Charlotte Taylor Archives - 91��ɫ

Thirty minutes, two golds – historic day for GB in Rio

91��ɫ — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 17:05:36 +0000

Both the women’s pair and men’s four lived up to their billing as gold-medal favourites by producing truly magnificent performances to dominate their respective finals and write their names into the history books.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the outstanding women’s pair of the past five years, became the first-ever British women to successfully defend an Olympic title as they repeated their heroics from Eton Dorney.

Relative rookies back at London 2012, this time the weight of expectation was on their shoulders but they delivered in the style of great champions by leading their race from start to finish.

Glover said: “It’s really difficult to put this feeling into words. To defend your title is something very, very special. The first time we did it, it took a long time to realise we were Olympic champions and it was all new to us. This time round, we crossed the line and we were 2016 champions and we felt like that straight away.”

Stanning added: “It means so much more, we’ve put an awful lot of pressure on ourselves and I’ve been so emotional this week which isn’t me at all.”

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis found themselves under pressure from Australia at the halfway point of the men’s four final but stuck to the gameplan laid down by coach Juergen Grobler to pull clear and surge to victory.

It was a fifth successive Olympic gold medal for the GB men’s four, breaking the previous record of successive victories in the event held jointly by Britain and East Germany.

Gregory, winning his second gold in the four, said: “The last boat I was in, in London, had some incredible positive parts but this is the most consistent performing boat I’ve ever been a part of.”

Nash added: “I’m really pleased, for these guys and for the whole project really. It’s a great crew to be part of.”

There was disappointment for Alan Campbell who had to settle for fourth place in his men’s single scull semi-final after a stunning finish from Belarussian Stanislau Shcharbachenia, which denied the Coleraine rower a shot at a second Olympic medal.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers finished their regatta on a positive note by winning the lightweight men’s double scull B final, while the lightweight women’s double of Charlotte Taylor and Kat Copeland were second in the C final.

Tomorrow GB’s two eights are in action and both are considered medal chances. The women go at 15.04 BST, followed by the men at 15.24 BST.

Click on the expander boxes below for full race reports, reaction and results.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Grainger becomes GB’s most decorated female Olympian

91��ɫ — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:36:36 +0000

Thornley and Grainger turned an indifferent season into a silver lining today, battling all the way down the course with the Polish favourites only to be outdone in the very dying metres of the race.

The silver was a first for Thornley – and one she will cherish – and a fourth for Grainger since 2000 to add to the gold she won in the same event at London 2012. The tally makes her Britain’s most decorated female Olympian of all time.

Grainger said of the race and their early lead: “I don’t think you ever feel like you are going to win but we were ahead and it felt good and then you come down very quickly. It was certainly a dramatic race”.

Thornley added: “It was a really great race from us and a silver medal is so nice, I think”.

Earlier the open men’s pair of Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes, and double of Jonny Walton and John Collins produced gutsy performances to finish fourth and fifth respectively. The men’s quad of Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert also gave everything they had to finish fifth overall – an impressive result after their disrupted build-up to the Games.

Peter Lambert, Angus Groom, Sam Townsend and Jack Beaumont gave their all

Stewart Innes and Alan Sinclair

John Collins and Jonny Walton

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis produced a dominant performance in their men’s four semi to qualify for tomorrow’s final, leading throughout.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were equally impressive in their semi, taking an early and big lead before going on to win comfortably.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers emptied the tank giving their all in the lightweight men’s double scull semi but could not get into the top three and qualify for tomorrow’s final.

Alan Campbell will race the final GB semi of the programme tomorrow morning in the men’s single scull. The men’s four and women’s pair will line up for their finals.

Click on the expander boxes below for full race reports, reaction and results.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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A place of joy and a theatre of pain

91��ɫ — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:56:40 +0000

Rio’s Lagoa was a place of joy for four Team GB rowing crews and a theatre of considerable pain for two others today.

The weather behaved, the water conditions were more favourable and the sun shone as five-times Olympian Katherine Grainger and her 2016 double scull partner, Vicky Thornley, produced a consummate semi-final to reach Thursday’s final in second place behind Poland in an event which saw the World Champions fall by the wayside in the opposing heat.

Thornley said: “It’s good to come through. Semis are always very tense. We are now looking forward to Thursday and we know that we can do more and better”.
Grainger added: “We always said that we would take this regatta one race at a time and we have been doing that. When it was all over today we both said we could have done better, so that’s promising”.

