28th August 1999

British four does it again and seven boats qualify for Olympics

Britain's four with Ed Coode replacing Tim Foster retained their world title for the third successive year in what the stroke, Matthew Pinsent described as "my best world championship race". He said that this regatta was satisfying for Cracknell, Redgrave, Coode and himself because they had fulfilled their twin aims of winning each race and improving their performance from heat to semi-final to final.

The British crew led the race at every marker. The Italians (Molea, Di Rossi, Carboncini, Mornati) pressed them in the first half and the Australians (Stewart, Hanson, Dodwell, Stewart) in the second to a margin of two seconds at the line. The Norwegians, record holders and second in the final of the World Cup, were fifth, but, said Pinsent, "We never let them out of our minds."

Britain's only other medal on the first day of finals came from the lightweight eight, who mounted a superb challenge in the second 1000 metres to overhaul the Italians and run in close to the gold medal Americans.

Lack of medals may be a disappointment, but the other purpose of this regatta is to qualify boats for the Olympics. In this respect there is considerable success: the men's four, pair and eight (whose final is on Sunday) secured boat places for Sydney, as well as the women's pair, double (winners of Friday's B final), quad (winners of the B final today) and men's lightweight double.

Dot Blackie and Cath Bishop were disappointing in their final of the pairs, finishing fifth after producing fireworks in the semi-final and coming second last year.

Steve Williams and Simon Dennis were fifth in the men's pair, an excellent result for this crew. The Aussies Drew Ginn and James Tomkins, half of the Olympic Oarsome Foursome, dominated this race.

Peter Haining was with the pack for some time in the lightweight singles but faded after 1500 and finished sixth.

The women's quad raced superbly in the B final to win and qualify for Sydney. A pity, though, that they couldn't find this form in their semi-final the day before to give them a crack at medals.

Tim Male and Tom Kay finished third in the B final of the lightweight doubles to claim an Olympic place. The lightweight four missed the Olympic qualification by one place when they were fifth in the B final. The women's four came fourth in a straight five-boat final.

Highlights

In the doubles the Slovenians Spik and Cop led a fine race for the gold, with the German crew snatched silver from the Norwegians. Pia Vogel won the women's lightweight sculls and Denmark's Karsten Nielsen the men's.

© Copyright Christopher Dodd, 1999.