Twelve out of 13 A finals for GB at World U23 Championships

July 25, 2015

GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner praised the strength in depth of the U23 squad after 12 out of 13 crews reached the A finals at the World U23 Championships.

Three more British boats progressed through Saturday morning’s semi-finals in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with Jack Beaumont winning his single scull race.

Georgia Francis and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne were runners-up in the women’s double scull, as were James Rudkin and Tom George in the men’s pair.

“I am delighted with the depth in this U23 team,” said Sir David. “It is a remarkable achievement to have 12 boats in the A finals, with only the men’s quad missing out after they unfortunately had to withdraw from their semi-final through illness.”

Beaumont again looked in fine form as he won his men’s single scull semi-final in 7:02.74.

There was nothing between him and Denmark’s Sverri Neilsen for the first 1km as their battle for the lead took them away from the rest of the field.

The impressive Beaumont then upped the pace and power to secure a very good win which sets him up nicely for Sunday’s final.

The men’s pair of Rudkin and George were fourth at 500m in their semi-final but had moved past France by the 1km mark and then put in a sprint to overtake Austria.

With the experienced Australian pair of Jack Hargreaves and Nicholas Wheatley – finalists at the World Cup in Lucerne earlier this month – out in front throughout, Rudkin and George led home the chasing pack in 6:39.49.

After a mature performance in the heats, Georgia Francis and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne made a strong start to their women’s double scull semi-final and held a narrow lead after 500m.

The Romanian crew of Viviana-Iuliana Bejinariu and Ioana Vrinceanu then put in a push to hit the front but Francis and Hodgkins-Byrne remained composed and kept third-placed Germany at arm’s length throughout to finish runners-up in 7:10.76.

Unfortunately the British men’s quadruple scull of Tom Barras, Frazier Christie, Andy Brown and Andy Joel had to withdraw from their semi-final due to illness.

The women’s eight had their first outing of the championships on Friday afternoon as they finished a good third in a classification race for lanes.

Their A final is one of six involving British crews taking place on Sunday morning. Racing starts at 8.40am.

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

SEMI-FINALS

OPEN

WOMEN

Double scull – SF2

1. Viviana-Iuliana Bejinariu/Ioana Vrinceanu (Romania) 7:09.13
2. Georgia Francis/Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:10.76
3. Carlotta Nwajide/Frauke Hundeling (Germany) 7:13.38
4. Kitti Horvath/Kitti Bertus (Hungary) 7:25.26
5. Karolina Smyrak/Julia Styla (Poland) 7:34.74
6. Astrid Steensberg/Sofie Mikkelsen (Denmark) 7:38.06

MEN

Pair – SF2

1. Jack Hargreaves/Nicholas Wheatley (Australia) 6:36.15
2. James Rudkin/Tom George (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:39.49
3. Christoph Seifriedberger/Ferdinand Querfeld (Austria) 6:41.29
4. Joel Naukkarinen/Antii Kilpelaeinen (Finland) 6:43.66
5. Maxence Tollet/Hugo Laborde (France) 6:47.71
6. Stuart Maeder/Kevin Bielawski (USA) 7:07.50

Single scull – SF1

1. Jack Beaumont (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:02.74
2. Sverri Nielsen (Denmark) 7:04.23
3. Pilip Pavukou (Belarus) 7:07.16
4. Jozsef Matheisz (Hungary) 7:17.68
5. Dovydas Nemeravicius (Lithuania) 7:21.11
6. Vladislav Yakovlev (Kazakhstan) 7:31.00