Grainger leads consistent GB Rowing Team at biggest world cup ever
The GB Rowing Team, sponsored by Siemens, emerged from the opening morning in Lucerne of the sport’s biggest world cup ever with 11 heat wins, two finalists, eight semi-finalists and five quarter-finalists from its 18 crews.
With a further three crews still having the chance to progress through repechages, there was little wonder that David Tanner, the sport’s Performance Director said: “We have had a consistent morning of racing at the biggest world cup there has ever been. All the top nations are here”.
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins look one of the strongest crews in the GB line up, having won their heat of the women’s double scull with some style before joining Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon in the women’s quad to fend off world champions, the Ukraine to win and progress direct to Sunday’s final.
They will be joined in Sunday’s finals line-up by this season’s much-improved GB Rowing Team women’s eight who came home a strong second in their heat behind Canada but ahead of the Dutch.
GB’s other heat winners were: the lightweight men’s pair, double scull and four; the open weight men’s pair, four, double and quadruple sculls and the lightweight women’s single and double scull.
The late afternoon programme here features quarter-finals of the lightweight women’s single and men’s four and the open weight men’s and women’s single and double sculls.
Tomorrow there is a full semi-final programme plus repechages of the women’s pair and men’s eight.
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RACE REPORTS
Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge were comfortable men’s pair heat winners in the hot, stillness of the morning on the Rotsee in Lucerne today. Drawn in an outside lane they were behind the American leaders in the first half but then cruised ahead and had the opportunity to throttle right back for the final 200m to win. They now race a semi-final tomorrow afternoon.
By contrast Cameron Nichol and Tom Burton scrapped right to the line with the top French pairing of Adrien Hardy and Laurent Cadot to seize the vital second qualifying slot in their men’s pair heat to reach tomorrow’s final. It was touch and go for Britain’s second-ranked pair until 150m from the line when they came through strongly.
There was no safety net today for the GB Rowing Team’s world champion men’s four. They needed to win their heat to get through to tomorrow’s semi-finals. France and New Zealand were amongst the main threats.
Matthew Langridge, Alex Gregory, Ric Egington and Alex Partridge had got the upper hand by halfway in the race and would not let go. They built a big enough margin out front to control any counter-attacks and won in 6:00.66 ahead of France with New Zealand in third.
The GB Rowing Team men’s eight with Tom Wilkinson back in the bow seat after a time-out with injury, showed good mid-race pace to overhaul China and take second place in their heat behind the strong-looking Canadian eight. Britain will now race a repechage tomorrow.
Tucked on the inside, Matt Wells and Marcus Bateman had taken their men’s double scull heat by the scruff on the neck at the halfway point, leading by over two lengths from Italy and Slovenia. By 1500m they were over six seconds ahead. The buffer allowed them to step off the gas in the final 500m, sculling home fluidly to win in 6:23.52. Their efforts will only be rewarded with a quarter-final place in the late afternoon programme, though, such is the depth of entry in this event at the season’s final world cup.
The British men’s quadruple scull, stroked by Stephen Rowbotham – the Beijing Olympic double scull bronze medallist – put in an excellent first half of their heat today before sitting out front and controlling the race from there. At the finish they were still looking strong and fluent and can go into tomorrow’s semi-final with confidence.
Alan Campbell and Brendan Crean are both through to men’s single scull quarter-finals later today in fourth and second place in their heats respectively. Campbell put in blaze of pace in the final 200m but not enough to get past Malcolm Howard of Canada whilst Crean clung onto a qualifying place in the dying few strokes of his race.
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins looked strong once more in qualifying for tomorrow’s semi-finals of the women’s double scull, having won their heat this morning in 6:50.12 . The duo led from the outset ahead of Kim Crow and Sally Kehoe of
Australia. They have a long weekend of racing ahead if all goes to plan with three races in the women’s double scull and two in the quadruple scull.
Not long later, and in rising temperatures, Grainger and Watkins teamed up with Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon to win their heat of the women’s quadruple scull. The quartet came from behind in the opening 500m to overhaul the Ukraine. The victory will have brought a dual benefit – a place in Sunday’s final and an avoidance of a repechage which would have added another race to Grainger and Watkins’ programme.
The GB Rowing Team’s women’s eight looked in good form today in qualifying for Sunday’s final. They were second behind Canada but created a good margin over the Netherlands in second place. The combination, stroked by Alison Knowles were third at 500m but nudged up into second soon after that before holding their own to cross the line in 6:10.25.
Heather Stanning and Helen Glover found the going tough in this morning’s women’s pair heats. They were fifth in a race won by New Zealand’s stand-out pair of Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown – winners in Munich last month. The British duo started well, holding second position at the 500m timing point. By half-way they were third and then faded back in the final 500m to fifth. With only the winning crew going through to a semi-final, Glover and Stanning now race a repechage tomorrow afternoon for a second chance of progressing.
