ROWING: The Australian Rowing Team closed off the World Rowing Cup season with five medals at World Rowing Cup 3 in Poznan, Poland. The final day of racing, saw Australian crews claim two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal.
Australia’s gold medals came from Women’s Single Sculler, and reigning World Champion, Kim Brennan and the Men’s Quadruple Sculls of James McRae, Cameron Girdlestone, Sasha Belonogoff and Karsten Forsterling. The Men’s Pair, Women’s Quadruple Sculls and TA Mixed Double Sculls won silver medals, while the bronze medals were claimed by the Men’s Four and the AS Men’s Single Sculls.
By virtue of winning seven medals at the event, Australia finished fourth on the medal table at World Rowing Cup 3, and sixth overall in the final World Rowing Cup standings. [Note: Australia only competed in two out of the three World Rowing Cups.]
General Manager – Sport, Jaime Fernandez said: “Our crews put in some fine performances across the weekend, including our para-rowers who were making their first international appearances this season.
“No doubt they will all gain further motivation from this weekend’s performances, having, for many, consolidated on their previous World Cup results in Lucerne. Now it is about continuing to identify where the opportunities lie and turning our attention to the final critical block of training ahead of Rio.”
In one of the most hotly anticipated races of the World Cup season, the 2015 World Champion in the Women’s Single Sculls, Kim Brennan of Australia, took on the 2014 World Rowing Champion, New Zealand’s Emma Twigg. Joining Twigg and Brennan in the A-Final was Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and Denmark.
This was the first time Brennan and Twigg has raced since 2014 and both scullers had won their respective semi-finals and were drawn alongside each other. At the 500 metre mark, Brennan had already stamped her authority to take the lead. Denmark's Fie Udby Erichsen followed the closest in second with Lisa Scheenaard of the Netherlands in third.
As they crossed the halfway mark, Brennan held the lead, with Twigg beginning to make her move through the closely packed field. However, as the crews pushed into the third 500 metres, Brennan kicked down to give herself a clear water advantage, an advantage she didn’t relinquish as she crossed the line in a time of 7.15, with Twigg in second and Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin in third.
Post-race Brennan, who is coached by Lyall McCarthy, commented: “I went into this race without any expectations because it has been a while since I have raced Erichsen and Twigg. This is just one of the steps towards Rio, no one is going to play their cards here.”
The Men’s Quadruple Sculls backed up their fine performance in the heats earlier in the week by winning gold in their race in Poznan. The crew were the fastest qualifiers alongside Germany and therefore began in the middle two lanes. By the halfway mark, Australia had taken the lead and were pulling away from the pack, leaving Germany and Poland to battle it out for second and third place.
At the close, it was Australia who wrapped up the win with a strong and composed race and in the process of winning gold also won the World Rowing Cup series for the boat class, having won back-to-back gold medals.
Belonogoff said post-race: “It was a good race for us given that it is only our second international race since we formed this combination. We have seven more weeks of training coming up in Italy and we don’t feel like we’ve had our best race yet.”
In addition to winning two golds, Australia also claimed three silver medals and two bronze medals over the course of the weekend.
The Australian Women’s Quadruple Sculls had a sensational race in their A-Final which saw the crew of Maddie Edmunds, Jen Cleary, Kerry Hore and Jess Hall challenge Germany right at the line. The crew, coached by Tom Westgarth, sprinted at the line, for a photo finish with 2015 World Championships silver medallists, Germany. They were rewarded with a silver medal, finishing just 0.32 of a second behind the gold medal winners.
The Men’s Pair of Alex Lloyd and Spencer Turrin snapped up a silver medal in their A-Final. The Australians fired out the start, in a tight field where only a couple of seconds separated the entire field with 500 metres rowed. By the halfway point, World Champions New Zealand edged out in front, while Great Britain’s Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes were battling with Turrin and Lloyd for second and third place.
As they approached the final 500 metres, New Zealand had the lead but the true fight for medals was between Australia and Great Britain’s two crews. A big sprint to the line, saw the Australian pair take the silver medal.
The Men’s Four of Alex Hill, Joshua Booth, Joshua Dunkley-Smith and Will Lockwood took home a bronze medal in their A-Final. Chris O’Brien’s crew were second fastest at the start of their A-Final, after Olympic champions, Great Britain, while 2015 World Champions, Italy were in third.
Through the middle of the race Great Britain and Australia began to push away from the remainder of the field, while Italy sat back in third. As the crews hit the 1500m mark, the British had pushed ahead of the pack to take a clear water advantage, and ultimately gold, while Australia continued to sprint, with Italy hot on their heels. The Italians surged in the final few metres, upping their rating, and pipped Australia to the line to take the silver, while Australia took bronze.
To read a full racing report, including quotes, click here for Sunday’s racing.
Rowing Australia