Two rookie Team GB Olympic crews – the men’s pair and men’s double – also moved into the finals. Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes, European silver medallists, said that they could improve on their men’s pair heat and they did. Taking second place today they looked strong in a perfectly paced final that saw them put in a strong middle section.

John Collins said that they knew they would “need to go somewhere they have never been in practice” to come through today’s semi of the men’s double. They stayed pacey and strong despite pressure from multiple crews to come home third in a race won by the World Champions from Croatia.

Walton added: “We have been working so, so hard for this. It is amazing to be in the finals. Finally it’s come together”.
Alan Campbell, four-times an Olympian, is clearly relishing the regatta here. He was not fazed by the prowess of 2015 European Champion and multiple world cup medal winner Damir Martin in the adjacent lane.

“I focussed on my own race and not the Croatian and it worked”, said the Coleraine man who was second by a comfortable margin over the remainder of the field and now moves to a semi on Thursday.

Chris Bartley, Jono Clegg, Mark Aldred and Peter Chambers fought a tightly-bunched lightweight men’s four semi-final but fell the wrong side of the top three dividing line in the final long sprint to the line as the French and New Zealanders came through behind an eye-catching Italian winning quartet.

“I don’t think we could have done anything more. We didn’t leave anything out there today”, said Peter Chambers afterwards. “We were beaten by good crews”.

Bartley added: “I guess we can be proud that no-one held back. We put everything we had out there today”.

Heartbreak also awaited reigning Olympic Champion Kat Copeland and her new lightweight women’s double partner Charlotte Taylor who are out of the regatta. They raced a repechage this morning but came home third – one place short of qualifying for the semis. In Rio this crew has not looked in the form that took them to World Silver last year.
Taylor said: “We didn’t have a great start, I think I caught one of the strokes and we got a bit dumped. We came through 750m and I said we needed to really fight for our lives here but we were never really able to close the gap.

“I don’t think it was our best race. I definitely feel like we’ve raced better in the past.

This year we’ve not properly found our gear in any of the races”.

Tomorrow sees the first GB crew in finals action. The men’s quad race at 10.22 (14.22 Uk time). No British men’s quad has ever won an Olympic medal.

The race programme also includes semi-finals for the women’s pair, lightweight men’s double and men’s four.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Four and eights lay down marker

91��ɫ — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 18:46:22 +0000

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis laid down a strong marker in their opening Olympic men’s four heat here at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas in Brazil. They built on an early lead to win in 5:55.59 and move into Wednesday’s semi-finals.

“I feel like a pressure valve has been released”, said Gregory It’s been a lot of waiting but it was good to get the job done”.

Nash added: “It was good to get that one under our belts and out of the way”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning experienced a much tighter affair, coming through a stiff Danish challenge to win their opening heat of the 2016 Olympic regatta in 7:05.05.
The Olympic, World and European Champions saw the danger in the final 250m and needed a powerful flourish at the end to secure the win.

Stanning said: “The important thing today was to get into the semi-finals and we did that. It definitely wasn’t a bad row but it wasn’t an exceptional row either”.

Glover added: “On time and on margin that was a tough race but we have experienced having to dig deeper in other races and in training”.

The GB women’s eight paced their heat to perfection to break through a New Zealand lead in the final 500m to win and take a place in Sunday’s final. The win was revenge for their defeat to the Kiwis at the season’s final world cup.

GB’s men followed up with a commanding performance to win their eights heat in 5:34.23 to move straight through to Sunday’s final.

“We have put in a lot of hard work over the past two months and I think it’s beginning to show”, said Pete Reed.

“They are all very, very good crews here. The final is going to be an incredible race”, added Paul Bennett.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers secured their semi-final slot with second place in their lightweight men’s double heat behind South Africa.

Chambers talked on behalf of the crew whilst his crew-mate Will Fletcher was called to anti-doping. “Today was good but not good enough. I know we can do better. We didn’t settle as well into our rhythm as we have been doing in training. It was probably just the excitement of an opening heat at the Olympic Games”.

Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor did not get the result they wanted today as they were fifth in their heat and now race a repechage of the lightweight women’s double scull.
Taylor said: “I guess the disappointing thing is that we haven’t shown what we can do. We need to deconstruct what we have just done and put it all back together again for tomorrow’s repechage”.

