WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS

GIFU, JAPAN

29 AUGUST - 4 SEPTEMBER 2005

4 September: Rebecca Romero won a gold medal in the GB  women's quad to add to the Olympic silver she won in the same event last year in Athens when the GB women's quad came out ahead in a tight final in Japan to take the world title by a fraction of a second ahead of Germany.

The Germans, who have dominated the women's quad event for many years, were strengthened by the presence of Kathrin Boron, winner of eight world titles as well as a gold medal last year in Athens, but it was the former world champion's crab in the closing stages of the race which helped seal their fate.

Britain, who had already won the overall World Cup title this year with two golds and a silver at Eton, Munich and Lucerne, knew that Russia and Germany would always provide the main threat in today's final. France were the early leaders off the start before the British crew, which also includes Katherine Grainger, Sarah Winckless, and Fran Houghton as well as Rebecca Romero at bow had managed to squeeze into the lead ahead of Germany at 500 metres. By the halfway mark the positions were reversed as Germany, at a lower rate, overhauled the Brits by 0.56 sec, and maintained that lead with 500 metres to go.

In the closing stages the Russians closed fast in third place and Boron missed her stroke as the pressure finally told on Germany The Brits rallied to squeeze through and take the gold medal by just 0.34 sec - about half  a canvas.

"The women's quad's victory today was a great step forward for our women's team, building on our three medals in Athens last year", said David Tanner, GB team manager.

"The thrilling final for our women's quad allowed them to show their real class today and the style in which they rowed through the talented German boat can give us all pride in what they have done. For three of the crew it's their first world champs title and a huge step forward for GB women's rowing" he added.

Earlier in the morning Leander athletes won two of the B finals which determine places 7-12 overall in the competition.

Mark Hunter and James Lindsay-Fynn were leaders in the lightweight men's double scull when their race reached the three-quarter point, and they were still leading despite the home crowd screaming their support for the Japanese opposition. In this tough Olympic discipline they held on to win by just 0.17 sec - their best scull of the championships gave them seventh place overall.

The British men's quad scull, with Matt Langridge at stroke, needed a good result in their B final to restore some pride and give impetus to their winter training programme. They set about their business in style and by halfway led the field by just one length. In the final 500 metres they remained untroubled by the opposition and went on to win by 1.75 secs ahead of second-placed Russia.

The British lightweigh men's four, inlcuding Leander's Dave Currie, as well as Mike Hennessy, Nick English and Simon Jones, surged through
the final 100 metres to seize second place behind South Africa and record eighth place overall.

In the final race of the regatta Leander's Tom Stallard and Richard Egington finished in fourth place in the GB men's eight grand final after the USA, boating several members of their Athens gold medal crew, dominated the race from start to finish. Italy took the silver ahead of third-placed Germany.

Championship reports by Leander Club press officer Robert Treharne Jones

Scroll to bottom of page for full crew listings.

You can access a full updated race schedule on the FISA website here.

3 September: The first day of finals was a day of mixed fortunes for Leander athletes in Japan, as Steve Williams and Alex Partridge triumphed in the GB men's four but Debbie Flood faced the disappointment of fifth place with Elise Laverick in the women's double.

The British men's four, which includes Andy Hodge and Peter Reed of OUBC as well as Williams and Partridge - won their thirteenth consecutive international race of this year and took the world championship title in a time of 6:11.59.

Using their trademark tactic of storming into an early lead, they were tracked by the Netherlands and Canada but the USA, whose crew members won Olympic gold last year in the Athens eight, dropped out of contention early in the race.

Any questions that the Brits might not be able to sustain the pressure in the second half were answered at 1500 metres. As the Dutch and Canadians mounted their challenge Andy Hodge raised the rate and the leaders entended their margin at the head of the field. The GB four crossed the line 1.64 secs ahead of the Netherlands with Canada taking the bronze.

"They all threw everything at us in the middle of the race but Steve Williams just called it and we didn't let up", said Alex Partridge - who became world champion today after missing out on a place in last year's Olympic four because of a punctured lung

"We found our rhythm in that second half and the others tried to put us under pressure but it didn't work", added Williams.

"Our men's four performance today was exceptional. This was always going to be a hard call despite their early season success and, with a blistering third quarter, they were able to destroy the challenging Dutch and Canadian crews to produce one of the best gold medals in the long history of GB men's fours. They are worthy successors to our Athens crew" said GB team manager David Tanner.

"I can't tell you how good it feels", said Alex Partridge afterwards. "We've set a trend all season. We have dominated every race. It's what we do best. It's nice to get that win under our belts and next year, when Eton-Dorney hosts the World Championships, it will be fantastic to try again in front of a home crowd".

