GB Rowing Team successfully weather the storm on first day of World Rowing Cup III
Two boats progress through to A finals and eleven to semi-finals on first day of World Rowing Cup III
GB men's eight progress through to A finals. Credit Anthony Benoit/Aesthetic Sport
It was a day that tested the GB Rowing Team鈥檚 resilience under pressure: after stormy conditions delayed racing by more than five hours, the first day of World Cup III in Rotterdam was contested using a time trial format with crews racing one by one against the clock.
The unpredictable weather seemed to give the GB team something of a home advantage, however, with two boats qualifying directly for Sunday鈥檚 A finals and eleven progressing through to tomorrow鈥檚 semi-finals.
Director of Performance Brendan Purcell praised the athletes, coaches and staff, saying: 鈥淎s a squad, we pride ourselves on being able to adapt to different scenarios and conditions.
鈥淭oday was challenging, losing the morning session and moving to a time trial format but all our crews equipped themselves really well in order to deal with the changes.
鈥淲e had some outstanding performances and it鈥檚 fantastic to see crews already progressing through to the A finals on Sunday.”
In the final race of the day, the men鈥檚 eight stamped their authority on the competition by taking the sole automatic qualification spot for Sunday鈥檚 final as the fastest boat from the heats. The European Championships and World Cup II silver medal-winning crew, of Tom George, James Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Mohamed Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Tom Ford and cox Henry Fieldman, took the win ahead of the New Zealand crew who had beaten them by a length in the final of the Grand Challenge cup at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend.
Cox Henry Fieldman remarked on the different format: 鈥淲hile we don鈥檛 often do time trials in competition, we do them in training all the time so it was familiar to us. We had a new line-up so today鈥檚 race gives us confidence in that.
鈥淎t the same time, it鈥檚 hard to read too much into the results given the conditions, so we鈥檒l be going into the final with clear heads and paying respect to the opposition.鈥
The GBR1 men鈥檚 four of Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie, who won gold at this year鈥檚 European Championships, put in a dominant performance to win their heat and take the sole automatic qualification spot for Sunday鈥檚 final. The crew won the Stewards鈥 Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend after facing their teammates in the GBR2 boat in the final.
Speaking afterwards, Carnegie said: 鈥淚 thought that went really well. It鈥檚 been a bit of a day of turmoil, from the thunderstorm in the morning to the crosswinds in the afternoon – we鈥檝e had to deal with whatever鈥檚 been thrown at us and keep a calm head.
鈥淲e executed what we did in training and established our rhythm down the track and I was really pleased with the result.鈥
Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Vicky Thornley was back to winning ways as she led her heat to qualify comfortably for tomorrow鈥檚 semi-final.
The single sculler, who is continuing her return to form after missing last season due to overtraining, said: 鈥淚 was happy with the result today and pleased with what I delivered in the middle part of the race. I鈥檝e definitely stepped up since the last regatta so now I鈥檓 looking forward to seeing what I can do in the semi-final.鈥
There was disappointment for quadruple scullers Jonny Walton, Angus Groom, Jack Beaumont and Pete Lambert as their initial first place result was later revised down to third due to a timing error that occurred during the time trial process. The crew will now race again in tomorrow鈥檚 repechage.
After the race, Beaumont said: 鈥淲e feel like we made a step on technically from Poznan a few weeks ago; we had a few technical things we wanted to work on and we used Henley last weekend as an opportunity to practice in a race situation. I鈥檓 pleased we implemented it well today.鈥
The GB Rowing Team will be back in action tomorrow from 9am GMT. Racing will be broadcast live on www.worldrowing.com from 9:30-12:15 and 13:45-16:00 GMT.
