (GBR) 7:20.80

Lightweight men’s double repechage (Three progress to semi-final)
1. Gary O’Donovan & Paul O’Donovan (IRE) 6:44.33
2. Emil Espensen & Mathias Larsen (DEN) 6:45.71
3. Anton Kuranov & Nazar Lifshitc (RUS) 6:45.91
–
5. Ed Fisher & Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 6:49.41