Consistency at top in British rowing trials

Alex Gregory and Mohamed Sbihi won the men’s pair for the second consecutive year while reigning Olympic and World Champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning stayed on top in the women’s pair. Last year, Gregory and Sbihi won the 2014 World Championship title as part of the men’s four.

Finishing second in the men’s pair trials were Pete Reed and Constantine Louloudis. Both took World Championship gold in the men’s eight last year, while Louloudis stroked the Oxford University men’s eight to win the 2015 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race a short ten days ago. George Nash and Will Satch, also 2014 World Champions in the four and eight respectively, crossed the line in third.

Absent from the trials was multi Olympic and World Champion Andrew Triggs Hodge who has been forced out of competition due to glandular fever. The timing of his return is as yet unclear.

The women’s single sculls final saw the continued comeback of Katherine Grainger. Grainger took a break from rowing after winning Olympic gold in the women’s double sculls at London 2012 and is now gearing up to qualify for Rio 2016 which will be her fifth Olympic Games.

Grainger demonstrated her ever-increasing boat speed when she crossed the line in second. Line honours, instead, went to Victoria Thornley who had an impressive winning margin. Thornley finished eighth internationally last year in the single. Frances Houghton, a multi World Champion in the quad, finished third.

The men’s single sculls showcased the 2014 world silver medallists in the men’s quad, with three of its members finishing in the top three positions: Charles Cousins, followed by Graeme Thomas and Peter Lambert.

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In the lightweight women’s single sculls, it was Imogen Walsh who crossed the line in a photo finish with Charlotte Taylor. Walsh took first by two hundredths of a second. Katherine Copeland, Olympic Champion in the lightweight double and Walsh’s lightweight doubles partner from 2014, finished in third. The top three boats were crossed the line with less than half a second separating them.  

Jamie Kirkwood and William Fletcher, last year’s lightweight men’s double sculls combination for Great Britain, crossed the line in first and second respectively in the lightweight men’s single sculls. Coming in third was Richard Chambers who won bronze at last year’s World Rowing Championships in the lightweight men’s four.

Great Britain’s national team will be announced on May 13, 2015, in the lead up to competing at the European Rowing Championships in Poznan (POL) from 29-31 May 2015.