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Britain's Olympic rowing medallists were in top form at the world cup this weekend in France backed by some exciting performances from newcomers.
In total the 15 crews in action today in the finals took four golds, three silvers and three bronzes. These followed two golds and a silver yesterday for Britain's para-rowers.
As might have been anticipated, the women's pair and men's four were dominant
in winning. But the men's quadruple scull also took gold and Britain took the
one-two in the lightweight women's double scull.
Heather Stanning was back in harness, after a spell back in the Army last
year, with Helen Glover to take the women's pair gold.
"It feels fantastic to be back. I knew it was in us, we just had to get out
there and do it", said Stanning.
Andrew Triggs Hodge and Alex Gregory from the 2012 gold winning men's four, in
tandem with Moe Shihi and George Nash, put on a display of power combined with
style to win by a considerable margin.
"Belgrade (the European Championships) were solid and strong but scrappy. We
have stepped on since then and we have more confidence in our plan", said
Triggs Hodge.
Graeme Thomas, Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins and Peter Lambert backed
themselves in the second half of their race to catch and beat the
early-leading Germans in the men's quadruple scull.
"We could hear that they (the Germans) were having to work hard to stay in
front and that gave us confidence that we could do it", said Lambert.
Kat Copeland, already an Olympic winner but never yet a world cup winner in
the lightweight double scull put that straight today with Imogen Walsh in a
race where the emerging crew of Charlotte Taylor and World U23 Champion Ellie
Piggott surged through at the death to take silver.
"It's beautiful here with such a great atmosphere. I feel like this was a
general move up", said Copeland, the Olympic Champion of her first world cup
gold.
There were also bronzes for the lightweight men's four, the new-look men's
pair of Matt Gotrel and Paul Bennett and the women's eight in a nail-biting
finish to hold off China.
The light four, featuring three of the London 2012 silver medallists - Chris
Bartley and brothers Richard and Peter Chambers - with newcomer Mark Aldred
were disappointed at this result, a clear measure of their thirst to
improve.
By contrast there was delight for Gotrel, a sailor turned rower, and Bennett
who have clearly shown their potential in this boat.
Frustration was the key emotion in the women's eight boat despite their bronze medal. However Zoe Lee from the crew was upbeat about their potential: "Frustration is an exciting emotion to have at this point. We can see what we need to achieve and we know how to get there".
Performance Director Sir David Tanner said: "Our rowers have really stepped up
for the finals day as they did at the European Championships. There were some
really impressive medals showing how savvy our team is when it comes to top
level racing.
"We've had some stand-out performances from our top rowers and some real steps
from some of our new talent. Overall it's been a great weekend and a fantastic
venue in France".
Several members of the team will next be in action at the 175th anniversary Henley Royal Regatta from 2-6 July before the next World Cup which takes place in Lucerne, Switzerland, from July 11-13.
Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand have made the men's pair event
their own in recent years, today they led out strongly just as the British
women had done in the race before.
For Matt Gotrel and Paul Bennett, reaching the final was a considerable
achievement in the time they have had together in the boat. They obviously
wanted more than that, though, as at halfway they were in a strong third
position, having rowed through France a few strokes before.
The French made a big effort to get back but the British duo - one identified
from the GB Rowing Teams Start programme and the other "found" by Rusty
Williams at the University of London - were not taking any nonsense. They dug
in and rowed to a great debut bronze in 6:34.62 behind the New Zealanders and
Germany.
"I think we stuck to our strengths well today and kept to our race pace. We
had a long talk with our coach Jurgen [Grobler] before and he knows what those
strengths are. That wasn't a bad a race ". said Gotrel.
"We had to dig in through the middle of that race and that was one of our
better finishes", said Bennett.
He added in tribute to Murray and Bond: "That New Zealand pair are
exceptional. There they are beside you and you are settling into your race
pace and they've gone. Bye".
The GB Rowing Team had two entrants in today's lightweight women's double
scull final. Imogen Walsh and Olympic Champion Kat Copeland were the
top-ranked of the two with World U23 Champion Eleanor Piggott and Charlotte
Taylor racing in the other.
In the first half, the newer GB duo got the better start with Walsh and
Copeland sitting in the pack. China led at 500m gone with the second GB boat
in third and the top-ranked boat in fifth in a relatively closely packed
field.
Walsh and Copeland began to pick up the pace just before halfway at which
point only small margins separated the top five boats. They surged up to
second place before taking the lead ahead of Germany and Sweden in that order
with GB's second boat in fourth and moving up quickly.
Whilst Copeland and Walsh extended out their lead, Piggott and Taylor were
storming on the inside and came through Germany to take a debut silver at this
level at the world cup.
"It's beautiful here with such a great atmosphere. I feel like this was a
general move up", said Copeland, the Olympic Champion of her first world cup
gold.
