GB Rowing Team top the medal table on the final day of World Cup I 2022

Great Britain has won 14 medals at World Rowing Cup 1, eight gold, two silver and four bronze, topping the medal table following a storm-interrupted final day in Serbia, Belgrade

British Rowing Director of Performance Louise Kingsley said: “For the first race of the Paris cycle, it’s good to see our team come together and work as a new look-and-feel unit. It’s as much learning how we work as the team behind the team to support the athletes, as well as giving athletes the platform to go out and race, and they’ve done themselves proud today.

“It’s great to top the medal table but we’re realistic that there’s a long way to go this season. We’ll see our crews shaping and evolving as we go through the season, and I’m sure we’ll see other crews from the rest of the world coming in.”

Across the final day, GB added seven gold medals to the one won by Lauren Rowles in the PR2 W1x on Saturday.

The Women’s pair (W2-) of Esme Booth and Emily Ford took the first gold of the day. Making her debut with the senior team, Esme said: “It’s been an amazing experience travelling with the team. Something unlike anything I’ve done so far.  I feel super-supported all the time. I’ve had a brilliant time.”

Reflecting on the race, Emily added: “I just kept calling for trust – we had a really solid race plan and I knew that if we trusted the process and the training, then we were just going to walk through.  Once we started to move it was really good.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith celebrated his birthday in style, winning gold for the GBR2 crew with Tom George in the Men’s Pair (M2-). After the race, Ollie said: “It’s been a good step in the season. It’s quite nice to know that you’re learning whether it’s good or bad. It’s really fun.”

Tom added: “We put a bit of work in that last 500m. It’s a good step in the season for us and I’m glad we could get a medal for Ollie on his birthday!”

The Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) of Maddie Arlett and Emily Craig also took gold in a race that saw them finish ahead of China.

Emily said: “Full credit to Maddy – she did an incredible job setting up the rhythm, executing our race plan, responding to the calls, staying in the boat, setting up something really good that I could follow and it really paid off.”

Maddie added: “I’m so happy! I felt really solid through the “k” (1 kilometre) and then I knew from the k onwards that was our move, and as soon as we started creeping [forwards], I knew it was ours.”

The PR3 mixed coxed four (PR3 Mix4+) of Ollie Stanhope, Ed Fuller, Giedre Rakauskaite, Frankie Allen and Erin Kennedy (cox) preserved the boat’s 12-year unbeaten run with their new combination winning gold in Belgrade – their first World Cup medal.

A delighted Erin said: “I’m actually really pleased with the time that we did today with the conditions that we had. We would have been pretty greedy trying to get the world best [time] with a bit of a head wind. I think that’s where this crew is.

“Overall we’re all just having a really good time. The boat’s going fast, it’s rowing well but also I’m just having a great time. The crew dynamic is brilliant, the intent is fantastic and I think there’s a great mix of old and new. I’m just enjoying it; it’s a great project and I can’t wait to see what happens this year.”

Joining the PR3 mixed coxed four this season, Frankie said: “It was quite daunting coming in, but everyone has been just so welcoming. It’s really good that the boat is going so well. Each race we do we really step on from the last one, so it’s exciting for the rest of the season.”

It was another gold for Rebecca Shorten, Samantha (Sam) Redgrave, Heidi Long and Rowan McKellar in the Women’s Four (W4-), racing for the first time in this combination.

Heidi said: “I think we did exactly what we wanted to do. We just wanted to lay down our best rhythm and see where it could take us. We’re excited to see how much more we’ve got to come.”

Crewmate Sam added: “There’s definitely things to take from this regatta. I think we did a great job as our unit but there’s always things to improve. We’ve had in our head the whole time that not everybody’s here, so you can’t just be happy with taking the win sometimes, you have to be hungry for more. I think we all have that hunger.”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Will Stewart, Lenny Jenkins, Freddie Davidson and Morgan Bolding had an assured win with Will saying afterwards: “We knew people were going to go out hard and just charge and try and put the pressure on us early.

“We had our race plan – we just wanted to go out, get in our rhythm and do our thing. We know we’ve got this pace, we just had to make sure we kept that level head all the way through and then take it home when we needed to.”

The Men’s eight (M8+) of Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, David Bewicke-Copley, Sholto Carnegie, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and Harry Brightmore (cox) won the final gold of the day.

After winning with the men’s four in the morning, Morgan collected a second medal with the men’s eight. Their start was postponed owing to thunderstorms.

Morgan said: “Once I got to the start line I was at peace with the fact I was going to have tired legs – I was really happy with the way that the boys dealt with getting me in and I couldn’t have had a better team around me.”

Tom Ford put their commanding win in context, saying: “At the end of the day, you have to try and win against the competition that’s there. As far as we know, there were a lot of decent crews that aren’t here and we’re focusing on what’s here, but also what’s we’ve got to come in the season. It’s a long season, so there’s a long way to go but more to come hopefully.”

The PR1 men’s single sculls (PR1 M1x) GBR1, was a closely fought race with Benjamin Pritchard finishing in second behind Australian Erik Horrie. GBR2 Callum Russell earned a comfortable bronze, putting both GB crews on the podium.

After the race Benjamin said: “To share the podium with Callum, your mate as well as your teammate, is incredible. He’s not just a teammate, he’s a genuine friend. So, to be up on the podium with Erik [Horrie] in the middle of us as well – I think the three of us have got some good camaraderie and whilst we’re friends outside of racing, it’s definitely enemies on the course. That’s what I love about PR1 rowing, you can be great friends but great rivals as well.”