Debbie Flood, back in the world cup squad after a more solid spell of training, was in contention for a qualifying place of the women’s single scull until the final 800m of her race today. By then it was clear that Frida Svensson of Sweden was going to push passed her to take second place behind Lithuania so the Yorkshirewoman eased off to conserve energy for this evening’s repechages.
Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, Britain’s Olympic lightweight men’s double champions, are back racing this season. All their main competitors are here in Lucerne in what could prove to be a tougher test than Munich last month where they took gold on their
return.
Hunter and Purchase gave Henley Royal Regatta a miss last week in order to get more training time together. Today they won their heat after an early tussle with China who led narrowly throughout the first half to book the one semi-final qualifying slot.
Britain’s lightweight men’s four had to be on song in the final 500m of their heat today to get the better of France to record a victory. Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley came through less than a second ahead in a contested race to the line.
Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking were world championships bronze medallists in 2009. Today they looked comfortable in winning their heat and moving through to tomorrow’s semi-finals. The Dutch and Italians were the main challengers for the one semi-final qualifying place but never looked seriously like affecting the British duo’s progress.
Earlier the programme opened for Great Britain with two heat wins from the non-Olympic lightweight women’s single sculler Andrea Dennis and the lightweight men’s pair of Chris Boddy and Adam Freeman Pask. The former now has a race this evening in the quarter-finals whilst the latter are through to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
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RESULTS
HEATS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Heat 2
1. Juliette Haigh/Rebecca Scown (New Zealand) 7:06.11
2. Zsuzsanna Francia/Meghan Musnicki (USA 2) 7:09.03
3. Sarah Tait/Sarah Cook (Australia 2) 7:09.99
4. Li Meng/Li Tong (China1) 7:11.23
5. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:16.41
6. Sonja Keserac/Maja Anic (Croatia) 7:28.34
Eight
1. Canada 6:07.24
2. Jo Cook/Louisa Reeve/Natasha Page/Vicky Thornley/
Jess Eddie/Lindsey Maguire/Olivia Whitlam/Alison Knowles/
Caroline O’Connor (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:10.25
3. Netherlands 6:14.45
4. Russia 6:19.57
5. Belarus 6:26.38
Single scull
Heat 3
1. Frida Svensson (Sweden) 7:36.63
2. Donata Vistartaite (Lithuania) 7:44.23
3. Debbie Flood (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:59.23
4. Soraya Jadue Arriaza (Chile) 8:01.96
5. Katharina Weingart (Germany 2) 8:09.53
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Anna Watkins/Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:50.12
2. Kim Crow/Sally Kehoe (Australia) 6:52.66
3. Laura Schiavone/Elisabetta Sancassani (Italy) 7:10.45
4. Fie Graugaard-Uby/Tanja Ehlers (Denmark 1) 7:15.06
5. Peggy DeVos/Romina Stefancic (Canada) 7:17.78
6. Yulia Chagina/Julia Kalinovskaya (Russia) 7:25.53
Quadruple scull
Heat 1
1. Annabel Vernon/Beth Rodford/Anna Watkins/Katherine Grainger
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:24.17
2. Ukraine 6:27.89
3. China 2 6:32.05
4. Netherlands 6:35.51
5. Belarus 6:39.02
MEN
Pair
Heat 1
1. Nikolaos & Apostolos Gkountoulas (Greece) 6:27.89
2. Cameron Burton/Tom Nichol (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 6:29.50
3. Adrian Hardy/Laurent Cadot (France 1) 6:33.36
4. Yenser Basilio Pol/Jorber Avila Esquivel (Cuba) 6:47.33
5. Sebastian Lente/Benjamin Rondeau (France 2) 6:48.76
Heat 3
1. Peter Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:31.09
2. Jacob Cornelius/Charles Cole (USA) 6:40.34
3. Shaun Keeling/Ramon di Clemente (South Africa) 6:54.90
4. Bakry El Yehia/Akrm Abdalshafy (Egypt 1) 6:59.28
5. Mahmoud Zahran/Sameh Abd El Baky (Egypt 2) 7:00.99
Four
Heat 1
1. Alex Partridge/Ric Egington/Alex Gregory/Matt Langridge (GREAT
BRITAIN) 6:00.66
2. France 6:05.12
3. New Zealand 1 6:05.73
4. Poland 6:16.55
5. Netherlands 6:23.97
6. China 1 6:30.60
Eight
Heat 2
1. Canada 5;34.37
2. Tom Wilkinson/James Clarke/James Orme/James Foad/
Mohamed Sbihi/Greg Searle/Tom Broadway/Dan Ritchie
Phelan Hill (cox) 5:35.77
3. Poland 5:44.05
4. China 5:46.27
5. Turkey 5:57.31
Single scull
Heat 2
1. Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand) 7:01.47
2. Angel Fournier Rodriguez (Cuba) 7:04.61
3. Fabrizio Guettinger (Switzerland) 7:05.70
4. Brendan Crean (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 7:06.89
5. Alejandro Cuchietti (Argentina) 7:08.84
6. Mathias Raymond (Monaco) 7:28.10
Heat 6
1. Malcolm Howard (Canada) 7:09.76
2. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 7:10.47
3. Jasakko Hasu (Finland 2) 7:19.49
4. Stergios Papachristos (Greece) 7:33.81
5. Bahadir Kaykac (Turkey) 7:40.22
