Great Britain turn up the heat in Varese
Soaring temperatures and intense racing at World Rowing Cup
Friday 13 June 2025 – The first day of racing saw three crews qualify directly to A finals, four crews produce solid preliminary performances and five crews progress to semi finals at World Rowing Cup Varese. With temperatures soaring to almost 30 degrees, athletes kept their cool ahead of semi finals and finals over the weekend.
Full of confidence on the back of their European Championship best time and win, the Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Rory Harris led from the start to win their heat and progress to the A final.
Speaking after the race, Matt said: “We were very happy with the result at the Europeans, but, coming into this, we’ve tried to have the mentality to not expect anything. We still want to go all out and make it happen. We’ve got a job to do and that’s to execute the race plan and execute the technique, and that’s our focus. Obviously, here we have a quick lake but the conditions are different and the heat is a big factor, but we can work on that and move on to the final on Sunday.”
Lizzie Witt was making her senior international debut in the Women’s Four (W4-) with Martha Birtles, Juliette Perry, and Amelia Standing. They were third in their heat, qualifying for the A final on fastest time as part of the new progression system.
Full of emotion after the race, Lizzie said: “That was really cool. I had my first ever big race here so it feels like I’ve come full circle to return for my senior debut! I’m happy with how we did.
It’s been quite an emotional few months, so it feels cool to have actually got somewhere with it. We’ve all really taken on the challenge, are pleased to have made the A final and are just very excited for Sunday!”
Looking to build on their European performance were the Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) of Vwairé Obukohwo and Freya Keto. They battled through the heat to take the second automatic qualification spot. “It was very very hot out there,” said Vwairé, adding, “that sounds so British! It’s nice to cross the line and know that you’re into the A final rather than waiting, twiddling your thumbs and praying for good luck with the progression times!”
Freya said: “Our goal was to execute our plan and have a good race against some really top level competition. That’s exactly what we managed to do, especially through the middle of the race where we were able to assert ourselves. It gave us a good confidence boost and allowed us to execute as we’d set out to do.” Looking ahead to the final, she added: “That’s the job done for today, but we’ll look to step on for the next race. We have a day off tomorrow to practice and refine some things, and we really want to keep pushing on. The women on the team set a really strong standard at the Europeans, so they’re really good training partners. Even when we’re training at Caversham, we know we have top notch competition to race against. That really sets us up well for international racing.”
Aidan Thompson raced twice in the Men’s single sculls (M1x) finishing third in the heat and third in the quarter final to progress onward to the A/B semi final. He said: “Two races in one day before the eight have even started their first race of the weekend – it was tough! I needed to step on from the Europeans so we’ve changed a bit of the setup and changed the attitude going into racing. I went out today with nothing to lose and everything to gain and I’m very happy with that result especially as I’m racing against some of the fastest scullers in the world. To be in and around those boys is absolutely epic!”
Lauren Henry comfortably won her women’s single sculls (W1x) heat and will race again in the semi-final on Saturday. Eleanor Brinkhoff and Megan Slabbert had a battle with the Netherlands throughout the Women’s Pair (W2-) heat finishing just 0.17 behind to take the second automatic semi-final spot.
The Men’s four (M4-) of Jake Wincomb, Dan Graham, James Vogel and Joshua Bowesman-Jones were also looking to build from the Europeans, and did just that, smoothly leading and winning their heat in style. Finishing third in their heat and also through to the semi final were GBR1 Men’s double sculls (M2x), Tobias Schröder and Jamie Gare.
It was a GB double win in the eights preliminary races for the women’s and men’s crews. The Men’s Eight (M8+), of Will Stewart, Matt Rowe, Miles Beeson, Fergus Woolnough, David Bewicke-Copley, Sam Nunn, Matt Aldridge, Archie Drummond and cox, Will Denegri, got off the start fast taking a lead over Italy and maintaining the pressure throughout to cross the line in first place.
The Women’s eight (W8+) of Eleanor Brinkhoff, Juliette Perry, Amelia Standing, Martha Birtles, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Heidi Long, Megan Slabbert and cox, Jack Tottem, also got to a fast start, with the racing close, until they pulled ahead and maintained their lead to take the win.
It will be the C final for Toby Lassen and Felix Rawlinson in the Men’s pair (M2-). Targeting the FISU World University Games this summer, the pair were using the World Rowing Cup as an opportunity to test their speed on the world stage. They pushed hard to finish fourth in their heat. Also building experience together and next racing in the C final are the Men’s double sculls GBR2 of James Cartwright and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Tom Barras who were fourth in their heat.
In Paralympic boats, debutante Connor Smith and Paralympic Champion Josh O’Brien were second in the PR3 Men’s pair (PR3 M2-) and newcomer Curtis Dickens was sixth in the PR2 Men’s single sculls (PR2 M1x preliminary races.
Earlier in the day, Benjamin Pritchard withdrew from the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls (PR1 M1x) for medical reasons.
