Six semi-finalists, one finalist
British rowers qualified for six semi-finals at the BearingPoint World Cup Finals in Lucerne, this morning. Eight more crews have the opportunity to progress through repechages today or tomorrow.
The Camelot-sponsored women’s quadruple scull, current world cup leaders, raced with Cornishwoman Annie Vernon on board as a substitute for the injured Rebecca Romero, but still won their heat to move forward to the final on Sunday.
Alex Gregory, one of GB’s talented young rowers, provided cause for some concern this morning when he suffered an asthma attack as he crossed the line of his double scull heat with Colin Smith. He recovered quickly after receiving first aid but it is not yet known whether he will compete in this afternoon’s repechages.
Meanwhile, the men’s four were solid winners of their opening heat. The Camelot-sponsored quartet of Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge have already won the World Cup overall title after earlier wins at Eton and Munich, giving them the latitude to experiment with their style this morning in the heats.
"We raced a little differently as this is the time to do it", said coach Jurgen Grobler today. "It is to build up confidence, using technique and harmony in the boat rather than just going flat out".
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RACE REPORTS
We’ve become accustomed this season to see the British men’s four in the World Cup leaders yellow tops. Today they were comfortable leaders throughout their heat to qualify for tomorrow’s semi-finals but it was a win with a slight difference.
Coach Jurgen Grobler had asked them to row with technique and harmony in the boat rather than racing flat out. "I think they did it quite will and had the confidence to do it", he said afterwards of the win in 6:25.58 ahead of New Zealand.
The men ‘s pair of Kieran and Josh West (unrelated) qualified in second place for their semi-final. The race was won by Nathan Twaddle, bronze medallist here in 2003, and George Bridgewater of New Zealand.
"It was a pretty solid, good and uneventful row and the New Zealanders are a good crew who were fourth at the Olympic Games", said coach John West (also unrelated) afterwards.
Britain’s quadruple scull were a close second to the Czech Republic in their opening heat here having moved up through the field from fifth at the 500m mark. However, only one crew qualified from the heat direct to the final. Therefore, the British crew will race a repechage tomorrow.
The British men’s eight, who missed Munich last month to stock up training hours as a new combination this season, raced here with substitute Toby Wallace who was flown out yesterday to replace Tom Broadway who has been struck down by a stomach virus.
In this morning’s heat Germany were dominant, leading throughout a race rowed in a swirling headwind and pouring rain. Great Britain were third in 6:15.23 behind Poland in second and will now have to race a repechage late tomorrow afternoon.
Both open weight double scull boats will face repechages. The men will race again this afternoon provided Alex Gregory recovers fully from the Asthma attack which saw him receiving emergency treatment after his race with Colin Smith in which the U23 combination were third.
Elise Laverick and Debbie Flood, both Olympic medallists but sculling together here for the first time at World Cup level, were also third in a tough heat this morning and will race again tomorrow. They were overhauled in the final 300m by the Germans after holding second position for the earlier part of a race won by Bulgaria who led throughout.
"If that is to be their worst result and if we step on through the regatta then that is not a bad benchmark", said coach Mark Banks. "But they have to step on".
The British women’s pairs are relatively inexperienced at this level and were third and fourth in their heats. Both will now race repechages tomorrow.
Britain’s lightweight crews again had a relatively good opening session at World Cup level. Four crews qualified direct for semi-finals only the lightweight men’s and women’s double scull combinations face repechages tomorrow and later today respectively.
The lightweight men’s four, stroked by Mike Hennessy, looked in particularly good shape as they approached the line to hold onto third place and qualify for the semi-final in 6:28.48. Ireland moved gradually up the field to win in 6:25.69.
Jo Hammond, world silver medallist last year in the single scull, was a comfortable qualifier into the semi-finals of the same event here this morning. She held onto second position throughout her heat to secure her place in 8:04.29.
In the lightweight men’s single heats, Tim Male, of Tideway Scullers, fought off the opposition from the 1500m mark onwards to win in 7:17.50.
The men’s pair of Paul Mattick and Daniel Harte were also comfortable qualifiers in second place in a time of 6:58.86.
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LUCERNE WORLD CUP FINALS
RESULTS
(GB Results only. Crews from bow to stroke).
