ROWING: Ten Australian crews will compete in A-Finals on Sunday 12 July at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. With a total of 12 Olympic boat-class crews competing in semi-finals today (Saturday) in Switzerland, just two missed out on A-Final places.
Kim Crow continued her good form in the Women’s Single Scull cruising to victory in her semi-final to set up a tussle tomorrow with 2012 Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova at 19:33 AEST.
The young Men’s Pair of Jack Hargreaves and Nick Wheatley were up against in-form Great Britain and The Netherlands in a bid to make Sunday’s A-Final. The Dutch won gold in Varese at World Rowing Cup II while the Great Britain crew had taken gold at the European Championships but that didn’t worry the Sydney University Boat Club crew as the race began.
There was little between Great Britain and The Netherlands at the first quarter mark, with Hargreaves and Wheatley level with Spain before Mark Prater’s crew began to make its move up the field. With 500 metres to go, the Australians had taken over from Great Britain who had fallen back into second, while The Netherlands were in third, but the British resisted the Australian challenge and pipped the young crew to the post to take the first qualifying spot while Australia snapped up the second place and a spot in Sunday’s final.
The Lightweight Women’s Double Scull of Alice McNamara and Ella Flecker lined up with the 2014 World Champions from New Zealand along with the Olympic and World Best Time holders Great Britain. Needing a top three finish, the Australian duo were in the mix from the start and by the halfway mark were in third and looking good to qualify. In the last 250 metres the Danish crew put a late push on the Australians but McNamara and Flecker held out to take third over the Danes by four hundredths of a second.
The Men’s Coxless Four of William Lockwood, Alexander Lloyd, Spencer Turrin and Alexander Hill raced strongly against Serbia and Romania to qualify for their A-Final on Sunday. The crew, coached by Simon Cox, led for parts of the race but it was Romania who clinched the victory but with the top three crews going through to the final Australia secured third place and a spot in the final at 22:03 AEST tomorrow (Sunday).
The Men’s Double Scull crew of Alexander Belonogoff and James McRae have set themselves up for another final on the World Cup circuit after finishing in second in their semi-final. The crew, coached by Rhett Ayliffe, will be hoping to chase down Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers in their final tomorrow in a bid to upgrade their Varese silver medals to gold ones.
Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey led for the majority of their semi-final in the Women’s Double Scull but with just 500 metres to go the New Zealand crew moved up to take the lead while France were nipping at the Australians heels. Kehoe and Aldersey kept their cool in the Swiss heat to take second just 2.94 seconds behind New Zealand and securing themselves an A-Final tomorrow (Sunday).
The Men’s and Women’s Eights both competed in repechages today (Saturday) in a hope to finish top four and make their respective A-Finals. Both crews finished in third place in their repechages to qualify for the A-Finals tomorrow.
The Women’s Quadruple Scull will race in their A-Final on Sunday in Lane 4 after finishing second in their Preliminary race today (Saturday). It was a strong race from Madeleine Edmunds, Jennifer Cleary, Kerry Hore and Jessica Hall with the crew finishing in second behind Olympic champions, Germany.
The Men’s Quadruple Scull had no racing today having automatically qualified for Sunday’s A-Final after they won their heat on Friday on the Rotsee.
The young Women’s Pair of Molly Goodman and Genevieve Horton just missed out on A-Final on the Rotsee after finishing fourth in their semi-final, while the Lightweight Men’s Four of Darryn Purcell, Nick Silcox, Perry Ward and Tim McDonnell finished sixth in their semi-final so will contest the B-Final of that boat class.
A-Finals to be live-streamed on World Rowing and broadcast on Fox Sports 3 in Australia
Race Times for Australian Rowing Team on Sunday 12 July
B-Final – Women’s Pair (Horton and Goodman) – 17:00 AEST (09:00 Local Time)
B-Final – Lightweight Men’s Four (Purcell, Silcox, Ward and McDonnell) 17:40 AEST (09:40 Local Time)
A-Final – Lightweight Women’s Double Scull (McNamara and Flecker) 18:48 AEST (10:48 Local Time)
A-Final – Men’s Quadruple Scull (Watts, Girdlestone, Forsterling and Crawshay) 19:18 AEST (11:18 Local Time)
A-Final – Women’s Single Scull (Crow) 19:33 AEST (11:33 Local Time)
A-Final – Men’s Pair (Hargreaves and Wheatley) 21:33 AEST (13:33 Local Time)
A-Final – Men’s Four (Lloyd, Turrin, Hill and Lockwood) 22:03 AEST (14:03 Local Time)
A-Final – Women’s Double Scull (Kehoe and Aldersey) 22:18 AEST (14:18 Local Time)
A-Final – Women’s Quadruple Scull (Edmunds, Cleary, Hore and Hall) 21:48 AEST (14:48 Local Time)
A-Final – Men’s Double Scull (Belonogoff and McRae) 22:33 AEST (14:33 Local Time)
A-Final – Women’s Coxed Eight (Stephan, Vermeersch, Chatterton, Popa, Volker, Sutherland, Hagan, Bateman and Banting ©) 22:48 AEST (14:48 Local Time)
A-Final – Men’s Coxed Eight (Ryan, Booth, Hookway, Chapman, Laidler, Purnell, Dunkley-Smith, Pragnell and Webster ©) 23:03 (15:03 Local Time)
