Scott wins silver for GB at rowing worlds

On the first day of the Shanghai World Rowing Championships finals, Great Britain won silver medals in the quadruple sculls for women and men.

Becky Wilde, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, and Sarah McKay, a women’s quartet, were unable to completely dominate the Netherlands at the sprint finish.

Similar circumstances prevailed in the men’s final, when the GB quartet of Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matthew Haywood, and Rory Harris left themselves too much work in the dying stages to catch Italy.

Silver is a good result, even though we’re obviously a little disappointed with it. We only had eight weeks together as a crew, and it’s no small feat,” Scott said after the race to BBC Sport NI.

“Over the winter training, we’ll definitely look at tactics and ratings,” which is very exciting for me.

Great Britain and the Netherlands fought until the final blow to win the gold medal at the Paris 2012 Olympics in the final battle of their own.

Although the world final took place in the same format but with a different lineup this year, the results were reversed.

After a season of illness and injury, Scott and Anderson made their first regatta appearance alongside Wilde and McKay.

The Netherlands roared off the blocks and held a length-leading position by the halfway point, as it did in Paris.

The GB boat, which had almost five minutes less of a speed, gradually regrouped them as the Dutch continued to hold onto their lead.

However, despite them closing the gap at the finish, there was no final sprint this time from GB.

The GB men’s quad, in contrast, won the World Cup in Lucerne and were the favorites to win the world title, but the final was very similar to the women’s race.

The Italian team led by Luca Chiumento, Luca Rambaldi, Andrea Panizza, and Giacomo Gentili won the race by 500 meters, ahead of Great Britain, in a flying start.

The men started to retreat in the second 1000m, using the same tactics as the GB women, but Italy had already done enough to cross the line well ahead of the pack.

First medals in this boat class won by Great Britain since 2022.

“We came in with the intention of winning, and we knew we could,” Dafydd said.

“Everything went well, and we raced at our best, but unfortunately, our best effort today just wasn’t nearly enough,” he said.

The women’s pair’s new combination was the other finalists in Great Britain.

Lizzie Witt and Jade Lindo finished sixth overall, with Romania taking gold, after rowing in an outside lane.

With the finals set for Saturday, Great Britain celebrated heat victories in both the men’s and women’s eights.

Annabel Caddick and Samuel Murray advanced to Friday’s semi-finals with wins in the PR3 mixed doubles sculls.

The men’s double sculls semi-finals were finally held after Wednesday’s postponement.

The Irish boat of Philip Doyle and double Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy, who has since transitioned from lightweight rowing to the heavyweight class for this Olympic cycle, were led from the beginning by Olympic champions Romania, Andrei Cornea, and Marian Enache.