Earlier the GB men’s quadruple scull warmed GB hearts as they overcame recent bad luck to reach the Olympic final, taking second place in their repechage. As Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert crossed the line there was probably a bit of Graeme Thomas – the man who had to go home ill – with them as they became the first GB crew to reach a final here in Brazil.

“It hasn’t been the ideal preparation but I’m very happy for the three guys behind me in the stroke seat as well as for Charles (Cousins) and Graeme (Thomas) who helped get us here”. said Lambert.

John Collins and Jonny Walton were also in much better racing fettle today as they powered into the semis of the open men’s double scull with a win in a tensely-contested repechage.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Ready and raring to go in Rio

91��ɫ — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 23:55:37 +0000

Alan Campbell will launch Great Britain’s Olympic rowing campaign this Saturday on Rio’s Estadio de Lagoa at 09.00 Brazilian time (13.00 BST) when he faces opposition from Belarus, Korea, Zimbabwe and Indonesia for a place in Tuesday’s quarter-finals of the open men’s single scull.

The 2012 bronze medal open men’s single sculler, from Coleraine and coached by John West, will lead off a British contingent of 12 boats and 47 rowers in action at these Games at a lake which Team GB Rowing Leader, Sir David Tanner, has described as “one of the iconic venues of the Games”.

Saturday morning’s race-card includes the men’s pair of Alan Sinclair, from Inverness, and Henley’s Stewart Innes, the European silver medal winners (14.40 BST). They have drawn the Dutch crew of Roel Braas and Mitchel Steenman, also multiple medal winners this season, in their opening heat. A top three finish from the six starters will see them into Tuesday’s semi-finals.

“The guys are excited about racing at their first Games and are fired up because of the support back home”, said their coach Rob Dauncey.

2012 Olympic women’s eight finalist Vicky Thornley, from Wrexham, and five-times Olympian and Glasgow’s defending Olympic champion Katherine Grainger, have a tough opener in the open women’s double scull in which they need a top three placing to progress.

They are drawn to race alongside Lithuania’s 2013 World Champions Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite in a heat also featuring 2015 World bronze medallists, Germany (15.00 BST).

“It’s a very tasty heat and the women are looking forward to testing themselves”, said coach Paul Thompson.

Leicester’s Jonny Walton and Twickenham’s John Collins will kick off their debut Olympics in a heat of the open men’s double scull, which features current World bronze medallists New Zealand and 2014 silver medallists, Italy (15.30 BST). A top three finish for the duo, coached by Mark Banks, will see them safely into Tuesday’s semi-finals.

Coleraine’s Peter Chambers and Chester’s Chris Bartley both took silver in the lightweight men’s four in London and return to this boat class in Rio where they race with Olympic first-timers Mark Aldred, from Birmingham and Maidenhead’s Jono Clegg.

In Saturday’s opening heat (16.10 BST) the quartet, who finished the world cup season on a strong note, with world cup bronze in Poland, have drawn 2014 World Champions and 2015 World silver medallists, Denmark. They also race the Germans whom they beat into fifth place in the final in Poland. Three crews go through to semi-finals.

‘It will be interesting to see how we run off against the Danes in the opening heat because they are one of the top crews in the world. It will put everyone’s minds at rest to see where we stand”, said coach Hamish Burrell.

Jack Beaumont from Maidenhead has flown out to join the GB men’s quadruple scull crew in the past few days because of illness to Graeme Thomas. Beaumont, Reading’s Sam Townsend, Glasgow’s Angus Groom, who learnt to row in Guildford, and Henley’s Peter Lambert will close out GB’s first day of racing.

“Australia and Poland are the seeded crews, so it will be a good test”, said coach Paul Stannard of their opening heat (16.40 BST) from which two crews progress to Wednesday’s final and the others to a repechage which provides those crews with a second chance on Monday.

SUNDAY

Sunday’s start-list will see the men’s four, women’s pair and the two lightweight double scull crews in action in their respective opening heats.

Gloucestershire’s defending Olympic Champion Alex Gregory, Surbiton’s Moe Sbihi, George Nash, from Guildford, and Londoner Constantine Louloudis start unbeaten this season in the men’s four. They line up with South Africa, France and Greece in heat three (16.20 BST).

Three crews from each heat will progress to the men’s four semi-finals on Wednesday. Britain have been Olympic champions in this event at every Games since Sydney 2000.

“Overall the draws are good but there is no easy opposition at Olympic Games level. We are here to compete and to show how we can perform. We have prepared well and we are now looking forward to it”, said coach Jurgen Grobler who is coaching at his 11th Olympic Games.

