ROWING: Australia rounded off the 2014 World Rowing Championships on Sunday with one silver and two bronze medals at the Bosbaan in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

The 2013 World Rowing Champion in the Women’s Single Scull, Australia’s Kim Crow, couldn’t replicate the form that saw her claim the title last year in South Korea, with this year’s honours going to New Zealand’s Emma Twigg.
 
Meanwhile, the Men’s Double Scull of James McRae and Alexander Belonogoff and the Women’s Double Scull of Olympia Aldersey and Sally Kehoe both claimed bronze medals in the finals of their respective boat classes.
 
Australia has concluded its campaign at the 2014 World Rowing Championships with one silver and three bronze in Olympic events. In all events (including Paralympic) Australia achieved two gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals. The country concluded the event as third in the overall medal table, behind New Zealand and Great Britain.
 
Crow, the AOC Athletes' Commission Chair, went into the final at the World Championships as the reigning Single Scull World Champion but was going to have a tough fight on her hands as she was up against the 2014 World Rowing Cup Champion, New Zealand’s Emma Twigg.
 
At the 500 metre mark, Crow was in the lead while Twigg was hot on her heels and as the race progressed, the New Zealand sculler chased down Crow and continued to lead the battle from the half-way point.
 
It was not to be Crow’s day, as she finished 2.38 seconds behind the new World Champion Twigg, who finished with a time of 7:14:95.
 
Crow commented post-race: “It was tough but it was one of the most enjoyable races I’ve ever done. I had a great race, but Emma (Twigg) got me again and credit to her for it, she’s had a great season and I have nothing but respect for her. I am actually really happy.
 
“It’s been a mixed experience here, I’ve had some good rows and some not so good rows, which is a good chance to realise on what is working and also what I need to go home and work on again but I feel I’ve stepped up since World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne so moving in the right direction.”
 
The Men’s Double Scull final saw Australia line up against Germany, Lithuania, Croatia, Italy and Bulgaria, the noticeable absentee being the World Champions, Norway, who didn’t make the final.
 
From the start, Valent and Martin Sinkovic (Croatia) had the lead, and they maintained it through the entire race but it was to be the battle for second and third that proved to be the most interesting. Italy’s Romano Battisti and Francesco Fossi were sitting in the second position while a battle unfolded for third place between Australia, Germany and Lithuania.
 
As the crews approached the 500 metre line, the Croatians were in the lead by some two-boat-lengths, but then McRae and Belonogoff put in the push for the second place and were fast approaching Italy and when it came to the finish line, the Italians took second by a bow ball in what was to be a photo finish that saw them separated by just 0.01 of a second.
 
Post-race, Belonogoff said: “It was a pretty good race, I thought we went out well, we just wanted to put together our best race and we certainly did that today. We had a nice fast semi-final a few days ago which gave us a bit of confidence for today so we’re pretty happy with that.”
 
McRae added about the conditions: “I’d say the conditions in our semi-final were tougher than today’s race, especially as in the semi-final it’s about the top three going through and there’s probably about ten crews in this boat class currently who could all make it through.
 
“I’m pretty happy to get on the podium, it was pretty tight between everyone but it was definitely another good race for us and I’m very happy with that.”
 
In the Women’s Double Scull, Poland and Australia lined up next to each other after having identical qualifying times from the semi-final stage. Kehoe and Aldersey showed their cards early, taking the lead by the 500 metre mark as they out-rated the rest of the field. They were leading by almost a boat length as they approached the 1000 metre line.

At the halfway mark, the New Zealand crew of Fiona Bourke and Zoe Stevenson began to make its move on the rest of the pack and chasing up on the Australian leaders. As Kehoe and Aldersey began to lose momentum in the second half of the race, New Zealand powered their way through to take the gold, while Poland muscled Australia into third.

Aldersey said post-race: “I think we probably didn’t row the best we could of in these conditions, I think basically we just didn’t have our best race and that was shown in what happened out there today.

“I think finishing on the podium is a good start from us as new crew but it’s now about regrouping and looking at how we can finish higher on the podium.”

It is only four years ago since Aldersey, now 22, was competing at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. She has now confirmed her transition from outstanding junior to senior and has the Rio Olympics in her sights. 

