Gold for GB Rowing Team’s Glover and Stanning
Gold for Helen Glover and Heather Stanning on the world stage can sometimes be taken for granted. They made it look easy once more in France today, successfully defending their world women鈥檚 pair title by a big margin.
Gold for Helen Glover and Heather Stanning on the world stage can sometimes be taken for granted. They made it look easy once more in France today, successfully defending their world women鈥檚 pair title by a big margin.
Even in victory Stanning was talking about the improvements they needed to make and the hard work to come. 鈥淲e have worked very, very hard and it鈥檚 exciting because we feel there are more improvements to come鈥.
Glover said: 鈥淲e wanted to feel the pressure here of defending a title because that is what we will have to do in Rio鈥.
Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director and part of the GB set-up since the 1990s, said of the win ahead of New Zealand and the USA: 鈥淭hat was utterly exceptional. In my book, that ranks as one of the best GB performances of all time鈥.
James Foad and Matt Langridge added a silver in the equivalent boat behind the World and Olympic Champions, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand.
Both GB lightweight doubles also won silver. Charlotte Taylor and Kat Copeland capped their debut season by finishing within a third of a length of the defending World Champions.
Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers gave the stand-out 2015 crew and home-crowd favourites Stany Delayer and Jeremie Azou of France a run for their money before taking second ahead of the defending World Champions South Africa and the 2013 World Champions, Norway.
A bronze came from the men鈥檚 four of Scott Durant, Alan Sinclair, Tom Ransley and Stewart Innes in a race won by Italy. The quartet were doubly pleased with the podium finish after being called up late to the squad.
Only the men鈥檚 quadruple scull of Graeme Thomas, Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins andPeter Lambert finished outside of the medals. They produced a storming second half but could not catch the leading trio, headed by Germany.
鈥淲e have had an outstanding day with five medals from six boats and the men鈥檚 quad stepping up into fourth after their season of injury . I am very, very proud of the way our rowers have performed鈥, added Tanner.
Tomorrow鈥檚 racing includes the final of the women鈥檚 double scull with Katherine Grainger andVicky Thornley as well as the finals of the women’s eight and the men鈥檚 eight, the last race of the day, in which the much anticipated GB-Germany series could continue.
Racing starts at 12.00 UK time and the BBC will televise the racing on BBC Two from 12.00 – 14.15 UK time.
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RACE REPORTS
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are the Olympic, World and European Champions and were the first GB crew in action in today鈥檚 finals.
They were drawn alongside Felice Mueller and Eleanor Logan of the USA who had won the opposing semi-final on Thursday. New Zealand鈥檚 Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler constituted the top contender – albeit beaten by the GB combination the semi-finals.
Glover and Stanning, coached by Robin Williams, made a blistering start. Within 250m they were three-quarters of a length ahead. The USA and Canada were amongst the closest in the chasing echelon.
Just before halfway the Canadians dropped off the pace whilst New Zealand moved up with the USA. Glover, from Penzance, and Stanning, born in Yeovil but now from Lossiemouth, were still piling on the pressure at the front. They were three seconds ahead as the second half began to unfurl with the Kiwis, as predicted, their closest rivals.
The gap was now emphatically 鈥渃learwater鈥. New Zealand moved up a length ahead of the USA but the race was already done. Glover and Stanning came home in 6:52.99 to take the win by two lengths – just outside their own world best time. New Zealand took silver in 6:56.75 and America the bronze in 7:00.55.
James Foad and Matt Langridge were next in action for the GB Rowing Team. The 2015 World silver medallists, unbeaten here through the heats, quarter-finals and semi-final, are the European Champions.
Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, the Kiwi World and Olympic Champions and unbeaten since 2009, were the favourites to win. Foad and Langridge had raced and beaten all bar the Kiwis and Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik of Serbia, 2015 world cup bronze medalists in Lucerne, in the previous rounds.
Today Foad and Langridge got out well and by halfway were in second ahead of the Serbians and the Austrians. Meanwhlie, the New Zealanders powered away to take a multiple lengths lead out front.
Foad and Langridge dug in and the battle was now on with Serbia for second and third. It was a contest emphatically won by Foad and Langridge who came in home over a length ahead to take silver in 6:22.35. Serbia in bronze in 6:25.36.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to get silver. It鈥檚 hard to take. But credit to them. We upped our game at training camp but they have upped theirs too鈥, said Langridge
Foad echoed the sentiment: 鈥淚鈥檝e now got four silver medals. I am not here for silver any more, I wanted to win. I thought it would be a lot closer today. They are a class act鈥.
Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers were selected for the first time together in this boat for the 2015 season. They won world cup bronze in Varese and European silver but Fletcher missed out injured on the final at the Lucerne world cup.
Chambers is a 2012 Olympic silver medallists from the light four whilst Fletcher has previously won European silver and World U23 gold in the light men鈥檚 four. The boat is a good combination of experience and youth.
