Five GB boats qualify for Olympic and Paralympic Games
Great Britain had a new World Best and Championship Best record on day five of the World Rowing Championships, as five crews secured qualification spots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The PR3 mixed coxed four of Ellen Buttrick, Giedre Rakauskaite, James Fox, Ollie Stanhope and Erin Wysocki-Jones set a new World Best time in their semi-final, securing a spot for Great Britain at the 2020 Paralympic Games in the process.
Cox Wysocki-Jones said: “We have a really exceptional crew dynamic, everyone brings their own specialties to the boat and when we come together and click it’s really magic.”
Paralympic champions Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley set a new championship best time in their semi-final for the PR2 mixed double sculls and qualified for the Tokyo Paralympic Games - all on Whiteley’s 28th birthday.
Rowles said: “It’s not every day you get to qualify for a Paralympic Games and it makes today even more special to come away with the Championship record as well. We’re looking forward to leaving it all on the line on Saturday.”
Chief coach for the Para-rowing squad Tom Dyson summed up the day: “Today’s results were another really positive step and it’s incredible to get two of the boats qualified for Tokyo. The four have really moved the standard on again this year and we will be looking forward to seeing what both they and the double can do in the finals come Saturday.”
There was elation for Jess Leyden, Melissa Wilson, Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne and their coach Jane Hall as they booked Great Britain a women’s quadruple sculls spot at the Olympics for the first time since 2012. In an intensely close repechage, the crew battled it out with Poland and the USA for the two available semi-final spots, crossing the line just 0.18 seconds ahead of the USA crew to take second place.
Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne said she couldn’t tell if they or the USA had secured the second place spot: “Even when we crossed the line I didn’t realise, and when we were rowing back to the landing stage I kept asking Mathilda ‘are you sure? have they changed it?’ I couldn’t
believe it.”
The lightweight double of Imogen Grant and Emily Craig also qualified a place at the Olympic Games after a confident performance which saw them hold the lead at the 500m mark before crossing the line in second place behind the Dutch crew.
An overjoyed Craig said: “I can’t believe we did it. It’s been such a tough six weeks leading up to this. We got 500m in to the race and I thought ‘we’re in the lead, oh my god, we’re going to do it’. This has been my dream since I was 12. I can’t believe it.”
The men’s four of Matt Rossiter, Ollie Cook, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie also secured a qualification spot for the Olympics, finishing 0.23 of a second behind Romania to take second place in their semi-final.
The women’s eight put in a dominant performance in their repechage to progress through to Sunday’s A final, overturning European champions Romania in the process. With five Olympic qualification spots available, Sunday’s A finals for the eights promise to be intense contests.
Rio silver medallist Karen Bennett was pleased with the performance, saying: “We stepped on from our heat to the rep - we really went out there and were determined to do it, which showed through in the race. Now we’re focusing on our recovery for our final on Sunday, especially now we have had a taste of what the intensity will be like.”