Women’s Pair Title for McIntyre Helps Aussies to Top of the Table
Annabelle McIntyre has helped the Australian Rowing Team to the top of the medal table at World Cup III in the Netherlands after she and Jessica Morrison claimed victory in the women’s pair.
Their success was one of five gold medals for the ART in their final international hit-out before August’s Rowing World Championships in Austria.
Overall, Australia won nine medals, including five gold, three silver and a bronze with the team appearing in strong calculation to threaten across several Olympic class disciplines at the 2019 World Titles.
Women’s Pair – Gold (Annabelle McIntyre, Jessica Morrison)
The pairing of McIntyre and Morrison showed impressive form at World Cup II in Poland late last month when they collected a silver medal.
Fast-forward a few weeks and the duo have managed to get the better of the 2017 World Championship winning Kiwi combination that had finished ahead of them in the last round of the world cup series.
The race was again hard fought between two quality crews, with New Zealand setting the pace out front, before the Aussie girls made their decisive move in the final 500m split.
“We expected a fight. It would have been nice to have open water like we had in the semi but it was a good race and in the last 300 meters we just decided to attack,” said Morrison on the Australians victory in the final.
The Australians earned line honours in 7:26.150 ahead of New Zealand (7:27.570) with a crew from Great Britain (7:40.510) in third.
In the B-Final, Western Australian Lilly Tinapple partnered Georgina Gotch for third place and ninth rank overall.
Women’s Eight – Silver (Annabelle McIntyre, Bronwyn Cox, Leah Saunders, Jacinta Edmunds, Georgina Rowe, Rosemary Poppa, Jessica Morrison, Molly Goodman, cox: James Rook)
The Kiwis exacted a level of revenge in the women’s eight final, collecting gold over the Australians, which was similarly a reversal of the result from Poland at World Cup II.
After a steady start for both nations, the trans-Tasman rivals eventually forced clear of the pack to form a head to head battle for bragging rights.
In trying conditions, it was the Kiwis who claimed victory, over three and a half seconds clear from Australia in second.
Coxswain, James Rook said the crew would seek to take the lessons from the race.
“It was a bit windy today but we had a decent race. There is lots to improve on so we’ll keep getting better towards the World Rowing Championships next month.”
Men’s Quad Scull – Fourth (David Watts, Caleb Antill, Alexander Purnell, Cameron Girdlestone)
The Australian men’s quad scull were involved in a high quality final with less than 10 seconds separating the entire field.
The Aussies – with their tempo style – earned a silver medal at World Cup II, and it was this approach that they again employed in Rotterdam.
On this occasion however, they were unable to breech the gap in the final quarter, taking fourth place in 6:05.510.
Poland maintained their dominance with another victory, whilst this time, Germany and the Netherlands joined them on the podium.
With tight margins across the board, the Australian quartet will no doubt maintain strong belief that they can challenge for a medal at this year’s World Championships. The Aussies won a silver medal in the quad scull at last year’s titles in Bulgaria.
Men’s Pair – First in B-Final (Josh Hicks, Sam Hardy)
Having narrowly missed the cut for the A-Final, WA rower Josh Hicks and his crewmate Sam Hardy stepped up to win the B-Final and earn a seventh rank overall.
The duo led from the outset and were never headed, crossing home first in 7:01.920.
In the A-Final, it was victory for the fellow Australian pairing of Spencer Turrin and Alexander Hill. The duo claimed world cup victory in 6:54.210 ahead of crews from the Czech Republic and New Zealand.
Photos: © Rowing Australia