Helen Glover, from Penzance, and Lossiemouth’s Heather Stanning will race a women’s pair heat which includes Denmark and Germany who are both world cup finalists this season (14.10 BST).

Robin Williams, coach to the Olympic, World and European Champion duo, said: “The draw has turned out evenly balanced with the seeded crews missing each other but we have crews in our heats who can race, and race well, so we will be giving them the proper respect”. Three crews progress from this heat.

Tees rower Kat Copeland, like Glover and Stanning, is a defending Olympic Champion. With Putney’s Charlotte Taylor, Copeland won World silver a year ago.

The duo missed the latter part of this season’s world cup racing because of injury but have come through well from two recent good training camps.

Only two crews progress to semi-finals from their heat (14.40 BST). Coach Paul Reedy said: “We are racing crews that are ranked quite highly so it will be a good first test and we are raring to go”.

Richard Chambers, the elder of the Chambers siblings and a London 2012 lightweight men’s four medallist, races this Games with Games debutant Will Fletcher from Chester-le-Street in the lightweight men’s double scull.

In a somewhat ironic twist the combination, coached by Darren Whiter, are drawn in their heat (15.50 BST) alongside John Thompson and John Smith who were half of South African lightweight four who so narrowly pipped GB to gold in London four years ago. The top two crews go on to the semi-finals with the remainder to the repechages.

MONDAY

Britain’s two eights open their Games on Monday with heats starting at 10.30 local time (14.30 in the UK).

The men have drawn Holland, Italy and New Zealand. Germany, the Olympic Champions, are in the other heat. Scott Durant (Lancaster), Tom Ransley (Ashford), Andrew T Hodge (Hebden), Matt Gotrel (Chipping Campden), Pete Reed (Nailsworth), Paul Bennett (Leeds), Matt Langridge (Northwich), Will Satch (Henley) and Londoner Phelan Hill feature in this line-up.

Christian Felkel, who coaches the eight with Jurgen Grobler, said: “It was expected that the Germans would be in the other heat because of the seedings. The Dutch, of course, won in Lucerne at the world cup so that will be interesting but we are not worried and we can’t wait to get going”.

The GB European Champion women’s eight are drawn with Canada and New Zealand.

James Harris, coach of the European Champion women’s eight with Paul Thompson, said: “The seeding meant that we would always face New Zealand in the heats. We’ve traded results with them this season and the Canadians, of course, are the World bronze medallists from last year so it’s going to be a good three-boat fight”. Only one crew can progress directly to the final, the other two will have a second chance via the repechage.

Katie Greves (Oxford), Melanie Wilson (London) Frances Houghton (Oxford), Polly Swann (Edinburgh), Jess Eddie (Durham), Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Reading), Karen Bennett (Edinburgh), Zoe Lee (Richmond) and cox Zoe de Toledo (London) will race at 10.40 Brazilian time (14.40 in the UK) with the men in action 20 minutes later.

Click here for a full guide to the Games

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Six more GB crews through to European finals

91��ɫ — Sat, 07 May 2016 12:52:36 +0000

Their perfectly-paced race on Brandenburg’s breezy Beetzee made them one of six GB Rowing Team crews to make tomorrow’s finals and join the seven crews that had already qualified from yesterday’s racing.

Innes said: “We had a good start and then the middle bit got a bit bouncy but we came through it well – job done and we’re looking forward to the final”.

John Collins and Jonny Walton came through strongly in the second half of their open men’s double semi today to take a third place and move through in a strong field.

Collins said: “We looked at both semi-finals and thought we had the toughest one but we know we have to race the best at some point. We had quite a strong first half in yesterday’s heats but needed to be a bit calmer in these conditions and I felt we pitched it a lot better today”.

Imogen Walsh

Jamie Kirkwood

Jonny Walton and John Collins

Both GB open quads went through – the men in second place and the women in third in their repechages. As an inexperienced crew the women did well in the worsening wind and the men were closing on Estonia, who won, in the closing stages.

Jamie Kirkwood grabbed third in a dramatically close finish to his lightweight men’s single semi and Imogen Walsh was second in her repechage to book a place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, It was a difficult day for two 2012 medallists. Olympic champion Kat Copeland and her partner Charlotte Taylor missed out on a finals spot coming fourth in their light double semi. Alan Campbell looked out of sorts and finished fifth in his open men’s single.