"That will be a great opportunity", added Williams, now a world as well as Olympic champion. "It's an opportunity that not even Steve Redgrave had. It will be great to go there as world champions".

Considered an outside medal chance the women's double scull of Debbie Flood and Elise Laverick were disappointed with their fifth place today. They started strongly and were lying in third for much of the first half of the race. Ahead of them were the New Zealanders and Bulgarians who were always favourites to take gold and silver after sharing the top medals ahead of the GB double at Lucerne, where Flood and Laverick won the bronze.

Then the top two crews pulled away as predicted and behind them the British double tussled with the Australians but it was clear that Flood and Laverick had little left in the tank to make it count.

At the line New Zealand won the battle for gold - one of four consecutive gold medals won by that country from just five crews entered at this regatta. Bulgaria had to settle for silver ahead of thir placed-Australia, while Germany rowed through Britain in the final stages to finish fourth.

2 September: Matt Langridge, Mark Hunter and Dave Currie have missed places in the A finals in Japan after the quad scull, lightweight double, and lightweight four finished outside the top three qualifiers in each of their semifinals.

In oppressively hot conditions on the Nagara river, where the temperature has been in the low 30's and a humidity of 73%, the biggest disappointment of the day for the GB squad came when the men's quad, stroked by Matt Langridge, missed out by inches on a place in Sunday's final.

The British quad was well up in the main fight, and at 400 metres were lying third before they slipped back a place. For the rest of the course it was a race of three parts as Poland and Slovenia battled it out for the first two places, Britain took on Germany a length behind and the USA and Ukraine brought up the rear.

At 1250 metres there was nothing to choose between third and fourth, but the Germans had more left in the tank and grabbed the crucial third place just over a second ahead of the Brits on the line.

"At the end we had nothing left to give and that's normally the best bit of our race", said Matthew Langridge afterwards.

"That was so close and you can't fault them for effort" said their coach, Olympic gold-medallist Tim Foster.

Earlier in the day the lightweight double finished fourth, but with a marked improvement on their times in the heats and repechages, but they never had quite enough under the accelerator to surge back in the second half of the course.

James Lindsay-Fynn said of his effort with Leander captain Mark Hunter: "I suppose you could say it was a positive start to the Olympiad. We were competitive today against much more established crews".

The lightweight men's four, including Dave Currie at 2, were also competitive in the first half of their race, holding third position at 500m as very much part of the racing pack. Even at 1000m they were only 2.19 seconds off the lead, but by the close they had dropped back to fifth and were clearly heavily disappointed.

"We needed to row our best race today to qualify and it was almost there but there were still just bits here and there that weren't quite good enough. You can't have those moments against crews as those here", explained stroke Mike Hennessy afterwards.

1 September: The GB men's four, with Steve Williams at bow at Alex Partridge in the 3 seat, won their semifinal here today and will now take their place in the favoured centre lane in the hunt for gold in Saturday's A final as the fastest qualifying boat.

Alongside the Brits on the start were Italy, who also won their heat earlier in the week, and Denmark, who took the bronze medal behind Great Britain seven weeks ago in Lucerne. The line-up also included the Irish four - the first heavyweight men's crew to feature at this level of a world championships for more than 25 years.

As the boats powered off the blocks in the warm tailwind there was nothing to choose between them after the first 100 metres, but then the the bow ball of the GB crew began to nose in front and as the crew gained momentum they had a one length lead after 500 metres. Canada hung on less than three seconds behind with Ireland a further second astern.

Through the middle of the race only the Canadians could hope to keep up, and as the Irish challenge faded it was Denmark who clawed their way back through the field. The Brits were able to ease up toward the line, allowing Canada to close the gap to just 1.26 secs at the finish, with Denmark also qualifying for the A final in third place.

"I thought we moved pretty well for the first 1250m today", said Steve Williams afterwards. "I could see that there were several boats fighting it out behind us. Towards the end we had to pick up our pace a little but we didn't need to go into a full dress rehearsal for the final".

31 August: Leander captain Mark Hunter made no mistakes with James Lindsay-Fynn in their repechage of the men's lightweight doubles where they had to finish in first or second place to qualify for the semifinals. Sculling at 48 off the start they rapidly moved into a 0.33 sec lead at 500 metres before the Poles, with Olympic and world champion Robert Sycz at stroke, came through to lead at 1500 metres. Poland and Great Britain moved away from the field and while the Brits eased up towards the line Poland maintained the pressure, crossing the line 5.85 secs clear.

It was a similar story for Debbie Flood and Elise Laverick in the women's event, but this time the British crew got in front and stayed there to the finish. Moving off the start at 44 Flood and Laverick pushed on ahead of the Australians, Amber Haliday and her partner, former world junior sculling champion Sally Kehoe. As Norway and the USA jostled for third and fourth the leaders were untroubled, with the Brits taking an A final place more than a second ahead of Australia.

