The GB Lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x) executed a race that was perhaps as close to perfection as you can get in rowing to win Team GB’s second rowing gold medal of these Games.

Off the start, the high-rating Romanians shot into a brief early lead, with New Zealand also showing strongly. But soon the British crew’s calm synchronicity on beautifully flat water brought their bows in front. By 500m in, they had established a lead of 0.12 seconds over Romania, and at half way had extended this to nearly a second and were half a length up. After that they continued to pull away and crossed the line to claim victory nearly a length ahead.

The race was the last hurrah for lightweight rowing at the Olympics, meaning Emily and Imogen will be the last Olympic Champions in their boat class. “This was the only result left for us to achieve and we did it,” Imogen said. “I’m feeling all the emotions; joy, disbelief, relief, tiredness, joy again, so much happiness and that feeling of a job well done.”

The expectations on the crew coming into these Games could hardly have been greater. Since missing out on gold in Tokyo 2020 by just 0.5 seconds, and on bronze by a tiny 0.01 seconds, they have won two World and European titles, remaining unbeaten throughout the Paris cycle.

Reflecting on this, Imogen explained: “The loss in Tokyo was part of our story and this Olympics is the grand finale I think. Not every Olympian gets it right on the first try and it wasn’t like we did anything wrong in Tokyo, but we’ve put so much work into this and we are such different and better people this time around that there was a certain inevitability to the racing today, we knew we could do it.”

Emily added: “That was probably the quickest race of our lives and it kind of just happened in a flash. There’s so much muscle memory, the race plan over the past few years has kind of become gospel and speaks to how much we believe in it and how process driven we are that we came out and we lived that process until the end and got the result we wanted.

“There has been pressure but also confidence. Today we knew we didn’t have to go out and pull something new out of thin air, we just had to race the race plan that we have and that’s what saw us over the line first. It’s a bit of a blur to be honest.”

Photo credit: Steve McArthur / Row360

In the Men’s pairs (M2-), Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George took the silver medal. They had led the race throughout until Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers, 2020 and 2016 Olympic Champions,  overhauled the British boat with a few strokes to go after a final sprint.

Tom said: “We had the perfect race from the start, pretty much to finish. We just didn’t have the perfect last three strokes – we were done, we were clinging on and we’d given it everything we had. To be that close is really special. The Olympics is a pressure cooker and it’s just the two of us. To be able to put out our best race when it really mattered, we were seriously brave with it especially after not having the perfect semi final. We said what we wanted to do, what we wanted to change and we went out and did that. It hurts a lot not to get the win, but we have a silver medal. We’re incredibly proud and happy with what we’ve achieved together. And doing it all with your best mate is pretty special. I know with a bit of hindsight we’ll be proud of what we achieved.”

Ollie said: “Today I’m really proud that we put that performance out there. We definitely took a risk in the first half, we said we wanted to grab it by the scruff of the neck, and unfortunately came up three strokes short. We wanted to race it like that, race for the gold medal and it’s an Olympic sport. It comes down to margins of seconds. The Croatians – fair play to them.”

Ollie added: “I have really enjoyed the project and the last two weeks being here. It’s a shame it’s not a fairytale ending but I wouldn’t change a bit from the last three years. I’m sure in the next few weeks we’ll look back with an immense amount of pride in what we’ve done.”

Earlier, the Women’s pair (W2-) of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards finished sixth in the B Final, placing them 12th overall. Rebecca said: “We gave it our best shot. In the B Final, every crew in there thought they could’ve made the A Final and everyone went out as if it was an A final. So there’s no shame in that. It was a tight race, we were in and around the action and people were moving all the time. Everyone was really going for it. We’ve come here and done our best, we can walk away with our heads held high.”

The final day of racing at the 2024 Olympic Rowing Regatta will see the GB Women’s and Men’s eights – who both won their heats – in action at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris.

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The Dutch crew had led from the start but a final sprint and photo finish saw Team GB cross the line by just 0.15 seconds to top the podium.

Speaking after winning Team GB’s first ever gold medal in the Women’s quad, Lauren said: “It was just amazing! I could feel that we were moving on the Dutch crew, so in bow one of my jobs is to call to the other girls, so I said, ‘We’re going now. We need to go now!’ because I could sense we were coming back. Georgie and Lola in the stern really drove that finish and Hannah and I were with them the whole way. We started charging back and I could feel that ‘we’ve got this’.

“We have 100% belief in the race and 100% belief in each other and we just trust our plan and each other so much. We knew that if we deliver our best then we could get an outcome like this, so it was heads in all the way. We’re used to close racing but that was really tight, I felt we’d won it but it wasn’t until I looked over and saw ‘GBR 1’ that I let myself actually believe it and that moment was just ecstatic. We always thought during the race that we had a chance, we’ve come back from quite a long way before, and if we believe it’s over then it already is over. The moment we lose that belief we’ve lost the race so no matter how far behind we are in the race we’ll always have belief until we cross that finish line.”

