Shining heat wins for GB despite stormy weather

June 17, 2016

A dramatic storm delayed racing but several GB crews calmly progressed in Poznan

We're up for it - Nash/Sbihi fist pump. Copyright: Peter Spurrier

Thunder and lightning might have generated a topsy-turvy race programme on the opening day of the season’s third world cup but the GB women’s pair and men’s four stayed on track with shining heat wins to qualify direct for Sunday’s finals.

Glover and Stanning were first in action in Poznan, Poland. The World, Olympic and European Champions built a long lead early and crossed the line with plenty to spare in race where GB’s second-ranked pair of Louisa Reeve and Vicky Meyer-Laker were third.

Great Britain’s men’s four of Alex Gregory, Moe Sbihi and George Nash – here reunited with Constantine Louloudis who sat out the Swiss leg of the world cup because of illness – came through an early re- match of that Lucerne final with rivals Australia in today’s heats.

In Lucerne the Australians had led but then caught a crab close to the line. Here, the GB four were second in the early part of the race but hit the front with 500m to go to win by a length.

Louloudis, asked about the early Australian lead, said: “I was conscious that they were ahead and in the stroke seat you can often think the margin is bigger than it actually is but when I looked across at 1500m and saw we were level, I thought that was good and we rowed away from there”.

The lightweight men’s pair of Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour maintained their unbeaten season to date and will now race tomorrow’s final of this international class.

Jonny Walton and John Collins are safely through to tomorrow’s semi-finals in the men’s double scull and they will be joined at that stage by the two GB men’s pairs who have an added incentive to do well here as the pressure builds towards Olympic selection in this boat category.

Repechages await several other crews with many heats only allowing for one qualifier into Sunday’s finals. That list includes the men’s quadruple scull, light four and double as well as Vicky Thornley and Katherine Grainger who were third in today’s women’s double scull heat which favourites Poland won. This was a first run-out for them since the European Championships.
Alan Campbell and Jack Beaumont are both safely through to the semis here having won their heats and then taken first and second in their respective quarter-finals in the open men’s single scull.

Tom Aggar‘s scheduled repechage of the arms-shoulders ASM1x was cancelled late in the day with his second placing in yesterday’s heats enough to move him though to the final tomorrow.

The intensity of the early morning storm in Poznan was dramatic and because of the shortened window for racing, preliminary races for all those events with a field of less than six crews were cancelled. For GB that included the men’s and women’s eights and the men’s coxed pair.

Tomorrow’s racing programme includes semi-finals and repechaages leading to finals for the Olympic classes as well as semi-finals and finals of the international class events and finals for the para-rowers. Racing starts at 09.45 BST.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via [email protected] or 07831 755351

Open All

Race Report

After a storm-delayed start to world cup III in Poznan, Poland this morning, the two GB Rowing Team women’s pairs unexpectedly featured in the opening heat of the revised racing programme.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning eased out to an early and comfortable lead whilst Louisa Reeve and Vicky Meyer-Laker were in fifth and challenging Belarus closely for fourth. Germany were second and New Zealand’s second-ranked pair third.

By the three-quarter timing point nothing much had changed except, to the delight of British supporters, Meyer-Laker and Reeve had moved up in to third place. Glover and Stanning duly booked their place in Sunday’s final whilst Meyer Laker and Reeve finished strongly in third. Germans Kerstin Hartmann and Kathrin Marchand were second.

Poland, with world best time holder Magdalena Fularcyzk on board, bagged the only place available today for Sunday’s final of the women’s double scull from the heat featuring Vicky Thornley and Katherine Grainger who held second until the final 150m when the French came through. They will now race in the tomorrow’s repechage.
Coach Paul Thompson said after the race that he felt it was a “good start” for the re-formed crew and that every day they would look at being quicker than the day before. He said: “They are good enough to rebuild and improve in the time we now have available before Rio”.

Whilst Australia led to halfway of the men’s four heat featuring Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis, it was the GB crew who took the result at the end by a length in 5:52.36. The result means that the GB quartet go through to Sunday’s final direct as the only qualifying crew. The remainder of the field will race a repechage tomorrow.

The men’s pair heats saw Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes, European silver medalists, get the better of their team-mates Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell and Mat Tarrant in a one-two finish. Both crews go through to the semi-finals. Reilly O’Donnell and Tarrant were quick off the start and built an early lead but faded towards the 1500m mark. Italy were third.

