B-Final for the Australian Women’s Eight

WAIS athletes Alex Hagan, Hannah Vermeersch and the Australian women’s eight will contest the B Final at the 2015 Rowing World Championships in France.

With the Australians finishing fifth in the repechage on Lake Aiguebelette, they will instead have to compete in the B Final, with only the top two countries progressing through to the World Championship Final, along with the qualified nations from the earlier heats.

The Aussie boat was quick off the mark in the repechage and held third position at the first 500m split. The Australians maintained its threat to the halfway point, before a difficult third split saw the girls fall from contention, to eventually finish fifth in a time of 6:17.390, with Great Britain (6:10.790) and Russia (6:11.200) winning through to the final.

Perennial women’s eight contenders USA and Canada will likely battle for the world championship title, whilst the Australians will make a bid to win the B Final as they continue to look for the strongest combination ahead of next year’s Rio Olympics.

WAIS head rowing coach Rhett Ayliffe will see his men’s double scull combination compete in the quarterfinals on day five of competition, as bow James McRae and stroke Alex Belonogoff seek a passage through to the world championship final.

The 2015 Rowing World Championship continue through to Sepetember 6, with results and further details available at the official competition website: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2015-world-rowing-championships/