Lola said: “I think everyone always wants to win as convincingly as possible. To be honest, there’s never a strict plan we look to follow exactly. Racing is always going to be fluid and dynamic and that’s part of what makes everyone here in this event Olympians, and the Olympic standard is the fact they know how to move with the race. If you’re down at the start it’s not over, if you’re down at the 1k, 500m or the 250m it’s not over, you’ve always got a chance to claw your way back. That’s what we have as a crew, we have unrelenting full trust knowing that if we commit we can move, and that’s what we did.”

Photo credit: Steve McArthur / Row360

Hannah said: “About 10 strokes from the line we just said ‘we got this’, then we just came through. We really trust in ourselves. We did this at the World Championships as well so we like to give people a tight race. We’ve been training for three years for moments like that and we weren’t going to let it go. Tough strokes have been taken every day for that, so other people could see it as nerve wracking but we were all eyes in. Getting the medal from Princess Anne was amazing! She made a good speech for us at the Embassy earlier in the week where she said to the three girls that it’s their first Games and to just enjoy it. It shows the talent with them that it’s their first Olympiad and they can get a gold medal. Turning it around from Tokyo, this is a really great surprise as well. But Princess Anne just said to enjoy it.”

Georgie said: “I just had belief in what they were telling me behind me. They had belief and I just trust them so much. It’s just incredible. I have no words. It means so much but I didn’t think too much about that and I just got on with it and ended up here, it’s amazing!”

Lola concluded: “Winning the first GB Olympic gold medal in the quad is amazing. There have been so many women who have come before us and so many women who have fed into this and gave us the belief. Fran Houghton has been a big part of our process, there have been so many people who have gone into this, Andrew Randell our coach, all the coaches, support staff and our families. The four of us got the medal but there’s so many more that have got it too and we are so grateful to them!”

It wasn’t to be for the Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Tom Barras, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas, who missed the podium in a close, fourth place finish. Tom said: “We went out and gave it what we had. Fair play to the other crews, they were better than us today. However much the heartbreak is now as we sit here, we want to say thank you to all the people who helped us get this far to the biggest competition on earth. It means so much.”

Graeme said: “Obviously I’m absolutely gutted, but we gave it everything we had today. The last stroke counts and the Women’s quad went out and proved that. It’s amazing for British sculling and for the GB Rowing Team as a whole – we need those medals to come in and support our programme so a big congratulations to them.”

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant were once again convincing in the Lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x), winning their semi-final to progress to the A final. Watching the Women’s quad win, Emily said: “I had faith in them. We watched them do it last year at the World Championships. We train with those girls, I know they’re hard as nails and I’m glad they proved me right. From a personal point of view, I didn’t know how far I could push my body until Andrew (Randell, Head Coach) came along and wrote a programme and I sat there and said, “I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” and then we did. And it turns out the limit is further than I ever thought. I’m incredibly grateful to both him and Louise (Kingsley, Performance Director) for coming in and really changing things, and making things worthwhile to come back for this Olympiad because it’s been really special so far.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George were second in the Men’s pair (M2-) semi final and are also through to the A final. In the Women’s pair (W2-), Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards will race in the B final after finishing the semi final in fifth place.

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Day two also saw the Men’s pair and Lightweight Women’s double win their heats, progressing to semi finals.

The Women’s four (W4-) of Rebecca Shorten, Sam Redgrave, Esme Booth and Helen Glover were dominant in their heat, crossing the line three seconds ahead of New Zealand. Speaking after the race, about competing at her fourth Olympics and fresh from being Team GB flag bearer at the opening ceremony, Helen said: “If you were to transport yourself into the ‘me’ of any start line over the past decade, there’s not much difference. The way I think, the way I feel and act – it’s just me. Whether I’m at my first Olympic Games or I have three children, it just feels like a place where I’m ready to go out and do what I can.

“It’s got to be said that I’m getting pulled down the track by three amazing women, I wouldn’t be here without them. Sam, Esme and Rebecca are phenomenal in their own right, everyone brings something to the crew.

“Carrying the flag gave me an extra boost I didn’t expect. I almost walk that little bit taller and feel a little bit prouder. The Games are predictable, you know what’s going to happen, so that was something I didn’t predict. It’s one of the few things that could be thrown at you that’s not a negative, but a positive. ”

Esme added: “It’s an amazing thing to go out and race with Helen who has so much experience. In training and the lead in she’s helped us tick all the boxes we need to. We felt pretty prepared going out there, we know our race plan and what we want to do. So we felt confident.”

The Men’s four (M4-) was a tight race with Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson finishing in second, behind New Zealand, to take the automatic qualification spot. David said: “We can take a lot of confidence from that heat. Obviously there’s a quick crew out there in the kiwis, and the rest of the world to be honest. But we were happy with it because we feel we’re building through the season step by step. We have work to do and three days to do it, but it’s a positive step and we’re into the final, which is the main thing. Bring on the final on Thursday.”

