First lightweight women’s double scull gold medal
Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell made history in Munich today by winning Britain’s first lightweight women’s double scull world cup gold on a day marked by an otherwise unremarkable performance by the GB Rowing team.
Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge were beaten to the gold by an outstanding New Zealand crew in the men’s pair and some medal potential boats like the lightweight men’s double and the men’s open double and quadruple scull fell a little short of the podium although the latter raced with a substitute on board because of illness.
There were positive signs elsewhere from a team that won a gold, three silvers and four bronzes in total as well as three adaptive golds and a silver.
The newly-formed women’s quad took silver behind Germany and the lightweight men’s four pressed hard for a medal as world cup novices this year. Alan Campbell, although beaten by the world champion, took his single scull silver ahead of the double Olympic champion, Olaf Tufte.
“I’m not going to say we were at our best today and some of our leading boats did not quite deliver”, said GB Rowing Performance Director David Tanner today. “But we have some really good green shoots within the team who have the ability to step up in a season of change and growth”.
Great Britain still lead the world cup overall points standings after two events. The world cup finals are in Lucerne from July 10-12 and some GB crews will race at Henley from 1-5 July.
RACE REPORTS
Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking arrived in today’s lightweight women’s double scull final on the back of an eloquent semi-final win. They produced more of the same in today’s final to take victory in 7:18.47 ahead of Germany who took the title three weeks ago in Banyoles.
250m into this race, Great Britain and Poland’s first-ranked crew of two in the race were vying for the early lead with Germany close behind. By 500m Britain moved their bowball in front and by 750m they had a canvas over Germany in second. Great Britain’s second-ranked boat of Andrea Dennis and Laura Greenhalgh were in fifth at this point but slipped to sixth by the end.
With 500m to go Hosking and Goodsell had established a lead of 0.82 seconds and dug deep. In the final 200m they were continuing to pull ahead of the field. Germany took second and Poland third.
A clearly delighted Goodsell said afterwards: “We both have similar mindsets of what makes the boat move fast”.
Hosking added: “We talked about making history last night but then decided to put those thoughts away and concentrate on the process”.
Talking of history being ignored, Alan Campbell is determined to put the pain of an Olympic year disrupted by knee surgery behind him. He won three weeks ago in Banyoles to start writing a new chapter and showed that he is continuing to move up a level in his final today.
Campbell was the early race leader, as is his habit, but his friend and great rival Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, the reigning world champion, was powerful through the third 500m to surge into a lead which he defended to the line. Behind Drysdale and Campbell, Olympic gold medallist Olaf Tufte of Norway and Ondrej Synek battled it out for bronze with Tufte prevailing.
“I have definitely moved on this year but Mahe just had too much in the middle of the race today. Henley next. That’s my territory and he’ll have to work hard there to beat me”, said Campbell.
Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge were defeated but not totally downcast after the men’s pair final in which they took silver today. Both are still learning the craft of rowing in a pair after four seasons of virtually uninterrupted fours rowing.
New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond raced out into a lead by 500m over a Dutch duo in second and GB in third. A push from Reed and Hodge moved them up to second by halfway. Then the chase was on. As the crews rowed past the long grandstand which was built for the 1972 Olympic Games, you could feel the raw power engage in the British boat. Ultimately it was enough to pull them back within a length of New Zealand but no more. So silver to Reed and Hodge in 6:38.18 to NZ’s 6:35.47.
“All credit to the Kiwis”, said Reed afterwards. “We had hoped to battle them side-by-side but we were outclassed today. It shows sport is not a fairytale. But we’re not going to give up hope. We have taken world cup silver before and gone on to win the Olympics”.
“We will listen to Jurgen [Grobler] our coach and we will continue to work hard”, said Hodge of the next few weeks which will include Henley Royal Regatta and the world cup finals in Lucerne.
