GB Rowing Team successfully weather the storm on first day of World Rowing Cup III

Two boats progress through to A finals and eleven to semi-finals on first day of World Rowing Cup III

It was a day that tested the GB Rowing Team’s resilience under pressure: after stormy conditions delayed racing by more than five hours, the first day of World Cup III in Rotterdam was contested using a time trial format with crews racing one by one against the clock.

The unpredictable weather seemed to give the GB team something of a home advantage, however, with two boats qualifying directly for Sunday’s A finals and eleven progressing through to tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Director of Performance Brendan Purcell praised the athletes, coaches and staff, saying: “As a squad, we pride ourselves on being able to adapt to different scenarios and conditions.

“Today was challenging, losing the morning session and moving to a time trial format but all our crews equipped themselves really well in order to deal with the changes.

“We had some outstanding performances and it’s fantastic to see crews already progressing through to the A finals on Sunday.”

In the final race of the day, the men’s eight stamped their authority on the competition by taking the sole automatic qualification spot for Sunday’s final as the fastest boat from the heats. The European Championships and World Cup II silver medal-winning crew, of Tom George, James Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Mohamed Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Tom Ford and cox Henry Fieldman, took the win ahead of the New Zealand crew who had beaten them by a length in the final of the Grand Challenge cup at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend.

Cox Henry Fieldman remarked on the different format: “While we don’t often do time trials in competition, we do them in training all the time so it was familiar to us. We had a new line-up so today’s race gives us confidence in that.

“At the same time, it’s hard to read too much into the results given the conditions, so we’ll be going into the final with clear heads and paying respect to the opposition.”

The GBR1 men’s four of Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie, who won gold at this year’s European Championships, put in a dominant performance to win their heat and take the sole automatic qualification spot for Sunday’s final. The crew won the Stewards’ Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend after facing their teammates in the GBR2 boat in the final.

Speaking afterwards, Carnegie said: “I thought that went really well. It’s been a bit of a day of turmoil, from the thunderstorm in the morning to the crosswinds in the afternoon – we’ve had to deal with whatever’s been thrown at us and keep a calm head.

“We executed what we did in training and established our rhythm down the track and I was really pleased with the result.”

Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Vicky Thornley was back to winning ways as she led her heat to qualify comfortably for tomorrow’s semi-final.

The single sculler, who is continuing her return to form after missing last season due to overtraining, said: “I was happy with the result today and pleased with what I delivered in the middle part of the race. I’ve definitely stepped up since the last regatta so now I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do in the semi-final.”

There was disappointment for quadruple scullers Jonny Walton, Angus Groom, Jack Beaumont and Pete Lambert as their initial first place result was later revised down to third due to a timing error that occurred during the time trial process. The crew will now race again in tomorrow’s repechage.

After the race, Beaumont said: “We feel like we made a step on technically from Poznan a few weeks ago; we had a few technical things we wanted to work on and we used Henley last weekend as an opportunity to practice in a race situation. I’m pleased we implemented it well today.”

The GB Rowing Team will be back in action tomorrow from 9am GMT. Racing will be broadcast live on www.worldrowing.com from 9:30-12:15 and 13:45-16:00 GMT.

Results

Women’s pair (Heat 1)

1. Cristina-Georgiana Popescu and Amalia Beres (ROU 1) 7:34.22

2. Polly Swann and Holly Hill (GBR 2) 7:35.91

3. Aina Cid and Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP) 7:37.09

Women’s pair (Heat 3)

1. Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre (AUS 1) 7:28.48

2. Trine Dahl Pedersen and Nina Hollensen (DEN) 7:47.46

3. Julia Pogonia and Alevtina Iaganova (RUS) 7:49.50

4. Sam Courty and Annie Withers (GBR 1) 7:49.54

Men’s pair (Heat 2)

1. Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic (CRO) 6:46.40

2. Morgan Bolding and Tom Jeffery (GBR 2) 6:51.21

3. Harry Glenister and George Rossiter (GBR 1) 6:54.44

Men’s double sculls (Heat 3)

