World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea
posted by Roy Sinclair - 25 Aug 2013, 9:37 a.m.
Inverness athletes do well in women's lightweight double sculls and men's coxless fours in today's heat
Report from GB Rowing
GB Rowers find their form despite the heat
25th August
Olympic Champion Helen Glover and her pairs partner Polly Swann were amongst
the five heat winners for the GB Rowing Team on the opening morning of the
World
Championships in Chungju, South Korea.
The team brushed aside high temperatures and humidity to take further top
spots in the lightweight men's and women's double sculls , the men's quadruple
scull and from Alan Campbell in the men's single scull.
Edinburgh's Swann, a senior World Championships debutante, said: "I thought we
had a pretty solid first kilometre today and then the Romanians gave us a bit
of a push early in the second half but I thought we were very much in
control".
After the race, Penzance's Glover, meeting the British Ambassador to the
Republic of Korea, HE Scott Wightman, who had turned out to support the team,
said: "It is very exciting to race here in Korea and to find such a fantastic
venue".
Second place finishes were also enough to see the men's four - whose
blistering last 500m sprint took them from fifth to second in a matter of
moments - and the two lightweight single scullers through to the next
phases.
With six semi-final and two quarter-final places won today there are eight
more crews in action tomorrow, including the first race for Tom Aggar in the
para-rowing men's single scull and the opening races for the men's and women's
eights, the women's single and double sculls, the men's double scull and the
lightweight men's four and pair.
From today's programme the men's pair and women's quadruple scull will contest
repechages on Tuesday, having raced today in events where only the heat winner
went onwards.
The event is being televised by BBC TV in the UK:
Saturday 31st August
07.00 - 09.00 on the red button and website;
15.00 - 16.30 highlights show on BBC One
Sunday 1st September
07.00 - 09.00 on the red button and website;
15.00 - 16.30 highlights show on BBC Two
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RACE REPORTS
Jamie Kirkwood opened the GB Rowing Team's account at the 2013 World
Championships in his heat of the lightweight men's single scull. He reached
halfway with a decent lead over Peter Galambos of Hungary.
In the third 500m, the Hungarian put his foot down to overhaul Kirkwood who
still qualified comfortably for the quarter-finals.
Ruth Walczak was in action next in the equivalent women's event. The Rochdale
sculler traded the lead with Austria's Michaela Taupe Traer just before
half-way with two semi-final slots on offer. Dropping the rest of the field
they duo kept up the pace until the final 20 strokes with Austria taking the
honours at the line, Walczak second in 7:53.08.
James Foad and Oli Cook had their first competitive race in a men's pair here
this morning and with the Kiwi World and Olympic champions drawn in the same
heat, they just needed to get a good race under their belts.
Job done with a strong second place, climbing up the field from fourth at the
quarter-race mark, and they now have a second chance through the
repechages.
Brothers Richard and Peter Chambers were focussed off the start and took an
immediate lead in their lightweight men's double scull heat. The Lucerne
bronze medallists were ahead by half a length at halfway but were challenged
throughout the first half by Greece. In the third 500m the British siblings
began to pull away leaving their Greek counterparts to knock back their stroke
rate and save energy for the repechages. So, GB through in 6:34.83.
"We pretty much expected them to be with us to 1k and then we moved on a bit
in the third 500m, we waited to see if they would stick with us", said Peter
Chambers.
"That was a good start and something we can build on", said Richard
Chambers.
Kathryn Twyman and Imogen Walsh put down a marker in their opening heat of the
lightweight women's double scull. They were neck and neck with the New
Zealanders but slightly behind for the first half of the race before coming
through with a push in the final 300m to win in 7:07.23.
The men's four put in the most dramatic final 500m of the day when they
sprinted from fifth to second to qualify for the semi-finals here as the
temperatures soared and the early morning clouds scattered. Strokeman Mat
Tarrant picked up the rate and picked off the crews ahead one by one except
for the USA who won in 6:00.69 to GB's 6:02.64. Germany were third.