Conversely fourth place was a significant achievement for 21 year-old emerging talent Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne in the open women’s single at her first regatta at this level in this boat.

End of the Rio Road for W4x. Copyright Intersport Images

The men's quad

The 2016 GB men’s four of Alex Gregory, George Nash, Mohamed Sbihi and Constantine Louloudis, after an eye-catching heats win, are amongst the seven already-qualified crews. Despite their comfortable qualification all four feel there is more to be done.

Gregory said: “For me it feels like it’s been a long winter of training. There has been a lot riding on trials and getting selected. So, to finally get a run-out competitively in the heats here was exciting. It felt great.

“But we have a few things to adjust in our race place and we are looking forward to putting them right tomorrow. The conditions here are not easy so it’s a test of boatmanship was well as our first international races as a crew”.

Sbihi added: “Looking ahead to the final, we are not looking at who we are racing but how we are going to improve from yesterday”.

The men’s eight were pleased with their heats win ahead of Poland but are not resting on their laurels.

Scott Durant said: “We obviously want to win tomorrow but this is the first regatta of the season, so it’s about building on what we have done so far and working towards the goal of Rio. It’s all part of the learning curve”.

The lightweight men’s four also impressed in qualifying yesterday and Peter Chambers said: “It’s been going well for us over the last few weeks, we’ve got our act together and have been moving the four along nicely. We’ve been setting a good high standard and hopefully we can show that tomorrow”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning will kick off the Olympic boat class action tomorrow for GB as favourites to win the women’s pair after a blistering heat. They race at 09.18 UK time in a finals session which has been brought forward by one hour due to predicted strengthening wind conditions later in the day. The session starts at 07.00 with the B finals. A Finals start at 08.33 and finish at 12.33.

Follow live updates on Twitter – @GBRowingTeam.

GB ROWERS TO RACE EURO FINALS WEARING BLACK RIBBONS

In tomorrow’s European Championships finals, members of the GB Rowing Team will race wearing black ribbons on their vests in memory of the late Ron Needs who sadly died a few days ago.

Ron had been a GB coach since the 1970s, coaching many medal boats and he continued to work with the team until a couple of years ago.

He coached the current GB women’s pair coach Robin Williams to a lightweight world medal in the 1970s and coached alongside current GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner in his days as an international coach.

Ron also coached the first GB crew to win a world gold since the 1940s when they won lightweight eight won in Amsterdam in 1977.

Katherine Grainger said: “Ron was my first GB Rowing coach and remained a wise counsel and friend to me for 20 years. His passion for rowing was infectious and his knowledge and understanding of the sport immense”.

For reaction to this report and interview requests on the day please contact the GB Rowing Team press office on site: comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk or 07831 755351 or 07765 071683.

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Rowers ready for ‘world-class’ European test

91��ɫ — Wed, 04 May 2016 14:31:23 +0000

That is the view of many of the 47-strong GB Rowing Team as they flew out on Wednesday for their first major test of a massive season.

The women’s pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning was one of six GB crews to win gold at last year’s European Championships in Poznan, Poland.

“It is a title we need to go and defend as it kicks off a big season with the Olympics at the end of it,” said Stanning.

“Within our event we tend to think our competition will come from outside of Europe but we need to be aware that there could be nations who pop their heads up.

“There are also people who have yet to qualify for the Olympics so they will be really race-ready and that is nice for us too.”

Also looking to defend their title this weekend is the lightweight women’s double scull of Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor.

“I’m really excited to be back in the double with Charlie,” said Olympic champion Copeland. “She has an amazing head on her shoulders, she knows how to get a lot out of me and she has a really good approach to training and racing in general.

“I think it is going to be really tough at the Europeans, given how much the field stepped up for the Worlds last year, but we’re good as well.”

Alex Gregory returns to the boat in which he won Olympic gold at London 2012 after being named in a men’s four along with Moe Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis.

“Finally we are in the racing season and I’m really looking forward to getting out there in Germany and testing what we can do,” said Gregory.

“It’s an early indicator of potentially what could happen later on in the year at the Olympics and I’m itching to get going.”

The women’s eight finished last season as Europe’s leading crew after placing just outside the medals at the World Championships and will be looking to put down a marker in Brandenburg.

“The Europeans will be a big test,” said Jess Eddie, one of five members of last season’s crew to be selected for the Europeans.

“There are some crews there who haven’t qualified for Rio yet so they will be preparing for the qualification regatta and will be on tip-top form.

