GB keep faith in squad for Worlds

WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Venue: Poznan, Poland Dates: 23-30 August Coverage: Finals live on the red button, the BBC Sport website and 5 live sports extra; Highlights on BBC TWO

Great Britain have stuck with a largely unchanged line-up for next month's World Rowing Championships in Poland despite disappointing recent results.

Men's pair Andy Hodge and Pete Reed hope six weeks' training will help them overturn three defeats by New Zealand.

Katherine Grainger, who won the opening World Cup event but has been down the ranks since, stays in the single.

The best hope of gold is the men's four of Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Richard Egington and Alex Partridge.

The women's lightweight double of Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell will also have high hopes after victory in the last two World Cup regattas.

"We're still winners deep down; we're going to go for gold at the World Championships"

Great Britain won the World Cup series for the third successive season but two of their biggest rivals - New Zealand and Germany - missed the opening event while Australia did not even take part in the series.

Performance director David Tanner has set a target of four world medals but said: "We aspire higher than that.

"To have a good chance of four medals we need eight boats challenging for them. It's a demanding target but it's achievable."

MARTIN GOUGH'S BLOG

" Are they right to stick with the current project or should they have use the better rowers to strengthen crews with a better chance of gold medals? "

The only significant change to line-ups from the World Cup season is that Louisa Reeve and Olivia Whitlam will concentrate solely on the pair, having competed in both the pair and the eight so far.

With six weeks to go, the heavyweight men's squad will undergo a tough training camp at altitude in Austria.

Reed told BBC Radio 5 Live last weekend he believes the pair are improving after switching their seating order, and expects to beat Kiwi duo Eric Murray and Hamish Bond in August.

"It certainly felt a lot smoother. It's only our second race with me stroking and we've got a lot to learn," he said.

"We've got a big job to do but we're hard grafters, we're definitely not going to give up and we're going to win the World Championships on our training camp.

"We're still winners deep down; we're going to go for gold at the World Championships."

"This has not been an easy season but I believe that it is laying a good basis for our Olympic campaign"

Triple Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger will remain in the single, where she faces a tough challenge to win a medal in a strong field.

Tanner defended the decision to stick with this season's line-ups in smaller boats, rather than using better rowers to strengthen larger crews, as part of a long-term view to London 2012.

"We have had some good successes this summer but have taken this season as a time to try some new things, especially with our leading players who have been challenged this year on the world stage," he explained.

"We have also blooded some young and new athletes who need to learn the demands of toughness of Olympic-level racing.

"This has not been an easy season but I believe that it is laying a good basis for our Olympic campaign."

GB squad for World Championships

Women

Pair: Olivia Whitlam, Louisa Reeve

Eight (from): Jo Cook, Jess Eddie, Alice Freeman, Alison Knowles, Lindsey Maguire, Natasha Page, Tina Stiller, Melanie Wilson, (Two more to be named), Caroline O'Connor(cox)

Single scull: Katherine Grainger

Double scull: Anna Bebington, Annabel Vernon

Quadruple scull: Rosamund Bradbury, Beth Rodford, Sarah Cowburn, Katie Greves

Men

Pair: Pete Reed, Andy Triggs Hodge

Four: Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory, Matt Langridge

Eight (from): Tom Broadway, Tom Burton, James Clarke, Peter Marsland, James Orme, Tom Ransley, Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell, Dan Ritchie, Tom Solesbury, Tom Wilkinson, Phelan Hill (cox)

Single scull: Alan Campbell

Double scull: Matt Wells, Stephen Rowbotham

Quadruple scull: Charles Cousins, Marcus Bateman, Bill Lucas, Sam Townsend

Lightweight women

Double scull: Hester Goodsell, Sophie Hosking

Quadruple scull: Stephanie Cullen, Jane Hall, Laura Greenhalgh, Andrea Dennis

Lightweight men:

Single scull: Adam Freeman-Pask

Double scull: Rob Williams, Paul Mattick

Four: Chris Bartley, Stephen Feeney, Chris Boddy, Bob Hewitt

Adaptive (Paralympic classes)

Men's arms-only single scull: Tom Aggar

Trunk and arms double scull: James Roberts, Samantha Scowen

Mixed adaptive coxed four: Vicki Hansford, James Roe, Dave Smith, Naomi Riches, Rhiannon Jones (cox)

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