Great Britain’s golden hour in Varese
Three golds and two bronze medals won at World Rowing Cup
Sunday 15 June 2025 – In the space of an hour, Great Britain crews won a bronze and three gold medals at World Rowing Cup Varese. Wins came in both the Men’s and Women’s Eights and the Women’s single sculls with the bronze in the Men’s quadruple sculls. These added to yesterday’s bronze medal in the PR3 Men’s pair.
It was a confident win for 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, who led from the start and crossed the line ahead of USA and Australia.
Martha, who had raced earlier in the Women’s four said: “It’s always hard to double up, but amazing to come away with a medal.” she said, adding, “we didn’t take anything for granted. We needed to have a fresh mindset to be present in this race then execute what we did.”
Lauren Irwin paid tribute to the support staff who have helped with cooling in the Italian heat “We have our cooling strategies and the team behind the team play such a massive part in this. We couldn’t be on the medal podium without the team behind us, so, full credit to them.”
Jack said that leading from the start “made it easy as a cox! I had complete trust that we could do what we needed to after that start and, it’s always good in an eight to be on the front foot.”
Despite a tough challenge from the German crew, 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, held their nerve to take the win.
Miles explained: “We really had to keep our wits about us as the Germans completely stepped up their game and came absolutely flying at us, so we had to be pretty careful. We know it’s a game of building and progression. We’re always looking to try and take a step on after each race to see what we can improve. I think today was a step on from the Europeans so let’s see how much more we can do going forward.”
Will Stewart said that having Steve Trapmore, a Sydney gold medallist in the eight, as their coach was a driving factor in the crews success, “I think having Steve as our coach brings so much experience and his dedication is unparalleled. When we see how much work he puts into us and how much he puts into trying to get us to be the best that we can be, it pushes us to want to be better as well.”
Lauren Henry continued her blistering pace to win the Women’s single sculls (W1x) by over 8 seconds. Once again in hot conditions, she showed her intent in this boat class. “I’m pleased with that race. I kept it lively. There are still some things I want to work on with my coach Andrew to see how I can push on, there’s certainly more to come. The single is a very physical race, but it’s the same for everyone, so you just have to try and keep yourself as cool as you can. That’s half the battle when it’s this hot. And obviously, with the World Championships in Shanghai, we’re going to have to get used to the sweltering heat.”
It was a brilliant bronze for Tom Barras who stepped into the Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) as a medical substitute for Callum Dixon. Together with Cedol Dafydd, Matt Haywood and Rory Harris, they battled through to finish in third place.
Tom said: “It’s been quite a day! It’s always nice to get back in a boat class I know fairly well and I’m happy to have got this result.” Matt added: “What we’ve shown today is that we have true depth in the squad and that we can step up and still perform. In my books, that’s a success. Kudos to Tom, who has been working hard and when he’s required, he stepped up. To come in at the last minute today, do an 8km paddle and go and race is true credit to him. It’s always a pleasure to row with him.”
The Men’s four (M4-) showed strong improvement from the European Championships. Jake Wincomb, Dan Graham, James Vogel and Joshua Bowesman-Jones surged for the line to finish in fourth place, roughly a second behind the second Netherlands crew.
Eleanor Brinkhoff and Megan Slabbert finished fourth in the Women’s Pair (W2-) in a very tight finish, which saw them missing out on the podium by just 0.23 seconds.
Lizzie Witt, Martha Birtles, Juliette Perry, and Amelia Standing were sixth in the Women’s Four (W4-) as were Vwairé Obukohwo and Freya Keto in the Women’s Double Sculls (W2x).
Earlier in the day, both GBR crews continued to step on in their respective B finals. Tobias Schröder and Jamie Gare (GBR1) led from the 1000m to win the Men’s double sculls (M2x) race, finishing 7th overall. Aidan Thompson was confident in his Men’s single sculls (M1x) B final, in a close finish which saw him finish second, eighth overall.