In the A-Final of the Lightweight Men’s Four, Australia’s Nick Silcox, Samuel Beltz, Blair Tunevitsch and Thomas Gibson had a tough battle on their hands as they faced a final featuring the reigning World Champions, Denmark.

The Tasmanian-based crew started out on in fourth and struggled to make it out of that position as the Danish led from start to finish, followed by New Zealand and Great Britain. The Australian Lightweight Men’s Four ultimately finished in fifth at the conclusion of the race.

In the two B-Finals of the last day of the Championships, the Men’s and Women’s Coxed Eights competed under sunny conditions on the Bosbaan.
 
The Women’s Eight were first up and the crew, stroked by Kate Hornsey, finished their race in fourth, despite a last minute push for third over France, the race was ultimately won by Germany.
 
The Australian Men’s Eight, who just missed out on a place in the A-Final, were in Lane 3 and up against Italy, Netherlands, Belarus, China and Spain. Stroked by Joshua Hicks and coxed by David Webster, the crew led the race from start to finish.
 
While the hometown favourites, The Netherlands, attempted to chase down the Australians, Webster looked right and left and urged his crew to push through and take the win, and that they did. The crew clocked in a time of 5:24:71 and concluded the World Championships as the seventh best nation in the world when it comes to the Men’s Coxed Eight.
 
Australia’s medals at the 2014 World Rowing Championships were as follows:
 
Gold
Erik Horrie – ASM1x (non-Olympic)
Kathryn Ross and Gavin Bellis – TAMix2x (non-Olympic)
 
Silver
Kimberley Crow – W1x
Hannah Every-Hall, Maia Simmonds, Sarah Pound and Laura Dunn – LW4x (non-Olympic)
Kate Murdoch and Jeremy McGrath – LTAMix2x (non-Olympic)
 
Bronze
Fergus Pragnell, Joshua Dunkley-Smith, Spencer Turrin and Alexander Lloyd – M4-
Olympia Aldersey and Sally Kehoe – W2x
James McRae and Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff – M2x

Rowing Australia Release with some AOC additions

Bronze for Australia's Men's Four on penultimate day of World Champs

ROWING: Australia’s Men’s Coxless Four walked away with a bronze medal in the final of the 2014 World Rowing Championships in what was a hard fought race on the Bosbaan in The Netherlands.

The dominant crew in this boat class in the 2014 season has been Great Britain, and they quickly proved themselves to be the team to beat once again in racing conditions. They flew out of the start very quickly, pursued by the USA, 2013 World Champions The Netherlands as well as Australia’s crew of Fergus Pragnell, Joshua Dunkley-Smith, Spencer Turrin and Alexander Lloyd.

Australia sat back in fourth for the first 1000 metres of the race before making its move on the Dutch crew, who were third at that same point, much to the chagrin of the home supporters. It was going to be a tough call for the Australian crew to chase down both the USA and Great Britain, but Lloyd upped the stroke rate to 38 and the crew pushed on, hot on the heels of the USA.

As they approached the line, the Australians were closing in on the USA but missed out on taking the silver off the Americans by just 0.57 seconds, as Great Britain took the gold in a time of 5:40:24, a time that was 3.34 seconds quicker than Australia.

Post-race, Dunkley-Smith said the variable weather conditions had perhaps not helped the crew’s race: “To be honest, today was a little bit of a relief, we didn’t quite have the race we wanted to, we came out quite well for the first hundred and unfortunately under conditions like this you’re moving quite quickly and really sweetly and in a very quick instant it can turn quite bad.

“We clipped a bit of water and caught a bit of a crab and lost a fair bit of momentum through there but managed to get back on it and keep trying to work through and we thought we might have been able to get second there but we’re happy with the third
regardless.”

Talking about the conditions on De Bosbaan, the Victorian athlete commented: “Rowing here is a bit like sitting on a knife edge, as you’re trying to sit on that edge and the slightest bit either way and you drop off.

“I really enjoy rowing here, the water is similar to my home in Melbourne where it’s quite cool and you can get a good lock on but at the same time it’s quite unstable at times. We’ve had a bit of a mix, we’ve had a bit of a head breeze, a couple of days a tail and in the tail it’s really quick but you’ve just got to stay on it, think really quickly and keep it together.”

