Topping the medal table, Sunday saw four gold medals and a silver added to the four gold and bronze from Saturday. Highlights include a ‘clean sweep’ of golds across the men’s sweep boats, medals for all 10 Para rowing athletes, and gold for both the Women’s four and Women’s quad.

Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance at 91ÌÒÉ« said: “It’s been a great weekend and it’s promising to see us top the medal table once again. We are still learning and building through this season, but performances this weekend have put us in a good place as we look towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games later this year.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George were sublime in the Men’s pair (M2-) finishing the race to win their first championship title since they moved into the pair. “Obviously it’s nice.” Tom said: “It’s a good marker and a checking point. We talk about it all the time but the big one is the Olympics. It’s good to learn how to win and win in different ways and different conditions. Today was a good example of that. It’s amazing – we’re European Champions and that’s really cool.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson took the gold despite windy conditions on the lake. Freddie said: “We’ve done quite a lot of stuff in some windy conditions in training camp so I think that helped us, but it’s obviously a different beast in six-lane racing versus just doing pieces on our own. I think it took quite a lot of commitment through the middle of the race to get ourselves back into it and lead it and to build our rhythm from there. We said after our heat we didn’t just want to sit or be satisfied, so we had a real focus of just doing our own piece and to be happy with where we were. I think that helped us during the long race because we had quite a simple plan. Obviously there’s still a bit to improve but it worked well for us.”

David added: “Obviously we want to get the win so we’re happy with that, because we’ve only had a week and a half to turn around and improve after falling short in Varese. There’s now three weeks until the next race and we can work on quite a lot of things in that time. There’s a lot of positives to take away, but we know there are a lot of really good crews to come in and the Italians are always going to be a force to be reckoned with. We worked hard and focused after World Cup I, if anything, having a slightly disappointing second place at the World Cup galvanised us into getting our eyes on the prize, sometimes you need a kick up the backside to do it.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Another dominant crew were Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson in the PR2 Mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix2x), winning back to back European titles. Gregg said: “This is my first double medal. We won the Europeans last year so to come here and do it again is pretty special. This is a springboard now, we’ve worked hard over the winter and we know what we have to do.

Lauren dedicated the win to her partner and five week old baby, “Five weeks ago my partner Jude gave birth to our son and so today was for Noah and Jude – I was thinking about our little boy in the last 500m. I was getting emotional being away from him so I definitely did it for them. To be out here and to be able to execute this is amazing. And to have Gregg supporting me through that – he’s trusted me the whole way and trust is a key part of this partnership.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Frankie Allen, Josh O’Brien, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller and cox Erin Kennedy continued the unbeaten run in the PR3 Mixed coxed four (PR3 Mix4+), dominating the race and finishing thirteen seconds ahead of France. Ed said: “It was our first race in this combination and the first race of the Paralympic cycle, so this crew is constantly learning and this race was another step in this journey. We’re racing three times this year including the Paralympic Games, so we’re going to keep building, keep progressing, keep our noses to the grindstone and keep pushing on for the one race that matters at the start of September which is the Paralympics.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Newcomer Josh, making his international debut, added: “European champion sounds pretty good. It’s very exciting going out there for my first final today. We executed the race plan really well and I’m just so pleased. We had a big block of winter training at Caversham in pretty tough conditions, and we went out there today and executed our race plan brilliantly. It’s great.”

It was a solid silver for the Women’s eight (W8+) of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Eve Stewart, Lauren Irwin, Emily Ford, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, and cox Henry Fieldman. Eve said: “The race was good, we got off to a really good start and a good rhythm. It was disappointing that we couldn’t hold off the Romanians, but we’re learning every race and moving on. We’re in front of Italy in this race who pipped us at the end of the last race, so we’re happy with what we’ve done but hungry for more.”

George Bourne continued to build his experience in the Men’s single sculls (M1x) final, placing sixth. Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew were fifth in the Women’s pair (W2-). Earlier in the day, the Women’s and Men’s double sculls (M2x and W2x) B finals saw Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne finish seventh and Seb Devereux and John Collins finish ninth respectively.

The post Great Britain tops medal table for third consecutive year at the European Rowing Championships appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

GB Rowing currently sits top of the medal table with seven medals in total and have three further A finals to contest tomorrow.

Both the PR2 Mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix2x) and PR3 Mixed coxed four (PR3 Mix4+) won gold in the Paralympic class boats. In the Olympic class boats there was gold for the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x), Lightweight Women’s double (LW2x) and the Men’s four (M4-) a silver in the Men’s pair (M2-) and a bronze in the Women’s four (W4-).

The Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw had a real tussle with the Netherlands throughout the 2k course but kept their heads to win GB’s first World gold medal in that boat class since 2010. “It was absolutely amazing,” Lauren said, “We’ve practiced our race plan so many times, and we just executed it down to the wire. It was unbelievable. I’m so grateful to all these girls, they’ve helped me so much this season. It’s my first year on the team and my first World Championships and I can’t believe we’ve just won gold. I was so excited I let go of my blade at the finish! This season I was aiming to get a gold at U23s, so to get a gold at seniors is beyond anything.” Georgie added: “It’s a first senior gold medal for all of us, and to do it today it’s just like all the stars have aligned. We have worked so hard to get to this point, we’ve kept it calm, we lost a blade over the finish line but it doesn’t matter because I’m so proud of everyone!”

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant are now consecutive double World Champions in the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x), as they continued their unbeaten run since the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. “I don’t have any words to describe how great that was!” Imogen said, “I feel like this whole Olympiad the excitement has been building. It’s an understatement to say how much we’ve improved in the last few months and I’m really excited to see what next season brings!” Emily added: “We missed out on the podium in Tokyo by such a small margin and I have the photo finish printed off, on my living room wall. It’s not a negative reminder anymore it’s more ‘look at how close we were in some incredibly trying circumstances’ and we are now at the point where we’ve had two exceptional seasons together and gained a wealth of experience so that the 6 minutes, 50 seconds of Tokyo 2021, pales into insignificance.”

Another boat celebrating becoming consecutive double World Champions were the Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson, who pulled away from the pack in the last 500m to win by over 2 seconds. Freddie said: “It was an epic race. We said beforehand, people are going to do crazy things, it’s a World Champs final, you don’t just go off and settle for second or third, so we knew it was going to be hot all the way down the field. I’m just amazed, all of us are, it was an epic crew effort and epic commitment all the way.”

Oli said: “With the unbeaten season that we’ve had I think we felt a lot of pressure coming into this, but at the end of the day if you’ve had a good season you want to finish on a high and we managed to do it. It was an epic row from these three guys in front of me, I felt I could sit back and do my thing while these guys were hauling today. I’m really happy for us.”

Double Paralympic Champion Lauren Rowles and former Royal Engineer Commando Gregg Stevenson won a tight race in the PR2 Mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x), pulling away from China in the final strokes to cross the line first to continue their dominance in this boat class this season. Lauren said: “The China crew are phenomenal athletes. I raced them in Tokyo, they drove us out hard in Tokyo and they’ve driven us out hard here too. We were in the middle of that race and the Chinese started pushing back and we wanted to let them know that this is our day, this is our medal. For me I know they’re going to come out fighting, and that’s what we want! We want good racing, we want a great spectator sport! So for us that was a brilliant race.”

Gregg, celebrating his birthday as well as his first World Championship gold medal said: “I’ve never been in such a tight race, every other race we’ve managed to get out front. But that was something else and I was filled with adrenaline and we stuck at it together. I’m really glad we managed to get the win today.”

The PR3 Mixed coxed four (PR3 Mix4+) of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller, Morgan Fice-Noyes and cox Erin Kennedy won another gold medal continuing the long running unbeaten status of the boat class. “It feels pretty special to be World Champions again,” Ed said, adding: “ It was special last year, but to be able to come back with a different crew and do exactly what we did last year is phenomenal. It wasn’t very easy out there, the headwind was strong and made quite hard work for us, but at the end of the day it’s about getting your bows across the lines first and that’s what we did.”

Frankie said: “It’s a privilege to be part of such an amazing crew. To qualify the boat for the Paralympics on Monday then topping off the week by winning gold today feels amazing.”

Erin, who has returned to cox the crew after her treatment and recovery from breast cancer said: “It’s been a big year. I remember this time last year I was at home feeling pretty sorry for myself but so proud of the team. I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time and so to be here and to be on the top of the podium with the best team in the world, I couldn’t be happier.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George achieved their best World Championship result to date, winning silver in the Men’s pair (M2-). Ollie said: “Some things didn’t go our way today and that’s sport. We want to win, so today feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, but we did well to get that silver medal and we qualified the boat for Paris so from that perspective, I’m pleased.”

The Women’s four (W4-) of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Helen Glover and Rebecca Shorten were a little disappointed with their third place bronze. Rowan said: “It’s not exactly what we were coming here for and I feel like we’ve just missed the mark today. We’ve stepped on in the last six weeks, throughout the regatta and that shows how much we can step on in the next year. It’s definitely made us hungry and I think it will set us up for a really good year.”

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, George Bourne, Matt Haywood and Tom Barras narrowly missed out on a podium spot in the final strokes of the race to place fourth.

There was excitement earlier in the day with Olympic qualification places still up for grabs. Emily Ford and Esme Booth needed to finish fifth or above in the B final of the Women’s pair (W2-). It was an epic race and they worked their way through the field to finish third (9th overall) to secure Olympic qualification. Emily said: “It’s so exciting to qualify the pair and we could become the first British women to double up and qualify two boats if we get within the top five in the eight tomorrow. It would be awesome to make some history and we’re one step closer to that!” When asked about doubling up and the number of races across the regatta, Esme commented: “The sunglasses are hiding a few sins there! It’s one of the hardest races I think we’ve ever done, we just kept going earlier and earlier, we just wanted to get that bow ball ahead. Everyone says that qualification regattas are so hard and that was BIG!”