1. John Collins and Graeme Thomas (GBR) 6:30.31

2. Hamish Playfair and Campbell Watts (AUS 1) 6:31.08

3. Nik Krebs and Miha Aljancic (SLO) 6:43.84

Lightweight women’s single scull (Heat 2)

1. Ellen Gleadow (CAN) 08:19.38

2. Imogen Grant (GBR) 08:20.36

3. Milka Kraljev (ARG) 08:23.08

Lightweight men’s single scull (Heat 3)

1. Rajko Hrvat (SLO) 07:26.26

2. Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 07:27.99

3. Kakeru Sato (JPN 2) 07:36.23

Women’s four (Heat 2)

1. Australia 1 6:54.08

2. Netherlands 1 6:59.01

3. New Zealand 7:05.70

4. Great Britain (Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Emily Ford and Beccy Girling) 7:07.92

Men’s four (Heat 1)

1. Great Britain 1 (Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie) 06:16.01

2. Poland 06:19.12

3. Denmark 06:22.89

4. Great Britain 2 (James Johnston, Adam Neill, Will Satch and Alan Sinclair) 06:22.90

Women’s single scull (Heat 4)

1. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 08:06.17

2. Lisa Scheenaard (NED 1) 08:09.43

3. Pia Greiten (GER 2) 08:18.43

Men’s single scull (Heat 1)

1. David Bartholot (AUS) 07:22.47

2. Robert Ven (FIN 1) 07:22.69

3. Tom Barras (GBR 1) 07:25.93

Men’s single scull (Heat 2)

1. Kjetil Borch (NOR) 07:07.54

2. Harry Leask (GBR 2) 07:21.37

3. Anders Backeus (SWE 1) 07:25.67

Lightweight women’s double sculls (Heat 1)

1. Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol (SUI) 7:34.01

2. Leonie Pieper and Leonie Pless (GER 1) 7:42.33

3. Ellie Piggott and Emily Craig (GBR) 7:42.68

Lightweight men’s double sculls (Heat 1)

1. Jonathan Rommelmann and Jason Osborne (GER 1) 06:47.10

2. Jamie Copus and Sam Mottram (GBR) 06:52.33

3. Marek Reznak and Peter Zelinka (SVK) 06:54.78

Women’s double sculls (Heat 1)

1. Nicoleta-Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radis (ROU) 07:25.18

2. Amanda Bateman and Genevieve Horton (AUS) 07:28.42

3. Gabrielle Smith and Andrea Proske (CAN) 07:32.54

4. Kyra Edwards and Ruth Siddorn (GBR 1) 07:44.02

Women’s quadruple sculls (Heat 1)

1. Germany 06:48.33

2. Netherlands 1 06:59.43

3. Great Britain (Jess Leyden, Melissa Wilson, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne) 07:01.43

Men’s quadruple sculls (Heat 2)

1. Germany 06:05.05

2. Australia 06:08.75

3. Great Britain (Jonny Walton, Angus Groom, Jack Beaumont and Pete Lambert) 06:12.90

Women’s eight (Heat 1)

1. Australia 6:35.54

2. Russia 6:42.75

3. Great Britain 2 (Natasha Harris-White, Susie Dear, Heidi Long, Oonagh Cousins, Fiona Bell, Alice Davies, Rebecca Edwards, Nicole Lamb and Morgan Baynham-Williams) 6:44.50

Women’s eight (Heat 2)

1. New Zealand 6:29.30

2. Canada 6:37.00

3. Great Britain 1 (Fiona Gammond, Zoë Lee, Jo Wratten, Hattie Taylor, Rowan McKellar, Rebecca Shorten, Karen Bennett, Holly Norton and Matilda Horn) 6:39.41

Men’s eight (Heat 2)

1. Great Britain (Tom Ford, James Rudkin, Tom George, Mohamed Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Josh Bugajski and Henry Fieldman) 5:44.45

2. New Zealand 5:46.62

3. Romania 5:54.18