In the other three A-Finals of the day, Australia’s Women’s Quadruple Scull finished in fourth, the Lightweight Women’s Double Scull in fifth and the Women’s Coxless Pair also in fifth.

The Women’s Quadruple Scull had a last minute lane ‘re-draw’ due to the variable weather conditions to greet them as they headed to the start in Amsterdam.

The Australian crew, stroked by Jennifer Cleary, took on the current World Champions, Germany, as well as an inform Chinese crew who were competing for the first time as a crew at this event.

Placed in Lane 3, the Australians pushed their way from fourth to third by the first 1000 metres and were looking to chase down the USA but the challenge proved an unsurmountable one as the USA surged forward to take bronze behind China and ultimately Germany who finished first.

In the Lightweight Women’s Double Scull it was a tough race for Alice McNamara and Ella Flecker as they missed out on a medal in the A-Final. The crew, coached by Mark Fangan-Hall, sat in third for the majority of the race, chasing down the middle lane pack of New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, but come the halfway mark, the crew had dropped to fourth.

By the final 500 metres, it was becoming clear that it wasn’t to be the Australia’s day as the Kiwis took the gold medal, and a new World Best Time, with Canada in second and China in third.

Victorian duo, Lucy Stephan and Charlotte Sutherland competed in the final of the Women’s Coxless Pair in windy and wet conditions in Amsterdam. The crew had a tough race, up against reigning Olympic and World Champions, Great Britain, as well as an inform United States.

The battling pair came out fighting and were sitting in fourth at the 500m mark, but spent much of the race trying to chase down the leading pack of Great Britain, USA, New Zealand and Romania. In the end, they had to settle with fifth place as Great Britain
once again took gold and a new World Best Time to boot.

Earlier in the day, Australia’s Nick Purnell competed in the C-Final of the Men’s Single Scull where he had a great race which saw him take the lead from the 1000m mark, usurping Finland’s Robert Ven and two-time Olympic champion Olaf Tufte. The New
South Welshman went on to win the race in a time of 6:47:86.

Sunday is the concluding day of the 2014 World Rowing Championships and a total of six crews racing for Australia, including the four Australian crews contesting A-Finals. The races are as follows (local Amsterdam time, 8hrs behind EST):

• 11:03, B-Final – Women’s Coxed Eight (Vermeersch, Chatterton, Bateman, Hagan, Frasca, Goodman, Yann, Hornsey and Patrick ©)
• 11:33, B-Final – Men’s Coxed Eight (Larkins, Crawshay, Moore, Hill, Lockwood, Laidler, Chapman, Hicks and D. Webster©)
• 13:03, FINAL – Men’s Double Scull (Belonogoff and McRae)
• 13:18, FINAL – Women’s Double Scull (Kehoe and Aldersey)
• 13:33, FINAL – Lightweight Men’s Coxless Four (Silcox, Beltz, Tunevitsch and Gibson)
• 14:18, FINAL – Women’s Single Scull (Crow)

 Rowing Australia 

Quad Silver and World Best on Day 6

ROWING: Australia’s Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Scull walked away with a silver medal on Day 6 at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in The Netherlands and the Women's Double Scull. produced a world best performance. 

Stroked by Hannah Every-Hall, the crew featuring Maia Simmonds, Sarah Pound and Laura Dunn, faced windy conditions out on the Bosbaan as they made their bid to become World Champions in front of a lively crowd who were cheering for the hometown favourites, The Netherlands.

The host nation lined up as defending World Champions, but it was China who took the lead at the start of the race and looked confident in their bid to take the title, however it was the Dutch who crept past them to take the lead, with Germany following suit but Australia now began to show its cards and real speed.

From Lane 4, the Australian boat, coached by Ellen Randell, began to pick up speed and overtake China and Germany and were on the march for the hosts, but they proved to be too quick, crossing the line in a new World Best Time of 6:15:95, a full eight seconds faster than the former time set by China in 2006.

Post-race, Simmonds said: “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that we’ve won the silver medal. It feels like we were sitting at the start line just seconds ago, it was all so fast, it’s taken a long way to get here and we’re so delighted.”

