Four more crews will race in A Finals at World Rowing Cup III
After three crews won their semi-finals, Great Britain will have 10 boats racing for medals on the third day of racing in Lucerne, Switzerland
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
The first semi-final of the day saw Olympic Champion Lauren Henry take to the water in the Women’s Single Sculls. Much like her heat, Henry was in control and by halfway, had a strong lead over the rest of the field. The Leicester RC sculler crossed the line six seconds ahead of the chasing pack, a tight race that was won by Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert. Henry heads to tomorrow’s A Final with the fastest time across the two semi-finals.
“I’m pleased with that, having led from gun to tape,” said Henry.
“I controlled it well, and it was an all-round solid performance. I’m very much looking forward to the final, and it all starts again tomorrow. Everyone starts on a level playing field, but you have to get the job done today to be there, so I’m pleased with that and to do it in a fine manner. I’m praying for a bit of a tailwind to see if I can go fast, but we’ll see what happens!”
The newly formed Men’s Double Scull of Josh Knight and Matt Haywood continued to go from strength to strength. Following their win in yesterday’s heat, they carried that momentum into today’s racing to beat Belgium and the United States, who placed second and third, respectively.
“It was a really solid race on the whole,” said Haywood.
“We’re a new crew but I think we wanted to step up from yesterday, get out that bit harder, and stick it in through the middle. I think we executed that and it’s really something to build on so I’m very happy.”
“As he said, We’re really happy with the race, it’s exactly what we planned to do. It’s awesome to be here and what an exciting time making my senior team debut,” added Knight.
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
Sculling success for the men continued as the Quadruple Scull placed second, 0.7s back on Germany. Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Tobias Schröder, and Rory Harris kept their poise as a length separated five crews for the majority of the race. Come the finish line, Estonia joined the Germans and the British in the final, after they beat Spain by 0.4 seconds on the line.
“It was a tough race. I thought all the other crews raced really well, but at the end of the day, we wanted to win,” said Harris.
“We’re still through to the A Final, it’s still only our second race together as a crew, and I think we’ll be up for it tomorrow to get our own back.
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
“They were like Muhammad Ali dancing around the ring.” Martin Cross’s commentary summed up the performance of the Men’s Coxless Four as they sailed into tomorrow’s A Final. Dan Graham, James Robson, Douwe de Graff, and George Bourne clocked 05:52.88 on their way to the fastest time of the two semi-finals as USA2, and the Netherlands also joined them in the A Final.
“We’re really happy,” said Robson who won this event at the World Rowing Championships last year.
“I think we got out of the blocks well, came onto a nice rhythm and used our mid race pace to get clear of the field and control it through the finish line, getting ready for tomorrow. We stepped on well; it was much better than yesterday, so that was the main aim today. Paddling back and watching the Quad make the A Final was very cool as well.
“I’m calling the race from the two seat, and I had a little look around to see where we were at 750. We were in a good place, it kept us honest in the middle 500, and from there it was managing it and making sure we kept our length through to the finish line.”
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
The Men’s Pair of Matt Aldridge and Fergus Woolnough raced valiantly in their first semi-final together. After Australia led out, the British ended up in a tight tussle with Spain and home favourites Switzerland in the closing stages of the race. Despite a final sprint, Aldridge and Woolnough weren’t able to close the gap, and the cowbells carried the Swiss Pair over the line in third. The British will race in the B Final tomorrow.
“I think we had a strong middle pace which differed from yesterday,” explained Woolnough.
“On that occasion, we had a really good start, and then the middle wasn’t as strong, and this was the opposite. Coming through halfway was great, and we found a nice rhythm and some great swing. We missed out by one spot, which is frustrating, but hopefully we can take the two lessons and put them into a really strong performance tomorrow.”
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
Seven seconds separated first and fifth in the second semi-final of the Women’s Double Sculls. After qualifying in good form yesterday, Sarah McKay and Cam Nyland were in amongst the action after 500m. As the race developed, the two crews from the United States, Poland, and Switzerland kicked on as they chased a qualifying spot, leaving the British to cross the line in fifth, heading for the B Final.
“That was spicy. We wanted to go out hot and give it everything, and I really think we did that,” said McKay.
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
In the C Final of the Men’s Double Sculls, GBR 2 led the field out in the opening stages. James Cartwright and Jamie Gare had a quick start, but Greece claimed the win, chased hard to the finish by AIN and Germany, with Great Britain placing fourth, 16th overall.
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
“It was another strong day for the team in Lucerne with four more crews setting themselves up well for tomorrow’s finals,” said Interim Performance Director Tom Dyson.
Lauren Henry delivered another assured performance and the men’s four were highly composed in controlling their semi final.
It’s hard to single out an area of the team when crews from each squad will be represented in tomorrow’s A finals, but the men’s scullers have shown another step forwards today. The men’s quad secured a strong 2nd place today behind Germany, the winners of World Cup I, while Josh and Matt backed up their result from the heat with a highly encouraging semi final win in the men’s double.
Four of these 6 athletes have progressed through British Rowing’s Performance Development Academies (formerly START) and I hope their results are a strong motivator to athletes striving to follow in their footsteps.”
Racing continues on Sunday from 08:20 BST with the minor finals.