Callum Russell said: “Yes it was amazing to be in my first world cup and back racing again. I couldn’t be happier. It definitely wasn’t comfortable but to be in the mix with all the boys at the top, that’s good and, hopefully, we can bridge that gap and fight for the top spots.”

The Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) of Georgie Brayshaw, Jessica Leyden, Lola Anderson and Lucy Glover finished fourth after also doubling up in the Women’s double sculls (W2x) with GBR1 Georgie Brayshaw and Lola Anderson collecting a silver while GBR2 Jessica Leyden and Lucy Glover won bronze earlier in the day.

Making her official debut on the senior world stage, Lola said: “Coming home with a medal is just really amazing and encouraging after doing all the training, so we’re really happy with Andy’s (Women’s Olympic Head Coach) new programme and the success it’s bringing in.”

“We went in trying to double up just to learn as much as we can from the racing experience on the world stage and we barely put any time into our double. We weren’t expecting much so it was a massive surprise, but really encouraging, that in early days we have raw speed – we just need to fine-tune it a bit.”

Lucy added: “ I guess we’re a little bit disappointed with fourth in the Quad, but having just raced an hour ago it was a challenge in itself, so I think we did well considering.”

Racing in her second world cup, but the first with the senior team, Georgie said: “I just absolutely loved it – we’ve done two really good performances and I’ve learnt so much from this weekend. I’m just so happy!”

Hannah Scott won a gutsy bronze in the Women’s single sculls (W1x). She said: “I’m proud to have executed the performance I had. I’ve only been in the boat a couple of weeks so to get a bronze – I’m happy with that. I found the single by chance and I was really excited because I think it will make me a better athlete for 2024 – that’s what the goal is to get medals in 2024.”

In the final race of the day, GBR1 Graeme Thomas won a bronze in the Men’s single sculls (M1x). He said: “I’m just happy to be here and happy to have medalled.”

GBR3 Callum Dixon was right behind in fourth place with John Collins winning yesterday’s  C final, finishing 13th overall. Graeme added: “I did my pre-paddle with Callum this morning and he’s come on leaps and bounds, so that’s really exciting to see. This is also John’s first racing in the single in over two years. I think the sculling team is in a good place and Callum has already bashed the door down now – he’s not even knocking on it, so it’s really great.”

Earlier in the day the men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Harry Leask, Seb Devereux, Tom Barras and Sam Meijer won their B final, finishing seventh overall, the Men’s double sculls (M2x) of Matt Haywood and George Bourne just missed out on a podium spot, finishing in fourth. And the remaining Men’s Pair (M2-) crews of GBR1, Matt Aldridge and Joshua Bugajski and GBR3, Harry Glenister and Matt Rossiter finished sixth and fifth respectively.

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Boat	Crew	Race	Time	Position
PR1 M1x GBR1	Benjamin Pritchard (City of Swansea RC)	A Final	09:43.36
PR1 M1x GBR2	Callum Russell (Agecroft Rowing Club)	A Final	10:22.62
PR3 Mix4+	Ollie Stanhope (Molesey BC), Ed Fuller (Molesey BC), Giedre Rakauskaite (Worcester RC), Frankie Allen (Oxford Brookes University BC) , Erin Kennedy (cox) (Leander Club)	A Final	06:49.58
W2-	Esme Booth (Leander Club) and Emily Ford (Leander Club)	A Final	07:04.32
W2x GBR1	Georgie Brayshaw (Leander Club) and Lola Anderson (Leander Club)	A Final	06:48.10
W2x GBR2	Jessica Leyden (Leander Club) and Lucy Glover (Edinburgh University BC)	A Final	06:53.25
LW2-	Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh University BC) and Emily Craig (University of London BC)	A Final	06:53.15
W4-	Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC), Samantha Redgrave (Leander Club), Heidi Long (Leander Club), Rowan McKellar (Leander Club)	A Final	06:34.90
W4x	Georgie Brayshaw (Leander Club), Jessica Leyden (Leander Club), Lola Anderson (Leander Club), Lucy Glover (Edinburgh University BC)	A Final	06:32.20	4
W1x	Hannah Scott (Leander Club)	A Final	07:42.51
M4x	Harry Leask (Leander Club), Seb Devereux (Leander Club), Tom Barras (Leander Club), Sam Meijer (Elizabethan BC / Tideway Scullers School)	B Final	05:55.90	1 (7th overall)
M2- GBR2	Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Cambridge University BC), Tom George (Cambridge University BC)	A Final	06:19.91
M2- GBR3	Harry Glenister (Leander Club), Matt Rossiter (Leander Club)	A Final	06:24.46	5
M2- GBR1	Matt Aldridge (Oxford Brookes University BC), Joshua Bugajski (Oxford Brookes University BC)	A Final	06:24.91	6
M2x	Matt Haywood (Nottingham RC), George Bourne (Tideway Scullers School)	A Final	06:13.10	4
M4-	Will Stewart (Leander Club), Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University BC), Lenny Jenkins (Leander Club), Freddie Davidson (Oxford Brookes University BC)	A Final	06:05.76
M8+	Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University BC), Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University BC), David Bewicke-Copley (Oxford Brookes University BC), Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club), Charlie Elwes (Oxford University BC), Tom Digby (Oxford Brookes University BC), James Rudkin (Newcastle University BC), Tom Ford (Leander Club), Harry Brightmore (cox) (Oxford Brookes University BC)	A Final	05:33.38
M1x GBR1	Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC)	A Final	07:06.23
M1x GBR3	Callum Dixon (Twickenham RC)	A Final	07:07.65	4