An uplifting performance for the GB team today came in the shape of a women’s quadruple scull who took silver behind Germany. The new-look crew have only raced together twice – both here. Today Beth Rodford, Sarah Cowburn, Ro Bradbury and stroke Katie Greves put in a good start and first 500m and still looked strong at the finish in an event which until 2005 was dominated by the Germans.
Both Cowburn and Bradbury are world cup debutantes and each was pleased with the crew’s increasing cohesion and strength.
“We certainly felt more cohesive as a unit today”, said Cowburn who, with Bradbury, was making her world cup debut. “We got a good start and we held onto it”.
Bradbury said: “It felt really good. We took it to them in the first half and were still strong in the final 500m”.
“We knew what we had to do. We knew we need a good first 500m if we were to have any chance at all”, said Rodford who after an Olympiad in the senior squad is now one of the more established team members.
Greves, meanwhile, preferred to look to the future: “We need to carry on making steps as the Germans are a way ahead of us. The gap won’t be like that in two months’ time”.
At the last world cup Greves and Rodford teamed up with Beijing medallists Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington to take gold. This time Vernon and Bebington concentrated solely on the double scull rather than doubling up.
Today they faced the crew which beat Bebington to Olympic silver in Beijing – the German duo of Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth. For much of the race it looked as if the Germans were likely to please the vocal, local crowd with a victory. Poland, though, decided to pop and spoil the party. With a surge in the final 500m they took the gold in 7:00.80 whilst the British duo held off the potential threat from Bulgaria to take bronze.
“It’s races like that which you learn the most from”, said Vernon. “We weren’t complacent, we weren’t thinking that we could come back in the second half. We were calling pushes and making no impact”, said Bebington. “Now we know what we have to do before the worlds”.
Alex Partridge, Ric Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge are GB’s line-up in the men’s four this season. Three of the four have Olympic silver medals from the eight. Today they all took world cup bronze behind two German crews who were battling neck and neck throughout the course. For some time it seemed as if GB might split the two home crews and take silver. Ultimately they could not counter the Germans’ fast finish during which the second-ranked home boat beat the first to gold. Britain meanwhile moved up from sixth at 500m to take third place at the half-way point and were finishing strongly.
Stroke Matt Langridge said: “It was very disappointing we didn’t get a great start or get into a good rhythm. So we were always chasing the race. We got it together in the second thousand metres but it wasn’t enough”.
Alex Gregory: “This was the first time when we’ve had to race full out to the line. So that was a positive thing. We had a good second half today and I still think we are in a good position for the rest of the season. We have learnt a lot from this”, added Alex Gregory.
Ric Egington said: “We’ve got a lot of work to do but at least we’ve identified what we need to improve. That’s a very positive thing to take out of this race”.
Britain’s only other medal of the day came from the men’s eight. Once again this is a new combination in 2009 and included Dan Ritchie for the first time as he has returned from injury.
Today’s final was a race in which Poland led out, chased by Germany with Great Britain in third. China made a concerted effort in the final 500m to make the podium but Great Britain kept them at bay. More dramatically Germany stormed through the final 250m to take gold at breakneck speed from Poland.
“It’s pretty disappointing” said stroke James Clarke after the race. “We thought we had the ability to win the race and we went out hard but the Poles and Germans went out harder”.
The GB women’s eight were not best pleased with their fifth place here this afternoon in a race won by Germany in 6:27.73. China’s second-ranked eight took the silver and Romania won bronze. Cox Caroline O’Connor pointed to the crew’s good start and first 500m here – part of their pre-race intentions but said “we just haven’t put a good race together yet”.
Five British crews took fourth places in today’s finals. For the lightweight men’s four this was a promising performance. Chris Boddy, Chris Bartley, Stephen Feeney and Bob Hewitt are all new to racing at this level. Today they began solidly and were in third by the 500m mark. At the head of the race Denmark led for the opening half before being overtaken by Germany from which the Danes recovered with a fine sprint to take gold in 6:14.40. In that final 500m Great Britain looked momentarily like taking bronze but China were just strong enough to deny them.