Imogen Grant described her Lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x) heat performance with Emily Craig, as “Calm, controlled and crossed the line first!” The win saw them progress to the semi final on Wednesday. Imogen added: “Our coach Darren (Whiter) said to us this morning ‘Go out and enjoy it,’ and whenever he says that we turn around and go, ‘Well, we’re going to do a bloody good job first and enjoy it afterwards’. I enjoyed it and I enjoyed moving out on the other crews. We’ve had a really good six weeks. Lucerne was a good race for us and it’s exciting to think that we’ve only gotten better since then. We’ve had some really good pieces in training and depending on what conditions are thrown at us, I think we’re ready. We have a huge amount of confidence in ourselves. I can’t think of another crew in the event that has experienced as many different types of races as we have, whatever wind direction or other crews we have to race is always a race we can reference. We can take confidence from past performances.”

Emily said: “We are very process driven and that’s the main thing we focus on. We don’t want to think about what the other crews are doing. All we can do is go as fast as we can from A to B and hopefully that will be faster than the rest of the world.”

Also winning their heat and through to the semi final were Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George in the Men’s pair (M2-). Tom said: “I think we executed our plan pretty well. We knew people would jump out – it’s the Olympics after all, but we stayed calm. We can always be better and I think that’s important and actually a good thing, you don’t want to have the perfect race in the heat and think ‘where do we go from here’ and we earnt the right to relax a little bit in that last 500m and keep it long and loose and take it to the line.”

Ollie added: “We’re happy with our first race. I think if you’ve got to the line first in your heat at the Olympics Games there’s got to be a certain element of confidence. We could be sharper out of the blocks, we want to be dominant in every part of our race and we probably didn’t do that today so we can work on that. Little bits in the last 500m we didn’t have to do today, but it’s nice to have things to work on.”

The Women’s pair (W2-) of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards missed out on the automatic qualification spots with a fourth place finish. They will race the repechage on Monday. Rebecca said: “We’ve shifted our race plan slightly. We just got it slightly off the beat in the second 500m but I’m already looking forward to tomorrow because I know we can perform well. I’m excited about it.” Chloe added: “It was a bit surreal. Paris has been amazing so far but I’m just excited to see what we can do in the repechage. We’ve had the best training camp ever and haven’t missed a session.”

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Of the 23 women and 19 men, 50% are making their Olympic debut and 50% are returning Olympians. These include double Olympic Champion Helen Glover, Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Tom Barras and Team GB’s only brother and sister, Tom and Emily Ford.

“Team GB has an impressive Olympic tradition in rowing, and I am delighted to welcome the 42 athletes that have been selected today for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” commented Team GB Chef de Mission, Mark England.

“The Olympic experience in this squad is huge, and I have no doubt it will be an asset to the 21 athletes who will make their Olympic debut in Paris this summer. Team GB is also set to include more women than men in the team for a second successive Games and it is fantastic to see two mothers, Helen Glover and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, named as part of the team today.

“Our rowers have posted some outstanding results this season and I am sure the crews will relish the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of their friends, family, and Team GB fans as they race the Olympic course at the National Olympic Nautical Stadium of Île-de-France in Paris this July.”

Commenting on the team selection, 91ÌÒÉ« Director of Performance Louise Kingsley, who will be Rowing Team Leader in Paris, said: “This Olympic cycle has come with a few challenges along the way, but the athletes, support staff and coaches have really pulled together to create a fantastic atmosphere, culture and training environment that has lead to impressive results on the water. We qualified nine boats at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and added a tenth most recently at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. Now, we have selected a very strong team of athletes with a good mix of returning and first-time Olympians who I know are relishing the opportunity to go out there and write a unique chapter in the legacy of the GB Rowing Team.”

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Meet the crews:

Women’s four (W4-)

Photo: Team GB

Double Olympic champion and mum of three, Helen Glover is joined by returning Olympian Rebecca Shorten alongside Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave who are both making their Olympic debuts. This crew formed at the start of the 2024 season and are unbeaten this year having won gold at World Rowing Cup I, World Rowing Cup II and the European Rowing Championships.

Helen said: “Selection for my fourth Games feels different because the first time I still had this disbelief that I was becoming an Olympian! A huge reason for aiming for Paris was thinking how great it will be to have my family there to watch and support me and being able to share all of this with them is so special.

“Our four has a very good mix of Rebecca’s experience and the new energy of Esme and Sam and I do really feel more emotional for them than myself, seeing them enjoy this for the first time and getting their first Olympic vest. I love celebrating other people, so seeing them have this experience today and witnessing them enjoying this for the first time is amazing. I’m so fortunate that I’ve rowed with the most phenomenal people throughout my career
 It’s exactly the same here in our four and I’m really enjoying working with them.”

Men’s four (M4-)

Photo: Team GB

The four has medalled at every event this Olympiad (nine gold, one silver, one bronze). Identified as part of the ‘Project Paris’ group in 2020, Oli Wilkes, Matt Aldridge and old school friends, David Ambler and Freddie Davidson will all be making their Olympic debuts in Paris.

