In fast tail wind conditions 41 athletes got out on the water to represent the Green and Gold at World Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland.
The Men’s and Women’s Fours started their campaigns to defend the boat class titles as world leaders, with both boats winning at the last international competition at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Women’s Four were up first with Olympic Champions Lucy Stephan OAM and Annabelle McIntyre OAM top and tailing the boat and fellow Tokyo Olympians from the Women’s Eight, Kat Werry and Bronwyn Cox powering the middle two seats. The crew made a solid statement to the rest of the field with a comfortable win in the first heat, which sees them progress to the semi-final.
The Men’s Four took the lead from the start of the race and held it comfortably to cross the line first, with new crew member and Olympian Jack O’Brien setting the rhythm from the stroke seat. He was backed up by three Olympic Champions with Jack Hargreaves OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM and Alex Purnell OAM, who will race together again in the A Final on Sunday.
The Women’s Eight of Price, Mitchell, Barr, Swick, Bramwell, Patten, Rowe, Fessey and Barnet-Hepples, had an exhibition race which they won, a great start ahead of Sunday’s Final. Georgie Rowe said. “It was an awesome race and good to get [the win] in the bank, especially with five debutantes in the boat, who did a great job.”
To qualify directly to the A Final the Men’s Eight (Hardy, Youl, Canham, Widdicombe, Kench, Keenan, Holt, Lavery and Brodie) needed to win their heat against Canada, Czech Republic and Ukraine. A dominant row saw them take the lead from the start and hold it until the finish line to see them progress to the A Final on Sunday.
The Men’s Double of Bronze Olympic Medallists, Jack Cleary and Caleb Antill, had a strong start with a length and a half up on the field at half-way but tussling for first position against the Dutchies. The strong and experienced Dutchies lead the way with our double coming a solid second, only a length behind.
Jack spoke after the race: “It’s good to return to international rowing. It’s fast conditions so pretty testing on the blade work. We did what we needed to do to get through and identified where we can build some more speed [for the A/B Semi-Final].”
Olympic Bronze Medallists Hudson and Meredith were joined by Gleeson and Rowan in this new look quad, despite not qualifying directly from the heat having come third, they powered through in first in their repechage and so will progress to the A Final.
Georgia Nesbitt raced in the Lightweight Women’s Single, déjà vu for her, having raced at this same event three years ago. Georgia had a mature row, making a mid-way push to press the Canadian and eventually take the lead before crossing the line, seeing direct progression to the A Final.
Debutants Coleman and Reardon raced in their relatively new combination in the Women’s Lightweight Double and came second, which means they progress to the A/B Semi-Final.
Triple Silver Paralympic Medallist, Erik Horrie OAM fought against the Italian in the PR1 Men’s Single, who delivered a World Best Time in fast conditions, with Erik taking second in the test race. He will race again in the A Final on Sunday.
Oscar McGuinness had his debut for the senior team, racing in the Men’s Lightweight Single, he progressed to the A/B Semi-Final having secured second place in the repechage, following a fifth position finish in the heat earlier in the day.
The Men’s Lightweight Double of Harding and Matthews also fought to progress via the repechage having finished fifth in their heat, they had the same result in the repechage which means they will race in the C Final.
The last two races of the day were the Men’s Singles, which didn’t disappoint with Sam Marsh coming in second and Dave Bartholot coming in first – both securing a spot in the A/B Semi-Final.
They will be first up for Australia later today (Saturday 18 June) and so continuing their singles campaigns on day three of the event at 10.30am local time (6.30pm AEST).
The racing schedule and up-to-date information regarding the regatta can be found below with a link to the World Rowing website. Live racing updates and commentary can be viewed through the World Rowing website, and A finals can be seen on Foxtel or Kayo on Sunday 19 June, 18:05 to 22:45 (AEST).
Find all the latest on World Rowing Cup 2 here: https://worldrowing.com/event/2022-world-rowing-cup-ii/
Read about the new Athlete Selection Rules here: https://worldrowing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ALS-Process_Information-for-Teams_f.pdf
World Cup 2 Crew Lists
Women
Lwt W1x
Georgia Nesbitt
Coach: Ellen Randell
Lwt W2x
B) Anneka Reardon
S) Lucy Coleman
Coach: Ellen Randell
W1x
Tara Rigney
Coach: Ellen Randell
W2-
B) Genevieve Hart
S) Eliza Gaffney
Coach: Tom Westgarth
W4x
B) Georgie Gleeson
2) Rowena Meredith
3) Harriet Hudson
S) Kate Rowan
Coach: John Keogh
W4-
B) Lucy Stephan OAM
2) Katrina Werry
3) Bronwyn Cox
S) Annabelle McIntyre OAM
Coach: John Keogh
W8+
B) Eleanor Price
2) Jean Mitchell
3) Paige Barr
4) Jacqueline Swick
5) Ella Bramwell
6) Giorgia Patten
7) Georgina Rowe
S) Emma Fessey
Cox: Talia Barnet-Hepples
Coach: Tom Westgarth
Para
PR1 M1x
Erik Horrie OAM
Coach: Jason Baker OAM
Men
Lwt M1x
Oscar McGuinness
Coach: David Fraumano
Lwt M2x
B) Redmond Matthews
S) Hamish Harding
Coach: David Fraumano
M1x
AUS 1 – Sam Marsh
AUS 2 – David Bartholot
Coach: Lyall McCarthy
M2x
B) Caleb Antill
S) Jack Cleary
Coach: Lyall McCarthy
M4-
B) Alexander Purnell OAM
2) Spencer Turrin OAM
3) Jack Hargreaves OAM
S) Jack O’Brien
Coach: Rhett Ayliffe
M8+
B) Sam Hardy
2) Henry Youl
3) Benjamin Canham
4) Angus Widdicombe
5) Jackson Kench
6) Simon Keenan
7) Patrick Holt
S) Rohan Lavery
Cox: Kendall Brodie
Coach: Mark Prater