Aggar defends title
2nd September 2011Tom Aggar extended his unbeaten run to take the World title for a fourth time in the arms-only single scull and the women's eight celebrated crew member Katie Solesbury's birthday to raise their game and take a bronze.
But the lightweight men's four lost their World crown when they took bronze and overnight sickness for Marcus Bateman showed when the 2010 world silver medallists came home sixth in their men's double scull final.
So Slovenia's Lake Bled was the scene of another day of contrasting fortunes for the GB Rowing Team.
"The women's eight were exceptional today and raised their game to win a bronze. We also celebrated Tom Aggar's gold and the maintenance of his remarkable unbeaten record since 2007. Sadly, we had a bit of illness in the men's double which affected their performance but we have also qualified more boats into tomorrow's final and have taken four Olympic class medals from our six shots so far", said GB Rowing Team Performance Director today.
Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger, in the women's double scull, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge, in the men's pair and single sculler Alan Campbell all won their semi-finals today and race finals tomorrow.
Britain will also feature in the lightweight women's quadruple scull final and in through Nick Beighton and Sam Scowen in the mixed adaptive double scull final.
There are also semi-finals of the women's single, both lightweight double sculls - featuring Olympic champions Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase as well as Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell - and the mixed adaptive coxed four.
The long wait will also be over for Alex Gregory, Ric Egington, Matt Langridge and Tom James since they won their heat last Sunday. They contest their semi, too, with a final on Sunday.
Finally the British men's quadruple scull will seek to put today's fourth-placed semi-final finish behind them and win the boat an Olympic qualifying place by finishing fifth or better in their B final tomorrow.