The lightweight men’s double were also in the thick of the fight until the final 200m of their final which was won by New Zealand’s Storm Uru and Peter Taylor. Italy were second and Denmark third.
Poland, ultimately sixth, were quick off the start but by 500m the New Zealanders had built a three second cushion ahead of silver medal winners Italy. Williams and Mattick, second at 500m, had fallen back to fourth by 1000m in a tightly bunched race. By 1500m they had moved up to third but it became clear that no-one was going to catch New Zealand.
The GB men’s quadruple scull caused a stir by winning their heat in style on the opening day in Munich to qualify directly for the final. Then fickle fortune played its part when Bill Lucas suffered illness and Stephen Rowbotham was put in as substitute less than two hours after racing in the double scull with Matt Wells.
For Rowbotham the afternoon gave him two fourth places. He will not have been best pleased with that result in the double scull after winning in Banyoles three weeks ago but in his second outing he helped an emerging crew to continue to make their mark on the world cup scene. Experts are convinced that there is more to come from Sam Townsend, Marcus Bateman and Charles Cousins who raced today as well as from Lucas.
Meanwhile an ecstatic Croatia roared past Poland at the end of today’s final to take gold with Slovenia in bronze just over a second off podium pace.
Wells and Rowbotham had earlier battled back from 5th at 500m into medal contention in the final throes of their double scull final today. Once more the duo left themselves plenty to achieve in the second half of their race, this time – unlike in Banyoles – their sprint finish was not enough to get them into the medals. Germany took gold and New Zealand silver.
Finally, it has been a long time since Katherine Grainger experienced a world cup without featuring on the medal rostrum. Today she was fourth in a final won by Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. New Zealand’s Emma Twigg was second and Russia third.
At 500m and the halfway point, Grainger was fifth but she found an extra gear to get past Czech sculler Jitka Antosova but could not make up ground on the leaders.
“I said I wanted to try the single to learn new things. It’s been a hard lesson today and a tough race after the semi”, said Grainger.
GB Rowing’s women’s pair of Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve have been busy during this world cup season. They have raced their own event and doubled up into the eight. Today in the pairs final they were led to the 500m mark by New Zealand’s Emma Jane Feathery and Rebecca Scown with China pressing hard on the outside.
At the half-way point and at 1500m, the Chinese were still second with GB in third behind New Zealand who had a lead of over a length on the field. GB’s second-ranked boat of Alice Freeman and Lindsey Maguire were sixth but still in contention at this point. China and New Zealand produced a thrilling finish with New Zealand holding on by a narrow margin to win. The lead GB duo were overhauled in the final sprint to the line by both German crews to finish fifth with Maguire and Freeman in sixth.
“It was a better row than the Banyoles world cup three weeks ago but not as good as we can be”, said Whitlam afterwards.