"It just felt really satisfying. To win a race in which you have also rowed
well feels very good", added Walsh.
"That race went exactly as we planned it", said Taylor.
Piggott added: "We knew what we had to do in that last 250m. It was a case of
heads down and go for it".
The men's four final offered the first opportunity for the GB Rowing Team crew
of Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Andrew Triggs Hodge to test
their mettle against Australia - perennial rivals in this event.
At the outset the top-ranked British boat showed their power and built a
length by halfway. From the halfway to 1500m they added another slice of
clearwater and looked somewhat majestic at the finish to win from Australia
and Canada.
Having been somewhat majestic on the water, Moe Sbihi was inevitably
understated off it. He said: "I think we put something decent together from
1100m onwards".
Triggs Hodge said: "Belgrade (the European Championships) were solid and
strong but scrappy. We have stepped on since then and we have more confidence
in our plan. Every race we are getting closer to what we are capable of. I am
looking forward to Lucerne and then our summer training camps before the
Worlds".
George Nash said: "That was better than our last regatta but I think we've got
a bit more in there. Racing conditions are very different mentally than
training and it's really all about creating in racing what we can do in
training. It's great to row with these guys".
Alex Gregory added: "That was our race plan today to build through the race.
It was good to test it out today".
GB was also racing a second boat in this field which reached the final juts
weeks after coming together. Today they were in contention early but slipped
back to sixth at the finish.
Beth Rodford, Lucinda Gooderham, Tina Stiller and Vicky Meyer-Laker lined up in lane six of the women's quadruple scull final this afternoon. Germany were the favourites and went on to win from the USA and then New Zealand. The GB boat traded punches behind the leaders with Canada before finishing fifth ahead of China.
In the men's quadruple scull Graeme Thomas, Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins and
stroke Peter Lambert got off to a solid start in the pack behind the Olympic
champions from Germany who made the early running. For much of the second
quarter the British crew made up ground on Canada with whom they traded
strokes. The Czech Republic were also looking strong..
At he halfway the GB boat had encroached on the German's length lead and were
closing up and moving away from Canada before the Czechs also put on a big
push.
But it was the British boat that surged up just before 1500m to draw almost
level with Germany. The effort was etched on the British faces in the boat and
excitement on the British supporters faces in the crowd.
All that effort paid off as the British quartet pushed past Germany and then
powered onto almost a length win in 5:44.40.
"We could hear that they (the Germans) were having to work hard to stay in
front and that gave us confidence that we could do it", said Lambert.
"We backed our second half today. Germany seemed intent on leading the race
early so we thought we would let them have that. We had said that wherever we
were with at halfway then we backed ourselves from there", said Thomas.
"Yes, we had confidence we could do that today", added Cousins. "We have had a
very good few weeks of training before we came here so we knew that we had
improved since the Europeans".
The lightweight men's four were fast in the first quarter of toddy's race.
Chris Bartley, Richard Chambers, Mark Aldred and Peter Chambers held the lead
at this point over the fancied crews from New Zealand and Austria.
As the race approached halfway the British boats had dropped back to third
behind New Zealand and Denmark in that order - but only just. The French, a
danger, were also challenging.
Beyond halfway the NZ crew pushed again and moved out to a three-quarter
length lead. The British crew were tenacious in third.
As the crews passed the packed bank at the finish New Zealand had built on
their lead and the GB boat held off France to take bronze and were closing on
a tiring Danish quartet.
"We just wanted to be in it at the start and make amends for Belgrade where we
let everyone get away", said Bartley.
"In that last 250m, it was heads down and although I think we were aware we
were coming back on Denmark", said Aldred.
"I think we are getting there", said the younger Chambers brother, Peter,
whilst his older sibling was receiving medical attention having as usual given
his very all.
Jonny Walton and John Collins are still relatively new to this level of racing. In Belgrade at the Europeans they were full of scrap and effort to reach the final. They have done the same here and were in second place at 500m gone. At halfway they were still holding a medal position, third, before the Australians and then New Zealanders came through in a race won by Croatia with Azerbaijan taking silver and Australia the eventual bronze.
Frances Houghton and Vicky Thornley are the tallest women in the GB team. Each
has had a different career path with a mix of sculling and sweep for Start
graduate Vicky and an Olympic medal winning history of sculling for
Houghton.
This crew is yet to find its mojo at this level but has all the ingredients to
do so. Today they were fifth in a race won by Australia. They could not hold
onto the tails of the early pace-makers.
At halfway they wed holding fourth and challenging for third before dropping
back as the final sprint moved away.
The GB women's eight has had some changes since Belgrade. Polly Swann has been
brought across from the women's pair to add her experience and skill in the
six-seat in a crew stroked by Louisa Reeve and coxed by Zoe de Toledo.
