Great Britain enjoyed another successful day at the World Rowing Championships, winning two bronze medals and confirming three more boats for next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After Madeline Arlett won Great Britain’s first medal of the Championships with bronze on Friday, Emily Craig and Imogen Grant added a second medal by edging a third-place finish in a thrilling women’s lightweight double sculls final.
The duo, who finished behind New Zealand and the Netherlands in first and second respectively, admitted they had no idea whether they were in medal contention or not.
“I knew that there would be at least one race this season where we wouldn’t know our position,” said Craig.
“At 250 metres to go, I said we should just go for it. We pushed as hard as possible, but I looked up and there were boats in front and behind us, so I didn’t know where we were. It’s a big thanks to all the team.”
The bronze theme was to continue in GB’s next race, with the men’s four of Ollie Cook, Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs and Matt Rossiter putting in a huge performance to take third spot in the men’s four final – Britain’s third medal, and third bronze of the Championships.
“I’m happy with that. You’ve got to be happy with the medals that are given to you,” said Gibbs.
“The bigger ones are nicer though, but looking ahead, we’ve got so much depth in our squad. It’s really promising.”
The success did not end at medals for Great Britain on day six in Linz as three teams confirmed their boats for Tokyo 2020.
First up, it was Annie Withers and Sam Courty who finished fourth in the Women’s Pair B final to qualify the boat for next year’s Games, before the women’s four of Holly Hill, Polly Swann, Emily Ford and Sara Parfett won their final to confirm a second boat of the day for Tokyo.
In the space of two hours, Great Britain had qualified a third boat of the day for Tokyo with Peter Lambert, Jack Beaumont, Angus Groom and Jonny Walton securing a spot for the men’s quadruple sculls.
The Great Britain squad have now qualified eight boats for the Tokyo Olympics, with the final day of medal races taking place on Sunday.