Posted: August 24, 2016

Scotland’s Gavin Horsburgh and Lewis McCue helped ensure that theirs were amongst the six GB crews which progressed through the U23 semi-finals at the World Championships in Rotterdam

Pete Sheppard, Chief Coach for U23s and Juniors, said: “It’s been a very good day, one of the best semi-final days we’ve ever had.
       
“Everyone stepped up and to have seven more crews through to finals is very pleasing.”
   
The lightweight men’s quad of Hugo Coussens, Oliver Varley, Matthew Curtis and Gavin Horsburgh led from start to finish before the men’s eight produced a powerful performance to win the last race of the day by a length.

Reigning World Junior champion Horsburgh has made the step up to U23 level this year and continues to impress, stroking the lightweight men’s quad to dominant victories in both Sunday’s heats and today’s semi-final.  

They quickly took control today and were a length-and-a-half up on the field by the 1,000m mark.  Ireland and Sweden tried to apply some pressure but the GB quad were unmoved as they continued to push away at the front.

Keen to upgrade on the silver won by the men’s four at last year’s World U23 Championships James Johnston, Tom George, James Rudkin and Lewis McCue
demonstrated their potential by charging through the field to win their semi-final.
       
The United States got off to a blistering start in lane one and the GB crew found themselves down in fourth at the 500m mark. They were starting to find their rhythm, though, and by halfway had edged ahead of Romania and were rapidly closing in on the leaders.
       
Now the fastest crew on the water, GB put in another push in the third quarter to take the lead and continued to surge away to win by nearly two lengths.

The men’s quad and lightweight men’s four also progressed to take the number of GB U23 finalists up to ten – the women’s four, women’s eight, men’s coxed four and lightweight women’s quad having booked their places earlier in the week.
     
 The men’s quadruple scull of Harry Leask, Rowan Law, Harry Glenister and Andrew Joel were competing in their third race in as many days, having won their repechage on Monday.
       
And they will have a fourth later this week after securing third spot and a place in the final after a good performance.

Wednesday also sees the Junior World Championships get under way, with seven GB crews taking to the Willem-Alexander Baan course for their heats.

RESULTS
(Events featuring GB Rowing Team crews only. For full results - www.worldrowing.com)
        
SENIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
        
WOMEN
       
Single scull
       
1. Mary Jones (USA) 7:45.54
2. Gemma Hall (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:51.97
3. Tereza Kocianova (Czech Republic) 7:55.19
4. Guilia Pollini (Italy) 7:56.21
5. Shoko Ueno (Japan) 8:01.52
       
MEN
       
Quadruple scull
       
1. Francois Teroin/Damien Piquefras/Maxime Demontfaucon/Morgan Maunoir (France) 5:52.04
2. Jamie Kirkwood/Charles Waite-Roberts/Jamie Copus/Zak Lee-Green (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:52.44
3. Ward Van Zeijl/Sander Van Dijk/Berend Mortier/Just Van Der Endt (Netherlands) 5:53.07
4. Francesco Rigon/Andrea Fois/Michele Quaranta/Catello Amarante II (Italy) 5:57.30

U23 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
         
SEMI-FINALS
       
OPEN
       
WOMEN
       
Double scull – SF1
       
1. Mathilda Hodgkins-Bryne/Jess Leyden (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:58.39
2. Elena Logofatu/Ioana Vrinceanu (Romania) 7:02.59
3. Emma Kiehn/Astrid Steensberg (Denmark) 7:09.41
4. Kitti Horvath/Kitti Bertus (Hungary) 7:16.72
5. Rebekka Wiberg-Bugge/Jenny Roervik (Norway) 7:19.92
6. Jelisaveta Simaceva/Anna Karasa (Latvia) 7:23.53
       
