Johannesburg - South Africa’s rowers capped a historic week with the men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls crews winning bronze and silver medals respectively in the second leg of the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne on Sunday.
On Monday the quartet of David Hunt, Jonty Smith, Vince Breet and Jake Green became the fifth South African boat to book a spot for the global showpiece when they won the Olympic qualifying regatta.
It could easily have been more silverware for the South African team with the men’s and women’s pair boats stopping short of a medal with fourth-placed finishes.
The women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Ursula Grobler and Kirsten McCann, pictured from right, upgraded their bronze from the previous World Cup in Varese, Spain to a silver medal in Switzerland.
The world bronze medallists did well to get themselves in a winning position moving from fourth to first at the 1500m mark before Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee snuck through for the title.
Canada won the closely contested race in a time of 7:10.400 while Grobler and McCann clinched the silver in 7:11.470.”We didn’t really know which place we got and we had to ask the umpire if we had to go on the podium,” McCann said.
”We had a good race, we are happy, silver is not gold though.”It was a one-horse race in the men’s lightweight doubles sculls race as the French crew of Pierre Houin and Jeremie Azou as the new combination powered to victory in 6:19.260 after leading from start to finish.
Former world champions James Thompson and John Smith downgraded their gold from Varese to a bronze holding on 6:22.420.They held that position for most of the race but turned the screws on Norway’s Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli, who held on for silver in 6:21.810.
”It was a very good race, consistent all the way down, so we now fly back to South Africa, have a week off and then two training camps,” Smith said.”We are going to the north of the country for altitude and warmth. We will train with the hippos and crocodiles.”
The men’s pair crew of Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain can count themselves unlucky in a race where 0.18 of a second separated second, third and fourth places.
World and Olympic champion Kiwi duo Hamish Bond and Eric Murray continued their incredible winning streak by taking the victory.
A battle royal ensued for silver and bronze as the British, Netherlands and South African boats stayed with each other.This provided a dramatic finish as Britain and the Netherlands recorded the exact same times of 6:51.050 with the latter taking the silver on photo finish.
Keeling and Brittain, who won bronze at the previous regatta, crossed in 6:51.230, cruelly missing out on a medal.
In the women’s pair boat Kate Christowitz and Lee-Ann Persse also finished in a close fourth place, finishing a second behind the third-placed crew of the United States. America won two of the medals with Felive Mueller and Grace Luczak taking the gold.
The Star