“But by the time we got to the World Championships last year we were the fastest European crew so we have to put ourselves out there to win this race. We have the quality and skill to do that.”

Polly Swann returns from injury to join Eddie in the eight along with Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett, Zoe Lee and cox Zoe de Toledo.

In the men’s eight are Matt Gotrel, Scott Durant, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Andrew T Hodge Tom Ransley, Matt Langridge, Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill.

It will be a first international competition since the 2014 World Championships for double Olympic champion Hodge, who missed last season through illness.

“It’s been an 18-month winter for me but summer is definitely on the horizon and it feels really good,” he said.

“I go into this project in a similar mind-set to when I first came into the GB team, particularly with having a year off. I’ve got a great opportunity and I’m on a voyage of discovery, I have everything to look forward to and nothing to fear.

“Our goal is definitely Rio and we are building towards that but we will certainly be challenging in Germany and we want to hit the ground running.”

Crew-mate Reed, who won Olympic men’s four gold with Hodge in 2008 and 2012, added: “I’m really excited. The crew is immense, just really strong guys. I look down the boat from cox all the way to bow and there is no weakness there.”

Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes will be looking to build on their impressive showing at the GB Olympic-season Trials when they contest the men’s pair.

Vicky Thornley and Katherine Grainger won women’s double scull bronze at last year’s European Championships and head into this year’s event confident they are improving all the time.

“This winter has been about moving on physically and technically, both individually and in the crew boats, which I think we have done and done well,” said Thornley.

“We want to keep improving all the way up to the final of the Olympics, so we are working every day towards that.

“We’re in a tough event and there are a lot of really good crews, so we have to make sure we put ourselves in the best position. I am confident we can do that, starting with a good performance at the Europeans.”

London 2012 bronze-medallist Alan Campbell is also expecting a “very good challenge” as he starts his tenth successive year in the GB men’s single scull.

“I’ve seen the entry list and pretty much everyone you would expect is there, it’s a really strong field,” he said.

“Ondrej Synek is there, he’s a three-times World Champion now, and what Croatia’s Damir Martin did in winning the World Cup in Varese last month was pretty exceptional.

“There are also a lot of new guys coming through and some people who are still looking to qualify for Rio, so they will really be on their game. It will be a very good standard and a very good challenge.”

John Collins and Jonny Walton will once again race in the men’s double, while hoping it will be third time lucky are the men’s quad who have won silver and bronze at the past two European Championships.

“It would be really nice to finally become a European Champion,” said Graeme Thomas, who will race alongside Angus Groom, Sam Townsend and Peter Lambert.

“The championships will be a real indicator as to what the standard will be at the Olympic Games. Seven of the eight qualified boats for Rio are European so that really shows the depth.

“It’s a big challenge but we are really excited at the prospect of putting down a good performance at the start of the season.”

Also looking to make a strong start to 2016 are the lightweight men’s four of Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers, who finished ninth at last year’s World Championships.

“We’ve raced together and know what doesn’t work, so hopefully we can find out what does work and put in a good performance at the Euros,” said Clegg.

“The Europeans is a big competition in itself, so to be going there to represent your country is a real privilege and honour. In our event the World Champions from Switzerland will be there, so we have a truly world-class stage to go and perform on.”

For the women’s quad of Tina Stiller, Holly Nixon, Jess Leyden and Rosamund Bradbury, the Europeans provide more race experience as they prepare for the final Olympic qualification regatta later this month.

They finished fourth in the recent Varese World Cup and Nixon said: “This weekend is going to give us more of a glimpse of what could turn up at the Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne.

“I think things are going well so far. Having more time in the crew is always a positive and we are making the most of that time together.

“I’m just really happy to be here. I feel really lucky each day I get to go out with the girls. I am learning so much from them.”

Defending champion Imogen Walsh and Jamie Kirkwood will contest the lightweight single sculls, while reigning World Champions Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour go in the lightweight men’s pair. Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne is a racing spare in the women’s single.

The European Championships will take place from May 6-8. The current racing schedule is (all times in BST):

Friday: Heats 9.30-12.50; repechages 15.00-15.40.
Saturday: Repechages and semi-finals 9.30-11.45; C Finals 11.50-12.15.
Sunday: B Finals 8.00-9.10; A Finals 9.33-13.33.

Live coverage and highlights will be on BBC2 from 13.00-14.00 on Sunday, May 8.