The crew also featured Rosamund Bradbury, Zoe Lee, Katie Greves, Donna
Etiebet, Jess Eddie and Caragh McMurtry.
Today they were on the ball off the start in a race where no-one expected the
world and Olympic Champion USA crew to do anything other than take gold. But
Canada had other ideas and led early with the GB boat behind the USA and
battling with China for third slot.
With 500m to go the USA wound its rate up but the Canadians were not budging
yet. Neck and neck the British and Chinese boats traded punches. And at the
line it was so, so close with the GB boat taking bronze. Up ahead, the
Americans astonishingly had pulled back and pipped Canada.
Reeve said: "China weren't on our radar until the last 500m, we had some good
calls to hold it together".
de Toledo said: "We had a great start and then held it together all the way
down the course against China.
Swann said: "It was hard fought all the way down the course. We had some world
class opposition and we put together a world class race. We have a lot more up
our sleeves to come. So watch this space".
Eddie said: "Elise Laverick, (former GB Olympian) said to me before leaving
the UK that we should remember that we won a medal here in 1997 so we had
something to live up to".
Greves said: "We were very pleased to get a good start but perhaps our rhythm
wasn't as good as in Belgrade. It's a bit frustrating as we know that we can
do better than that in the middle of the race".
McMurtry said: "Looking at it positively we still got a medal and it is a big
step on from last year. We know thought that we have moved closer to countries
like Canada and the USA".
Etiebet said: "I really do think we can go on upwards. We need to replicate
what we are doing in the middle 1000m in training when we are racing".
Bradbury said: "It is right to be frustrated as there is more to come. We
really trusted ourselves, though, not to let the Chinese through".
Lee said: "Frustration is an exciting emotion to have at this point. We can
see what we need to achieve and we know how to get there".
The GB Rowing Team men's eight put themselves where they needed to be in the
opening 500m of their final today. Coxed by Henry Fieldman, stroked by Will
Satch and featuring - Scott Durant, Alan Sinclair, Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell,
Matt Langridge, Pete Reed, James Foad and Mat Tarrant - the eight were tucked
behind the American leaders with Poland challenging.
The Poles came through strongly just after halfway with Belarus moving with
them.
In the final 700m the GB boat was holding on tightly to second whilst France
and Belarus moved through to contend.
Just when it looked as if the British boat might be caught, they lifted
themselves to a Herculean effort which saw them take sliver in 5:43.15.
Belarus came through to take bronze but almost a second adrift of the GB
combination.
Ruth Walczak won World bronze in the lightweight women's single scull in Korea
last Autumn and has returned to the GB Rowing Team after a tricky few months.
Today she raced in lane five with Pan Dandan of China on the inside - the
sculler who beat her in yesterday's semi-finals.
With the first frenetic phases of the race behind them the crews settled down
with New Zealand's Julia Edward at the head of the race, Pan in second and
Walczak in third.
At halfway Walczak had edged past Pan but by only a tenth of a second whilst
Edward had built on her lead.
Using her consistency, Walczak moved away from Pan to secure an opening silver
of the regatta for Britain.
"The big goal today was to go out and leave everything I had on the lake. If
you go out and do that and you finish first, second or last you can't be upset
with that. Today I think the Chinese woman gave more at the start and I had a
bit more left", said Walczak.
Drawn in lane six the lightweight men's pair of Sam Scrimgeour and Jonno Clegg
got off to a good start in today's final. With 250m gone they were showing at
the head of the field alongside Austria. In the second 500m the Czech Republic
also began to contest with all the crews closely bunched.
The British boat had a sliver of a lead at the halfway mark with all six crews
still in the medal fight. Just beyond halfway the Czechs pushed ahead with
France challenging and bringing Argentinians with them.
In the final 500m wind up to the finish the Czechs, French and Argentines
surged away in a three-boat fight with Scrimgeour and Clegg rowed into that
most hurtful of places in sport - fourth.
In the early morning B Finals session, Zak Lee Green was third in the lightweight men's single scull. He paced his race to move up to third with 350m to go, pushing past the home country's entrant. The race was won by Paul O'Donovan of Ireland and David Afandiyev of Azerbaijan was second.
Will Fletcher had recovered well from the drama of yesterday which saw him
fade out from sheer effort at the finish line in the semis of the lightweight
men's double scull and fall back, turning the boat into the water. In the B
Final today, he and Jamie Kirkwood were challenging the two leading boats
strongly at the finish, taking third by a narrow margin even recording the
same time as the Hungarians who were second.
Monica Relph and Olivia Carnegie-Brown were brought together only recently and
today concluded their first senior world cup as a combination in fifth place
in the B final, pushing strongly to the line in a race dominated by New
Zealand.