You can follow the World Rowing Championships live across 91ÌÒÉ« social media channels, here on our World Rowing Championships hub and on the . The BBC will be covering tomorrow’s racing as follows:

• All finals on BBC iPlayer live from 12pm (commentary from Katie Smith and James Cracknell)
• Highlights on BBC2 at 3pm (with Matthew Pinsent and Katherine Grainger in the studio).

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Results from Day Seven finals at 2023 World Rowing Championships

Photos: Benedict Tufnell.

The post Super Saturday for GB Rowing with seven medal haul appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

As the International Rowing scene was fixed on the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland, GB Rowing’s Para team headed to France to compete at the second annual Para-Rowing Regatta to Paris.

The event took place at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, which will hold the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Rowing events. It was an opportunity for many of the squad to familiarise ourselves with the venue and surroundings, as well as an opportunity for some to return to international racing. The venue itself is slowly transforming with construction underway ahead of next year’s games. This gave us a sense of anticipation from what’s to come; and certainly, added some adrenaline when racing, knowing that this could be where we’re competing for Paralympic medals next year. The weather conditions over the weekend were variable, including humid heat over 34 degrees and thunderstorms on the Sunday.

Ellen Buttrick and Charlotte Coburn

The squad of six included Benjamin Pritchard returning in the PR1 M1x in his first race since winning the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships. Ellen Buttrick also returned to international racing in the PR3 Women’s Pair (PR3 W2-) for the first time since winning gold the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games. She was joined by international debutant Charlotte Coburn of Molesey BC, the duo having raced at Henley Women’s Regatta back in June.

Saturday’s line up gave the opportunity for a number of crews to compete in smaller boats, Gregg Stevenson lined up in the PR2 M1x following his dominating performances at the European Championships and World Cup II with Lauren Rowles. Lauren competed in the PR2 W1x and demonstrated her class and tenacity as double Paralympic Champion, winning in style and holding off crews from other divisions.

Charlotte and Ellen were up against a number of crews including a German Men’s pair and USA Mixed double, providing the opportunity to build momentum and experience as a crew as well as demonstrate their potential ahead of this year’s World Championships in Serbia.

As for me, I lined up in the PR3 men’s single sculls (PR3 M1x) against my French rival Antoine Jesel, bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020. It was a tight contest with Jesel winning the heat by 1Âœ lengths. The final was a hard-fought race in which I passed Jesel through the 1,250m mark and managed to hold on to a length lead to win the race. This was such a great racing opportunity before I return to the PR3 Mixed Double for the World Championships later this year.

Sunday’s racing gave the opportunity for Gregg Stevenson and Lauren Rowles to continue their dominance in the PR2 Mix2x winning their heat and final race and providing the platform to build upon over the remaining season.

Benjamin Pritchard also lined up in the PR1 M1x against a competitive field. Benjamin, making his season debut after being away from the team for a few months, delivered some well controlled performances winning two bronze medals across the weekend, that will set him up well for returning to full training after the regatta.

As we closed on a solid’s weekend of racing and individual performances, we left Paris hoping the next time we return will be for next year’s Paralympic games.

If we earn slots at the games I can’t wait to see the transformation of the venue in Paralympic year into a world stage for the top Paralympic rowers to race on. We now return to our training base in Caversham with more experience and a fire in the belly to keep pushing for improvements over the coming months.

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GB Rowing Team has added six gold medals, three silver and a bronze to the bronze won yesterday by Olivia Bates (LW1x) placing top of the medal table at World Rowing Cup II. Highlights from an entertaining day of racing include a ‘clean sweep’ of golds for the men’s sweep squad and two World Best times for the Paralympic squad.

Summarising the weekend, Louise Kingsley, GB Rowing Director of Performance said: “Off the back of a solid European Championships we’ve been away, done more work, refined the crews, and I’m really pleased with how the team has come out and performed at this World Cup. Judging on the quality of racing here, there’s going to be stiff competition across the boat classes as we progress through the season.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George took gold in the Men’s pair (M2-), three seconds ahead of Switzerland. Tom said: “We’re thrilled with the win. We’ve set our sights on qualifying for the Olympics and having a good World Championships at the end of the year, and this is a stepping stone to that, so we’re happy. But also we know we’re going back to the training centre on Tuesday and it’s going to be ‘right, onto the next one’, and that’s important too.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Overall, we were comfortable with what we were doing and we were happy with our race plan and we executed it well.”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson maintained their winning streak despite pressure from Australia and USA. David said: “All the competition is tough from semis to final, so you’re always working harder. Regardless of competition, you have to step on to come away with a win.” Freddie added: “When it’s close in the race, we’re always looking to row well technically and keep pushing on and keep putting other crews under pressure. I think we did a solid job today, but we’re always looking to get better. I’m grateful we came away with a win.”

