Wins on day three for Campbell and men’s pair

It was a return to competitive racing and form today for the two crews that had started the World Championship regatta still recovering from illness. The extra day’s recovery had clearly helped both Alan Campbell and Tom James, as they looked more like their old selves. They performed to expectations by winning their repechages today, but both will need to be on their game on Thursday when they face tough semi-finals.
David Tanner, GB Rowing’s Performance Director was clearly pleased with the results, "Our two highlights today have been the wins for Alan Campbell and the men’s pair. Both showed that they are on their way to recovery from their illness and can now fight for a place in their ‘A’ finals through Thursday’s semi-finals. Well done also to our female lightweight racing spare who won her repechage today to gain a place in the last twelve."

Campbell in the single scull was quick off the blocks and established a lead he never looked like relinquishing, in what he described as "good racing conditions". Smith and James in the men’s pair produced a confident and measured performance, taking the  initiative on halfway to establish a buffer from which they could watch the  rest of the field.

Both those crews – sponsored by GB Rowing’s high-performance partner Siemens – now have a couple of days to prepare for what promises to be an exciting day’s racing, with semi-finals on Thursday. Antonia van Deventer provided a third GB win in the women’s lightweight single scull repechage.

TUESDAY’S RACING IN FULL

Antonia van Deventer will have been delighted with her race this morning in the lightweight single scull. With Coralie Ribeil from France making the running for the majority of the race, van Deventer kept a very consistent rate throughout the race. As Ribeil tired, van Deventer began to scull through her and found something extra in the tank for the last 250m. The result was a comfortable win of just over a length and progression to Thursday’s semi-finals.

Alan Campbell demonstrated the extent of his recovery from the after-effects of a cold that had hampered his heat on Sunday, in comfortably winning his  repechage today. The answer came not just in the explosive start, but more completely in the controlled scull that took place thereafter. Campbell took control of the race within 250m and from there was able to watch the main threat of Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg from the advantage of a length’s distance. Campbell kept a constant pace throughout the rest of the race and was able to keep an eye on the battle that was developing behind him.

Campbell then admitted that a hard road lay ahead, "The semi-final can sometimes turn out to be the biggest race of these events and nobody is likely to hold anything back. But my aim is to make the ‘A’ final, so that’s what I’m focusing on."

Away from the racing, Campbell was also quick to pay tribute to the organisation of the event, "I’ve been really impressed with this regatta – the lake is almost unrecognisable. The volunteers have been fantastic and really put a human face on the event. It promises to be a phenomenal venue for the Olympics in 2012."

Colin Smith and Tom James produced a confident and measured performance in the men’s pair repechage. There was nothing in it between the GB and  American crews for the first half of the race, but a push opened up a gap with Smith and James then able to keep a watch on the fight for semi-final slots unfolding in their wake. They eventually crossed the line a length ahead of the Americans, with the fast finishing crew from the Czech Republic in third.

They will now have their eyes on Thursday’s semi-final, but Smith has no illusions about the task ahead, "It was an easy strategy today, we thought that as long as we could keep ahead of the Americans and keep an eye on the rest of the field, we’d be happy. Thankfully, that was the way it panned out. It’ll be a tough semi-final and won’t be easy to make the final as it’s such a closely packed field – but we’ll see."

LOOKING AHEAD TO WEDNESDAY

The women’s eight will be seeking to make amends for a disappointing row yesterday in their repechage on Wednesday morning. A place in Sunday’s final awaits the first two crews across the line, but will be no easy task given the presence of the German and Russian crews.

The Lightweight women’s pair of Jane Hall and Helen Casey will start their repechage in good heart following a strong row on Monday, where they finished ahead of the reigning World Champions from Germany. They will be looking to finish in the first two to secure a place in Friday’s semi-finals.

The Lightweight men’s four will be out to improve on their performance in Monday’s heat in their repechage.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ETON, GREAT BRITAIN RESULTS DAY THREE (Races involving British crews only)

OPEN

WOMEN

Pairs – repechage
1.Juliette Haigh/Nicky Coles (New Zealand) 7:06.46
2. Majbrit Nielsen/Fie Graugaard (Denmark) 7:08.96
3. Rodica Florea/Ioana Papuc (Romania) 7:09.13
4. Fei Yu/Yan Yang (China) 7:13.90
5. Baz Moffat/Jess Eddie (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:25.21

MEN

Pairs – repechage
1. Colin Smith/Tom James (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:31.96
2. Dan Beery/Sam Burns 6:33.86
3. Jakub Makovicka/Jan Schindler (Czech Republic) 6:34.04
4. Olaf Van Andel/Mitchel Steenman (Holland) 6:34.14
5. Nikolaos Pagounis/Ioannis Christou (Greece) 7:01.11

Single sculls – repechage
1. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:59.11
2. Andre Vonarburg (Switzerland) 7:03.77
3. Jaakko Hasu (Finland) 7:05.37
4. Sean Jacob (Ireland) 7:15.28

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single sculls – repechage
1. Antonia van Deventer (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:55.50
2. Coralie Ribeil (France) 7:59.21
3. Hilde Gudem (Norway) 8:03.60
4. Ilona Hiltunen (Finland) 8:05.99
5. Ka Man Lee (Hong Kong) 8:10.73