The final race of repechage day in Japan brought back memories of the fours final last year in Athens as the GB eight moved up through the field in their bid to qualify after a slow start. The Italians led from start to finish with Canada in second place, but a punishing burst from the GB eight through the last 500 metres saw them snatch second place from the Canadians by just 0.27 sec.

30 August: Rebecca Romero, rowing at bow in the GB lead women's boat, was first athlete across the finish line as the quad scull took a comfortable victory, qualifying direct for Sunday's A final in a time more than three seconds slower than Germany, who won the other heat. The Ukrainians who pushed the GB quad so hard in Munich just ten weeks ago once again had to make do with second place and failed to qualify today, as did third-placed France and Romania.

In the men's quads Matt Langridge stroked the GB crew into third place behind Slovenia and France, all of whom now move forward to the semifinals. The GB quad had been lying off the qualification pace in fourth position at 500 metres before a spurt moved them clear of the Ukraine, who will now have to face a repechage.

The GB lightweight men's four, with Dave Currie in the 2 seat, set off in pursuit of France with the USA close on their tail. The Netherlands and Indonesia were never really in contention, although the Dutch have evidently kept something in reserve, as France, GB and the USA moved through directly to the semifinals.

With just one boat to qualify from each heat it was always going to be tough for Leander captain Mark Hunter and his sculling partner James Lindsay-Fynn in the men's lightweight doubles. The Germans Lehnigk and Brehmer set the race pace, reaching the 500 metre mark in 1:32.49, with only the Japanese double able to make any serious challenge and the GB double lying fourth. A fast second split brought Hunter and Lindsay-Fynn up one place but the Germans were untouchable and crossed the line two seconds clear of Japan with GB easing up over the line some eight seconds further behind in third.

The final Leander interest in today's racing was in the men's eights, where the GB line-up included Tom Stallard and Rick Egington. With only twelve entries in two heats it meant that only the heat winners would qualify direct for the A final, and the US crew duly complied, finsihing 0.59 sec clear of Italy with Poland third and GB fourth.

Semifinals for all today's crews will take place on Friday, and all the repechages have been compressed into a single day of racing tomorrow.

29 August: Steve Williams and Alex Partridge opened their account in fine style in the men's fours with Peter Reed and Andy Triggs-Hodge when they confirmed pre-race expectations and cruised to a comfortable win in their heat.

With Andy Hodge stroking the crew at 46 off the start it was the Swiss at 44 who got their nose in front, but only for the first 100 metres. Then the bow ball of the GB four appeared at the head of the field, and as the boat gained momentum they established a 3.65 sec lead at 500 metres, with the rest of the pack effectively competing for the minor places. At the halfway mark the Czech Republic led the trailing field and despite the Brits easing the pressure with 250 metres to go they crossed the line 3.35 secs clear to qualify with the Czechs for Thursday's semifinal.

For Debbie Flood and Elise Laverick it was a different story as they raced for just one qualifying slot against the Bulgarians Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova. The Bulgarians, who took the gold medal in Lucerne last month against the Olympic champion Evers-Swindell sisters of New Zealand, dominated the race from start to finish, sculling the four fastest splits of the race, and despite a push by the British girls at 1500 metres the gap never looked like closing. Bulgaria reached the line exactly seven seconds ahead of Great Britian, who now face a second chance to qualify in the repechages on Wednesday.

27 August: The start of the championships has now been confirmed for Monday 29 August 2005, only one day later than originally planned, at 0930 Japanese time (0130 hrs BST). Very heavy rain last week and the additional threat of typhoon Mawar, which just missed Gifu, put the racing schedule in doubt but the weather has now stabilized and the regatta can proceed. The organising committee in Gifu completely dismantled the whole venue infrastructure in anticipation of the typhoon, which is currently devastating Tokyo, but is working very efficiently now to put everything back in place for Monday’s racing. Heats will be raced on 29 and 30 August, all repechages on 31 August, and then the normal programme of semifinals on 1 and 2 September followed by the finals on 3 and 4 September.

24 August: FISA today announced that the start of the championships will be postponed for 48 hours due to typhoon Mawar, so racing will now get under way on 30 August.

The regatta programme has been condensed from the usual eight days to six days. The first two days of qualifying heats will be compressed into one day, Tuesday, 30 August. The second round called “repechages” will also be compressed into one day on Wednesday, 31 August 2005. The final four days of semi-finals and finals will, for the moment, be unchanged. The regatta “Draw for Lanes” has also been moved 48 hours to 15:00 hrs on Sunday, 28 August.