After being unable to race at the European Championships  due to illness, Harry Brightmore returned to cox the European Champions men’s eight (M8+) of Will Stewart, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Tom Digby, James Rudkin and Tom Ford to victory ahead of Australia and Germany. Jacob said: “Every race is both a challenge and an opportunity so it’s really good to be out here. We’re hungry and know that a result is only a result on the day and you have to prove it every time on the start line. There’s always pressure, but that’s why we do it.”

Sholto said: “The theme of this crew is to execute a clinical plan, we felt like we could improve after the preliminary race, and so today was just about staying in the moment one stroke at a time.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson won their PR2 mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x) race, finishing way ahead of the field, to record their second world best time at consecutive events (8.01.59). Lauren said: “We came out here wanting to go faster than we did in Bled and we did that so we’re happy. A win is what we train for, we want to be bold and take risks, doing things that haven’t been done before and putting down times that haven’t been done before.” Gregg added “Today was such a positive experience, really rewarding.”

Also continuing their unbeaten run with a World Best Time of 6:47.29 were the PR3 Mix4+ of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller, Morgan Fice-Noyes and cox, Erin Kennedy. “At the end of the day we go out to get a gold medal, and we’re going to race hard for that medal. We knew with the conditions that the World record was a possibility, and I feel like we raced as hard as we could and it was an amazing achievement to have.” said Ed. Erin added: “This is huge. We started the season with a lot of momentum and it’s only building. It’s really exciting. We have more races to come this season, so hopefully when we get to qualification the unit will be rock solid. And who knows, if the weather gods are on our side, maybe we can achieve another world best time.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant rowed through the USA in the final strokes of the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) to add another World Cup gold to their World Best Time, European and World titles. Imogen described it as “quite a sprint finish!” with Emily saying: “We felt a bit of pressure having done what we did yesterday with the World Best Time. We came away from Euros chatting about how we had another gear, and we worked on that pretty hard. We knew we would be racing the USA and French here and you can’t underestimate the calibre of these crews and what they’ve spent the winter doing. We knew we’d have to take it to the line today and thank god we did.”

The Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) of Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry finished second behind China to take a hard earned silver medal. Lauren said: “we’re really happy with that race. It’s our first race in this new combination, so to push China so hard, we’re really chuffed with that.” Lola added: “We want more speed, to work together more as a crew, and win more medals. Hopefully we’ll take the step up to gold, so watch this space.”

The Women’s four (W4-). GBR1 of Heidi Long, Helen Glover, Rebecca Shorten and Sam Redgrave also won silver ahead of the USA. Rebecca said: “I think we could’ve done a bit better – we can still step on, we’re still learning with this combination.” Sam added: “We’ve definitely stepped on since Bled, but everyone has stepped on so we’ll keep building for the next race.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

With three crews racing in the women’s eight (W8+) , no one wanted to miss out on the two podium spots. The GB crew of Lauren Irwin, Karen Bennett, Hattie Taylor, Emily Ford, Rowan McKellar, Esme Booth, Natasha Morrice, Annie Campbell-Orde and cox Henry Fieldman kept calm and held off Canada to grab the silver medal. Karen said: “At the start we knew what was out in front of us so we just did our best to build throughout the weekend. It was great to finish it off with a silver. We’d obviously like it to be gold but we’re still building so it’s a good step in the right direction.”

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, George Bourne, Matt Haywood and Tom Barras hung on in a tight race to win a bronze medal. “We’re in the building phase right now” said Matt, adding, “we’re still quite a new crew with the addition of Callum and we’ve been working hard from Bled to here. We weren’t happy coming off the back of Europeans where we didn’t quite get our final right so we’ve had to work hard with a good mindset and a hunger for more.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / 91ÌÒÉ«

Annie Caddick and Sam Murray had a solid race in the PR3 mixed double sculls (PR3 Mix 2x) but couldn’t hang on to a podium spot in the final stages and finished in 4th place. Before racing in the Women’s Eight, Rowan McKellar & Esme Booth also raced in the Women’s pair (W2-) final (GBR1), finishing in 5th place.

Earlier in the day, the Women’s pair (W2-) of Natasha Morrice and Annie Campbell-Orde (GBR2), the Men’s Double sculls (M2x) of John Collins and Aidan Thompson and Kyra Edwards in the women’s single sculls (W1x) all won their B finals, placing 7th overall.

In the other B finals, the Women’s four (W4-) GBR2 of Lauren Irwin, Karen Bennett, Hattie Taylor and Emily Ford, and the Women’s double sculls (W2x) of Lucy Glover and Saskia Budgett finished 9th and 10th overall respectively.

GB Rowing Team Final Results at World Rowing Cup II 2023

The post Great Britain finish top of medal table at World Rowing Cup II 2023 appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance for the GB Rowing Team said: “This has been a solid start to the 2023 season and there have been some stunning performances out on the lake but there is still work to be done as we progress towards the World Championships later this year.”

