A look forward to the finals in Sydney

March 23, 2013

GB has a total of 14 crews racing in 12 world cup finals tomorrow. Two British crews will contest each of the women’s pair and double scull finals. The GB Rowing Team did not enter a men’s pair or a women’s single scull boat here.

Whilst the entry in Sydney is not the fullest in terms of numbers of nations, the quality at the top of each field is high.

Finals start at 22.35 (Saturday) UK time and run until 01.45 (Sunday). The session starts with the women’s quadruple scull and ends with the men’s eight. A full schedule and live web-streaming can be found on www.worldrowing.com

This GB Rowing Team is a mix of new faces – around 30% of the team – and “old” faces in new places. Peter Reed, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Alex Gregory – the three surviving gold medallists from the men’s four at London 2012 – are racing in a “big eight” which includes a number of London bronze medallists, like Moe Sbihi and Tom Ransley, as well as rowers who won world silver in 2010 and 2011 like Dan Ritchie.

Helen Glover, Olympic champion in the women’s pair, is racing with Polly Swann here and both are doubling up into a “big women’s eight” which includes names like Beth Rodford, Frances Houghton, Vicky Thornley, Jess Eddie and Katie Greves as well as newcomers Vicki Meyer-Laker and cox Zoe de Toledo.

Men’s double scullers from 2012 Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas have moved into a quad with 2012 Olympian Charles Cousins and European Champs single sculler Graeme Thomas. The quartet looked good in their race for lanes to take pole position tomorrow.

GB will be represented by completely new line-ups in all 14 boats, underlining the excitement that a new Olympiad always brings.

The BBC website will be carrying regular updates and there will be a highlights show for one hour on BBC 2 on Sunday at 16.00 UK time. We also be live on the BBC Red Button for sports fans who feel like staying up late.