June 20th 1999

Ten finals, five medals

Britain's four made certain of the World Cup with another fine win in the second round, bringing their points total to 16 and leaving them unassailable. Ten crews reached finals and four besides the four achieved medals - silvers for the men's eight and pair, bronzes for the women's quad and pair. Britain leads the Cup overall, adding 41 points in Vienna to the 50 from the first round.

The final round in Lucerne in three weeks' time has not lost its importance for James Cracknell, Steve Redgrave, Ed Coode and Matthew Pinsent. Although nobody can rob them of the leader's yellow shirt, important crews in the Olympic qualifying stakes have yet to appear, notably from Australia, Italy, Germany and possibly the US.

The crew was the same as in the first round, Coode retaining the No 3 seat while the injured man he replaced, Tim Foster, rowed No 7 in the eight. Pinsent, stroke of the four, said he did not envy coach Juergen Grobler's dilemma in whether to put Foster back. "Every crew that Steve and I have rowed in has been based on power rather than rhythm," he said. "Tim brings rhythm to the boat, Ed is more power-based. It doesn't make it better, it's just different."

The four appeared to be pressed by the Norwegians, but Pinsent raised the game in the last ten strokes and added two feet to the distance between the boats with each stroke, crossing the line just a length in front. If they had done that 250 metres sooner they would have led by a street. Redgrave said afterwards: "Everyone seems to be getting worried by the Norwegians. We're not."

Graham Smith, Steve Trapmore, Jonny Searle and Jonny Singfield, the second British four, finished fifth. They were ahead of Belarus but behind GB1, Norway, France and Romania.

The men's eight finished less than two seconds behind Romania, the world champions, gaining in confidence every race. Cox Rowley Douglas said that having Foster in the boat helped because of his experience. The eight's next race is against Germany in Henley's Grand Challenge Cup on July 4.

The pair of Stephen Williams and Simon Dennis moved from fourth to second in the last 500 metres, going through the Slovenians Miha Pirih and Grega Srancnjek and the Americans Cyrus Beasley and Adam Holland. Canada's Morgan Crooks (Oxford Blue) and David Calder won, while the Olympic silver medalists David Weightman and Rob Scott, who are doing the Goblets at Henley, could only manage sixth. Jim Walker and Matthew Parish finished fourth in the B final, ranking 10th.

Dot Blackie and Cath Bishop won the first round of the pairs, but were beaten here by Emma Robinson and Theresa Luke of Canada and Kathleen Naser and Elke Hipler of Germany. Robinson won the world title with Alison Korn last year, with the British pair second.

The women's quadruple scullers returned the fastest time in the last 500 metres of their race, and a bronze bodes well for this crew driven by Guin Batten from the stroke seat. Lisa Eyre is at bow, the Scot Katherine Grainger at 2, and Sarah Winckless at 3. Coach Mike Spracklen was pleased with the performance. "Grainger has a lot to do to catch up in technique," he said. "There is no doubt she will be able to do it. She has only been with us for six weeks. She can give the boat another two seconds. Winckless is also improving all the time."

The unhappy story was the performance of world double sculls champions Miriam Batten-Luke and Gillian Lindsay. They won the B final without problem, but were put there in a semifinal in which they could not raise their pace. All is not lost, however: they are clearly the fastest boat in training in the women's team. Frances Houghton and Debbie Flood finished sixth in the A final to earn two Cup points. Alison Mowbray, meanwhile, finished sixth in the single sculls which were won by the world champion Irina Fedotova. Kathrin Rutschow, scheduled for the Princess Royal at Henley, was second.

Men's sculling was a disappointment. Greg Searle failed to qualify for the B final in an event which gets harder by the week. The Slovenians Cop and Spik, first and third in Hazewinkel three weeks ago, jumped in the double here and won. Meanwhile, New Zealand's world champion Rob Waddell won the singles with clear water over Olympic champion Xeno Mueller of Switzerland. The Czech Vaclav Chalupa was third.

The quad was not entered, and the double Colin Greenaway and Matthew Wells got only as far as the B final where they finished second. The lightweights Tim Male and Tom Kay finished third in the B final after starting out well by winning their heat. Tracy Langlands and Jane Hall also had a miserable time, relegated to the B final of the women's doubles, but winning it.

The lightweight sweep boats in the Cup and in the non-World Cup events failed to win a medal between them. James Brown, Jim McNiven, Dave Lemon and John Warnock were fifth in the A final, Philip Baker , Ned Kittoe, Nick Strange and Ben Webb ranked tenth in the B final, and in the pairs Aidan Tucker and Michael Louzado were third and Mark Partridge and Adam Gray fourth. Peter Haining, former three times world champion in lightweight sculls, was fourth in the A final , and Matthew Beechey fifth in the B final in the same event.

© Copyright Christopher Dodd, 1999.