Jonny Walton and John Collins took second billing to Kjetil Borch and Olaf Tufte of Norway in the men’s double scull heats after leading them in the early part of the race. The Norwegians came through to the front just before halfway with both crews and Italy going through to tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Peter Lambert, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Graeme Thomas came through Italy and chased down Germany, the 2015 world cup winners, before having to settle for second place in their opening heat of the men’s quadruple scull. They now get another opportunity to reach Sunday’s final via the repechage.

Jack Beaumont and Alan Campbell both won their respective men’s single scull heats comfortably to qualify for the quarter-finals taking place later today.

Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers were beaten into second place by New Zealand in the lightweight men’s four heats and will now race a repechage. Italy were the fastest to 500m but then dropped off towards the concluding part of the race in which GB picked up the pace but did not have enough to dent the Kiwi lead.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers were fourth going through 500m in their lightweight men’s double heat. The World silver medallists knew that the going would be tough with the leading French duo of Pierre Houin and World Champion Jeremie Azou drawn alongside them.

With 500m to go the French were clearly going to win whilst Chambers and Fletcher were involved in what proved to be an academic tussle for second with the Italians which the latter won. Both GB and Italy will now race a repechage tomorrow whilst the French have moved into the final.

Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour took a huge early lead and were never challenged in their lightweight men’s pair heat to qualify direct for tomorrow’s finals of this International Class event.

Race Results

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

QUARTER-FINALS
OPEN
MEN
Single scull – q/final 3
1. Jakob Nils Hoff (Norway) 7:01.81

2. Jack Beaumont (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:05.15

3. John Storey (New Zealand) 7:05.88

4. Bendeguz Petervari- Molnar (Hungary) 7:08.11

5. Lucas Ferreira (Brazil 1) 7:21.45

Single scull – q/final 4
1. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.01

2. Stanislaus Shcharbachenia (Belarus) 7:06.58

3. Thibauts Verhoeven (France) 7:08.58

4. Amos Keijser (Netherlands) 7:11.54

5. Stephen Cox (Zimbabwe) 7:27.22

6. Vincenzo Capelli (Italy) 7:58.41

HEATS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair – H1
1. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:11.88

2. Kerstin Hartmann/Kathrin Marchand (Germany) 7:18.57

3. Louisa Reeve/Vicki Meyer-Laker (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:22.54

4. Alena Furman/Ina Nikulina (Belarus) 7:24.84

5. Olivia Loe/Holly Greenslade (New Zealand) 7:25.39

6. Anna Sture/Hanna Inntjore (Norway) 7:42.98
Double – H2
1. Magdelena Fularczyk/Natalia Madaj (Poland) 6:57.30

2. Helene Lefebvre/Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino (France) 7:00.66

3. Vicky Thornley/Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:01.46

4. Kristyna Fleissnerova/Lenka Antosova (Czech Republic) 7:11.63

5. Jingjing Li/Mengchan Wu (China) 7:31.62
MEN
Pair – H1
1. Alan Sinclair/Stewart Innes (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:32.06

2. Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell/Matthew Tarrant (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:35.45

3. Giovanni Abagnale/Domenico Montrone (Italy) 6:36.64

4. James Medway/Joshua Hicks (Australia) 6:42.70

5. Vlad-Dragos Aicobaoe/Toader-Andrei Gontaru (Romania) 6:59.99
Four – H1
1. Alex Gregory/Mohamed Sbihi/George Nash/Constantine Louloudis (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:52.36

2. William Lockwood/Joshua Dunkley-Smith/Joshua Booth/Alexander Hill (Australia) 5:53.90

3. Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc/Constantin Adam/Danut-Viorel Rusu/Alexandru-Cosmin Macovei (Romania) 6:09.02

4. Felix Wimberger/Maximilian Planer/Anton Braun/Maximilian Korge (Germany) 6:22.20
Single scull – H5
1. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:13.71

2. Michal Plocek (Czech Republic) 7:16.47

3. Nils Jakob Hoff (Norway) 7:27.17

4. Lucas Ferreira (Brazil) 7:29.38
Single scull – H6
1. Jack Beaumont (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:12.49

2. Steve Hiestand (Brazil) 7:16.19

3. Stanislau Shcharbachenia (Belarus) 7:17.56

4. Jhonatan Esquivel (Uruguay) 7:23.81
Double scull – H2
1. Kjetil Borch/Olaf Tufte (Norway) 6:21.55

2. Jonny Walton/John Collins (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:25.27

3. Romano Battisti/Francesco Fossi (Italy) 6:28.93

4. Koen Metsemakers/Floris Roling (Netherlands) 6:33.03
Quadruple scull – H2
1. Karl Schulze/Philipp Wende/Lauritz Schoof/Hans Gruhne (Germany) 5:48.45