Oli said: “It’s very surreal to be selected for our first Games. I never really thought this would be a possibility and it feels so special. It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s a brilliant opportunity. There’s a lot more to a Games, but we want to keep thinking about it as another race, to not get overwhelmed by the occasion and to focus on the job at hand!”

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)

Photo: Team GB

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant are reuniting for Paris after missing the podium in Tokyo by just 0.01 seconds and only 0.5 seconds off gold. Since then, Emily has kept a print out of that photo finish on her living room wall. Stepping on this cycle, the double are one of only two crews in the World to remain unbeaten this Olympiad. They have the chance to make history by becoming the last ever Olympic medallists in this event.

Emily said: “Double Olympian sounds crazy! Being an Olympian the first time round was something I had dreamt of since I was 12 years old, so going to two Olympics is even more out there! I thought I would be one and done, and here I am back for Paris!”

Men’s pair (M2-)

Photo: Team GB

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George won bronze at the Tokyo games in the Men’s eight. They switched to the Men’s pair after taking a year out to study at Cambridge and compete in the Boat Race. They have been on the podium at every race this cycle (seven gold, three silver, one bronze), won their first championship title at the 2024 European Rowing Championships, and are unbeaten in 2024.

Ollie said: “Last time GB won gold in the pair was Redgrave and Pinsent in 1996 and that was the only gold for Team GB at that Games. That’s when Lottery funding started and that makes it even more special to be in this boat class and to try to emulate what those guys did. It’s nice to have the opportunity to put our little piece of history in the much bigger puzzle that is Team GB.

“For me, having friends and family in Paris will be amazing as it gives them the opportunity to watch and support us in something that will seem almost like a home Games. To share that with them, whatever the result, is something really special.”

Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)

Photo: Team GB

Hannah Scott returns after racing the quad in Tokyo. She is joined by first time Olympians, Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, and Lauren Henry. The quad were crowned World and European champions in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Lauren, the youngest athlete in the squad said: “It’s amazing and a dream come true to be selected. I want to thank everyone who has helped to get me to this point, my parents, coaches and teammates. It’s incredible being the youngest in the team. I remember being on a junior training camp and the coach said ‘one of you could still make the Paris team’ and I thought ‘I want that to be me!’, so to actually do it is amazing. I might be the youngest but I know I’m surrounded by a great group of experienced people and am confident in my performance and results. Ultimately, we still have a job to do and want to get a result in Paris that we can be proud of.”

Men’s eight (M8+)

Photo: Team GB

Tokyo bronze medallists Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, James Rudkin and Tom Ford are joined in the eight by returning Olympians Sholto Carnegie and Rory Gibbs. Morgan Bolding was a reserve in Tokyo and will therefore make his Olympic debut along with Tom Digby, and cox, Harry Brightmore. The eight are double European and double World Champions this cycle. They are coached by Men’s eight Sydney 2000 gold medallist, Steve Trapmore.

Tom said: “It’s always amazing to be told you are selected for Team GB. For me, knowing that my sister Emily has also been selected for her second Games (in the Women’s eight) is huge. It’s a really proud moment for our family. Sharing this experience with Emily is just brilliant.”

Women’s eight (W8+)

Photo: Team GB

Heidi Long, Holly Dunford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart and Annie Campbell-Orde are all making their Olympic debuts. Hattie Taylor and Rowan McKellar have switched from the four in Tokyo while Emily Ford is the only returning athlete from the eight in 2020. Cox Henry Fieldman won bronze in the Tokyo GB men’s eight and will make history as the first male to cox a female boat for GB at the Olympic Games.

On making her Olympic debut, Heidi said: “It’s something that myself, my family and friends have been working towards for a very long time, so the fact that it’s here still feels surreal. Everyday I’m trying to keep focussed on rowing and what we are trying to achieve but I also want to enjoy and feel the excitement of all these special moments like being here today and going to kitting out. It takes a village to get to this point and knowing that my friends and family will be in Paris to support the whole team will hopefully inspire and encourage us to have the best time of our lives.”

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)

Photo: Team GB

Tokyo silver medallist Tom Barras is joined by Olympic debutants Callum Dixon and Matt Haywood. Completing the quad is Graeme Thomas, who raced in the double in Tokyo and was selected for Rio 2016, where he was heartbreakingly taken ill before having a chance to take to the water.

Second-time Olympian, Tom said: “Olympic selection is awesome. It’s a huge moment in an athlete’s life. It’s the build up of so many years of training, hard work and effort. All the miles we put in at training camps, the frustration and the enjoyment, it all culminates in this
 selection for the greatest show on earth! Winning the silver in Tokyo was a brilliant, magical experience and I hope we can continue to build on that.”

Women’s pair (W2-)

Photo: Team GB

Switching from the Women’s eight in Tokyo to the pair in Paris are Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards. Chloe’s father, Paul, swam for Team GB at Seoul 1988, while Rebecca’s proudest moment was winning World Cup gold in the Women’s eight in Lucerne in 2023.

