Glover and Stanning are stand-out GB Rowing Team semi-finalists in Lucerne

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Glover and Stanning were the stand-out crew in Lucerne todayHelen Glover and Heather Stanning were the GB Rowing Team’s stand-out crew in today’s semi-finals session at the season’s concluding world cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.

They dominated to win in 7:41.70 ahead of South Africa and Poland. This semi-final success takes the Olympic, World and European Champions’ unbeaten streak to a remarkable 26 wins since the World Championships in 2011. In tomorrow’s final it looks as if New Zealand will be the main danger as the winners of today’s other semi-final.

Heather Stanning said: “It’s obviously a bit warmer than yesterday and there was a bit of a headwind, so it was just about getting the job done and putting ourselves in the best position for tomorrow.

“It’s a different field to the last World Cup. The South Africans have come in and there is Poland, who were up there at the European Championships. New Zealand will be up there as well so we can’t take anything for granted, we’ll keep an eye on everyone”.

James Foad and Matt Langridge were winners of the equivalent men’s event but had to work hard to the finish today.

The GB men’s eight had already qualified in fine form for tomorrow’s final with a convincing victory in the heats yesterday and the GB women duly joined them today by winning their repechage in style from Romania.

Donna Etiebet from the women’s eight said: “We were really clear on what we were going to do in these conditions and we’re really pleased in how we applied it. It was important for us to be loose and relaxed. We are really excited about tomorrow – we’ll look to build on what we did today and turn it up a dial.”

Olympic Champion Kat Copeland racing with Charlotte Taylor went through in second place today, in a race won by the World Champions, New Zealand. Their male counterparts – 2012 light men’s four silver medallist Richard Chambers with Will Fletcher – also took second to qualify.

Taylor said: “We’re through to another final so we are pleased overall. As long as we are learning, we are happy. It’s great that the competition is so high here, it makes the results worth it. The New Zealanders are world class and we enjoy racing against them, it’s a good battle.”

It was also third time lucky for John Collins and Jonny Walton in the GB open men’s double who missed out by such brutally close margins on the finals of the Europeans and the last world cup in Varese.

Alan Campbell, the London 2012 bronze medallist, showed he is returning to form after qualifying for tomorrow’s final, also in second.

Elsewhere, after sparkling results at the Europeans and the opening world cup in Varese last month, the GB performance was somewhat flatter today.

The biggest shock of the day came for Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley who have already won European and world cup bronze this season. Thornley caught a boat-stopping crab eight strokes into their semi-final. The British combination never recovered and finished fifth and in the B Final tomorrow. Both the open and light men’s four also failed to progress.

“Once again Lucerne has proved a tough world cup for our boats. We can be pleased with the nine boats in tomorrow’s Olympic-class A finals. The crab off the start from our women’s double sadly ruled them out of contention but they will come back from that. It’s great to see Alan Campbell coming back to form and our two eights showing their worth in claiming their A final places along with our men’s double at last making their breakthrough”, said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director.

In addition to today’s qualifiers tomorrow’s finals will include the men’s coxed pair and the women’s quadruple scull for whom there are direct finals here.

BBC coverage of those finals will be live on the Red Button 09.15 – 11.10 and 12.30 – 14.15 and there will be a highlights show on BBC 2 on Monday at 15.00

More racing follows today with finals of the non-Olympic boat classes in which Imogen Walsh races the lightweight women’s single. GB also has crews in the light men’s pair and coxed pair.

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RACE REPORTS

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were a boat length ahead of Poland and South Africa after 250m of their 2000m long semi-final today. By the 500m timing point they had clear-water over the chasing crews which included Karen Bennett and Rebecca Chin, an emerging GB pair, who were in fifth.

Glover and Stanning are now the World, Olympic and European Champions and have not been beaten since the final of the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. That 25-race winning streak continued on the hot and relatively still Rotsee this afternoon as the GB boat won comfortably in 7:41.70 from South Africa and Canada. Bennett and Chin were sixth in 8:04.72.

New Zealand’s Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler, the World U23 Champions, won the opposite semi, leading from start to finish, ahead of Denmark and Canada in that order.

James Foad and Matt Langridge won the second of two semi-finals in the open men’s pair. They worked hard to get ahead of the Dutch, their closest contenders in the first 1000m, and the Australians who pressured in the second half. Foad and Langridge had a strong final 500m and were winners in 6:51.80.

