GB Rowing Team make strong start at World Rowing Cup II

World Rowing Cup II got underway in Varese, Italy with GB putting in some strong performances which saw four crews win their heats and proceed directly to the finals, joining the three who were placed in preliminary rounds

Another 10 crews proceeded to semi-finals, while one other will race in a repechage tomorrow.

The Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) of Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry won their heat ahead of the USA by around five seconds. Lola, who has returned to the crew after some time out said: “That was really satisfying. As a quad, we try to keep ourselves fairly relaxed and straight forward with the task and what we’ve set out to do. I think as a crew we went out and executed what we wanted to do today, and that means we can have a day to reset, train tomorrow and come back on another gear for the final. I’ve had a disappointing start to the season with an injury just before final trials but as a team we are united as a squad and everyone’s been helping everyone build back into their season no matter what they’re doing. For me, I am excited by this project and know it has more to come. We’ll see what comes on Sunday and we’ll keep pushing.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, George Bourne, Matt Haywood and Tom Barras finished fourth at the European Championships in Bled, but came out strong in Varese to win their heat and progress to the final on Sunday. Reflecting on the last few weeks, Tom Barras said: “Coming off the Europeans we sat down and talked about what we wanted to work on and what we wanted to improve. Today was a step in the right direction, we’ve definitely found more of the right pattern and are slightly more consistent than we’ve been before. If we keep building on this result today and get one step better, hopefully at the World Champs we’ll take that final step. I definitely think we’re moving in the right direction, so pleased so far.”

Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson comfortably won their PR2 mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x) heat and progress straight to the final. Speaking after the race Lauren said: “It was good to get back out racing. We want to continue the pace we set in Bled and keep pushing that as much as we can and hopefully we get some nice conditions on Sunday to challenge that.”

“I can’t forget how new this is to me.” Added Gregg, “there are a couple of bits that I need to work on, but that’s what we’re about in this team. We’re about perfection, that’s what we’re searching for every session. We got the job done and we can go quicker so come on, Gregg!”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

Olivia Bates will contest her first senior final in the Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) after a solid heat, which she won by more than 10 seconds. It was great to get out there and do my second international race” she said. “I felt a lot more confident today than I did in Bled. I think every race that I get to do internationally is another piece of experience going forwards and hopefully I can keep improving. Bled was a great experience against some really fast girls and I think it’s helped to elevate my performance coming into this regatta. It’s great to have my parents out here supporting me, this is the first international race they’ve come to so it’s great to know I had them cheering me on at the end.”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson continued their winning streak to book a place in the semi final on Saturday. Freddie said: “I think it was a solid row from us. We’ve gone away after Europeans and tried to work on some things, so today was an opportunity to put them out in a slightly less-pressured environment than a final which was quite nice. I think we executed what we wanted to, with getting the win in the heat. I think we’ve got a lot more to work on going forwards into the semi-final and then into the final, so it’s just about trying to put those improvements in place before tomorrow.”

Also continuing their winning streak were Emily Craig and Imogen Grant in the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x). They led the race throughout and crossed the line first to secure a place in the semi final. Also setting a marker for the rest of the event were Ollie Wynne-Griffith & Tom George who led their Men’s pair (M2-) heat from the start and finished first ahead of Australia. They will race again in the semi finals.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

John Collins and Aiden Thompson, who made his senior debut, finished second in the Men’s Double sculls (M2x) heat also qualifying for the semi final. John was happy to be back on the international circuit, saying: “I’d say this is the first proper race I’ve done since Tokyo. I did some World Cups last year but this is the first one which is a project, so it feels good to be back. It was Aidan’s first senior race – I’m somewhere in my 20’s on senior races, so we’ve got a bit of an imbalance in experience. But it was an encouraging start and I feel excited to see how it progresses. Aidan is stepping up to the occasion really well which is encouraging for me. I’m finding that really relaxing.”

The women’s single sculls (W1x) heat had a thrilling finish with Kyra Edwards coming through the field to take the win in the last few strokes. She said: “It was tough – it’s different from crew boat racing, but I was happy with how it went. I tried to stay in my own boat and stay confident, then in the last 500m I tried to pull something out of the bag so I wouldn’t have to race this afternoon. I’ve always had a thing for sprinting, now I’m in the single I can really show that. Sometimes you can come apart when you do it in a crew boat, so it’s a good skill to have in a single and I’m looking forward to using it some more. Honestly, the main thing driving me was not racing this afternoon. I’ll try and do better tomorrow.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

In the Women’s double sculls (W2x) Lucy Glover & Saskia Budgett raced twice having narrowly missed out on a semi final spot in the heat, they returned and came out on top in a tussle with the Canadians to win the repechage and secure their place in the semi final.

Both Women’s pairs (W2-), Rowan McKellar & Esme Booth (GBR1) and Natasha Morrice & Annie Campbell-Orde (GBR2) finished in second place in their respective heats, to secure semi final places.

Similarly, both Women’s four (W4-) crews also qualified for the semi finals. GBR1 of Heidi Long, Helen Glover, Rebecca Shorten and Sam Redgrave finished their heat in second place and GBR2 of Lauren Irwin, Karen Bennett, Hattie Taylor and Emily Ford qualified in 3rd.
Annie Caddick and Sam Murray will race repechage in PR3 mixed double sculls (PR3 Mix 2x) after a second place finish in their heat.

Continuing their unbeaten run were the PR3 Mix4+ of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller, Morgan Fice-Noyes and cox, Erin Kennedy with a dominating performance in the preliminary race.

Harry Brightmore returned to cox the European Champions men’s eight (M8+) of Will Stewart, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Tom Digby, James Rudkin and Tom Ford to another victory in the preliminary race ahead of the final on Sunday. The women’s eight (W8+) will also race in the final at the weekend.

You can follow the action live across British Rowing social media channels and on BBC iPlayer and website.

GB Rowing Team Results from Day One at World Rowing Cup II 2023

Boat	Time	Position	Race	Next Race
LW1x	07:39.99	1st	Heat	→ A Final
W2- GBR1	07:09.90	2nd	Heat	→ A/B Semi-final
W2- GBR2	07:10.41	2nd	Heat	→ A/B Semi-final
W2x	06:50.02	4th	Heat	→ Repechage
W4- GBR2	06:35.93	3rd	Heat	→ A/B Semi-final
W4- GBR1	06:28.20	2nd	Heat	→ A/B Semi-final
W1x	07:25.53	1st	Heat	→ A Final
LW2x	06:49.68	1st	Heat	→ A Final
W4x	06:12.19	1st	Heat	→ A Final
W2x	06:54.34	1st	Repechage	→ A/B Semi-final
PR2 Mix2x	08:09:88	1st	Heat	→ A Final
PR3 Mix2x	07:35.52	2nd	Heat	→ Repechage
PR3 Mix4+	06:52.32	1st	Preliminary Race	→ A Final
M2-	06:24.20	1st	Heat	→ A/B Semi-Final
M2x	06:17.99	2nd	Heat	→ A/B Semi-Final
M4-	05:53.67	1st	Heat	→ A/B Semi-Final
M4x	05:39.01	1st	Heat	→ A Final
M8+	05:21.25	1st	Preliminary Race	→ A Final