FIVE Scots were among the medals as Great Britain’s rowing team notched a string of successes in tough, windy conditions at the European Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, yesterday.
Heather Stanning and English partner Helen Glover successfully defended their women’s pairs title, Polly Swann claimed gold as part of the winning women’s eight crew, Sam Scrimgeour and Northern Ireland’s Joel Cassells were emphatic winners of the lightweight men’s pair gold, and Alan Sinclair and England’s Stewart Innes took silver in the men’s pairs. Britain’s men’s four also won gold, the lightweight men’s four took silver, and the men’s eight, with a new line-up for 2016, won bronze.
Stanning, from Lossiemouth, and Glover finished well ahead of runners-up Germany in their race, with Romania coming third. Glover said the race was perfect preparation for the Olympics, addingexplaining: “There were waves coming over my back at the start but racing here has upskilled us. We may have cross-wind conditions in Rio, so it was good to race in them.”
Stanning said: “We may be an experienced crew but we’re not experienced in these conditions, so we had to concentrate.”
In the opening race of the day Scrimgeour, from Kirriemuir in Angus, and Cassells were also emphatic winners, forging an early lead and going on to seal victory with style. The victory meant a European title to add to Scrimgeour’s 2015 world gold and a successful title defence for Cassells. Denmark finished second and Spain third.
The women’s eight added a third gold when they smashed past the Dutch leaders with about 10 metres to go. They pipped the Netherlands to victory, with Russia some distance back in third. Swann, from Edinburgh, tweeted: “So delighted to say we are European Champions!!! Always great to win in the last stroke. These girls are incredible.”
Olympian Katie Greves added: “The speed with which we were able to come through at the end was the special bit. We have a lot of speed in this boat.”
Sinclair and Innes beat their main rivals, the Dutch, only to lose out on gold to Hungary who surged through at the end. “I’m disappointed,” Innes said afterwards. “We came here to win.”
Sinclair added: “Those were tough conditions. I still think we have our best rowing to come.”
The men’s four of Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis controlled the conditions better than the opposition, as well as showing their power to take victory by just over a length from Bulgaria, who were followed home by France.
Sbihi said: “I didn’t need to call for a big push at the end. We had the length at the end. They were tough conditions. Every time we got some boat-speed the wind hit us but you have to deal with the conditions on the day.”
Gregory added: “It was very hard to do what we normally try to in training but it was a real test of our boatmanship. I am really pleased with the start we have made and I am excited to find out what we can do from here.”
Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers were beaten to gold only by reigning world champions Switzerland in the light men’s four. Their silver came in a time of 6:47.73 and was a big step up from their ninth place at last year’s World Championships. Aldred said: “We have worked hard and made a lot of improvements over the winter.”
The men’s eight finished behind Germany and Russia.
Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing team performance director, said: “It was a day of mixed fortunes for the team with some exceptional performances, especially our four golds.
“Conditions bordered on the extreme and were a tough challenge for all nations but we are an outdoor sport and have to accept that. It’s now on to Lucerne for the World Cup in late May where we will hope for calmer water.”
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