Double Paralympic Champion, Lauren Rowles and new partner Gregg Stevenson put in one of the performances of the weekend to set a new World Best time of 08:02.94 in the PR2 mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x). Speaking before collecting their gold medal Lauren said: “You can’t do much better than that. Certainly one of those days of your career that you will look back on and think it was a special day. One of the best – especially with this guy. We’re having so much fun rowing together – he turns up with the determination and perseverance to make this boat go faster and it’s given me the lease of life to do the same.”

This is what it’s all about.” said Gregg, reflecting on winning gold in his first international regatta, adding: “it’s been my first racing experience and a real learning curve, but there’s sunshine, a fast course, beautiful Bled and rowing with Lauren. She’s the GOAT!”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson retained their title as European Champions with a convincing clear water win. Matt said: “We’re very happy with that. It’s quite scrappy out there, windy and bouncy, but we dealt with it well. We got out and didn’t let anyone back in. We’re a new crew so we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves – we’re 50% different from last year’s crew, but the two guys have jumped in and did amazingly well.”

Freddie added: “We were expecting it to be bouncy so we were ready for it. I looked down and we were going a lot faster than I expected which was good. It’s a case of trying to keep it clean and not lose any speed, and I’m happy with how we did that. Now the focus is to take this, go to the next world cup with no expectations and be free to do our race plan and see where we end up. That’s our ethos in the four – go in with no expectations and enjoy our rowing and the racing and see what we get out of it.”

The final gold medal of the day came in the PR3 Mix4+ with Erin Kennedy (cox), Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller and Morgan Fice-Noyes continuing to dominate in this boat class.

Erin, who was returning to the team after being given the all clear from breast cancer said: “I’ve run that moment over my head many times. I keep crying. It means so much to me to be back because the last time I raced was at the Europeans last summer where I was quite poorly, but I managed to get through. To be back here doing it again with a new combination and be European Champions is amazing. It goes to the credit of the team behind the team as well for everything they do to get us out and racing.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George picked up another European silver Men’s pair (M2-) medal after a photo finish which saw them just edged out by the Swiss. “It would’ve been nice to come home with the win,” said Ollie, with Tom adding: “It’s a strong field and something that we can learn from. There’s a bit to build on as we move through the year, but a good start to the season overall.”

The Women’s Eight (W8+) of Emily Ford, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave, Lauren Irwin, Annie Campbell-Orde, Natasha Morrice, Karen Bennett, Hattie Taylor and cox, Henry Fieldman also won a silver medal.

Speaking after the race, Rio 2016 silver medallist and Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Karen Bennett said: “It was definitely a blast from the past for sure. The last race I did was the Olympics so it’s just refreshing my memory and going out there and getting everything back on track. It’s great to be back in the team alongside these girls who are just fantastic, and Henry as well of course. So we’re getting back into the swing of things and a silver medal here is a great start to the season. There’s still a lot of racing to come and hopefully we can step on as we go.”

Emily Ford and Esme Booth who doubled up, finished fifth in the Women’s pair (W2-) before picking up their silver in the Women’s Eight.

Olivia Bates finished 8th overall after a tight B final race in the Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) while Saskia Budgett and Kyra Edwards finished 9th overall in the B final of the Women’s double sculls (W2x).

Finals Results  at the 2023 European Rowing Championships

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In a year that saw the 40th anniversary of women’s rowing joining the Olympic programme, it was fitting that the GB Rowing Team should mark the occasion with three pieces of history at the Rio 2016 Games.

Four years after becoming the first British female rowers to win an Olympic gold medal, the women’s pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning became the first to successfully defend their title as they stormed to victory on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.

Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jess Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett, Zoe Lee and cox Zoe de Toledo became the first GB women’s eight to stand on an Olympic podium after taking silver in a thrilling final.

And Katherine Grainger became Britain’s most decorated female Olympian of all time when she and Vicky Thornley produced a performance of true grit and determination to win silver in the women’s double scull.

That was Grainger’s fifth medal from as many Games, a 16-year period that has contained a number of milestone moments for GB’s women on the Olympic stage.

The silver that Grainger won in the quadruple scull at the Sydney 2000 Games with Gillian Lindsay and the Batten sisters, Guin and Miriam, was a first-ever Olympic medal for British women.

Athens 2004 saw three of the four women’s boats that qualified for the Games come away with a medal. Grainger again won silver, this time in the pair with Cath Bishop; Alison Mowbray, Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton – who is also now a five-time Olympian – and Rebecca Romero matched that achievement in the quad; and Sarah Winckless and Elise Laverick won the first of four successive women’s doubles medals for GB as they took bronze.

Laverick won another bronze in the double at Beijing 2008 with Anna Watkins (nee Bebington), while Grainger again had to settle for silver in the quad along with Annie Vernon, Flood and Houghton.