RESULTS
(Races featuring GB crews only. Full results at www.worldrowing.com)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Emma-Jane Feathery/Rebecca Scown (New Zealand) 7:24.58
2. Li Tong/Li Meng (China) 7;24.67
3. Kerstin Hartmann/Marlene Sinnig (Germany 1) 7:27.74
4. Katrin Reinert/Nina Wengert (Germany 2) 7:30.72
5. Olivia Whitlam/Louisa Reeve (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:31.23
6. Alice Freeman/Lindsey Maguire (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:35.67
Eight
1. Germany 6:27.73
2. China 2 6:28.27
3. Romania 6:29.65
4. China 1 6:34.90
5. Jo Cook/Jenni Farmer/Kristina Stiller/Alison Knowles/
Olivia Whitlam/Louisa Reeve/Natasha Page/Jess Eddie
Caroline O’Connor (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:35.30
Single scull
1. Mirka Knapkova (Czech Republic) 7;38.19
2. Emma Twigg (New Zealand) 7:47.04
3. Julia Levina (Russia) 7:48.85
4. Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:55.19
5. Jitka Antosova (Czech Republic) 7:56.92
6. Agata Gramatyka (Poland 1) 8:12.71
Double scull
1. Magdalena Fularczyk/Julia Michalska (Poland) 7:00.80
2. Annekatrin Thiele/Christiane Huth (Germany) 7:02.40
3. Annabel Vernon/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:05.25
4. Rumyana Neykova/Miglena Markova (Bulgaria) 7:05.97
5. Xu Dongxiang/Yan SHimin (China) 7:13.81
6. Fie Udby-Graugaard/Lea Jakobsen (Denmark) 7:18.16
Quadruple scull
1. Germany 6;38.78
2. Ro Bradbury/Beth Rodford/Sarah Cowburn/Katie Greves
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:44.59
3. New Zealand 6:48.49
4. China 2 6:52.57
5. China 3 6:58.40
6. China 1 7:00.50
MEN
Pair
1. Eric Murray/Hamish Bond (New Zealand) 6:35.47
2. Peter Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN 6;38.18
3. David Kuiper/Mitchel Steenman (Netherlands) 6;44.42
4. Jakub Makovicka/Valclav Chalupa (Czech Republic) 6:47.82
5. Adrian Juhasz/Bela Simon (Hungary) 6:51.20
6. Nikola Stojic/Goran Jagar (Serbia) 7:09.02
Four
1. Germany 2 6:05.27
2. Germany 1 6:07.13
3. Alex Partridge/Ric Egington/Alex Gregory/Matthew Langridge
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:07.74
4. Slovenia 6:12.08
5. Czech Republic 6:17.06
6. Belarus 6:25.77
Eight
1. Germany 5:48.15
2. Poland 5:48.85
3. Tom Wilkinson/Dan Ritchie/James Orme/Tom Burton/
Mohammed Sbihi/Tom Solesbury/Tom Ransley/James
Clarke/Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:54.69
4. China 5:55.94
5. China 2 5:58.75
Single scull
1. Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand) 7:00.45
2. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.95
3. Olaf Tufte (Norway) 7:05.82
4. Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic) 7:06.50
5. Andre Vonarburg (Switzerland) 7:13.62
6. Mindaugas Griskonis (Lithuania) 7;17.10
Double scull
1. Stephan Krueger/Eric Knittel (Germany 1) 6:24.87
2. Matthew Trott/Nathan Cohen (New Zealand) 6;26.01
3. Tim Bartels/Mathias Rocher (Germany 2) 6;26.92
4. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:27.01
5. Kaspar Taimsoo/Allar Raja (Estonia 1) 6:28.74
6. Michal Sloma/Wiktor Chabel (Poland 1) 6:38.59
Quadruple scull
1. Croatia 6:02.21
2. Poland 6:03.47
3. Slovenia 6:05.07
4. Charles Cousins/Marcus Bateman/Stephen Rowbotham/
Sam Townsend (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:06.32
5. Germany 6:08.44
6. Russia 6:08.72
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
1. Hester Goodsell/Sophie Hosking (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:18.47
2. Anja Noske/Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany) 7;20.77
3. Magdalena Kemnitz/Agnieszka Renc (Poland 2) 7:20.83
4. Jo Hammond/Evi Geentjens (Belgium) 7;21.55
5. Ilona Mokronowska/Weronika Deresz (Poland 1) 7:27.27
6. Andrea Dennis/Laura Greenhalgh (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 7:32.04
MEN
Four
1. Denmark 6:14.40
2. Germany 6:15.97
3. China 1 6:17.09
4. Chris Bartley/Chris Boddy/Stephen Feeney/Bob Hewitt
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6;17.53
5. Czech Republic 6:21.75
6. Japan 6:23.06
Double scull
1. Storm Uru/Peter Taylor (New Zealand) 6:36.24
2. Marcello Miani/Elia Luini (Italy) 6:39.06
3. Henrik Stephansen/Steffen Jensen (Denmark 1) 6:39.86
4. Rob Williams/Paul Mattick (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:41.06
5. Lars Wichert/Michael Wieler (Germany 1) 6:44.14