In the earlier semi Oliver Cook and Stewart Innes, who just as Bennett and Chin, are the second-ranked GB pair at this world cup paced themselves up from sixth to fourth but did not have enough left to knock South Africa out of third qualifying slot in a race won by Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, the World Champions.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers were poised behind Norway’s Are Strandli and Kirstoffer Brun for much of their lightweight men’s double semi-final today. Italy were the other key crew in the fight for the top three slots. The GB duo were not able to catch the Norwegians, World Champions in 2013 and World bronze medallists last year and who seem to be in better form than in Varese last month. Second for GB in 6:55.05 with Norway top in 6:54.14 and Italy in third.

Charlotte Taylor and Kat Copeland have qualified for the final of the lightweight women’s double scull here in Lucerne by dint of taking second behind New Zealand’s World Champions, Sophie Mackenzie and Julia Edward in a reversal of the result of the final in Varese last month. There, the finish was much, much closer. Australia came up strongly in the final 500m, carrying Denmark with them.

Taylor glanced around at the best possible moment to see the danger and galvanise the GB crew into a final flurry of speed to keep the second place safe in a race that had been led comfortably throughout by the Kiwis.

Alan Sinclair, Scott Durant, Tom Ransley and Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell are the European champions. Since that final in Poznan in late May the British boat has struggled to find its best form. Today they were well placed in third at halfway to secure a qualifying slot. Just after 1500m the Spanish made their move and nudged past the GB boat to take third in a race which was led by the Dutch with Italy in second.

In the final 200m it looked as if the GB boat had found the speed to counter the Spanish and moved marginally ahead only for the Spanish to find a sprint finish that was quick enough to snatch third by just 0.3 seconds and push the GB crew into the B finals tomorrow. Romania, Serbia and Australia qualified from the opposite semi.

Jonny Walton and John Collins seemed out of contention in the opening half of today’s men’s double sculls semi. In the second half they began to close the gap on the leading three boats from Croatia – the stand-out and eventual winning Sinkovic brothers – New Zealand and Denmark.

Gradually the GB combination caught and then went past Denmark and set about chasing New Zealand on whom they had a slight overlap as the boats crossed the line. For Collins and Walton it meant a first World Cup final this season, having missed out on the European Championships and Varese finals. Germany dominated the second semi-final and won ahead of Australia and Italy.

Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley were slow starting, because Thornley caught a boat-stopping crab eight strokes into the race, and left themselves too much to do in today’s semi of the open women’s double scull in which Grainger is the reigning Olympic Champion but who took two years out of the sport after the 2012 Games. At the head of the field the Australian 2014 World bronze medallists took over the lead from New Zealand after 1500m and powered on to win. Grainger and Thornley were fifth. Belarus won the earlier semi-final with Germany in second and Greece in third.

Their coach Paul Thompson said: “Obviously it’s extremely disappointing. There were rough conditions at the start and they didn’t cope well. These things happen. They will put it behind them and concentrate on the B Final tomorrow”.

With 500m to go, the lightweight men’s four of Jamie Kirkwood, Peter Chambers, Chris Bartley and Mark Aldred were fourth and chasing down the leading trio of Switzerland, France and Italy. For a few positive moments it looked as if the GB boat might find the pace to catch Italy only for those hopes to be dashed as the top three boats surged away to book places in tomorrow’s final leaving the GB boat in fourth in 6:25.54 and into the B Final. Denmark, New Zealand and Holland qualified from the other semi.

Zoe de Toledo, crouched forward in the coxing seat, must have had one of the best views of just where the rest of the field were when the GB women’s eight stormed down the Rotsee course to win their repechage in style and put themselves in with a chance of a podium place tomorrow.

Their nearest rivals were Romania – perennial rivals – but who took second place today despite a zippy turn of speed past the grandstands. Canada and ?? had already qualified for tomorrow’s final by way of winning their heats yesterday.

Alan Campbell raced a well-paced and mature race behind Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania to move into tomorrow’s final of the open single scull. He sat in control of the following crews in the final 500m to make sure of his place.

The women’s eight made a good start, kept the pressure up through the middle of the race, and had enough speed at a lower rate to hold off any threat from the Romanians in today’s repechage.