Grainger’s long-awaited golden moment finally arrived at London 2012 as she won an emotional Olympic title with Watkins in the double. That was the second gold of the regatta for GB’s women, following on from that unforgettable breakthrough success by Glover and Stanning in the pair.

And there was more success to come at Eton Dorney as Kat Copeland and Sophie Hosking secured a first-ever medal for GB’s lightweight women – gold in the double scull to the delight of the home crowd.

Pioneering the way for these achievements were the first British female Olympic rowers back at the Montreal Games in 1976. Linda Clark and Beryl Crockford (nee Mitchell) – who sadly passed away recently – raced in the pair, finishing tenth, while Gillian Webb, Pauline Bird-Hart, Clare Grove, Diana Bishop and cox Pauline Wright were eighth in the coxed four.

All women’s races were over 1km at that stage and it wasn’t until the Seoul Games of 1988 that the racing distance was doubled to match the men’s competition.

The current women’s Olympic programme – pair, eight, single, double, quad and lightweight double – was first established at the Atlanta 1996 Games but there are proposals for it to be expanded in Tokyo 2020 as part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) drive to implement gender participation equality across all sports.

Forty per cent of the 550 rowers that competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics were female, the highest level yet, and that would increase to 50-50 should the new, gender-balanced Olympic rowing programme be introduced. That will be voted on in February 2017 during an Extraordinary Congress of FISU, World Rowing’s governing body.

The Paralympic Games already has gender participation equality, with two of the four boat classes made up of mixed crews – the legs-trunk-arms mixed coxed four and the trunk-arms mixed double sculls.

The recent Rio 2016 Games saw all four British women rowers return with gold medals after magnificent performances – indeed, including the para-canoeists, every GB woman who competed on the Lagoa that week was crowned as champion.

Pamela Relph became the first woman to successfully defend a Paralympic rowing title as she, Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James claimed mixed coxed four victory in style. She had been joined in the winning boat four years earlier in London by Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe and cox Lily van den Broecke.

The two other Rio rowing champions had previously represented their country in other sports – Lauren Rowles, a track athlete until just 18 months before Rio, dominated the TA mixed double sculls final with Laurence Whiteley, while Rachel Morris produced a remarkable surge through the field to win the arm-shoulders women’s single scull.

Morris had been crowned as Paralympic champion in hand-cycling at Beijing 2008, the Games that saw para-rowing make its Paralympics debut and Helene Raynsford make history by winning the first-ever arm-shoulders women’s single scull title. There were also bronze medals that year for Riches and Vicky Hansford in the mixed coxed four alongside Alastair McKean, James Morgan and cox Alan Sherman.

Been inspired by the success of our Olympic and Paralympic women rowers? Click here to find out more about how to get involved in the sport or here for the Women On Water online community.

Find out more about Women’s Sports Week and 91ÌÒÉ« here.

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Rachel Morris started the gold rush when she turned an appalling start, as she termed it, into a final 350m surge in the arms-shoulders single scull to add Paralympic rowing gold to the gold she won in cycling in 2008.

Tom Aggar produced a fiercely determined performance to add bronze in the equivalent men’s event, holding off the 2012 Paralympic Champion from China in a race won by the Ukraine.

c. Simon Way

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley lived up to the promise they showed in winning their heat in a World Best Time to win gold in the mixed double scull.

Pamela Relph became a back-to-back Paralympic Champion in the mixed coxed four when she and Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James brought home gold in the final race of a fabulous 2016 for the GB Rowing Team.

Grace Clough, Dan Brown, Pamela Relph, cox Oliver James and James Fox won LTA mixed coxed four gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “Today has been exceptional for our programme. To be top of the medal table was our first objective and we are undisputed leaders of that.

“Last year at World Championships we showed the standard of our squad by getting three silvers and a gold and we have converted two of those silvers to golds here. That’s no discredit toTom Aggar who got a great bronze. I’m proud of the rowers.

“As ever I’m deeply grateful to the National Lottery without which none of this would be possible.”

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

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Rachel Morris will be the first GB rower to race on the Lagoa de Freitas tomorrow at the 2016 Paralympic Games when her heat of the arms-shoulders women’s single scull starts at 12.50 BST.

Morris is drawn in lane 1 in a heat which features former World Champion, 2015 World finalist and local favourite Claudia Santos of Brazil.

The Guildford rower has made remarkable progress since transferring to the sport from hand-cycling in early 2013 and whilst she admitted to always having a few pre-race nerves she said: “I will focus on the moment and the processes and only worry about my own performance”.

She also had praise for the Rio set-up:   “The Village and the Lagoa venue are both really top quality and the Rio committee have done a fantastic job getting everything ready for us”.

Tom Aggar races in the equivalent men’s event and is also a World silver medallist and 2008 Paralympic Champion but underlined the progress made by the sport since winning that inaugural Paralympic gold in Beijing.