Results
Women鈥檚 pair (Heat 1)
1. Cristina-Georgiana Popescu and Amalia Beres (ROU 1) 7:34.22
2. Polly Swann and Holly Hill (GBR 2) 7:35.91
3. Aina Cid and Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP) 7:37.09
Women鈥檚 pair (Heat 3)
1. Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre (AUS 1) 7:28.48
2. Trine Dahl Pedersen and Nina Hollensen (DEN) 7:47.46
3. Julia Pogonia and Alevtina Iaganova (RUS) 7:49.50
4. Sam Courty and Annie Withers (GBR 1) 7:49.54
Men鈥檚 pair (Heat 2)
1. Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic (CRO) 6:46.40
2. Morgan Bolding and Tom Jeffery (GBR 2) 6:51.21
3. Harry Glenister and George Rossiter (GBR 1) 6:54.44
Men鈥檚 double sculls (Heat 3)
1. John Collins and Graeme Thomas (GBR) 6:30.31
2. Hamish Playfair and Campbell Watts (AUS 1) 6:31.08
3. Nik Krebs and Miha Aljancic (SLO) 6:43.84
Lightweight women鈥檚 single scull (Heat 2)
1. Ellen Gleadow (CAN) 08:19.38
2. Imogen Grant (GBR) 08:20.36
3. Milka Kraljev (ARG) 08:23.08
Lightweight men鈥檚 single scull (Heat 3)
1. Rajko Hrvat (SLO) 07:26.26
2. Zak Lee-Green (GBR) 07:27.99
3. Kakeru Sato (JPN 2) 07:36.23
Women鈥檚 four (Heat 2)
1. Australia 1 6:54.08
2. Netherlands 1 6:59.01
3. New Zealand 7:05.70
4. Great Britain (Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Emily Ford and Beccy Girling) 7:07.92
Men鈥檚 four (Heat 1)
1. Great Britain 1 (Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie) 06:16.01
2. Poland 06:19.12
3. Denmark 06:22.89
4. Great Britain 2 (James Johnston, Adam Neill, Will Satch and Alan Sinclair) 06:22.90
Women鈥檚 single scull (Heat 4)
1. Vicky Thornley (GBR) 08:06.17
2. Lisa Scheenaard (NED 1) 08:09.43
3. Pia Greiten (GER 2) 08:18.43
Men鈥檚 single scull (Heat 1)
1. David Bartholot (AUS) 07:22.47
2. Robert Ven (FIN 1) 07:22.69
3. Tom Barras (GBR 1) 07:25.93
Men鈥檚 single scull (Heat 2)
1. Kjetil Borch (NOR) 07:07.54
2. Harry Leask (GBR 2) 07:21.37
3. Anders Backeus (SWE 1) 07:25.67
Lightweight women鈥檚 double sculls (Heat 1)
1. Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol (SUI) 7:34.01
2. Leonie Pieper and Leonie Pless (GER 1) 7:42.33
3. Ellie Piggott and Emily Craig (GBR) 7:42.68
Lightweight men鈥檚 double sculls (Heat 1)
1. Jonathan Rommelmann and Jason Osborne (GER 1) 06:47.10
2. Jamie Copus and Sam Mottram (GBR) 06:52.33
3. Marek Reznak and Peter Zelinka (SVK) 06:54.78
Women鈥檚 double sculls (Heat 1)
1. Nicoleta-Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radis (ROU) 07:25.18
2. Amanda Bateman and Genevieve Horton (AUS) 07:28.42
3. Gabrielle Smith and Andrea Proske (CAN) 07:32.54
4. Kyra Edwards and Ruth Siddorn (GBR 1) 07:44.02
Women鈥檚 quadruple sculls (Heat 1)
1. Germany 06:48.33
2. Netherlands 1 06:59.43
3. Great Britain (Jess Leyden, Melissa Wilson, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne) 07:01.43
Men鈥檚 quadruple sculls (Heat 2)
1. Germany 06:05.05
2. Australia 06:08.75
3. Great Britain (Jonny Walton, Angus Groom, Jack Beaumont and Pete Lambert) 06:12.90
Women鈥檚 eight (Heat 1)
1. Australia 6:35.54
2. Russia 6:42.75
3. Great Britain 2 (Natasha Harris-White, Susie Dear, Heidi Long, Oonagh Cousins, Fiona Bell, Alice Davies, Rebecca Edwards, Nicole Lamb and Morgan Baynham-Williams) 6:44.50
Women鈥檚 eight (Heat 2)
1. New Zealand 6:29.30
2. Canada 6:37.00
3. Great Britain 1 (Fiona Gammond, Zo毛 Lee, Jo Wratten, Hattie Taylor, Rowan McKellar, Rebecca Shorten, Karen Bennett, Holly Norton and Matilda Horn) 6:39.41
Men鈥檚 eight (Heat 2)
1. Great Britain (Tom Ford, James Rudkin, Tom George, Mohamed Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Josh Bugajski and Henry Fieldman) 5:44.45
2. New Zealand 5:46.62
3. Romania 5:54.18
