Great Britain set a world record time to win their mixed coxed four heat at the Para-rowing World Cup in Varese ©GB Rowing Team

Great Britain set a world record time to win their mixed coxed four heat at the Para-rowing World Cup in Varese and secure their place in the final on Saturday (June 20).

Pamela Relph, Grace Clough, Dan Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James, drawn in heat two with Israel and Brazil, had a near 10-second advantage on the chasers by the halfway stage and ended comfortable winners in a time of 3min 15.47sec.

They progressed to the final along with hosts Italy, winners of the first two heats.

In the mixed double sculls, reigning world champions Gavin Bellis and Kathryn Ross of Australia qualified fastest in heat one to secure a direct path to the final.

Brazil’s Josiane Lima and Michel Gomes Pessanha were just behind in second, while in heat two Ukrainian duo Dmytro Ivanov and Iryna Kyrychenko and French pair Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardie finished first and second respectively to advance.

Australia's Erik Horrie won the third heat in the men’s single sculls
Australia's Erik Horrie won the third heat in the men’s single sculls ©Getty Images

Meanwhile, the first of three men’s single sculls heats saw Russia’s Alexey Chuvashev come out on top with the remainder of the field separated by just two seconds.

Germany’s Johannes Schmidt held on to second place to earn a spot in the semi-final, while in heat two Britain’s Tom Aggar made a strong push with 250 metres left to move ahead of Brazil’s Rene Pereira and claim top spot in 4:46.59.

Pereira took second and was followed across the line by Italy’s Fabrizio Caselli, as both qualified along with Aggar.

World champion Erik Horrie of Australia led Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi at the half way point of heat three, with The Netherlands’ Alexander van Holk in third, and the order remained the same until the finish to send the trio through to the penultimate round.

As for the women’s single sculls, Israel’s Moran Samuel was the highest-ranked competitor in the first of two heats, recording the fastest qualifying time overall.

Britain’s Rachel Morris was pipped to the second qualifying spot for the final by Brazil’s Claudia Santos of Brazil.

World Champion Birgit Skarstein of Norway triumphed in heat two with a rate of 31 strokes per minute, while Belarus’ Liudmila Vauchok came second to complete the four-crew final line-up.


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