He said:   “It’s crazy, I was only thinking the other day that I am one of the few survivors of the Beijing Games in terms of athletes.  The sport has changed dramatically since then. The standards just to qualify are pretty high and to medal the standard has moved on too.

“The sport has become more professional across all the events and the bandings are so much tighter. Medals are so much more hard fought and the races are much closer so from a spectator point of view, it is exciting racing to watch.  But when you are out there it’s really stroke by stroke, side by side, top racing”.

The Londoner races in heat two at 13.30 BST and will line up on the start line with  the reigning World Champion, Erik Horrie of Australia, with only one place available in Sunday’s final and all other contenders racing a repechage on Saturday.

Heat two of the trunk-arms mixed double scull could also be a GB v Australia affair.  Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley are World silver medallists but a very new crew on the international scene.

Gavin Bellis and Kathryn Ross beat the GB duo by just under a second in France last year to take World gold setting the scene for an exciting heat tomorrow including contenders from China and the Ukraine. Only one crew can go through to the finals.

Rowles only took up rowing in early 2015 after  switching from athletics.  She has also juggled A level studies this year with training for Rio.

Recently she talked of  her passion for her “new” sport and said:  “The first moment that I got in a boat I knew that it was for me. It was amazing, I loved the sense of freedom and, maybe, if I’d carried on with athletics I would have made progress but this the sport for me”.

Pamela Relph, Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James are the World Champions in the mixed coxed four and will keep a wary eye on China and South Africa who could prove the main opposition in the heat.  They will be favourites, though, to move into Sunday’s final direct.

Channel 4 will carry a highlights package of tomorrow’s racing in their afternoon show between 16.00 – 19.00 BST.  Fans can follow the action through live graphics on the www.worldrowing.com

Results will be posted on Twitter via @gbrowingteam

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Henley Royal Regatta provided the backdrop as the nine GB rowers for the Rio Paralympic Games took part in a row-past to celebrate their announcement today by the British Paralympic Association.

The list of named rowers was led by Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, Pamela Relph, James Fox and cox Oliver James, the reigning World Champions in the mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+).

Great Britain has claimed the World Championship title in this boat for three consecutive years since London 2012.

The 2015 World Championship final was one of the most thrilling of the overall event with the GB four holding off the Americans by a narrow margin. This event is increasingly competitive on the global stage.

Relph is the only returning member of the victorious gold medal crew from London 2012.  A physics graduate from University of Birmingham, Relph took up rowing after arthritis led to reduced movement in her wrists and ended her planned Army career.

Relph said: “I am over the moon to be selected for my second Paralympic Games and feel so excited and nervous at the prospect of trying to defend my gold medal from London 2012. This season has been the toughest yet and I am looking forward to going to Rio to race the rest of the world. The team that has been selected is far stronger than any I have been a part of in my six years of rowing for GB and I am proud to be a part of such a talented squad.”

James Fox and cox Oliver James are triple World Champions with Relph.  James took up coxing whilst at the University of Warwick and Fox, a former non-disabled club rower, classified into para-rowing because of a congenital ankle condition.

James said:  “It’s exciting to be selected to go to the Games in Rio and I’m looking forward to knuckling down over the next two months before the Games to make sure we bring back the result that we have been training so hard for over the last four years”.

Fox added:  “It is a real honour to be selected for the GB Paralympic Rowing Team. Racing at World Championships is exciting but being selected to race at a Paralympic Games is something special. It is my first Paralympics and I can’t wait to get out to Rio and crack on”.

Grace Clough and Dan Brown are the most recent additions to the crew, joining the boat in 2014 for the World Championships that year and contributing to World titles in both 2014 and 2015. Clough – who graduated from University of Leeds with a first in Sociology – was first introduced to disability sport in 2013 when she attended a ParalympicsGB SportsFest event at the EIS in Sheffield.

Brown said:  I’m excited about being selected to race in Rio. Things have been going well in training and I’m looking forward to showing what we can do as a crew come September.

Selected for his third consecutive Games, Tom Aggar will compete in the arms-shoulders (ASM1x) men’s single scull event. Aggar is the longest-serving of the para-rowers currently on the squad. He started rowing in 2007 and made history as the first ever Paralympic champion in the men’s arms-only single scull when he won gold at Beijing 2008, where the sport made its Paralympic debut. He is a 2014 and 2015 World silver medallist and will be seeking to add to his medal collection in Rio.

Aggar said:  “It’s a huge privilege to be selected to represent your country at a Paralympic Games, and it means even more to be able to say it for a third time. Competing at the Games at the highest level is an exciting time to showcase our sport and brings with it tremendous personal pride”.

Also selected today is Rachel Morris, who has previously competed for ParalympicsGB in cycling at two Paralympic Games, winning gold in Beijing and bronze in London, and who now turns her attention to the women’s single scull (ASW1x).

Already a World silver medallist in her new sport from the 2015 World Championships, Morris will be seeking to add her to Paralympic medal tally when she competes in Rio this summer.  On the eve of being selected, Morris won world cup gold in Poznan, beating the reigning World Champion.