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Some tweaks have been made to the Europeans team

91��ɫ — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 13:33:22 +0000

With the European Championships taking place next week in Brandenburg, Germany, 91��ɫ has updated its team-list.

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, winner of the U23 GB Trials recently, joins the entries for the event from 6-8 May as a racing spare in the open women’s single scull. She will also be reserve for the women’s quadruple scull.

Richard Chambers and Will Fletcher have been withdrawn from the light men’s double scull. They are now fully back in training after Chambers’ hand injury but the decision has been taken to miss the Europeans and focus on the world cup in Lucerne.

GB’s main squad was announced three weeks ago, signalling an intention to be ambitious at the Europeans as part of aiming high in Rio – now 100 days away.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were announced in the women’s pair in which they are the reigning Olympic, World and European Champions.

Glover said: “It’s always fantastic to be selected to represent Great Britain, and never more so than in Olympic year. The European Championships are our first opportunity to test our early season speed against international competition.”

And one of the strongest open men’s sweep* rowing squads in the world has been deployed across the men’s eight and four as well as a new-look men’s pair for the event which takes place in Brandenburg Germany from May 6-8.

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “We are clearly ambitious to do well in Rio and will race and then review the Europeans combinations announced today. We will also enter six crews for the Varese World Cup regatta in ten days’ time.”

Double Olympic men’s four champions Pete Reed and Andrew T Hodge have been selected into the men’s eight in a line-up which includes Scott Durant and 2012 men’s eight medallist Matt Langridge alongside multiple World Champions Paul Bennett, Matt Gotrel, Tom Ransley, stroke Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill. Ransley, Satch and Hill are also 2012 medallists.

Alex Gregory, 2012 gold medallist in the four, returns to that boat and races with his Trials winning partner, Mohamed Sbihi, plus George Nash and stroke Constantine Louloudis. The quartet are all reigning World Champions in the men’s eight.

Gregory said: “Everything we do aims towards the Olympics and now finally we are starting to form the crews that will make up the Olympic team. With the European Championships as the first test, I can’t wait to get the 2016 racing season underway. It’s a privilege to race for our country and the feeling of pride and excitement never diminishes.”

Having laid down a strong marker with a top four finish at the recent GB Trials Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes are named as the men’s pair.

Relative rookie Angus Groom has forced his way into the open men’s quadruple scull* in the absence of the injured Charles Cousins, to join 2013 and 2014 World medallists Sam Townsend, Graeme Thomas and Peter Lambert.

Lambert said: “I am extremely happy with my selection for the Europeans. This regatta is an exciting start to our Olympic season. The men’s quad at the Europeans is an extremely high competition. Out of the eight crews that qualified last year for the Olympics, seven of them are European countries. We are looking forward to it.”

2012 bronze medallist Alan Campbell, whose Trials’ win showed that he is back on form, races the single scull and Jonny Walton and John Collins, contest the double scull – they qualified that boat for Rio at last year’s World Championships.

Four-times Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger is named in the open women’s double scull with Trials winner Vicky Thornley in a reprise of their 2015 partnership which finished its debut season with a place in the World final.

Like Grainger, Frances Houghton, will race a fifth Olympic Games if selected later this summer for Rio. She has switched from sculling to sweep rowing and has won a seat in the women’s eight that came so close to winning a medal at last year’s World Championships.

Grainger said: “The idea of ever competing at the Olympic Games was once just a dream and so it was incredible when I made the team in 2000. Now 16 years on and looking to my fifth Games I still have the same excitement I did back then, it’s the most amazing event to be part of and that doesn’t change whether it’s the first time or the fifth.”

Houghton said: “I feel almost overwhelmed to be selected for the European Championships in the women’s eight. It is the first major step conquered on the way to fulfilling my dream of competing in my fifth Olympic Games.

It has at times seemed like an insurmountable mountain to climb, and now it is just sinking in that all the hard work and deep belief in the darkest of times of illness and injury has paid off”.

Olympians Jess Eddie, Katie Greves and Melanie Wilson as well as 2013 World pair champion Polly Swann, back after a year out with injury, will be joined in the line-up by Zoe Lee, Karen Bennett, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, and cox Zoe de Toledo.

The women’s quadruple scull will be Holly Nixon, Jess Leyden, Tina Stiller and Rosamund Bradbury. They raced recently at the world cup in Varese as the campaign begins to qualify this boat for Rio.

