Great Britain PR3 Men’s Pair win Bronze medal
Olympic Crews land three more A final places at World Rowing Cup
Saturday 14 June 2025 – Great Britain won a bronze medal in the PR3 Men’s pair (PR3 M2-) at World Rowing Cup Varese. Debutante Connor Smith and Paralympic Champion Josh O’Brien, in their first race together, kept their nerve to make the podium in the last competitive race of the day.
Connor was proud to medal in his first ever International race for Great Britain “This has been a very different experience than I’m used to. Obviously coming abroad, the heat and the conditions. I just wish we could have pushed a little more on the line, but there are a lot of positives to take from this today.”
Josh said he was enjoying being back racing after the euphoria of winning gold at the Paralympic Games last September. “I’m happy with what we’ve achieved today and it’s great to get the first one out of the way. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the season holds.”
With Para rowing races completed, focus on Sunday will be on Olympic class boats with three more British crews today joining the five which qualified for A finals on Friday.
Lauren Henry continued her unbeaten run in the women’s single sculls (W1x) leading her race and registering the fastest time across both semi finals. “I’m feeling good,” she said, “it was a good heat and good semi and hopefully I can put out another good race in the final.” Despite her recent success, Lauren is cautious that the field will continue to be competitive, “Let’s not forget that the fastest single sculler in the last three years isn’t here, and we’re just at the start of the cycle, so looking ahead, as the year progresses, the racing will get faster and faster! I can’t be complacent. I need to keep pushing and keep improving. Right now, I love it. I’m enjoying some of the most favourite and most memorable days of my career. I wake up every morning and I think I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing with the people I’m doing it with.”
Eleanor Brinkhoff and Megan Slabbert are through to the A final of the Women’s Pair (W2-). In a tight pack they held their ground to finish third in the semi final, behind The Netherlands and Chile.
“That was tough racing,” Megan explained, “with it being the semi, everyone was gunning to get in the A final. I think we held our nerve and did the job in the end. And being drawn against the Dutch again, after yesterday, we thought it would be close. They’re 2-0 up now so we’ll try and get them in the final… but we’ll have to wait and see!”
The pair have also doubled up in the Women’s Eight, and Eleanor is enjoying learning about training and racing both boats. “Doing all of these races is really testing our winter block of training, but it’s good to showcase that we are able to get into two A finals.”
The Men’s four (M4-) of Jake Wincomb, Dan Graham, James Vogel and Joshua Bowesman-Jones were clinical to lead the semi final from the start, but were just pipped on the line by The Netherlands. Looking ahead to racing the A final, James said: “This is another step in the right direction for us. It’s only our fourth 2km race together and we keep growing and moving in the right direction. We’re not halfway through the racing season yet, so I feel like we’ve added a piece to the foundation today and we are just going to keep building on that foundation and hopefully put our best performance together tomorrow.”
Newcomer Curtis Dickens can take a lot of learnings from his first-ever PR2 Men’s single sculls (PR2 M1x) final, where he finished fifth. “I’m grateful for the experience.” he said, speaking after the race, “I’ve moved from sixth in the preliminary to fifth in the final. I wanted to soak it all in and learn as much as I could. Today I feel happier as I know I have more to give and I’m really excited for the next competition because I know I can continue to learn and develop!”
Aidan Thompson continues to improve in the Men’s single sculls (M1x). He finished fifth and will race in the B final. Also racing the B final are the GBR1 Men’s double sculls (M2x), of Tobias Schröder and Jamie Gare after their fourth place in the semi final.
Toby Lassen and Felix Rawlinson stepped on in the Men’s pair (M2-) C final. They led from the start and took the win to finish 13th overall. Also in a C final were the Men’s double sculls GBR2 of James Cartwright and Tom Barras who crossed the line just behind Sweden to finish 14th overall.
