Great Britain’s rowers start Glasgow 2018 European Championships with three heats wins

GB crews qualify for men’s four and men’s quadruple sculls finals, with three boats winning their heats on day one of the Glasgow 2018 European Championships

Great Britain’s rowers qualified two boats to the weekend’s finals and three more to semi-finals in an action-packed first day of racing at the European Championships in Glasgow.

A dominant row by GB’s men’s four of Tom Ford, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill and James Johnston saw them cross the line in first place ahead of Romania, taking the only qualification spot straight through to Saturday’s A final.

The men’s quadruple scull, featuring John Collins, Jonathan Walton, Graeme Thomas and Tom Barras, came in second place behind the Dutch crew. Like the four, the quad will return on Saturday for the medal race.

Sam Mottram took a commanding win in the lightweight men’s single sculls, cruising over the line two lengths up over the Swiss sculler Michael Schmid and Greek sculler, Spyridon Giannaros in third, with all three going through to the semi-final.

Jack Beaumont and Harry Leask will also race in Saturday’s semi-finals, winning their heat of the men’s double sculls. And Matt Rossiter and Ollie Cook progressed in the men’s pair having finished second in their heat to go through to the semi-finals.

The women’s four of Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurty, Emily Ashford and Jo Wratten came agonisingly close to an automatic qualification spot in the final but after a photo finish, verified by the officials, the Polish crew took second place by 0.01 seconds.

In the lightweight men’s double sculls, Zak Lee-Green and Jamie Copus put in a major surge in the third 500m but couldn’t overhaul the Italians and Polish, who take the automatic qualification spots. Lee-Green and Copus will race in Friday’s repechage.

Rowan McKellar and Harriet Taylor came in third in the women’s pair, behind the Romanian and Dutch crews, who take the two automatic qualification spots for the A final. They will race again in tomorrow’s repechage.

Women’s quad of Zoe Lee, Melissa Wilson, Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Alice Baatz battled a strong field to cross the line in third, behind Poland and the Netherlands. With only the winners going straight through to the final, GB’s women’s quad will race in Friday’s repechage.

Ellie Piggott and Francesca Rawlins in the lightweight women’s double sculls came in third and going through to the repechage on Friday. And the men’s eight, stroked in Glasgow by Ollie Wynne-Griffith, finished behind the Netherlands in their heat, meaning they’ll return on Friday for the repechage.

British Rowing Director of Performance Brendan Purcell said: “It was a solid first day of racing for us, with some very good performances seeing us progress well in five events. For those racing the repechages on Friday it will be another opportunity to fine tune their execution and hopefully progress to challenge for the major finals this weekend.”

Results

Women’s

Women’s pair heat

1. Madalina Beres & Denisa Tilvescu (ROU) 7:18.06
2. Elsbeth Beeres & Laila Youssifou (NED) 7:20.52
3. Rowan McKellar & Harriet Taylor (GBR) 7:24.06

Women’s four heat

1. Russia 6:46.30
2. Poland 6:47.13
3. Great Britain (Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Emily Ashford, Jo Wratten) 6:47.14

Women’s quadruple scull heat

1. Poland 6:27.12
2. Netherlands 6:30.80
3. Great Britain (Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Zoe Lee, Alice Baatz, Melissa Wilson) 6:36.34

Lightweight women’s double scull heat

1. Marieke Keijser & Ilse Paulis (NED) 6:59.04
2. Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc (ROU) 7:00.05
3. Ellie Piggott & Fran Rawlins (GBR) 7:10.68

Men’s

Men’s pair heat

1. Dzimitry Furman & Siarhei Valadzko (BLR) 6:37.38
2. Matt Rossiter & Oliver Cook (GBR) 6:37.76
3. Vicent Klaassens & Sander de Graaf (NED) 6:43.11

Men’s four heat

1. Great Britain (Tom Ford, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill, James Johnston) 5:59.36
2. Romania 6:02.09
3. Italy 6:06.73

Men’s eight heat

1. Netherlands 5:36.35
2. Great Britain (Tom George, Tom Jeffery, Will Satch, Tom Ransley, Moe Sbihi, Alan Sinclair, Matthew Tarrant, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Henry Fieldman) 5:38.63
3. Russia 5:41.71

Men’s double scull heat

1. Harry Leask & Jack Beaumont (GBR) 6:17.34
2. Ioan Prundeanu & Marian-Florian Enache (ROU) 6:19.24
3. Amos Keijser & Nicolas Van Sprang (NED) 6:25.22

Men’s quadruple scull heat

1. Netherlands 5:47.78
2. Great Britain (John Collins, Jonny Walton, Graeme Thomas, Tom Barras) 5:49.46
3. Russia 5:52.58

Lightweight men’s single scull heat

1. Sam Mottram (GBR) 7:06.96
2. Michael Schmid (SUI) 7:12.36
3. Spyridon Giannaros (GRE) 7:14.39

Lightweight men’s double scull heat

1. Stefano Oppo & Pietro Ruta (ITA) 6:24.42
2. Jerzy Kowalski & Milosz Jankowski (POL) 6:25.13
3. Jamie Copus & Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 6:26.36