6. Robert Sycz/Lukasz Siemion (Poland 1) 6:47.92
CREW LISTS
WORLD CUP, MUNICH, GERMANY
JUNE 19-21, 2009
(Listed as bow to stroke plus cox)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair – two boats
GBR 1
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington/16.09.85)/Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)
GBR 2
Alice Freeman (Wallingford RC/Oxford/06.09.78)/
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford/Edinburgh/15.01.82)
Eight
Jo Cook (Leander/Nottingham/22.03.84)/
Jennie Farmer (Molesey BC/Isleworth/26.03.85)
Tina Stiller (Leander Club/Yarm/23.06.87)/
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.03.82)/
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington/16.09.85)/
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)/
Natasha Page (Reading Uni BC/Hartpury/30.04.85)/
Jess Eddie (Uni of London BC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Ealing/25.04.83) (cox)
Single scull
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Double scull
Annabel Vernon (Marlow RC/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/Anna
Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)
Quadruple scull
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/
Sarah Cowburn (Durham Uni BC/Redditch/01.02.89)/
Rosamund Bradbury (Westminster School BC/Banstead/17.12.88)/
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/
MEN
Pair
Peter Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge
(Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/03.03.79)
Four – two boats
GBR 1
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/Richard
Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/Alex Gregory (Reading
Uni BC/Wormington/11.03.84)/Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)
GBR 2
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Uni of London/Durham/13.04.88)
Peter Marsland (Cambridge Uni BC/Hampton, Mx/06.03.85)/
Tom Broadway (Leander Club/Newport Pagnell/21.08.82)/
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)/
Eight
Tom Wilkinson (Leander Club/Reading/04.07.85)/
Dan Ritchie (Reading Uni BC/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
James Orme (Leander Club/Colchester/01.04.84)/
Tom Burton (Leander Club/Barton-le-Clay, Beds/24.05.80)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Tom Solesbury (Isis BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Tom Ransley (Cambridge University BC/ Ashford, Kent/06.09.85)/
James Clarke (London RC/London/31.12.84)/
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Single scull
GBR 1
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Double scull
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Quadruple Scull
Charles Cousins (Reading Univ BC/Cambridge/13.12.88)/
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)/
Bill Lucas (Reading Univ BC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Uni BC/Reading/26.11.85)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull – two boats
GBR 1
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni/Cambridge/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)
GBR 2
Andrea Dennis (London RC/Oxford/03.01.82)/
Laura Greenhalgh (London RC/Oxford/02.09.85)
MEN
Single scull
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)
Double scull – two boats
GBR 1
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/Paul Mattick
(Leander Club/Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)
GBR 2 – U23 boat
Ben Rowe (Tees RC/Middlesbrough, N.Yorks/05.11.88)/
John Preston (Reading Uni BC/Durham/16.04.89)
Four
Bob Hewitt (Tees RC/Scarborough/27.04.87)/
Chris Boddy (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/16.11.87)/
Stephen Feeney (London RC/Coleraine/12.05.85)/
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)
ADAPTIVE CREWS
Men’s Arms-only Single Scull
Two boats
Tom Aggar (Royal Docks RC/Barnet, London/24.05.1984)
Andy Houghton (Maidenhead RC/Newbury/06.04.1981)
Trunk and Arms Double Scull
James Roberts (City of Swansea RC/Swansea/11.05.1986)/
Samantha Scowen (Dorney BC/Wokingham/29.10.1987)
Legs, Trunk and Arms Coxed Four
Vicki Hansford (University of Surrey BC/Farnborough/31.10.79)/
James Roe (Stratford-upon-Avon BC//Stratford-upon-Avon/
28.03.1988)/Dave Smith (Reading University BC/Aviemore/21.04.78) /Naomi Riches (Marlow RC/Harrow, London 15.06.1983)/Rhiannon Jones
(Reading Uni) (cox)
