Lightweight Women’s Double Scull – Imogen Grant (Trinity)
After an undefeated 2023, Imogen and double scull partner Emily Craig looked to lay down a dominant performance as their first step towards Paris 2024. Imogen and Emily brooked no opposition in their heat, defeating Canada by 6 seconds in what was comfortably the fastest heat of the day and will proceed directly to the A-Final on Sunday.
Imogen and Emily took their speed from the heat into the final, establishing a strong lead before 500m had passed, which they extended at every marker and took a sizeable victory.
Watch the Lightweight Double’s A-Final HERE
Men’s Pair – Tom George (Peterhouse) and Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Peterhouse)
Smarting from a silver medal in the 2023 World Championships, the Peterhouse duo were ready to start their 2024 campaign aiming for a win against strong competition including the 2023 World Champions from Switzerland along with the Tokyo 2021 Champion Sinkovic brothers.
Ollie and Tom were led to the 500 by the 2021 bronze medallists Sutton and Vystavel from Denmark but rowed through by the 1000, finishing comfortably ahead and qualifying directly for the A-Final on Sunday.
Sutton and Vystavel set out with similar intent in the final, leading Tom and Ollie to the 1000, where the British pair settled to their mid-race pace and created a solid lead over the Danes, who were then overtaken by the Swiss, who managed to get their bow ball to within a half length of the British pair. In a close finish, Tom and Ollie nonetheless took a strong win.
Watch the Pair’s A-Final HERE
Men’s Four – Freddie Davidson (Emmanuel)
The 2023 World Champions readied themselves for tough racing against a stacked field where they would aim to lay down a marker for the others to follow.
An uncharacteristically slow start in the heat saw them in 4th 500m into the race from where they rowed into 2nd, recording their first defeat in 21 outings but qualifying directly for their A-Final on Sunday.
Freddie’s 4 decided to change the tune on their Sunday final, getting out fast and leading for over 1800m , but were overhauled in the final metres by a charging Italian 4, who must now qualify for the Paris Games at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta.
Watch the A-Final of the 4- HERE
Women’s Four – Sarah Tisdall (Lucy Cavendish)
Having returned to Australia, Sarah has been selected in a 2028 pathways 4- that will race aginst a strong field including the GB4- and a pair of 4-s taken from the GB 8+.
Her 4 finished 4th in their heat, and will raced the repechage on 13th April, narrowly missing the A-Final. In the B-Final, Sarah’s 4 established a lead in the second quarter of the race, before pulling away to take a 4 second win for a 7th place overall.
A-Final Time: 1130
Women’s Eight: Henry Fieldman (Homerton), Sarah Tisdall (Lucy Cavendish)
Having qualified for Paris, Henry drove his 8 on as they look to move into the medals for Paris 2024. Sarah doubled up with the second Australian 4-.
The first heat of the 8+ was controlled by the Italian 8, looking to qualify for the Olympics at the FOQR, with Sarah’s 8 finishing 4th and thence to the repechage, where they needed to finish in the top 4 to qualify for the A-Final. Unfortunately, they placed 5th and were eliminated from further compet
The second heat was one way traffic, with Henry’s 8 leading the field by 2 seconds by 500m, and going on to progress directly to the A-Final after an 8 second win.
With all members of the 8 having raced in the A-Final of the 4- just under an hour before, the final of the women’s 8 would always be a tough race, and the Italians took it right up to the GB 8 , but were never able to take a race-closing lead, but were able to do just enough to take a win by 0.8 of a second.
Watch the Women’s 8s A-Final HERE