Rowing Australia Media Release With the golden glow of yesterday’s racing fresh in their minds the Australian crews took to the water on day 5 of the World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea determined to continue the successful campaign which has already returned two Australian Gold medals. The standout performance of the day belonged to the Men’s Four of Will Lockwood, Alex Lloyd, birthday boy Spencer Turrin and Josh Dunkley-Smith who had impressed in winning their heat to progress to today’s semi-final. Lockwood and Dunkley-Smith, silver medallists in this boat class at the 2012 London Olympic Games, have formed a strong combination with their new crewmates and despite a slow start that left them fourth after 150 metres, fought back to take the lead at the 500 metre mark. The young Australian crew controlled the race through the middle 1000 metres before being challenged by Italy in the race to the finish. The final 500 metres was a thrilling contest as the Australian and Italian crews battled stroke for stroke, the Italians narrowly beating out the brave Australian crew by 0.48 seconds at the line with Olympic champions Great Britain relegated to third. The Australian crew has recorded the second fastest qualifying time and will go into the A Final with confidence, hoping to go one better than at last year’s Olympic regatta. In other Australian action on day 5 the Lightweight Women’s Double Scull, Lightweight Women’s Single Scull and Women’s Pair all missed out on progressing to their respective A Finals and will now focus on winning their B Finals to finish their regattas on a high. The Lightweight Women’s Double Scull was particularly unfortunate not to progress to the A Final, an equipment mishap in their repechage resulting in a tough semi-final draw that also featured Olympic Champions Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. The Australian crew put in a brave performance against quality opposition to narrowly miss out advancing, finishing a close fourth. The Women’s Pair were unable to overcome a difficult and disrupted preparation, with Tess Gerrand back in the boat having been replaced by Rebecca Daniher in the repechage due to illness. The crew of Gerrand and Katrina Bateman eventually finished in sixth place. The last Australians to race for the day were the Men’s Pair of Bryn Coudraye and James McRae and Nick Purnell in the Men’s Single Scull, with both crews progressing comfortably from their C/D semi-finals to qualify for their respective C Finals tomorrow. With no medals on offer during the fifth day Australia remains atop the medal table having won two Gold medals in yesterday’s Para-rowing events. The Australian Women’s Four, Lightweight Men’s Quad, Lightweight Women’s Quad and Lightweight Men’s Eight will all be hoping to add to Australia’s medal haul when they race their A Finals tomorrow.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 06:35:28 +0000
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