Rebecca said: “Selection for a second Olympics is incredible. I always believed I could do it and I’m proud of myself for sticking through the hard times and for enjoying the good times and it’s so rewarding to feel I’ve got to this point. Chloe is my best friend in rowing, we live together, we row together so sharing this with her is pretty special and we are ready for it!”

Women’s double sculls (W2x)

Photo: Team GB

Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne qualified the double for the Games just two weeks ago. Becky joined the senior team this season and has only raced internationally at the 2024 European Championships and the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. Mathilda returns from Tokyo having taken time away from the team to have her son, Freddie. Now two, Freddie is enjoying supporting his mother on her Olympic journey.

Mathilda said: “The reality of us qualifying is starting to sink in! I’ve enjoyed the journey this time around and it’s great that my family and son Freddie can come out to Paris to support us. Becky is great to race with because she is fearless and energetic and I feel like we are really bringing out the best in each other.”

Team GB Rowing team

Women’s eight (W8+)

Heidi Long (Leander Club/Marlow RC)
Rowan McKellar (Leander Club/Broxbourne RC)
Holly Dunford (Molesey BC)
Emily Ford (Leander Club)
Lauren Irwin (Leander Club/Durham University/Chester-le-Street ARC)
Eve Stewart (Leander Club)
Hattie Taylor (Leander Club/Sir William Perkins’s School)
Annie Campbell-Orde (Nottingham RC/Leander Club)
Henry Fieldman (cox) (Leander Club)
Coach: Richard Chambers 

Men’s eight (M8+)

Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club/Marlow RC)
Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Jacob Dawson (Leander Club/Plymouth ARC)
Charlie Elwes (Leander Club)
Tom Digby (Oxford Brookes University BC/Griffen BC)
James Rudkin (Newcastle University BC/Hollowell Scullers)
Tom Ford (Leander Club)
Harry Brightmore (cox) (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Coach: Steve Trapmore

Women’s four (W4-)

Helen Glover (Marlow RC)
Esme Booth (Leander Club/Stratford upon Avon BC)
Sam Redgrave (Leander Club/Norwich RC)
Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC)
Coach: James Harris

Men’s four (M4-)

Oli Wilkes (Oxford Brookes University BC)
David Ambler (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Matt Aldridge (Oxford Brookes University BC/Christchurch RC)
Freddie Davidson (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Coaches: Christian Felkel/Dan Moore

Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)

Lauren Henry (Leicester RC)
Hannah Scott (Bann RC/Leander Club)
Lola Anderson (Leander Club/Newcastle University BC)
Georgie Brayshaw (Leander Club)
Coach: Andrew Randell

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)

Tom Barras (Burway RC/Leander Club)
Callum Dixon (Twickenham RC)
Matt Haywood (Nottingham RC/Burton Leander RC)
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC)
Coach: Paul Stannard

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)

Emily Craig (University of London BC)
Imogen Grant (Cambridge University BC)
Coach: Darren Whiter

Women’s double sculls (W2x)

Becky Wilde (Leander Club/Bath University BC)
Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne (Upper Thames RC)
Coach: Tom Pattichis

Men’s pair (M2-)

Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Leander Club/Cambridge University BC)
Tom George (Leander Club/Cambridge University BC)
Coaches: Christian Felkel/Dan Moore

Women’s pair (W2-)

Chloe Brew (Leander Club/Plymouth ARC)
Rebecca Edwards (Leander Club)
Coach: Tom Pattichis

Reserves

Photo: Team GB

Olivia Bates (Nottinghamshire County RA/University of Nottingham BC)
Lucy Glover (Edinburgh University BC/Warrington RC)
James Robson (Leander Club/Newcastle University BC)
Will Stewart (Leander Club)

Team Management, Coaching and Support staff

Louise Kingsley, Team Leader
Tom Dyson, Deputy Team Leader
Jo Bates, Team Manager
Maurice Hayes, Resources Manager
Andrew Randell, Head Coach – Women
James Harris, Women’s Coach
Darren Whiter, Women’s Coach
Richard Chambers, Women’s Coach
Tom Pattichis, Women’s Coach
Paul Stannard, Head Coach – Men
Dan Moore, Men’s Coach
Steve Trapmore, Men’s Coach
Christian Felkel, Men’s Coach
Ann Redgrave, Team Doctor
Penny Stern, Team Physiotherapist
Emma Stewart, Team Physiotherapist
Gareth Turner, Sports Scientist
Molly Lloyd-Jones, Sports Scientist
Shelley Wyatt, Team GB Press Officer
Paul Cobbett, Regatta Support
John Gearing, Regatta Support
Dan Lockey, Regatta Support

Crew photos: Team GB

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Added to the bronze won on Saturday, the eight medal haul saw GB finish second on the medal table, tied on the number of golds with the Netherlands.