According to forecasts the typhoon will touch the Japanese mainland tonight, 24 August, and create unrowable weather conditions through to 28 August. The whole infrastructure of the regatta course has now been removed from the flood plain in expectation of the high winds of up to 80mph. All boats are being removed and stored in permanent facilities, as there will be no rowing on the water over the next three days, but the organising committee has put in place 114 ergometers which will allow the rowers to continue to train.

FISA and the organisers have prepared for difficult conditions after an unusually high number of typhoons hit Japan in the months of July and August 2004. From 2000 to 2003, only two typhoons were observed in July and two in August while last year, 2004, a total of five typhoons during July and August hit Japan. During the ten years before 2000, there were very few, if any, typhoons in this period of time. FISA with the organising committee published a contingency scenario document to all teams well in advance to prepare them for this possibility so there are no surprises here.

14 July: Nine Leander athletes have been named today among the squad of 57 British athletes travelling to the world championships next month in Japan.

There were few surprises among the lead GB boats - the men's four and the women's quad, which both emerged top of the World Cup rankings after this year's three-regatta series in Eton, Munich and Lucerne. The men's four, which includes Leander's Steve Williams and Alex Partridge, has had three straight wins, but the women's quad, with two previous gold medals to their credit, had to make do with a silver medal in Lucerne after Rebecca Romero suffered a back strain on the eve of the regatta and Annie Vernon of Rob Roy RC subbed in her place for the duration of the event.

After a successful debut in Lucerne Leander vice-captain Debbie Flood and her partner Elise Laverick have been named to contest the double sculls. The crew, who only got together after Munich and forced Debbie's withdrawal from the single at Henley, took a memorable third place at Lucerne behind the Bulgarian gold medallists and the Olympic champion Evers-Swindell sisters from New Zealand.

Also announced for definite places in Gifu are Leander captain Mark Hunter and James Lindsay-Fynn in the lightweight double, and Dave Currie who rows in the GB lightweight four. There was a special mention for Leander's Matt Langridge and the other members of the GB quad scull, who have gone from strength to strength this season, culminating in a bronze medal in Lucerne - the first time any GB quad has achieved a medal of any colour at a world-level event.

Among the men's sweep squad the situation is a little less certain, so Kieran and Josh West (no relation) have been placed back in a pool with members of the current GB men's eight (which includes Leander's Tom Stallard and Rick Egington) and further selections will take place to determine the make-up of the eight and the pair in Japan.

Rebecca Romero, who is now almost fully recovered from last week's strain, is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

"We want to turn GB women's rowing into a dominant force on the world stage. We won in Dorney, we did the same in Munich, and we want to establish complete control over what we are doing" she said.

Steve Williams, the only Olympic gold medallist from the Athens four to carry on rowing this season, casts an experienced eye over the rest of the four from his vantage point in the bow seat.

"This year we've not rowed one single stroke from behind, which makes my job a lot easier - it's enjoyable to be able to row races from that position" he said.

"We're four very strong guys and we've got high boat speed, but we're not the finished article yet" he added.

International team manager announced three medals as the target for the GB squad in Gifu against the seven they won in Lucerne, and with Leander's continuing representation among the top boats our athletes are sure to be in contention for those places on the podium in just six weeks time.

GB TEAM LIST

(Crews including Leander athletes only)

Women's double scull

Elise Laverick (Thames)

Debbie Flood (Leander)
Coach: Mark Banks

Women's quadruple scull

Rebecca Romero (Leander)

Sarah Winckless (Walbrook)

Frances Houghton (Uni of London)

Katherine Grainger (St Andrew)
Coach: Paul Thompson

Men's four

Steve Williams (Leander)

Peter Reed (Oxford Uni)

Alex Partridge (Leander)

Andy Hodge (Oxford Uni)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Men's eight:

Simon Fieldhouse (Molesey)

Tom Stallard (Leander)

Jonno Devlin (Ox.Brookes)

Richard Egington (Leander)

Josh West (Cambridge Uni)
Kieran West (Uni of London)
Tom Parker (Ox.Brookes)
Henry Bailhache-Webb (Oxford Brookes)
Acer Nethercott (cox) (Oxford Uni)
Coach: Steve Gunn/John West

Men's quadruple scull

Matt Wells (Uni of London)

Steven Rowbotham (Molesey)

Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers)
Matt Langridge (Leander)
Coaches: Tim Foster/Jurgen Grobler

Men's lightweight four

Mike Hennessy (Tideway Scullers)

David Currie (Leander)

Nick English (Notts & Union)
Simon Jones (Notts & Union)
Coach: Robin Williams

Men's double scull

Mark Hunter (Leander)

James Lindsay-Fynn (London RC)
Coach: Rob Morgan/Robin Williams

ENDS