By Nick Jones with the Australian Rowing Team in Europe
Australia will race for medals in 13 events after Tara Rigney in the Women’s Single Scull and the Men’s Pair of Rohan Lavery and Patrick Holt secured spots in the A-Finals at World Rowing Cup III in Poland.
Rigney cemented herself as a leading chance for Gold after she posted the fastest time by 10 seconds in the A/B Semi-Finals on Saturday morning.
She qualified ahead of Magdalena Lobnig of Austria and Germany's Juliane Faralisch from A/B Semi-Final 1, while Swiss sculler Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, the USA's Margaret Fellows and Pole Wiktoria Kalinowska make up the rest of the A-Finalists.
Lavery and Holt held off a fast-finishing Great Britain 1 crew to cross the line second and progress to the A-Final. The Aussies will be joined by two crews from New Zealand, the 2023 World Champion Swiss Pair, Olympic Champion Sinkovic brothers from Croatia and Great Britain 2.
In other races for Australia, the AUS 2 Women’s Pair of Eliza Gaffney and Samantha Morton fell just short of a spot in the A-Final after getting pipped at the line by the France 2 crew.
The duo held their heads high and rowed with technical precision and ruthlessness to finish 22 seconds ahead of the Romanians in the B-Final. They will now look to race in the Women’s Eight in the AUS 2 crew.
The Men’s Double Scull of David Bartholot and Marcus Della Marta will race in tomorrow’s B-Final after finishing fifth in the A/B Semi-Final. The crew needed to finish third in order to progress into the A-Final.
Both Jackson Kench and Kathryn Rowan completed their World Rowing Cup III campaigns, each racing in the C-Final in the Single Scull. Rowan finished 14th and Kench 16th.
WHAT’S UP FOR AUSTRALIA – World Cup III Day 3: Sunday
8.10AM (4.10PM AEST) – Men’s Double Scull B-Final: – David Bartholot, Marcus Della Marta
Lanes 1-6: NED, AUS, GBR 2, CRO, MDA, NZL 2
8.50AM (4.50PM AEST) – PR1 Men’s Single Scull Final: Erik Horrie OAM
Lanes 1-6: TUN, ITA, GBR1, GER, GB2 2, AUS
9.06AM (5.06PM AEST) – Women’s Pair A-Final: (AUS1) Annabelle McIntyre OAM, Jessica Morrison OAM
Lanes 1-6: NED, DEN, AUS 1, IRL, FRA 1, FRA 2
9.19AM (5.19PM AEST) – Men’s Pair A-Final: Rohan Lavery, Patrick Holt
Lanes 1-6: AUS 2, NZL 1, SUI, CRO, NZL 2, GBR2
9.32AM (5.32PM AEST) – Women’s Double Scull A-Final: Amanda Bateman, Harriet Hudson
Lanes 1-6: ROU, FRA 1, NOR, AUS, GBR 1, NZL
9.59AM (5.59PM AEST) – PR3 Mixed Double Scull A-Final: Nikki Ayers, Jed Altschwager
Lanes 1-6: USA, GER, AUS, GBR, FRA 2, IND
10.57AM (6.57PM AEST) – Women’s Four A-Final: Olympia Aldersey, Jean Mitchell, Lily Alton Triggs, Molly Goodman
Lanes 1-6: FRA, ROU 1, AUS 1, NZL, DEN, GBR
11.11AM (7.11PM AEST) – Men’s Four A-Final: Timothy Masters, Jack Robertson, Fergus Hamilton, Alex Hill OAM
Lanes 1-6: GER, GBR 1, AUS, NZL, SUI, GBR 2
11.25AM (7.25PM AEST) – PR3 Mixed Coxed Four A-Final: Susannah Lutze, Alexandra Viney, Tobiah Goffsassen, Thomas Birtwhistle, Hannah Cowap (Coxswain)
Lanes 1-6: FRA, GER, USA, ITA, AUS, GBR
11.40AM (7.40PM AEST) – Women’s Quad Scull A-Final: Ria Thompson, Laura Gourley, Rowena Meredith, Caitlin Cronin
Lanes 2-5: SUI, AUS, POL, GER
12.08PM (8.08PM AEST) – Women’s Eight A-Final: (AUS 1) Paige Barr, Bronwyn Cox, Georgina Rowe, Katrina Werry, Jacqueline Swick, Giorgia Patten, Sarah Hawe, Lucy Stephen OAM, Hayley Verbunt (coxswain)
(AUS 2) Eliza Gaffney, Jean Mitchell, Olympia Aldersey, Lily Alton Triggs, Samantha Morton, Annabelle McIntyre OAM, Jessica Morrison OAM, Molly Goodman, Hannah Cowap (coxswain)
Lanes 2-5: AUS 2, ROU, NED, AUS 1
12.37PM (8.37PM AEST) – Women’s Single Scull A-Final: (AUS 1) Tara Rigney
Lanes 1-6: POL, USA 1, SUI, AUS 1, AUT, GER 1
12.52PM (8.52PM AEST) – Men’s Eight A-Final: Benjamin Canham, Joshua Hicks, Spencer Turrin OAM, Angus Widdicombe, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Alexander Purnell OAM, Angus Dawson, Jack O’Brien, Kendall Brodie (coxswain)
Lanes 2-6: UKR 2, ROU, AUS, UKR 1, GER
How to follow World Rowing Cup III:
The World Rowing Cup medal races start on Sunday, June 16, at 8:35 CET (16:35 AEST).
Here is how to follow the event on mobile, tablet, or desktop:
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Images: @artofrowing.nz