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Heat 1
1. Nicky Coles/Juliette Haigh (New Zealand) 7:28.32
2. Majbrit Fie Udby (Denmark) 7:41.51
3. Celia Foulon/Marie Le Nepvou 7:41.51
4. Jessica Eddie/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 7:54.31
5. Sassi McCarthy/Alice King (Australia) 8:00.59
Heat 2
1. Tamara Samakhvalava/Natallia Helakh (Belarus) 7:38.09
2. Christina Gerking/Johanna Roenfeldt (Germany) 7:41.42
3. Katie Greves/Carla Ashford (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 7:42.01
4. Vera Pochitaeva/Valerya Starodubrovskaya (Russia) 7:43.11
Double scull
Heat 1
1. Rumyana Neykova/Miglena Markova (Bulgaria) 7:15.15
2. Magdalena Schmude/Peggy Waleska (Germany) 7:17.93
3. Elise Laverick/Debbie Flood (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:19.10
4. Marianne Nordahl/Heidi Vesser (Norway) 7:27.15
5. Jane Rumball/Rachelle De Jong (Canada) 7:30.06
Quadruple scull
Heat 2
1. Annie Vernon /Sarah Winckless/Frances Houghton/
Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:34.51
2. Germany 6:36.64
3. Belarus 6:51.03
4. Australia 7:10.83
MEN
Pair
1. Nathan Twaddle/George Bridgewater (New Zealand) 6:54.75
2. Kieran West/Josh West (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:05.99
3. Petr Masek/Jan Ventruba (Czech Republic) 7:15.04
4. Oscar Vasquez/Jorge Rodriguez (Chile) 7:20.34
5. Lukas Wernas/Marian Kupferschmidt (Switzerland) 7:24.25
Four
Heat 1
1. Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Alex Partridge /Andy Hodge
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:25.58
2. New Zealand 6:27.10
3. Slovenia 6:28.16
4. Czech Republic 6:28.61
5. Republic of Korea 7:09.6
Eight
Heat 2
1. Germany 6:02.89
2. Poland 6:09.55
3. Toby Wallace/Phil Simmons/Tom Parker/Tom Stallard /
Jonno Devlin/Richard Egington/Simon Fieldhouse/Henry
Bailhache-Webb/Acer Nethercott (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN)
6:15.23
4. Australia 6:23.13
Double scull
Heat 4
1. Luka Spik/Iztok Cop (Slovenia) 7:02.10
2. Marcin Brzezinski/Michal Sloma (Poland) 7:09.63
3. Colin Smith/Alex Gregory (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:15.11
4. Oleg Dmitrijev/Vladimir Latin (Estonia 2) 7:26.64
Quadruple scull
Heat 1
1. Czech Republic 5:56.74
2. Matt Wells/Steven Rowbotham/Alan Campbell/
Matt Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:59.25
3. Russia 6:00.26
4. Belarus 6:01.68
5. France 6:03.40
6. Brazil 6:05.75
LIGHTWEIGHTS
WOMEN
Single scull
Heat 3
1. Marit van Eupen (Netherlands) 8:02.68
2. Jo Hammond (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:04.29
3. Chrysi Biskitzi (Greece) 8:12.14
4. Hilde Gudem (Norway) 8:18.31
5. Sigrid Svarta (Denmark) 8:27.47
Double scull
Heat 4
1. Sanna Sten/Minna Nieminen (Finland) 7:18.65
2. Niamh Ni Cheilleacher/Heather Boyle (Ireland) 7:21.69
3. Helen Casey/Jennifer Goldsack (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:22.27
4. Ana Pallassao/Fabiana Beltrame (Brazil) 7:41.00
5. Kim Ah Young/Kim Jung Hee (Republic of Korea) 8:12.48
MEN
Pair
Heat 3
1. Miguel Cerda Silva/Felipe Leal Atero (Chile) 6:57.19
2. Paul Mattick/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:58.86
3. Ilia Ashchin/Adreij Shevel (Russia) 7:05.62
4. Alberto Dominguez Lorenzo/Imanol Calvo Ortiz (Spain)
7:08.23
5. Damien Margat/Vincent Faucheux (France) 7:08.94
Four
Heat 1
1. Ireland 6:25.69
2. Poland 1 6:28.29
3. Nick English/Simon Jones/Dave Currie/Mike
Hennessy (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:28.48
4. South Africa 6:31.22
5. Japan 6:34.51
Single scull
1. Tim Male (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:17.50
2. Peter Loerinczy (Hungary) 7:24.42
3. Walter Braak (Netherlands 3) 7:27.01
4. Juan Estefanell Ucha (Spain 1) 7:27.97
5. Franck Bussiere (France) 7:28.36
6. Jose Martin Martin (Spain 2) 7:52.48
Double scull
Heat 2
1. Mads Rasmussen/Rasmus Quist (Denmark) 6:44.94
2. Matthew Jensen/Daniel Parsons (Canada 1) 6:49.91
3. Maros Sloboda/Lubos Podstupka (Slovakia) 6:53.77
4. Mark Hunter/James Lindsay-Fynn (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:54.92
5. Juliusz Madecki/Sebastien Sageder (Austria) 6:55.52
6. Douglas Vandor/Jeff Bujas (Canada) 6:58.90
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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about British Rowing please contact:
Caroline Searle
m (07831) 755351
t (01225) 383518
British Rowing website www.biro.org.uk – full biogs available
here.
Dorney Lake, Eton, host to the 2005 World Cup in May will
also be the venue for the 2006 World Championships, taking
place in August. News available at: www.wrc2006.com
Accreditation and results details for major
international events can be found at:
www.worldrowing.com
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The GB Rowing Squad is supported by the National Lottery
Sports Fund as part of UK Sport’s World Class Performance
Programme.
Britain’s lead women’s crew and lead men’s sweep
boat are both sponsored by Camelot.
GB Rowing News Bulletins are issued by British
International Rowing.