By contrast the GB men's quadruple scull of Graeme Thomas. Sam Townsend,
Charles Cousins and Peter Lambert were in a tight race with the Estonians all
the way down the course with the British quartet coming through when it
counted in the second half to take the win in 5:48.03. Both crews qualified
comfortably ahead of the remainder of the field.
The British women's quadruple scull were fifth at half-way in their race and
despite hauling themselves up into third at the finish, only one qualified for
the final from this race so a repechage now awaits for Kristina Stiller,
Rosamund Bradbury, Monica Relph and Lucinda Gooderham.
Alan Campbell took his heat head-on from the outset today, gradually building
a big lead and then coasting to the line ahead of Australia and Bulgaria.
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RESULTS
World Rowing Championships, Chungju, Korea
Events featuring GB crews only. For full results: www.worldrowing.com
HEATS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Helen Glover/Polly Swann (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:15.13
2. Roxana Cogianu/Nicoleta Albu (Romania) 7:18.47
3. Ivana Flipovic/Iva Obradovic (Serbia) 7:22.78
4. Mayya Dmitrieva/Alevtina Savkina (Russia) 7:42.22
5. Jeon Seoyeong/Kim Seo Hee (Korea) 7:50.83
Quadruple scull
1. Germany 6:26.74
2. Netherlands 6:29.71
3. Rosamund Bradbury/Kristina Stiller/Monica Relph/Lucinda Gooderham (GREAT
BRITAIN) 6:32.05
4. Italy 6:34.44
5. New Zealand 6:36.76
6. Korea 7:08.78
MEN
Pair
1. Eric Murray/Hamish Bond (New Zealand) 6:32.70
2. Oliver Cook/James Foad (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:46.15
3. Michael di Santo/Alexander Karwoski (USA) 6:47.51
4. Patrick Loliger Salas/Leopoldo Tejada Rios (Mexico) 6:48.39
5. Ionel Stungaru/Toader-Andrei Gontaru (Romania) 6:51.31
Four
1. USA 6;00.69
2. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell/Scott Durant/Matthew Tarrant
(GREAT BRITAIN)
6:02.64
3. Germany 6:04.15
5. Romania 6:08.06
6. Canada 6:11.76
Single scull
1. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6;57.44
2. Nicholas Purnell (Australia) 7:00.94
3. Georgi Bozhilov (Bulgaria) 7:02.04
4. Haeidr Hamarasheid (Iraq) 7:35.55
5. Nasser Chanin Al-Abdula (Qatar) 9:24.47
Quadruple scull
1. Graeme Thomas/Sam Townsend/Charles Cousins/Peter Lambert (GREAT BRITAIN)
5;48.03
2. Estonia 5:50.60
3. Netherlands 5:53.37
4. Italy 5:54.07
5. New Zealand 6:01.55
6. Korea 6:12.53
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
1. Michaela Taupe-Traer (Austria) 7:51.34
2. Ruth Walczak (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:53.06
3. Wiebke Hein (Germany) 8:08.38
4. Ella Flecker (Australia) 8:09.74
5. Diana Wanyonyi (Kenya) 9:04.02
Double scull
1. Kathryn Twyman/Imogen Walsh (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:07.23
2. Julia Edward/Lucy Strack (New Zealand) 7:08.26
3. Christina Pultz/Helene Olsene (Denmark) 7:23.72
4. Phuttharasksa Nikree Rodenberg (Thailand) 7:45.56
5. Tran An/Pham Thi Hai (Vietnam( 7:51.05
MEN
Single scull
1. Peter Galambos (Hungary) 7:11.74
2. Jamie Kirkwood (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:14.16
3. Lee Hakbeom (Korea) 7:32.73
4. Benjamin Jr Tolentino (Philippines) 8:15.16
Double scull
1. Richard & Peter Chambers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:34.83
2. Pangiotis Magdanis/Spyridon Giannaros (Greece) 6:50.01
3. Yuki Ikeda/Yuta Hamada (Japan) 6:51.99
4. Zhang En/Zhang Jilin (China) 7:11.57
5. Edgar Ilas/Alvin Amposta (Philippines) 7:22.30