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Matt Wells/Marcus Bateman (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:23.52
2. Luca Agamennnoni/Paolo Perino (Italy 2) 6:29.47
3. Jan & Luka Spik (Slovenia) 6:29.47
4. Mads Rasmussen/Thomas Larsen (Denmark) 6:33.17
5. Santiago Menese Camargo/Jhonatan Equivel (Uruguay) 6:56.37
Quadruple scull
Heat 3
1. Charles Cousins/Sam Townsend/Bill Lucas/Stephen Rowbotham
(GREAT BRITAIN) 5:50.75
2. Poland 5:53.36
3. Italy 5:57.25
4. France 6:01.08
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Heat 6
1. Andrea Dennis (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:53.01
2. Meghan Sarbanis (USA) 7:54.39
3. Marie-Anne Frenken (Netherlands) 7:57.34
4. Weronika Deresz (Poland) 7:58.28
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Hester Goodsell/Sophie Hosking (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:08.40
2. Rianne Sigmond/Maaike Head (Netherlands) 7:11.34
3. Enrica Marasca/Laura Milani (Italy) 7:14.14
4. Claire Lambe/Sarah Dolan (Ireland) 7:21.49
5. Fabiane Albrecht/Deborah Birrer (Switzerland 2) 7:23.84
6. Yaima Velazquez Falcon/Yoslaine Dominguez Cedeno (Cuba) 7:26.44
MEN
Pair
Heat 1
1. Adam Freeman-Pask/Chris Boddy (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:36.53
2. Daniel Wisgott/Robby Gerhardt (Germany) 6:39.61
3. Li Lei/Li Zhongwei (China) 6:43.26
4. Peter Hanily/Anthony English (Ireland) 6:51.30
5. Tang Chiu Mang/Kwan Ki Cheong (Hong Kong) 6:58.93
6. Thomas Hallatu/Darta Mochammad (Indonesia) 7:12.49
Four
Heat 4
1. Richard Chambers/Paul Mattick/Rob Williams/Chris Bartley
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:01.91
2. France 6:02.84
3. China 6:13.69
4. Canada 6:16.43
Double scull
Heat 4
1. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:35.16
2. Zhang Fangbing/Wang Tiexin (China 1) 6:38.18
3. Pedro Fraga/Nuno Mendes (Portugal) 6:50.71
4. Yunior Perez Aguilera/Liosmei Jaen Ramos (Cuba) 6:55.60
5. Rodolfo Collazo Tourn/Emiliano Dumestre (Uruguay) 7:04.76
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GB ROWING TEAM ENTRIES
2010 Rowing World Cup, Lucerne, Switzerland (9-11 July)
(listed bow to stroke plus cox)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Helen Glover (Reading Uni BC/Penzance/17.06.86)/
Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)
Eight
Jo Cook (Leander Club/Sunbury-on-Thames/22.03.84)/
Louisa Reeve (LeanderClub/London/16.05.84)/
Natasha Page (Reading Uni BC/Hartpury/30.04.85)/
Victoria Thornley (Minerva Bath/Wrexham/30.11.87)/
Jessica Eddie (Uni of London BC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford RC/Edinburgh/15.01.82)/
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft RC/Warrington/16.09.85)/
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.03.82)/
Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Ealing/25.04.83) (cox)
Single scull
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Guiseley/27.02.80)/
Double scull
Anna Watkins (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)/
Quadruple scull
Annabel Vernon (Marlow RC/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.12.82)/
Anna Watkins (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)/
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
OPEN
MEN
Pair – two boats
Peter Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/03.03.79)
Cameron Nichol (Molesey/Glastonbury/26.6.87)/
Tom Burton (Leander Club/Barton-le-Clay, Beds/24.05.80)
Four
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Richard Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)/
Eight
Tom Wilkinson (Leander Club/Reading/04.07.85)/
James Clarke (London RC/London/31.12.84)/
James Orme (Leander Club/Colchester/01.04.84)/
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Greg Searle (Molesey BC/Marlow/20.03.72)/
Tom Broadway (Leander Club/Newport Pagnell/21.08.82)
Daniel Ritchie (Herne Bay RC/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Single scull – two boats
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Brendan Crean (Agecroft/Lewes/07.02.85)
Double scull
Matthew Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)/
Quadruple scull
Charles Cousins (Reading Uni BC/Cambridge/13.12.88)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Uni BC/Reading/26.11.85)/
Bill Lucas (Reading Uni BC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)/
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Andrea Dennis (Reading Uni BC/Oxford/03.01.82)
Double scull
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni BC/London/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair
Chris Boddy (Leander Club/Stockton-on-Tees/16.11.87)/
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)
Four
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85)/
Paul Mattick (Leander Club/Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)/
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)
Double scull
Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury/02.05.86)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/01.07.78)