The Women’s four (W4-) of Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten won gold 2.5 seconds ahead of the Dutch World Champions, to maintain their winning streak in 2024. Esme said: “The result here is important, it’s a beautiful event, the scenery is amazing and it’s a great place to come. I think after the Europeans we sat down and put down a few things we wanted to work on, today was a really good chance to put those building blocks into place and have a good run down the track. Winning emotions are amazing, my parents are here and it’s so special to have everyone out here supporting us.”

Helen added: “Lucerne is an amazing regatta in its own right
. This race is just such a special event for our sport. So to be out here, to be racing, to be winning in a nice, more controlled style, is great. We know where we want to get to and to see the pieces falling into place this early in the season is really encouraging, because we do feel like there’s more to come.”

Only two crews in the world remain unbeaten this Olympiad, and one of those is Emily Craig and Imogen Grant in the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x). The double led their final throughout, despite some initial pressure from New Zealand, and crossed the line with clear water. “We relish the competition,” Emily said, “It’s always great to come down the track – from the first World Cup, the Europeans when I was absent and now we’ve raced everyone who is likely to be in that A Final at the Olympics in two months time, so it’s nice to put a post in the ground. Getting back in the boat is a real testament to the bond that Imo and I have and between us and Darren, our coach. To get through the last few weeks and put out a performance like that. It was not only back to where we were but frankly a step on to where we have been. It feels very special and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve done.”

When asked about their Tokyo result, Imogen said: “I feel like at this point we’ve done the result in Tokyo justice. We came back with a point to prove and we’ve proven it over the last few seasons. The chance at having another crack at the Olympics is very exciting. But in honesty, we just want to be proud of how we row and race and so far that’s come every time we’ve raced together this season. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved over the last few years, it’s such a privilege getting to do this together and regardless of the results in a couple of months time I know I’m going to cross the line in floods of tears because we’ll never get to do it again.”

It was a second World Cup gold in 2024 for Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George in the Men’s pair (M2-), also maintaining their winning streak this season. Ollie said: “It’s nice to be unbeaten. Great.  But we don’t want to dwell on that, we don’t want to stop. We have learnings to take away and there are parts that we know can be better. But we are happy with today and it’s good to get a win on a beautiful lake.”

Tom added: “We were in control and we are happy with that, but we’re never going to stop and be happy with where we’re at. We’ll keep pushing. People keep asking us about expectations and telling us we’re favourites now, it doesn’t really matter. We have a lot of training to do and we want to keep pushing to find more speed.”

GB stormed to victory in the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) with an emphatic win. The World and European Champion crew of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw led from the off to finish around 2.5 seconds ahead of Netherlands. Lola said: “You never really want to feel like you’re in control when you’re racing. It’s a process-orientated sport for us and the minute you start feeling relaxed, for us that’s a minute where someone could slip through your fingers. We try to stay internal and by that logic we don’t really notice what’s going on around us. But it’s spicy inside the boat. We never feel sleepy.”

Hannah added: “We’ve started to hear more about the Olympic gold medal that people have been chasing for years, but there’s plenty of people who are just as talented as us and haven’t won it. So it’s definitely about things going right on the day. That’s what’s important for us – we have to keep it focussed out there, the biggest thing for us is progress, that’s what we’ve been doing every day and that’s why we’ve been building through every race. Hopefully we can keep continuing on and building the speed.”

The Men’s eight (M8+) was fast and frantic with the GB crew of Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox, Harry Brightmore taking the upper hand, finishing just 0.20 ahead of the USA who had won the earlier preliminary round. Speaking after the medal ceremony, James said: “I feel pretty tired but that was a really good race for us. Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face and the USA really punched us in the face on Friday. We had our backs against the wall there and turned it around to pull out a race like that today. You train hard to race, we relish racing, we love it, it’s why we do the sport.”

It was silver for Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, and cox, Henry Fieldman in the Women’s eight (W8+). It was an epic race, which saw the GB crew lead from the start, only to be pipped in the final strokes by Canada. Heidi said: “ I think we’ve stepped on a lot in the last few days. What we did really well was we executed what we wanted to do, so if we have a plan for the next eight weeks I think we can really build and be in the mix at the Games.”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson won bronze behind USA and New Zealand. In a stacked field, Oli said: “Everyone’s come in hungry looking for the big one in Paris.” Freddie added, “We thought that was a good step on from the heat, we’re not over the moon but we’re happy with how we’re progressing and have to keep that going. The next few months will be tough. We’ll come away from this and go up the mountain to training camp, slogging out long miles on the machines and on the water. It’s tough but we are all looking forward to it. It feels like we’re on the up, we need to keep that rolling and not give ourselves a hard time for this result today.”

It was fourth for the Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of John Collins, Callum Dixon, Tom Barras and Graeme Thomas and fifth for the GBR2 Men’s pair (M2-) of Will Stewart and James Robson. Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards placed ninth overall in the Women’s pair (W2-) B final.

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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.

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The racing came thick and fast, with crews adding eight medals to the gold won by Olivia Bates in the lightweight women’s single on Saturday. The golds came in the Men’s pair, Lightweight Women’s double, Women’s four and Men’s eight.