Every-Hall commented on the tail-wind conditions today: “It was great to be towards the end of the program because we knew what to expect and we had spoken about it lots before we got to the start so we were really well prepared.

“It was super exciting because it was so fast and knowing that world records were dropping left, right and centre.”

In the other two Lightweight finals of the day featuring Australia, the Lightweight Men’s Pair of Darryn Purcell and Alister Foot had a tough day in the office in their A-Final, finishing in sixth place in a race that was ultimately won by the reigning World Champions, Switzerland.

Purcell and Foot drew lane six for the final, after a re-draw earlier in the day due to windy conditions and
the outside lane proved tough for the Tasmanian-based duo. With Switzerland, France and Great Britain claiming the medals.

A similar fate befell West Australian Perry Ward in his A-Final of the Lightweight Men’s Single Scull, with
Ward drawn in Lane 5, he spent the majority of his race chasing down the eventual winners Italy, Germany and Switzerland, while also having a battle with Paul O’Donovan of Ireland to try and make the medal podium.

Prior to the medal races today, Australia qualified for four more finals at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, as the Men’s and Women’s Double Sculls, Women’s Single Scull and Lightweight Men’s Coxless Four all booked places in this weekend’s A-Finals.

Excitingly, the new 2014 Women’s Double Scull partnership of Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey broke the World Best Time in their semi-final as they took total control of the race.

The duo, coached by Jason Lane, started the season by winning the first two World Rowing Cups and continue to impress, making finals ever since. The South Australian-based partnership pushed away from the current World Champions of Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite of Lithuania who appeared to be battling in the blustery conditions on the Bosbaan.

Kehoe and Aldersey powered across the line in a time of 6:37:31, a new World Best Time, breaking a 12-year record held by Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand, Lithuania took second as New Zealand third.

Post-race Aldersey said: “It’s obviously fantastic to have a World Best Time here at the World Championships, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got to now turn our attention to Sunday’s finals which will definitely be a great race when you look at the calibre of the crews that have qualified.”

In the Men’s Double Scull, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff and James McRae needed a top three finish to make the finals that take place this Sunday. Italy's Romano Battisti and Francesco Fossi gave it their all in the
first 1000 metres of the race, which gave them the lead but Australia, Lithuania and New Zealand were all chasing them down.

The Lithuanians snaffled the lead from the Italians who finished second, while Australia fended off a
challenge from New Zealand to claim the third spot in the finals. In the Lightweight Men’s Four, Australia secured itself another final spot after finishing second to France who had led from the start, despite being challenged by Nick Silcox, Samuel Beltz, Blair Tunevitsch and Tom Gibson.

As France powered home at a 40 stroke rate, Australia was sitting in second while the Dutch gave it their all to get ahead of Germany. On the final stroke the Netherlands qualified for the A-final alongside Australia and France.

In the semi-final of the Women’s Single Scull, defending World Champion Kim Crow successfully booked herself a place in the final of the event to be held on Sunday. China’s Jingli Duan led the race and did so for the whole semi-final, while Crow held on for second and Russia’s Julia Levina took the third spot.

The final for the Women’s Single Scull will see Crow defend her title from the current World Rowing Cup champion in the boat class, New Zealand’s Emma Twigg.

Tomorrow sees a total of five crews racing for Australia, including the four Australian crews contesting A-Finals. The races are as follows (local Amsterdam time):

• 11:22, C-Final, Men’s Single Scull (Purnell)

• 13:33 FINAL, Women’s Coxless Pair (Stephan and Sutherland)

• 14:18 FINAL, Lightweight Women’s Double Scull (MacNamara and Flecker)

• 14:33 FINAL, Men’s Coxless Four (Lloyd, Turrin, Dunkley-Smith and Pragnell)

• 14:48 FINAL, Women's Quadruple Scull (Cleary, Edmunds, Hore and Hall)  

Rowing Australia

Para crews podium as six crews reach finals

Australia kicked off its finals campaign in style at the 2014 World Rowing Championships when all three of its para-rowing crews claimed medals on Thursday in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Erik Horrie claimed gold in the Arms, Shoulders Men’s Single Scull and retained the title he won last year, while Kathryn Ross and Gavin Bellis replicated their win of last year with another gold medal in the Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Scull.

