GB qualify two crews to finals on first day of World Rowing U23 Championships

July 25, 2018

The women’s quadruple sculls and men’s coxed four moved straight to Saturday’s finals with strong performances on day one of the World Rowing U23 Championships

Great Britain’s reigning champion women’s quadruple sculls crew got their World Rowing U23 Championships off to the best possible start, comfortably winning their heat and progressing directly to Saturday’s final.

Two of the gold medallists from 2017, Lucy Glover and Saskia Budgett, returned to the crew alongside Kyra Edwards, who was forced to miss last year’s final through illness, and World Junior champion Zoë Adamson.

GB stormed to a one-length lead by the halfway mark, knowing that only the first boat across the line would avoid the repechage. By the line, the gap to the second-place Netherlands had halved, but the British crew held on to secure the finals place.

The men’s coxed four also booked their place in the final with second place in their heat. GB sat half-a-length up on a fast-finishing Australian crew, with the USA setting the fastest time of the two heats in first place.

GB’s women’s pair and men’s four secured second-place finishes to move into the semi-finals. Heidi Long and Hannah Scott, of GB, and the USA crew sat well clear of the rest of the field by the halfway mark and they both cruised into the next round.

David Ambler, Sam Nunn, Charlie Elwes and Felix Drinkall also enjoyed a comfortable lead over third-place Canada in the four’s heat, finishing almost three lengths up and just half a length back on New Zealand. They return on Saturday for the semi-final.

Both the men’s pair and lightweight men’s quadruple sculls will race in Thursday’s repechages having finished fourth and sixth respectively in their heats.

Results

Women’s pair heat

1. Regina Salmons & Alina Hagstrom (USA), 7:30.57
2. Heidi Long & Hannah Scott (GBR), 7:35.93
3. Emily Hegarty & Tara Hanlon (IRL), 7:46.45

Women’s quadruple sculls heat

1. Great Britain (Zoe Adamson, Kyra Edwards, Saskia Budgett & Lucy Glover), 6:41.11
2. Netherlands, 6:42.62
3. USA, 6:47.19

Men’s pair heat

1. Thibaud Turlan & Guillaume Turlan (FRA), 6:48.78
2. Dimitru-Alexandru Ciobica & Florin-Sorin Lehaci (ROU), 6:49.97
3. Rangel Katsarski & Stanimir Haladzhov (BUL), 7:02.42
4. James Vogel & Max Townley (GBR), 7:03.94

Men’s four heat

1. New Zealand, 6:07.39
2. Great Britain (David Ambler, Sam Nunn, Charlie Elwes & Felix Drinkall), 6:08.82
3. Canada, 6:17.21

Men’s coxed four heat

1. USA, 6:18.41
2. Great Britain (Henry Blois-Brooke, Matthew Rowe, Tobias Schröder, Oscar Lindsay & Gavin McWilliams (cox)), 6:23.13
3. Australia, 6:25.33