It was a one, two in the Women’s four (W4-) with the GBR1 crew of Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten taking gold and the GBR2 crew of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford and Emily Ford taking the silver. The GBR3 crew of Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, Lauren Irwin and Eve Stewart were sixth.

Talking about the GB crews doubling up, Rebecca said: “It’s weird to be racing our teammates at this level, but we do so many pieces side by side that it feels like being back home – with a few extra crews! This regatta has been a good stepping stone, each race we’ve learned that we’ve still got so much more to come!”

Sam added: “I think we’ve been doing well in training and today was a good row. I think we have got that little bit of magic together which is really nice to have this early on. There’s more to come I’m sure!” Helen said: “A gold medal is the best way to start the season!”

Racing just 59 minutes after the Women’s four final, the Women’s eight (W8+) of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, and cox, Henry Fieldman battled through to win silver.

Holly said: “Having two races today was good fun and a good experience. I could definitely feel the first race in the legs in that second race, but it was good to race under those conditions. We had a turnaround of 59 minutes between the women’s four and the women’s eight races, but it’s good to get those races in the legs and still come away with two silver medals! We’ll regroup with the eight and figure out areas of improvement, but it’s definitely a good starting point and we’ll look to build on that as the season progresses.”

It was another World Cup gold medal for the GBR1 Men’s pair (M2-) Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George (GBR1) who haven’t lost a senior race at Lago di Varese. “We’re feeling good.” Tom said, adding: “Obviously it’s the first race in a long time, so we’re happy to get out there, get side by side and race these boys again because it’s a really strong field.” Ollie described the race as “a stepping stone”, saying: “The Europeans is the next big one for us ahead of the next World Rowing Cup and then the Olympics. So we will keep learning and continue to trust ourselves.”

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant were not phased by the drama going on around them in the lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) final. The Canadian crew caught a crab right off the blocks, but the GB crew won by almost 7 seconds, continuing their winning streak in this Olympiad.

Imogen said: “We saw something at the start but didn’t let it shake our rhythm and just did what we needed to do. Emily added: “I’m glad we’ve sunk our teeth into racing. We’ve been chomping at the bit to get going, it’s nice to come back in with a bang. I feel like we’ve moved on and shown the world a little bit of what we’ve been doing behind the scenes for the last six months.”

The final race of the day saw the Men’s eight (M8+) of Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox, Harry Brightmore win gold. Morgan said: “I think through the winter it’s tough to keep positive about what you’ve done in the past and believe you’ll still be good when you get to your next race. We don’t assume anything but this win gives us a lot of confidence. One good performance is nice to have on the board and there’s certainly more to come!”

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, Tom Barras, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas won silver. Callum said; “That was our best row to date so we’re really happy to come away with a silver medal.”

Graeme said: “For me, 2022 could have been my last race and there were definitely moments in that period that I thought it could be, but here I am. I was a bit emotional on Friday getting the first race under my belt. Once I got over that hurdle we were back to business and I slotted back into the groove. These boys did a great job of facilitating all the little things I needed as I went through rehab, so I’m grateful to them and they did a great job today. Right now we’re taking it one day at a time and just focusing on what we need to do as a crew to improve.”

Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson in the Men’s four (M4-) were pipped on the finish line by Italy to take the silver in a very close finish. David said: “We started well but we felt Italy coming up in the last 500 and they put on an awesome sprint to come through in the last 100. It was great from them and full credit to them for that. I think it’ll be good for us to get onto Europeans quickly. We haven’t had too much racing this season, this is our first side-by-side match up, so it’ll be nice to give ourselves a week to work things out and come back and see where that puts us. I’m looking forward to it.”

George Bourne attacked the Men’s single sculls (M1x) final in a packed field that included the world champion and narrowly missed out on the podium finishing in fourth. Also finishing fourth were Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw in the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) and Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew in the Women’s pair (W2-). The GBR2 Men’s pair (M2-) of Will Stewart and James Robson finished fifth.

Earlier in the day, John Collins and Seb Devereux won the Men’s Double sculls (M2x) B final, placing seventh overall.

Results from Sunday at World Rowing Cup I

Full results

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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«.

Director of Performance for the GB Rowing Team, Louise Kingsley, collected the overall World Rowing Cup Trophy in front of athletes, friends and families after racing and said: “The athletes have given us some excellent races – with some that I can only describe as edge-of-your seat stuff but all showing class and great technique to deliver these medal winning performances. Full credit and thanks to the coaches and support team too. We will now be focusing on our preparations for the World Championships and qualifying boats for the Paris 2024 games.”

The Women’s Eight (W8+) was one of the ‘races of the day’, with Natasha Morrice, Rebecca Edwards, Lauren Irwin, Karen Bennett, Esme Booth, Emily Ford, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde and cox, Henry Fieldman taking the gold medal thanks to a sprint finish in the final seconds. Becca said: “This means so much, I can’t even really believe it’s happened. I think a lot of us have had plenty of races and put in so much work. This has been a big turnaround in the team and means so much to every single one of us.”