2. Peter Lambert/Sam Townsend/Angus Groom/Graeme Thomas (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:50.77

3. Ivan Capuano/Luca Rambaldi/Emanuele Fiume/Giacomo Gentili (Italy) 5:53.35

4. Andrei Jamsa/Allar Raja/Tonu Endrekson/Kaspar Taimsoo (Estonia) 5:58.36
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair – H2
1. Joel Cassells/Sam Scrimgeour (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:44.66

2. Mert Kaan Kartel/Fatih Unsal (Turkey) 6:47.29

3. Sven Kessler/Julius Peschel (Germany) 6:47.41

4. Mark O’Donovan/Shane O’Driscoll (Ireland) 6:48.29
Four – H1
1. James Lassche/Matthew Dunham/Alistair Bond/James Hunter (New Zealand) 6:00.56

2. Chris Bartley/Mark Aldred/Jono Clegg/Peter Chambers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:02.86

3. Stefano Oppo/Martino Goretti/Livio La Padula/Giorgio Tuccinardi (Italy) 6:03.23

4. Lei Li/Jie Dong/Guiying Zhu/Zhongwei Li (China) 6:35.18
Double scull – H1
1. Pierre Houin/Jeremie Azou (France) 6:19.48

2. Andrea Micheletti/Marcello Miani (Italy) 6:23.45

3. Will Fletcher/Richard Chambers (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:25.13

4. Moritz Moos/Jason Osborne (Germany) 6:26.72

5. Hin Chun Chiu/Chiu Mang Tang (Hong Kong) 6:46.32

6. Daniel Matyasovski/Peter Galambos (Hungary) 6:51.19

Crew List

CREW LISTS
Poznan World Cup

16-19 June 2016

(Crews listed from bow to stroke with cox and with club, hometown and date of birth)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair – GBR 1
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath RC/Penzance/17.06.86)/

Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)

Coach: Robin Williams
Pair – GBR 2
Louisa Reeve (Leander/London/16.05.84) /

Vicki Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)

Coach: Robin Williams
Eight
Eight
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/

Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)/

Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club/Oxford/19.09.80)/

Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.06.88)/

Jess Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)/

Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Henley-on-Thames/28.03.91)/

Karen Bennett (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.02.89)/

Zoe Lee (Imperial College BC/Richmond/15.12.85)/

Zoe De Toledo (Leander Club/London/17.07.87) (cox)
Coach: Paul Thompson and James Harris
Double scull
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)/

Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Glasgow/12.11.75)

OPEN
MEN
Pair – GBR1
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/

Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
Pair – GBR2
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85)/

Stewart Innes (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/20.05.91)

Coach: Rob Dauncey
Coxed pair
Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.90)/

Callum McBrierty (Leander Club/Edinburgh/13.08.92)/

Henry Fieldman (Molesey BC/Barnes/25.11.88)
Four
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)/

Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/

George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)/

Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC/London/15.09.91)

Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Eight
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/

Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Ashford/06.09.85)/

Andrew T Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)/

Matt Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.89)/

Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/

Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC/Leeds/16.12.88)/

Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/

Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)/

Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)

Coach: Jurgen Grobler/Christian Felkel
Single Scull – GBR1
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Single Scull – GBR2
Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Maidenhead/21.11.93)

Coach: John West
Double Scull
Jonny Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)/

John Collins (Leander Club/Twickenham/24.01.89)

Coach: Mark Banks
Quadruple Scull
Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Maidenhead/03.12.86)/

Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)/

Angus Groom (Leander Club/Glasgow/16.06.92)/

Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)/

Coach: Paul Stannard
Spare
Nick Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.88)

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Pair
Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/15.06.94)

Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Kirriemuir/28.01.88)/
Coach: Hamish Burrell
Four
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)/

Mark Aldred (London RC/Birmingham/18.04.87)/

Jono Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)/

Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/14.03.90)

Coach: Hamish Burrell
Double scull
Will Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)/

Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85)

Coach: Darren Whiter
PARA-ROWING
WOMEN
Arms/-shoulders single scull (ASW1x)
Rachel Morris (Guildford RC/Farnham/25.04.79)
Coach: Tom Dyson
MEN
Arms/-shoulders single scull (ASM1x)
Tom Aggar (Marlow RC/Maidenhead/24.05.84)
Coach: Nick Baker