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RESULTS

(Events featuring GB Rowing Team crews only. For full results – www.worldrowing.com)

SEMI-FINALS / REPECHAGES

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair – SF1
1. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:41.70
2. Naydene Smith/Lee-Ann Persse (South Africa) 7:45.56
3. Anna Wierzbowska/Maria Wierzbowska (Poland) 7:48.72
4. Noemie Kober/Marie Le Nepvou (France) 7:53.71
5. Alessandra Patelli/Gaia Palma (Italy) 8:00.18
6. Karen Bennett/Rebecca Chin (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:04.72

Eight – repechage
1. Katie Greves/Louisa Reeve/Jess Eddie/Donna Etiebet/Vicki Meyer-Laker/Olivia Carnegie-Brown/Rosamund Bradbury/Zoe Lee/Zoe De Toledo (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:16.69
2. Romania 6:18.62
3. Austria 6:20.67
4. Netherlands 6:21.15
5. Germany 6:25.60

Double scull – SF2
1. Eve MacFarlane/Zoe Stevenson (New Zealand) 7:15.86
2. Olympia Aldersley/Sally Kehoe (Australia) 7:18.80
3. Helene Lefebvre/Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino (France) 7:21.40
4. Kristyna Fleissnerova/Lenka Antosova (Czech Republic) 7:25.99
5. Katherine Grainger/Victoria Thornley (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:29.36
6. Mette Petersen/Lisbet Jakobsen (Denmark) 7:30.43

MEN

Pair – SF1
1. Eric Murray/Hamish Bond (New Zealand) 6:54.85
2. Milos Vasic/Nenad Bedik (Serbia) 6:58.85
3. David Hunt/Shaun Keeling (South Africa) 7:00.97
4. Oliver Cook/Stewart Innes (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:06.70
5. Giovanni Abagnale/Vincenzo Abbagnale (Italy) 7:18.02
6. Dzmitry Furman/Dzianis Suravets (Belarus) 7:43.25

Pair – SF2
1. James Foad/Matt Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:51.80
2. Jack Hargreaves/Nicholas Whiteley (Australia) 6:53.01
3. Roel Braas/Mitchel Steenman (Netherlands) 6:56.78
4. Germain Chardin/Dorian Mortelette (France) 6:59.97
5. Alexander Sigurbjonsson Benet/Pau Vela Maggi (Spain) 7:09.36
6. Jon Corazo Tobar/Ismael Montes Caamano (Spain) 7:26.36

Four – SF1
1. Harold Langen/Peter van Schie/Vincent van der Want/Govert Viergever (Netherlands) 6:19.84
2. Marco Di Constanzo/Matteo Castaldo/Matteo Lodo/Giuseppe Vicino (Italy) 6:21.16
3. Javier Garcia Ordonez/Jaime Canalejo Pazos/Marcelino Garcia Cortes/Antonio Guzman Del Castillo (Spain) 6:22.11
4. Alan Sinclair/Scott Durant/Tom Ransley/Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:22.44
5. Kornel Altman/Adam Sterbak/Martin Basl/Matyas Klang (Czech Republic) 6:30.99
6. George Howard/Robert Kells/Alexander Bardoul/Anthony Allen (New Zealand) 6:32.63

Single scull – SF1
1. Mindaugas Griskonis (Lithuania) 7:08.67
2. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:11.37
3. Francesco Cardaioli (Italy) 7:13.64
4. Robert Ven (Finland) 7:18.96
5. Stanislau Shcharbachenia (Belarus) 7:26.71
6. Lars Hartig (Germany) 7:33.68

Double scull – SF1
1. Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (Croatia) 6:39.36
2. Robert Manson/Chris Harris (New Zealand) 6:42.27
3. John Collins/Jonathan Walton (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:43.99
4. Marko Marjanovic/Aleksandar Filipovic (Serbia) 6:45.22
5. Frank Steffensen/Sophus Johannesen (Denmark) 6:46.65
6. Hugo Boucheron/Matthieu Androdias (France) 7:05.73

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull – SF2
1. Sophie Mackenzie/Julia Edward (New Zealand) 7:30.34
2. Charlotte Taylor/Katherine Copeland (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:32.51
3. Alice McNamara/Elle Flecker (Australia) 7:33.26
4. Juliane Rasmussen/Anne Lolk Thomsen (Denmark) 7:33.30
5. Joanna Dorociak/Weronika Deresz (Poland) 7:38.32
6. Frederique Rol/Patricia Merz (Switzerland) 7:43.10

