Rowing: Glover and Swann win gold in Sydney

OLYMPIC champion Helen Glover and her new crewmate – Edinburgh-based Polly Swann – easily won the women’s pairs for Great Britain yesterday at the opening World Rowing Cup of the season in Sydney, while the United States team lost a women’s eight race for the first time since 2006.

Glover and Swann led by two lengths at the halfway mark and won in seven minutes, 03.55 seconds, four seconds ahead of the second-placed American crew of London eight gold medallists Meghan Musnicki and Caroline Lind, with Australia third.

The British duo received good-luck e-mails before the race from Glover’s Olympic gold partner Heather Stanning, who is on duty with the army. “I had big shoes to fill, but she [Glover] hasn’t made me feel under pressure,” said Swann. “It’s a new boat, a new crew and a new season.”

Glover said that being Olympic champion did not add to the pressure. “When I go to the start line I am just Helen, but I am still a competitive person so I always want to win”.

Swann and Glover’s success augurs well for the season ahead with some of the world’s top pairs competing down under this weekend.

Swann also had some ghosts to slay, having missed the Olympics due to a back injury. The question was answered within the first 500m of yesterday’s final. Swann and Glover had their nose ahead at 250m but then surged powerfully to a length’s lead by 500m with other British pair Katie Greves and Jess Eddie tucked into fifth. By halfway, Greves and Eddie were adrift somewhat of the remainder of the field, over which Glover and Swann had more than two lengths behind them with the USA in second.

In the third 500m, Greves and Eddie recovered to move ahead of Canada and began to chase down China who in turn targeted the Australians in third. The home crew held on to take bronze with China and GB 2 in fourth and fifth respectively. “Rowing with Polly is great. We have had a fantastic few days”, said the jubilant Glover.

Musnicki and Lind had won gold at London in the women’s eight before switching to the pair. The US crew that Musnicki and Lind left behind – only three gold medallists from London were on the American team yesterday – finished second to Australia in the eight final, losing to the host side by half a boat length despite coming on strong near the end.

Canada, with four members of its silver medal-winning crew from London, were third. The result ended a seven-year domination of the women’s eight by the Americans.

Australia, New Zealand and GB won four gold medals each at the first World Cup to be held in the southern hemisphere. Australia took the overall medal count with 13, including four silver and five bronze.

Britain’s men’s eight team, which took Olympic bronze at London last year, won yesterday’s final, leaving the Americans in second, two seconds behind. Australia edged New Zealand for third place by 0.45 seconds.

The GB team were powered by three Olympic gold medallists in the eight – Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory – as well as several world medallists.

“It was hard to get ourselves up for a race like that in this part of the season, but the organisers here have done a fantastic job and I hope that we have put on the kind of performance they wanted. Now it’s back to the UK for more hard work”, said Triggs Hodge.

Australia’s Sarah Perkins, Jessica Hall, Madeleine Edmunds and Olympia Aldersey won the women’s quadruple sculls, with the US second and New Zealand third. “The first part of our race, we stuck to our guns and stayed confident,” said Aldersey. “I looked around at the 750-metre mark and realised that we were in front, so we just had to work hard and stay in the rhythm.”

France’s Olympic silver medallists, Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette, won the men’s pair while the New Zealand’s Michael Arms and Robert Manson dominated from start to finish to win the men’s double sculls.

Chardin said he had plans for later in the day to be on the water, but not anywhere near a rowing basin. “This afternoon we are going longboard surfing in Bondi,” the Frenchman said of the iconic Sydney beach.

Britain’s Adam Freeman-Pask and Richard Chambers won gold in the lightweight men’s double sculls ahead of China’s Li Hui and Dong Tianfeng. Last year’s Olympic hosts also won the men’s quadruple sculls ahead of New Zealand and Australia.

Kim Crow of Australia won the women’s single sculls and Georgi Bozhilov of Bulgaria the men’s race in the same category.