Thornley leads British success
Vicky Thornley led the way at the World Championships yesterday, winning her quarter-final as six of the nine British crews in action continued their journey towards the medals.
“It was probably one of my most enjoyable races this year,” said the Rio 2016 medallist, who beat single scullers from Canada and China. “Everything went to plan and I had control of the race very early.”
She was joined in victory by the lightweight double of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant, and men’s double, Graeme Thomas and John Collins, although the latter pair had to increase their rate at the end as Switzerland came chasing back.
“We got through this race reasonably comfortably but we’re obviously aware of their strong finish, so we did have to firm it up to stay ahead. We didn’t have to use all the gears, but we definitely had to put a stop to that push,” Collins said.
However, Britain suffered their first casualties of qualification for next year’s Tokyo Olympics as the women’s double, men’s lightweight double and single sculler Tom Barras were relegated to the C/D semifinals by stronger competition.
The biggest racing incident of the day – the Polish men’s pair hitting an umpire’s boat which had broken down – did not involve Britain, but Morgan Bolding and Tom Jeffery, who qualified third behind New Zealand, will be affected since today’s planned semi-final has now moved to tomorrow morning, only one day before the medal race.
Today, Britain’s para-rowing crews, the double and four, have their chance to clinch 2020 Paralympic spots.