Today, without doubt, their biggest rivals were Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou of France who have won everything so far this year in this event. However, the pedigree of the field was intense with the 2014 World Champions, James Thompson and John Smith, drawn in lane 1 and the 2013 World Champions Are Strandli and Kristoffer Brun in lane 2.
Fletcher and Chambers made a fantastic start and were out in front with the French for the entire first half. As the race moved into its final phase, the GB and French boats were neck and neck until the French found something special in front of their home grandstand to move out to three-quarters of a length.
Fletcher and Chambers were closing on them in the final sprint but ran out of time and space. They had enough to hold off Norway. Gold to France in 6:13.38 and silver to GB in 6:15.15. Bronze to Norway.
鈥淲e rowed the race we wanted to and now we need to find a few more metres for next year鈥, said Fletcher. 鈥淚 am happy with that result today it was a good start for the boat鈥.
鈥淭he good thing about our event this season is that the results have switched and changed and no-one has really dominated鈥, said Charlotte Taylor of the lightweight women鈥檚 double scull in which she raced today鈥檚 final with Olympic Champion Kat Copeland. 鈥淎nyone鈥檚 game plan can win and if we are in the mix towards the end, I鈥檝e got confidence in what we have got鈥.in our turn of speed鈥.
Taylor and Copeland were drawn today in lane 5 alongside the New Zealand defending World Champions, Sophie Mackenzie and Julia Edward. Canada, silver medallists a year ago, were in lane 3.
In the first half of today鈥檚 race the GB Rowing Team duo from Bedford and Tees respectively were amongst the leading trio with South Africa and the New Zealand. Just before the final timing marker at 1500m the New Zealanders made their move and stretched out their lead. South Africa went with them and the GB combination were back in third and trailing the lead by two-thirds of a length.
As the race reached its zenith the GB boat found another gear, moved away from the South Africans and had enough pace to finish within half a length of the Kiwis who therefore kept their World crown.
Copeland said: 鈥淭he first job was to qualify the boat for Rio this year. I also didn鈥檛 expect the depth of field here. It鈥檚 the hardest event I have ever done. So I鈥檓 really pleased with what we have done here鈥.
Taylor said: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 look out of the boat. It was all about seeing how well we could do by racing our own race. Today the Kiwis were good enough but now it鈥檚 game on鈥.
The 2015 men鈥檚 four was not selected until the final training camps due to injury and illness.Scott Durant, Alan Sinclair, Tom Ransley and Stewart Innes emerged from the mountain lake of Silvretta to take on the mantle of this historic boat for GB.
Durant and Sinclair were World silver medallists in 2014 in the coxed pair. Ransley was a gold medalist in the eight and Innes, a newcomer to the squad, had already won gold in the men鈥檚 eight. This, then, was an entirely different boat to the one which won gold for GB in Amsterdam in 2014.
Australia, fielding two 2013 World silver medalliists, and the Netherlands were the pre-race favourites. but there was all to play for. A good rhythm could see the GB crew onto the podium.
In the end they took a storming bronze behind Italy – popular and noisy winners – and were more than happy with the way they came up through the field and then held onto third place.
Sinclair summed up the pride in the boat when he said: 鈥淚 am overwhelmed by how well our race went. To win would have, of course, been the dream but to come away with a medal with so many people doubting us is a really good feeling鈥.
Ransley said: 鈥淚 am proud of this unit and the way it has developed race by race鈥.
2015 newcomer Innes added: 鈥淎t the beginning of the year I don鈥檛 think anyone but me would have backed me to have been here and win a medal. Credit to Christian Felkel our coach for guiding us through all the stresses and strains. We could not have done it without him鈥.
Durant said: 鈥淚 am very happy indeed. We had a great start at the European Championships. Since then it has not been the easiest of projects with lots of ups and downs. I always knew this boat was capable of winning a medal鈥.
Last up for GB in today鈥檚 finals were the men鈥檚 quadruple scull of Preston鈥檚 Graeme Thomas, Reading鈥檚 Sam Townsend, Charles Cousins from Cambridge and Maidenhead鈥檚 Peter Lambert. This was the line up that won World silver a year ago but also a crew who could not race together until the World Championships this year after a season hampered by injury and illness.
Germany and Lithuania had shown well at semi-final stage with the Ukraine, the reigning World Champions, failing at that hurdle.
From the outset the Germans laid down a marker and led throughout to win in 5:53.22. The Australians battled hard but fell just short and Estonia came through to take bronze. Behind the leaders the GB boat found the pace to move up from fifth to fourth, using their second half pace and a bucket-load of determination to come home in 5:57.82.
Earlier, the GB women鈥檚 quadruple scull of Frances Houghton, Jess Leyden, KrisTina Stillerand Melanie Wilson were second in the B final.
China took an early lead and at halfway the GB combination had the overlap on them in second but despite a valiant effort in the final 500m the Chinese took the verdict by just over a second.