Meanwhile, Australian Rowing Team debutants, Jeremy McGrath and Kate Murdoch crowned off their first World Rowing Championships with a silver medal in the Legs, Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Scull.

By virtue of winning two gold medals and one silver, Australia was the most successful nation in the para-rowing aspect of the 2014 World Rowing Championships.
 
Earlier in the day, Australia’s seven non-para-rowing crews competed for places in the finals of the 2014 World Rowing Championships, with six securing themselves places in finals over the next three days.

Victorian duo, Lucy Stephan and Charlotte Sutherland qualified for the A Final of the Women’s Coxless Pair after finishing third in a race eventually won by Megan Kalmoe and Kerry Simmonds of USA. The young partnership, coached here by Mark Fangan-Hall, will face a tough final on Saturday in a race that includes current World Champions, Great Britain.

Thrills and spills occurred in the Lightweight Women’s Double Scull semi-final featuring Alice MacNamara and Ella Flecker, with Australia leading the race till the last 250 metres before being pipped at the line by Canada.

The Australians needed a top three finish, in a race featuring World Champions Italy as well as Olympic Champions Great Britain. The duo led for the majority of the race but Canada crept up on the outside to take the win from Australia, while reigning World Champions Italy took third, as the Olympic Champions from Great Britain caught a boat-stopping crab in the final five metres of the race to miss out on the A-Final.

The Men’s Coxless Four took on the reigning World Champions and host nation, The Netherlands in their semi-final, along with Greece, Serbia, Germany and Ukraine. The boat, stroked by Alex Lloyd, led the race from start to finish and crossed the line first in a time of 5:54:39 and lined up a final alongside Greece, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada and the USA on Saturday.

Australia’s Women’s Quadruple Scull of Jessica Hall, Kerry Hore, Madeleine Edmunds and Jennifer Cleary also required a top three finish to make the final of their boat class and the Queensland-based crew kept up with the current World Champions, Germany, for the majority of the race.

Finishing with a time of 6:26:17, the Australians coached by Tom Westgarth, finished in second place behind the World Champions and booked themselves a place in this weekend’s final.

Darryn Purcell and Alister Foot continued the good form they found in the Lightweight Men’s repechage, to progress through their semi-final with a third place finish in blustery conditions in Amsterdam. The Tasmanian-based duo will now race in the A-Final of the event on Friday.

Joining Purcell and Foot in competing in finals tomorrow will be West Australian Perry Ward who chased down the pack in his Lightweight Men’s Single Scull semi-final to take third place.

After a good start, Ward was chasing down the pack which was led by China’s Jinbin Zhao and eventual winner Italy’s Macello Miani. Ward muscled his way through and by the final 500 metres, as China lost steam, the young sculler pinched third place, while Ireland took second.

The Women’s Eight were unable to repeat their form from the heat earlier in the week when they took on China, Russia and the Netherlands in their repechage in a bid to make the A-Final. Coxed by Lizzy Patrick, the crew finished fourth in the repechage which meant they lost out on a spot in the final this weekend and will instead compete in the B-Final on Sunday.

The Men’s Quadruple Scull came third in the C/D semi-final to progress to the C-Final, while Nick Purnell in the Men’s Single Scull C/D semi-final won his race, beating Olaf Tufte, to progress to the C-Final.

Friday sees a total of nine crews racing for Australia, including the three Australian crews contesting A-Finals. The races are as follows (local Amsterdam time):

• 11:15, C Final – Men’s Quadruple Scull (Morgan, Grant, Girdlestone and Kobelke)

• 13:30, B Final – Men’s Coxed Pair (Webster ©, Cunningham-Reid and Ellis

• 14:25 – Semi-Final – Men’s Double Scull (Belonogoff and McRae)

• 14:35 – Semi-Final – Women’s Double Scull (Kehoe and Aldersey)

• 15:05 – Semi-Final – Lightweight Men’s Four (Silcox, Beltz, Tunevitsch and Gibson)

• 15:45 – Semi-Final – Women’s Single Scull (Crow)

• 16:30 – FINAL – Lightweight Men’s Pair (Purcell and Foot)

• 16:45 – FINAL – Lightweight Men’s Single Scull (Ward)

Rowing Australia

Crow and Men's Double Scull through to semis - Day 4 Wrap

ROWING: Australia’s Kim Crow continued her path to defending her Women’s Single Scull on Day 4 at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. 