MEN
       
Four – SF2
       
1. James Johnston/Thomas George/James Rudkin/Lewis McCue (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:03.58
2. Michael Colella/Cuyler Hamilton/Brooks Reavill/Avery Reavill (USA) 6:07.38
3. Dumitru Mariuc/Neculai Aniculesei/Danut-Viorel Rusu/Alexandru-Cosmin Macovei (Romania) 6:09.82
4. Bruno Salinas/Jose Moreschi/Axel Haack/Ignacio Gonzalez (Argentina) 6:12.04
5. Lucas Degelder/Martin Barakso/Daniel De Groot/Mackenzie Copp (Canada) 6:17.94
6. Federico Garibaldi/Alessandro Laino/Luca Lovisolo/Raffele Giulivo (Italy) 6:19.69
       
Eight
       
1. Calum Irvine/Oliver Wynne-Griffith/Matthew Benstead/Timothy Livingstone/David Bewicke-Copley/Sholto Carnegie/Robert Hurn/Arthur Doyle/Ian Middleton (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:37.17
2. Ukraine 5:39.63
3. Italy 5:39.69
4. USA 5:44.76
5. Russia 5:45.57
6. Australia 5:45.87
       
Quadruple scull – SF2
       
1. Robert Black/Caleb Antill/Luke Letcher/Thomas Schramko (Australia) 5:54.34
2. Jordan Parry/Oliver Stephens/Cameron Crampton/Jack O’Leary (New Zealand) 5:56.53
3. Harry Leask/Rowan Law/Harry Glenister/Andrew Joel (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:56.93
4. Bastien Quiqueret/Hugo Quemener/Lucas Brunelle/Maxime Ducret (France) 5:58.53
5. Daniel Buckley/Jack Casey/Patrick Boomer/Charles McKeown (Ireland) 6:12.94
6. Mykola Mazur/Heorhii Verteletskyi/Roman Matviychuk/Denis Kryvulia (Ukraine) 6:14.18
       
LIGHTWEIGHT
       
MEN
       
Four – SF2
         
1. Alberto Di Seyssel/Giovanni Ficarra/Piero Sfiligoi/Paolo Di Girolamo (Italy) 6:10.15
2. Edward Fisher/Benjamin Reeves/ Jonathan Jackson/Alistair Douglass (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:10.85
3. Takumi Shiga/Yasushi Fukui/Ryuta Arakawa/Kakeru Saton (Japan) 6:12.28
4. Mads Petersen/Malthe Puro/Sebastian Bache/Peter Holmqvist (Denmark) 6:13.02
5. Alvaro Romero Garcia/Ramon Gomez Cotilla/Marcelo Garcia/Roger Folque Fucho (Spain) 6:24.82
6. Julian Schoeberl/Lukas Sinzinger/Johannes Hofmayr/Rainer Kepplinger (Austria) 6:26.83
       
Quadruple scull – SF2
       
1. Hugo Coussens/Oliver Varley/Matthew Curtis/Gavin Horsburgh (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:06.10
2. Fintan McCarthy/Shane O’Connell/Stephen O’Connor/Colm Hennessy (Ireland) 6:07.18
3. Oskar Svensson/Filip Nilsson/Bo Axel Ekros/Martin Johansson (Sweden) 6:07.28
4. Harrison Somerville/Jared Van Vianen/Bryce Abernethy/Benjamin Van Dalen (New Zealand) 6:11.33
5. Peter Svingen/Didrik Wie-Soltvedt/Jens Holm/Sten Sture (Norway) 6:11.54
6. Sebastian Kabas/Maximilian Lex/Philipp Kellner/Iurii Suchak (Austria) 6:15.52
       
QUARTER-FINALS
       
OPEN
       
Men
       
Single scull – QF4
       
1. Tom Barras (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:01.27
2. Quentin Antognelli (Monaco) 7:05.90
3. Miha Aljancic (Slovenia) 7:06.15
4. Bieliauskas Giedrius (Lithuania) 7:07.00
5. Nick Larsen (Denmark) 7:11.08
6. Marko Laius (Estonia) 7:29.57
          
LIGHTWEIGHT
       
Men
       
Single scull – QF4
       
1. Alexis Lopez Garcia (Mexico) 7:03.18
2. Uncas Batista (Brazil) 7:05.85
3. Sam Mottram (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:13.72
4. Sergei Oboianschii (Moldova) 7:20.35
5. Lennart Van Lierop (Netherlands) 7:23.22
6. Takamoto Furumai (Japan) 7:28.26