Six British crews win their heats as the U23 World Rowing Championships get underway

After the first day of racing, two boats have advanced through to the A Finals while eight more will race in semi-finals over the coming days

Day one in Duisburg saw the whole Great Britain U23 team take to the water. Across the day, nine crews were in action in their heats, while the Women’s Eight had its preliminary race for lanes.

At the beginning of the day’s racing, Reading University Boat Club’s Meg Knight was the first British boat down the track in Women’s Single Sculls. Spanish sculler Esther Fuerte Chacon had the quickest start across all five boats and sprang into an early lead. However, Knight followed suit and quickly established herself in second place, a position she held until the finish. Both scullers will advance to Saturday’s semi-finals.

Strong performances continued throughout the morning as Great Britain’s Anna Cowell and Valentina Fenton booked the Women’s Pair into the semi-finals. It was Australia who had the quickest start across the heat and ultimately posted the fastest time across the three heats. Great Britain crossed the line second, a position they held for much of the race, with France and Austria placing third and fourth.

The Men’s Double Sculls rounded out the morning session. Isaac Morris and Freddy Foxwell placed fourth in Heat 1, a race won by local favourites Germany, and then waited to see if their time would be quick enough to advance through to the next round of racing. With the first and second automatically qualifying for semi-final action from the four heats, Morris and Foxwell’s time of 06:44.71 meant they were one of four additional crews who would advance to the semi-finals.

The first heat win came in the Men’s Pair. The all-Brown University unit of Tom Griffin and Isaac Thurnham came from behind to row through Romania, who were leading into the last 500m. Their time of 07:04.86 was the fastest across the three heats as they head straight into the semi-finals.

“We had no idea how fast anyone else was; this is both of our first race at pretty much any level in a pair, so we just went into it not knowing what to expect,” said Thurnham in conversation with World Rowing.

“We were happy with our middle k; we knew it was going to be a long race, so we just tried to find a good base rhythm and sit there as long as we could.”

Later in the afternoon, the Women’s Four followed suit. By halfway, they led by more than six seconds over The Netherlands in second place. Come the finish line, Amelia Gleed, Acorn Cassidy, Ellie-Kate Hutchinson, and Rhiannon Luke were firmly in control as they posted the fastest time of the three heats.

Much like the women, the Men’s Four were imperious. Ben Mead, Cameron Tasker,Tristan Wenger and Marcus Chute were untouchable, crossing the finish line at 32 strokes per minute as they advanced to the semi-finals, beating Chile and Denmark into second and third place, respectively.

Momentum continued to build throughout the afternoon, and the story from the Quadruple Sculls was much the same as the Fours.

The British women’s quartet punched their ticket straight into the A Final after dominating their opening heat. Liv Chessmur, Lara Grant, Grace Dawson, and Zara Povey were in command from stroke one as they crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of second-placed Poland.

The Men’s crew of Matt Long, Joshua Matthews, Elliott Donovan-Davies, and Nat Gauden will race in the semi-finals. The British won their heat and looked to have plenty in the tank as they kept a fast-finishing AIN crew at arm’s length as their opposition sprinted towards the line in the closing stages.

The Eights rounded off the afternoon session. Matt Johnston, Osian James, Kai Schlottmann, Christian Reese, Kynan Tallec-Botos, Alex Perkins, Tom Corbett, Patrick Wild, and cox Nat Toms were the fastest Eight across the two heats and move directly into the A Final.

The women raced in a preliminary race for lanes, and all crews will meet again in Sunday’s final. Lola Crampin, Izzie Kennedy, Allegra O’Sullivan, Matilda Drewett, Alice Baker, Ellie Sillar, Maddie Greenstock, Martha Shepherd, and cox Nikita Jacobs were second behind the United States of America. With overlap at the buzzer, it should make for an exciting final in less than 48 hours.

At the beginning of the day’s racing, Reading University Boat Club’s Meg Knight was the first British boat down the track in Women’s Single Sculls. Spanish sculler Esther Fuerte Chacon had the quickest start across all five boats and sprang into an early lead. However, Knight followed suit and quickly established herself in second place, a position she held until the finish. Both scullers will advance to Saturday’s semi-finals.

Strong performances continued throughout the morning as Great Britain’s Anna Cowell and Valentina Fenton booked the Women’s Pair into the semi-finals. It was Australia who had the quickest start across the heat and ultimately posted the fastest time across the three heats. Great Britain crossed the line second, a position they held for much of the race, with France and Austria placing third and fourth.

The Men’s Double Sculls rounded out the morning session. Isaac Morris and Freddy Foxwell placed fourth in Heat 1, a race won by local favourites Germany, and then waited to see if their time would be quick enough to advance through to the next round of racing. With the first and second automatically qualifying for semi-final action from the four heats, Morris and Foxwell’s time of 06:44.71 meant they were one of four additional crews who would advance to the semi-finals.

“It’s been a good first day of the Championships and it’s now for us to build on that to carry that through the next few days,” said GB Rowing Team Head Coach for the Olympic Pathway Pete Sheppard.

“”It’s been a real privilege to watch this first day of racing. It is a real testament to the incredible teamwork of the coaching and support staff who help these young athletes deliver performances that are the envy of the other nations,” added British Rowing CEO Tom Solesbury.