On a gloriously sunny day, Crow, competing in a quarter-final alongside scullers from Croatia, USA, Great Britain, Switzerland and Zimbabwe, finished her race some 4.69 seconds ahead of her closest rival, Genevra Stone of the USA, while Great Britain’s Victoria Thornley came in in third place.
 
“It’s good to have another win under my belt and it’s be nice that the sun has finally come out here in Amsterdam.
 
“It’s also the first time that I’ve seen the Bosbaan not with a tail wind, but that being said the course is being true to its character of being up, down and all over the place. Today’s win was a positive but I’m just focusing on each race I’m in and going from there," said the defending World Champion.
 
The Men’s Double Scull of Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff and James McRae booked themselves a place in the semi-final of their event after winning their repechage in a time of 6: 31:49.
 
The duo, coached by Rhett Ayliffe, led their race from start to finish and kept the Danish crew of Frank Steffensen and Sophus Johannesen at bay to ensure they took the top spot and a place in the semi-final.
 
Post-race, McRae said: “The conditions have been pretty variable throughout the week, so we were expecting a tail breeze today but instead got head breeze, so it took a little bit of time to adapt.
 
“We’re happy to get through the repechage and make the semi-finals but that being said, semi-finals are always tough races and for us it’s about nailing the rhythm and speed that we were getting back in Italy (where we were training before World Championships) and just making sure we adapt to the differing conditions here.”
 
McRae added that it was all about being able to adapt to the Bosbaan’s varying conditions, saying: “The Bosbaan can be difficult to race as at the start it can be calm, then at 500 metres it could be cross breeze and then by the finish it could be a tail or head wind, so I think crews that can adapt well in the conditions will do well here.”
 
The Men’s Eight, coxed by David Webster, has a tough day after missing out on a place in the A-Final after finishing in third place in their repechage. The crew needed a top two finish and were up against current World Champions, Great Britain, as well as an in-form Russian crew and despite a good first 1000 metres, the crew dropped back in the vital second half of the race to miss out on qualification.
 
David Crawshay, who occupies in the two seat in the boat, said: “I think we had a good first thousand metres but to be brutally honest in the second thousand we faltered.
 
“The first part of race was what we wanted, we got out to a good start, crucially we got a really good second 500, closed in on the leaders in that second five, but in the end when the calls came to bring the effort up and bring the rate up at the finish we didn’t have much to give and that the brutal honesty of it all.”
 
Despite the third place finish, the gold medallist from Beijing in 2008 admitted there were positives to be taken from today’s racing: “There are positives we need to take out of today’s race, because as one of our numbers said after the race, ‘If this was next year there would still be an Olympic qualification spot up for grabs for the country’, so the B-Final will be another important race for us.
 
“The positives we can take is crucially we are getting good starts and good second five hundreds which is not how it was before, we used to get out to reasonable starts and then go missing in action in the second five, so that is definitely a positive.
 
“I suppose the next step is for us to now do it in a way where we get to the third five hundred and feel like there’s still something to give in the legs for the second half of the race.”
 
The Women’s Coxed Eight competed in their delayed heat today, in a race featuring Russia, Romania, France and Canada. It was going to be a tough heat to win, especially with an inform Canadian Eight next to the Australians in Lane Five.
 
Canada led the race, which they ultimately won, closely followed by Russia, while Australia and Romania battled it out for third and fourth position. Australia, coxed by Lizzy Patrick, led the battle for third place for the majority of the way, only to be pipped at the post by the Romanians who took the third place by just 0.08 seconds.
 
Canada who won the race six seconds clear of Russia ironically did so in an identical time as the United States, who won the first heat – 6:20:96, Australia’s time in comparison was 6:30:05.
 
Lightweight Men’s Single Sculler, Perry Ward, had a great race in the quarter-finals of his boat class. T