Lauren added: “Henry was just calling ‘Go now, go now!’ and we trusted every word that he said. Inching back, inching back, trusting in the process that we would come through in the end. It’s a great feeling.” And Karen said: “It feels really good to be World Cup Winners, that was a surprise! We are just stoked that we came out and put that performance together!”

The Men’s four (M4-) final was a thrilling race with GBR2 Dan Graham, James Robson, Sam Bannister and Sam Nunn just missing out on a podium spot in the final strokes. The GBR1 crew of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson however, continued their winning streak with another commanding victory.

David said: “It was quite a tough race, the competition is very fierce in this event and it’s also pretty hot. We always find the heat challenging. Being out there was quite energy-sapping, but we enjoyed the challenge.” Matt added: “I think we just trusted our rhythm. We know we have a very strong base speed, and the kiwis and Australians do as well. We hold consistently through the middle, trust the legs, trust that it carries us across the line and hope what happens in the last 500m takes care of itself. We don’t really think about that, we just step on and hope for the best.”

Photo: Benedict Tufnell

“We’re all looking forward to the Worlds,” said Freddie, adding, “ We have a lot of training to do before then, training camps and hard work, so it goes back to square one for us. It’s the end of the World Cup season, we’re happy with the results and now it’s back to square one to find out if we can get some more speed before Worlds.”

A dominant row and clear water win gave Emily Craig and Imogen Grant their second 2023 World Rowing Cup gold in the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x).  Imogen said: “It’s amazing. It’s the first time we’ve had the opportunity to wear the yellow as World Cup leaders and it felt pretty good to cross that line first. Over the world cup season we’ve raced most of the combinations, and it’s been good to see crews from Romania and New Zealand come back in. We had a great race with the US double too in the Varese World Cup so we feel like we’ve got a good sense of the field. But, no one ever sits on their laurels when they’re trying to win races so we’ll go back to 2 months of hard training and see if we can get every single thing that we can out of this double.”

It was a second 2023 World Cup gold for Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George in the Men’s pair (M2-) after a thrilling tussle with the Romanians which saw the GB pair cross the line 0.34 ahead. Ollie said: “I think we’ve been learning a lot throughout the week, certainly yesterday we raced very differently from how we did today. We were trying things out, so it’s nice to see them pay off. Romania are a top quality crew, we’re under no illusions and they’re doing about 85 races this weekend doubling up those two lads and they do strange things, crazy things at the line, so we didn’t immediately know we had won it when we crossed the line.”

Tom added: “It’s one of those weird races where now I’m thinking it’s one of the hardest ones I’ve done. At the time it was very internal, we had our race plan – Ollie was really calm, I was probably less calm but he kept me honest and focused which was great. I’m happy with it. It’s nice to win today but we’ll go back to the drawing board next week and see if we can get a couple more seconds because the field is very tight. Everyone is going to go away and get faster, so we’ll have to go away and get faster.”

It was another World Cup silver for Georgie Brayshaw, Lucy Glover, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry in the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x). The race saw China lose its unbeaten run to finish fourth. “China were unbeaten and three crews got ahead of them today so this leaves this event wide open for the worlds,“ said Lauren. Hannah added: “I’m really proud of the GB women’s sculling squad. We’ve had Lucy jump in this week and hats off to her and everyone, because we’re able to adapt and hold our position on the world cup series, I couldn’t be prouder. We haven’t slipped at all, we’ve been challenged but it’s great to see.”

Varese World Cup II bronze medallists, Callum Dixon, George Bourne, Matt Haywood and Tom Barras improved with a silver medal in the Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) to win the overall world cup. “It’s another step on our treadmill which keeps on rolling,” said Tom, adding, “Hopefully we are going to crank up the speed as we head to the world champs, so two training camps to come and hopefully then we’ll be fresh and qualify the boat for Paris 2024, which is the main aim of the year.”

Photo: Benedict Tufnell

The men’s eight (M8+) race was neck and neck throughout with Australia just getting the edge on the GB crew of Will Stewart, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox, Harry Brightmore. Picking up silver medals, James Rudkin said: “We wanted to get the win but fair play to the Aussies for putting together a really good race. They’re a very fast crew so no shame in getting beaten by them. They’re very strong. It’s a chance for us to learn from it and try to come back stronger.”

The Women’s four (W4-) of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Helen Glover and Rebecca Shorten won bronze behind Romania and Australia. Heidi said: “It’s always good to get on the podium, but it’s not quite the race or result we would’ve liked. We’ve stuck to our processes and I think we have stepped on through this regatta. We’re ready for a big block of training and to see what’s to come in September.”

In the B finals, the Women’s pair (W2-) of Chloe Brew and Juliette Perry racing for just the fourth time as a combination finished in fifth place (11th overall) and Aidan Thompson and John Collins, racing at their second event, were sixth (12 overall) in the Men’s Double sculls (M2x).

Final Day (Day 3) Results from World Rowing Cup III 2023

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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

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