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Aust eight crew into world rowing final

3 minute read

Australia's men's eight are into the A-Final at the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria, after notching an excellent second place in their heat.

The Australian men's eight crew have claimed one of the two final berths up for grabs after finishing second in their heat at the World Rowing Championships in Austria.

Karsten Forsterling, Alexander Purnell, Angus Moore, Simon Keenan, Timothy Masters, Joshua Booth, Spencer Turrin, Angus Widdicombe and coxswain Kendall Brodie held off a stiff challenge from the Canadian and Italian boats before crossing behind defending champions Germany on Tuesday.

As well as the global titles on offer, Australia's elite rowers are also hunting Olympic and Paralympic qualification at the regatta in Linz and need to finish in particular rankings to book a spot at next year's Tokyo Games.

Men's eight crew member Forsterling, a quad scull silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said: "It was a bit of a blow out for us, which is what we needed. We're through to the final, which is good.

"I've been in the boat for a week now, and we've got another five days to go in the context of where we've come from.

"We can really use this week to go back and do a bit of training, working on some key skills and taking it all one stroke at a time ahead of the A-Final on Sunday."

The women's eight of Leah Saunders, Jacinta Edmunds, Bronwyn Cox, Georgie Rowe, Rosie Popa, Annabelle Mcintyre, Jessica Morrison, Molly Goodman and coxswain James Rook finished second in their heat but with only one A-Final spot available, they had to settle for a place in the repechage as they look to progress.

Melburnian Alice Arch managed to do just that as she fended off Italy's Paola Piazzolla and Ireland's Lydia Heaphy to win her lightweight women's single scull repechage and reach the semi-final later this week.

Women's quadruple scullers Cara Grzeskowiak, Fiona Ewing, Katrina Bateman and Rowena Meredith will contest Thursday's repechage after crossing fifth in their preliminary.

Wednesday's action will see the Australian women's single scull (preliminary race), women's pair (quarter-final), men's pair (quarter-final), lightweight men's double scull (quarter-final), lightweight women's double scull (quarter-final), men's double scull (quarter-final) and lightweight men's single scull (quarter-final) crews bid to take a step nearer their respective finals.

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