MEN

Four – SF1
1. Simon Schuerch/Mario Gyr/Lucas Tramer/Simon Niepmann (Switzerland) 6:17.27
2. Thibault Colard/Guillaume Raineau/Thomas Baroukh/Franck Solforosi (France) 6:19.43
3. Martino Goretti/Livio La Padula/Stefano Oppo/Alberto Di Seyssel (Italy) 6:21.25
4. Jamie Kirkwood/Peter Chambers/Chris Bartley/Mark Aldred (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:25.54
5. Jonathan Koch/Lars Wichert/Julius Peschel/Sven Kessler (Germany) 6:33.44
6. Alexander Chernikov/Florian Berg/Matthias Taborsky/Joschka Hellmeier (Austria) 6:44.49

Double scull – SF1
1. Kristoffer Brun/Are Strandli (Norway) 6:54.14
2. Will Fletcher/Richard Chambers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:55.05
3. Andrea Micheletti/Pietro Ruta (Italy) 6:56.59
4. Tycho Muda/Vincent Muda (Netherlands) 6:59.86
5. Jan Vetesnik/Ondrej Vetesknik (Czech Republic) 7:12.69
6. Paul Sieber/Bernhard Sieber (Austria) 7:27.10

PRELIMINARY RACE

OPEN

WOMEN

Quadruple scull
1. Annekatrin Thiele/Carina Baer/Marie-Catherine Arnold/Lisa Schmidla (Germany) 6:17.53
2. Jessica Hall/Jennifer Cleary/Kerry Hore/Madelaine Edmunds (Austria) 6:18.01
3. Nicole Beukers/Chantal Achterberg/Inge Janssen/Carline Bouw (Netherlands) 6:19.61
4. Melanie Wilson/Tina Stiller/Frances Houghton/Jess Leyden (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:21.08
5. Sarah Gray/Georgia Perry/Lucy Spoons/Erin-Monique O’Brien (New Zealand) 6:23.24
6. Agnieszka Kobus/Joanna Leszcznska/Maria Springwald/Monika Ciaciuch (Poland) 6:23.63

Single scull – C Final
1. Julia Richter (Germany) 7:38.20
2. Anna Malvina Svennung (Sweden) 7:44.94
3. Julia Levina (Russia) 7:46.52
4. Beth Rodford (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:46.94
5. Elza Gulbe (Latvia) 7:55.36
6. Wiebke Hein (Germany) 8:02.47

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CREW LISTS (Includes club, home town, date of birth)
GB Rowing Team for World Cup 11I
Lucerne, Switzerland, July 10-12.

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair – two boats

Helen Glover (Minerva Bath RC/Penzance/17.06.86)
Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)
Coach: Robin Williams

Karen Bennett (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.02.89)
Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC/Deganwy/11.12.91)/
Coach: Robin Williams

Eight

Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)
Louise Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)
Jessica Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)
Donna Etiebet (Sport Imperial/London/29.04.86)
Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/28.03.91)
Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.88)
Zoe Lee (Imperial College BC/Richmond/15.12.85)
Zoe de Toledo (Cox) (Leander Club/London/17.07.87)
Coach: James Harris

Double Scull

Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Glasgow/12.11.75)
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)
Coach: Paul Thompson

Single scull

Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.12.82)
Coach: Nick Strange

Quadruple Scull

Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)
Kristina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.87)
Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club/Oxford/19.9.80)
Jessica Leyden (Leander Club/Todmorden/22.02.95)
Coach: Nick Strange

OPEN

MEN

Pair – two boats

James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)
Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)
Coach: Rob Dauncey

Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.0)
Stewart Innes (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/20.05.91)
Coach: Rob Dauncey

Coxed Pair

Callum McBrierty (Leander Club/Edinburgh/13.08.92)
Mat Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
Henry Fieldman (cox) (Molesey BC/Barnes/25.11.88)
Coach: John West

Four

Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Munlochy/16.10.85)
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)
Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Ashford/06.09.85)
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)
Coach: Christian Felkel

Eight

Matt Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.89)
Constantine Louloudis (OUBC/London/15.09.91)
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)
Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC/Leeds/16.12.88)
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)
Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Single Scull

Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Coach: John West

Double Scull

John Collins (Leander Club/Twickenham/24.01.89)
Jonny Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)
Coach: Mark Banks

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single scull

Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.84)
Coach: Paul Reedy

Double Scull

Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC/Bedford/14.08.85)
Kat Copeland (Tees RC/Ingleby Barwick/01.12.90)
Coach: Paul Reedy

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

Pair

Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Kirriemuir/28.01.88)
Coach: Rob Morgan

Four

Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Cresswell, N’bland/30.08.89)
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/14.03.90)
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)
Mark Aldred (London RC/Birmingham/18.04.87)

Coach: Rob Morgan

Double Scull

Will Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85)
Coach: Darren Whiter

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