Olympic Trials 2020: Day One

The 2020 Olympic Trials kicked off this afternoon at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham as the UK’s top rowers battled it out in time trials

Vicky Thornley (Leander Club) and Tom Barras (Leander Club) built on their success from the first assessment back in November as they led the way in the women’s and men’s single sculls. The early result will be a boost for Thornley, who won a fantastic silver medal alongside Katherine Grainger in Rio and last year qualified a women’s single scull spot at the Olympics for GB for the first time in 20 years.

Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC), who claimed two silver medals in the 2019 season with double sculls partner John Collins (Leander Club), was hot on the heels of Barras in the men’s singles. Tokyo selection would have particular significance for Thomas, who was selected for the men’s quadruple sculls at the Rio Olympics but had to return to the UK with illness before he could compete.

Crewmates from 2019’s men’s four, Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes Univ. BC) and Matt Rossiter (Leander Club) and Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club) and Ollie Cook (Univ of London BC) took the top two spots in the men’s pairs. The four won European gold in 2019 as well as World Cup silver and World bronze.

Cook commented on the time trial: “Those were much better conditions than we’d been practising in which felt good; it was nice to have a run down where you felt you could race the whole way down. It felt pretty good, not perfect, but it’s the first hurdle of the weekend out of the way. It’s always annoying to lose to Rory (Gibbs) though.”

Emily Ford (Leander Club) and Polly Swann (Edinburgh Univ. BC/Leander Club) took top billing in the women’s pairs with a time of 6:52.62. Swann, a silver medallist from Rio, made her return to the GB squad in the middle of 2019 and claimed a World Cup bronze medal in the women’s pair with Holly Hill.

Ford said of the race: “That felt like a pretty solid run down the track. There’s lots to work on but I’m looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”

2019 World Championships bronze medallists Emily Craig (Univ of London BC) and Imogen Grant (Cambridge Univ. Women’s BC) took the top two spots in the lightweight women’s singles, while Sam Mottram (Leander Club) won out in the men’s lightweights.

Grant, who this week handed in her Master’s thesis in pregnancy at high altitude, remarked: “Racing so late in the evening made it feel like BUCS, which brought back good memories! That was probably the most cohesive race I’ve put together in a while as it’s taken time to get used to being in the single again. I’m excited to get back to side by side racing tomorrow.”

Racing resumes tomorrow at 08:00 – tune in to British Rowing social media channels for the live updates and results.