Gold and bronze for GB crews on penultimate day of 2018 World Rowing Championships

Great Britain win gold in the PR3 mixed coxed four and bronze in the men’s four at the 2018 World Rowing Championships

Great Britain’s PR3 mixed coxed four extended their major championship winning streak to eight years and the men’s four took a fantastic bronze medal on day seven of the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

GB’s PR3 crew won at a canter in Sarasota-Bradenton in 2017 – the first Worlds contested over 2,000m for Para-rowers – but were involved in a much closer encounter this time round, with the USA pushing them right to the line.

The winning margin of over half a length only opened up in the final 250m, with GB’s Ellen Buttrick, Grace Clough, Ollie Stanhope, Daniel Brown and Erin Wysocki-Jones keeping their nerve and sealing the historic gold medal.

The men’s four followed up their European Championships silver with bronze in Plovdiv, putting in a strong second half of the race to overhaul European champions Romania and the Netherlands.

Tom Ford, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill and James Johnston pushed Italy hard down the 2,000m track as Australia set the unrelenting pace. Italy eventually pushed on to secure silver, with GB half a length behind.

GB’s women’s quadruple sculls and lightweight women’s double sculls both ended their turbulent seasons on a high, with fifth-place finishes in their finals.

Ellie Piggott and Emily Craig led through the first 500m and were still well in contention as the race reached its conclusion. By the line all six boats were separated by just two lengths with GB slipping out of the medal places into fifth place.

The quad saw Poland, Germany and the Netherlands all spring out of the blocks and maintain their positions the full length of the course.

Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Melissa Wilson, Jess Leyden and Zoe Lee traded places with the USA throughout the race but pulled ahead of the Americans in the final 500m to seal fifth place.

GB crews also won three B finals on Saturday morning. Rowan McKellar and Hattie Taylor found themselves behind off the start of the women’s pair B final, but as soon as they hit the front before halfway they never looked back, winning by nearly a length.

The women’s four saved their best row for last to win their B final, hitting the front early and staying there as the rest of the field attempted to chase them down. GB finished half a length up on a Dutch crew featuring three medallists from the European Championships.

And the men’s quadruple sculls showed their class to bounce back from the disappointment of missing the medal final and win the B final with a dominant row. Reigning champions Lithuania finished 12th overall, showing the quality of the field on show in Plovdiv.

Ollie Cook and Matt Rossiter finished behind the Czech Republic – winners of World Cup 2 – in their men’s pair B final to record a finish of eighth overall, while Jamie Copus and Zak Lee-Green finished third in the lightweight men’s double sculls B final after a strong second thousand metres.

Brendan Purcell, British Rowing Director of Performance, said: “We had a great start to the racing today with all our crews really building on their semi-final performances. In the A finals we are always aiming to convert 50% of finals into medals and today we achieved this with two well-deserved medals, including an eighth consecutive title for the PR3 crew.

“Para-rowing Chief Coach Tom Dyson and crew coach Nick Baker have done phenomenally well to create this World Championship-winning crew despite injury and illness in the squad throughout the season.

“It’s also great to see our men’s four build on the performance they showed in Glasgow to win bronze today. Their hard work, with the support of coach Christian Felkel, has paid off here.

“Our Championships is not finished, however, with six more medal finals to contest on Sunday. The whole Team remains focussed and determined to finish the season strongly.”

Seven GB crews will finish their World Championships campaigns on Sunday, including medal finals for the men’s and women’s eight, the men’s and women’s double sculls, Harry Leask in the men’s single and Andy Houghton in the PR1 men’s single.

You can watch all of the action live on the World Rowing website and catch up with a highlights show on BBC2 between 12.30-14.00.

Results

PR3 mixed coxed four A final

1. Great Britain (Ellen Buttrick, Grace Clough, Ollie Stanhope, Daniel Brown, Erin Wysocki Jones), 7:00.36
2. USA, 7:02.13
3. France, 7:04.93

Lightweight women’s quadruple sculls A final

1. Romania, 6:50.71
2. USA, 6:52.30
3. Netherlands, 6:52.56
–
5. Great Britain (Ellie Piggott & Emily Craig), 6:55.81

Men’s four A final

1. Australia, 5:44.74
2. Italy, 5:44.99
3. Great Britain (Tom Ford, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill, James Johnston), 5:46.46

Women’s quadruple sculls A final

1. Poland, 6:08.96
2. Germany, 6:11.42
3. Netherlands, 6:11.79
–
5. Great Britain (Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Melissa Wilson, Jess Leyden, Zoe Lee), 6:16.45

Women’s pair B final

1. Great Britain (Rowan McKellar & Hattie Taylor), 7:17.46
2. Australia, 7:18.94
3. USA, 7:19.70

Men’s pair B final

1. Czech Republic, 6:29.14
2. Great Britain (Ollie Cook & Matt Rossiter), 6:30.25
3. Serbia, 6:32.07

Lightweight men’s double sculls B final

1. Czech Republic, 6:20.93
2. Poland, 6:23.10
3. Great Britain (Zak Lee-Green & Jamie Copus), 6:24.96

Women’s four B final

1. Great Britain (Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry, Emily Ashford, Jo Wratten), 6:36.43
2. Netherlands, 6:37.96
3. New Zealand, 6:38.46

Men’s quadruple sculls B final

1. Great Britain (Graeme Thomas, Jonny Walton, John Collins, Tom Barras), 5:39.88
2. Germany, 5:40.69
3. France, 5:44.00