World silver medallists Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor will once more race the lightweight women’s double scull having taken the top two spots at the Trials from a strongly contested lightweight sculling group. Imogen Walsh, therefore, races the single in which she won World silver in 2015.

Further post-Trials testing was needed to establish the crews for the light men’s sweep boats. 2012 silver medallists Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley have made the cut and will be joined by Mark Aldred and Jono Clegg, both now experienced internationals. Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells are GB’s choice in the pair. They won World gold last year.

Jamie Kirkwood, a World finalist last year, takes up the GB slot in the lightweight men’s single once more.

*Sweep = one rower, one oar *Scull = one rower, two sculls

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European selections point to aiming high at Rio Olympics

91��ɫ — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 09:35:57 +0000

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were announced in the women’s pair in which they are the reigning Olympic, World and European Champions.

And one of the strongest open men’s sweep* rowing squads in the world has been deployed across the men’s eight and four, as well as a new-look men’s pair, for the event which takes place in Brandenburg, Germany from May 6-8.

Having laid down a strong marker with a top-four finish at the recent GB Trials, Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes are named as the men’s pair.

It is the first major step conquered on the way to fulfilling my dream of competing in my fifth Olympic Games – Frances Houghton

“It has at times seemed like an insurmountable mountain to climb and now it is just sinking in that all the hard work and deep belief in the darkest of times of illness and injury has paid off.”

It’s a privilege to race for our country and the feeling of pride and excitement never diminishes – Alex Gregory

Richard Chambers is on his way back after a recent hand injury and will race the lightweight men’s double, if fully fit, with Will Fletcher. Just like Olympic Champion Copeland and Taylor, they won World silver last year in their debut season together.

Further post-Trials testing was needed to establish the crews for the lightweight men’s sweep boats. 2012 silver medallists Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley have made the cut and will be joined by Mark Aldred and Jono Clegg, both now experienced internationals. Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells are GB’s choice in the pair. They won World gold last year.

Jamie Kirkwood, a World finalist last year, takes up the GB slot in the lightweight men’s single once more.

91��ɫ will also race six crews at the Varese World Cup from April 15-17, including the women’s quadruple scull, announced in the European squad today as Holly Nixon, Jess Leyden, Tina Stiller and Rosamund Bradbury as the campaign begins to qualify this boat for Rio.

Click the expander ‘Crew List’ box below to see the squad in full.

*Sweep = one rower, one oar / Scull = one rower, two sculls

RACING TIMETABLE – 2016 European Championships, Brandenburg, Germany

Friday 6 May – all heats a.m.; some repechages p.m.
Saturday 7 May – All further repechages and semi-finals.
Sunday 8 May – All finals (09.33 – 13.33 UK Time).

GB ROWING TEAM MEDALISTS – 2015 European Championships, Poznan, Poland

Gold:

Women’s pair – Helen Glover, Heather Stanning.
Men’s pair – James Foad, Matt Langridge.
Men’s four – Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell, Alan Sinclair, Tom Ransley, Scott Durant.
Lightweight women’s single scull – Imogen Walsh.
Lightweight women’s double scull – Charlotte Taylor, Kat Copeland.
Lightweight men’s pair – Joel Cassells, Peter Chambers.

Silver:

Men’s eight – Matt Gotrel, Stewart Innes, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Moe Sbihi, Alex Gregory, George Nash, Will Satch, Phelan Hill (cox).
Lightweight men’s double scull – Richard Chambers, Will Fletcher.

Bronze:

Women’s double scull – Vicky Thornley, Katherine Grainger.
Men’s quadruple scull – Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Graeme Thomas, Peter Lambert.

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Multiple wins and maiden victories as “exceptional” Trials conclude

91��ɫ — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 14:54:14 +0000

Lightweights Charlotte Taylor, Will Fletcher, Sam Scrimgeour and Jono Clegg all recorded maiden victories at the event with impressive performances in Wednesday’s finals at Caversham.

The races were packed with quality and depth, giving selectors plenty to ponder ahead of the European Championships team announcement in April – and, of course, this summer’s Olympics in Brazil.

GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner said: “We’ve had an exceptional set of Trials which is suitable for an Olympic year.

“We’ve had some great racing and it was good to see the standard of our Olympians stepping up with some top-level performances.

“We still have some questions as we move towards our crew formation. We have good information from these Trials as we start putting together our boats for the European Championships in May and then, later in the year, for the Olympics.”

See below for full race reports, quotes and results.

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