Morris said today: “I’m so proud to be wearing ParalympicsGB kit again, to be representing my country is such a privilege. I’m so happy to have had such an incredible few years changing from a cyclist to a rower and had the chance & people believing in me. I would like to thank the GB Rowing Team support staff and Tom Dyson for coaching me and helping me achieve new goals and getting me into the position I am now, both mentally and physically.

“My family have been such a support by providing understanding and calmness as I’m challenged further and further to set new levels.”

A relatively new partnership in the mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) is selected, with Laurence Whiteley joining up with Lauren Rowles.

Whiteley had competed in a non-Paralympic class boat while the GB Rowing Team undertook a two-year-long search for a partner who could compete alongside him in the double.

Teenager Rowles was spotted by GB Rowing Team staff by chance at Stoke Mandeville and transitioned from athletics where she was a successful wheelchair racer having competed for England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in the T53/54 1,500m. The duo first competed internationally at the 2015 World Championships, where they won silver.

The pairing have not raced internationally this season while Rowles has been taking her A-levels.

Rowles said:  “Being selected to represent your country at a Paralympic Games is the biggest honour and wouldn’t be achievable without the support I’ve received from the coaches and specialists on the GB Rowing Team and also my mother who continuously supports me.  It fills me with a great sense of pride to be part of such a powerful and successful team and I am very much looking forward to producing a good performance in Rio”.

Whiteley added: “After what was a very uncertain start to my first Paralympic cycle, missing the first two World Championships due to not having a partner to row with in the trunk and arms mixed double scull, I am delighted to finish this Paralympic cycle by being selected to row for Great Britain in the TAMx2.”

Penny Briscoe, Chef de Mission of ParalympicsGB, said:

“The GB Rowing Team is known internationally for producing consistently outstanding crews and this para-rowing team is absolutely no different – today I am delighted that I am announcing such a strong team to join ParalympicsGB for Rio 2016.

“These rowers have proved themselves on the international stage and I am confident they will do the same at the Paralympic Games. I would like to thank all their coaches and support staff at GB Rowing for all their hard work to produce this team.”

Sir David Tanner, 91ÌÒÉ« Performance Director said:

“I am confident that this team will prove the strongest that GB has ever sent to a Paralympic Games.  Our para rowers have worked daily with the GB Olympic Squad since London 2012 and this integration has produced real dividends in improved performance. I am sure that our four boats will do GB proud out in Rio.”

Louise Kingsley, Team Leader for Rowing, said:

“I am extremely proud that we are able to announce a full para-rowing team today, this has only been achieved through the dedication and hard work of all of our coaches and support staff. The quality of international competition has increased significantly since London 2012, we had a great World Championships in 2015 however, some very good new crews have achieved qualification slots this year for the Paralympic Games so we will leave no stone unturned as we challenge for places on the podium in Rio.”

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With the second of the winter assessments out of the way, it’s time to give you the low down on who’s who and what’s what ahead of this summer’s racing.

All three boat classes (arms and shoulders [AS] single scull, trunk and arms [TA] mixed double scull and legs, trunk and arms [LTA]mixed coxed four) were racing this time round, although the format for each class differed slightly.

Tom Aggar historically represents GB in the AS men’s single and in fact has dominated this event nationally and has worn the vest at every World Championship and Paralympic Games since the debut of Paralympic rowing at the 2008 Beijing Games.

At the assessment, he time-trialled along with Rachel Morris who has represented GB in the AS women’s single at the last two World Championships after transferring from hand-cycling a few years ago. They raced down the track against the clock and put down a strong marker to push on from for the rest of the season.

Laurence Whiteley was a lone ranger looking for companionship in 2013 and 2014 but has since found a female double scull partner to team up with in the form of Lauren Rowles who transferred from wheelchair track racing after competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Together they won a silver medal in the TA double at last year’ss World Championships after training together for just four months. This season Laurence has competition for his place in the boat and will be seat racing against Scott Meenagh, an eager Scotsman who joined our squad after sustaining injuries serving in Afghanistan, and the recent assessment was the first of those races.

In the coxed four, things are being shaken up a bit. I have stroked the boat at the last three World Championships but there is no reason to say that is the fastest combination and so we’ve been playing a bit of musical chairs.

For the last fortnight or so Pam, Gold medallist from London 2012 and four times World Champion, has been stroking the four with me sitting behind in the three seat and on training camp we tried a few other combinations too.

There are still four seats in this particular game of musical chairs though which is a relief. We seat raced this time around too but, for us, it is as much about going fast in every order and combination as it is about finding which individuals make the boat go fastest at the moment.

The results from the recent assessment won’t necessarily lead to selection for Rio but they will give our coaches and selectors a general impression of how things are going. A kind of data collection exercise, if you like, ahead of final trials. If nothing else it certainly provided a chance to open the lungs after a winter of rate 18!

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