European Championship silver medallists Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes also qualified for the men’s pair finals after beating South African duo Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain to second place behind favourites Hamish Bond and Eric Murray of New Zealand. Frances Houghton has already helped steer the women’s eight to the final at the age of 35, but even Grainger’s most ardent advocates doubted she could produce her best form after a two-year sabbatical.
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“We didn’t do as well as we could, especially in the middle of the race. I think we’ll row better for it”.
“In the final there is more freedom and it is about how fast can we go”. “We want to do some more damage”.
“It’s all to play for and we have not shown everything in that race”.
“But we’re not completely satisfied with it, which is maybe a good thing”.
“Today is a giant leap forward; we’ve put a lot of work in in the last six weeks”.
Typically, Grainger reflected upon the race like a true perfectionist. “When it was all over today we both said we could have done better, so that’s promising”.
There was disappointment for men’s lightweight four crew Peter Chambers, Jono Clegg, Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley, who failed to reach the final after trailing Italy, France and New Zealand in fourth.
The duo added to their success in the heat’s by claiming second place in comfortable fashion, and will now have a medal in their sights as they prepare for the final on Thursday (2.04pm). “We put everything we had out there today”.
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