WEEKEND WRITE-UP: Medals won at World Championships, as the Opals find form

In VIS Sport, Al Viney and Alex Vuillermin get their taste of international success, as Luke Plapp joined his mixed medley team mates for world cycling bronze.

Rowing

The Australian Rowing team had some strong performances at the recent World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic.

The PR3 Women’s Pair of Al Viney and Alex Vuillermin had a rhythmic race and took the Silver Medal behind Great Britain.

“We started well and managed to hit a good race rhythm," Viney and Vuillermin said post-race

"We went for it and this is a great result. It really means a lot to use."

The Women’s Four of Annabelle McIntyre OAM, Bronwyn Cox, Katrina Werry and Lucy Stephan OAM were first through 500m in the A-Final and moved into second at 1000m behind the crew from Great Britain.

The Dutch Olympic silver medalists pushed our crew hard and overturned the result from Tokyo, moving us into a hard-earned Bronze.

“There have been ups and downs this year with injuries and COVID, it has been difficult, but we needed to come out and put a solid performance," Stephan said.

"GB and the Netherlands had a great race. We felt short in the semi and didn’t execute our race plan, we wanted to get back to what we do very well, even from an outside lane, and it worked well today.”

It was a solid set of results for the Australian Rowing Team on the first day of A-Finals at the World Championships. The Para crews were the first to represent and didn’t disappoint by claiming three Silver Medals in the PR2 Women’s Single, and the PR3 Men’s and Women’s Pairs.

On the final day of the World Championships, the Men’s Eight of Jackson Kench, William O’Shannessy, Sam Hardy, Angus Widdicombe, Benjamin Canham, Henry Youl, Nick Lavery, Rohan Lavery and cox Kendall Brodie had a fantastic row in the A-Final setting an early rhythm and starting the race as they meant to continue, going through the halfway mark in third, behind the British and the Dutch.

They held off pushes from the rest of the field to hold onto Bronze.

Article Sourced: Rowing Australia

Image, Alex Vuillermin (left) and Alexandra Viney (right) celebrate with their silver medals, Sourced: Rowing Australia

Cycling

Australia won the bronze medal in the team time trial mixed relay at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong last week.

The Australian Cycling Team finished 38.4 seconds behind winners Switzerland, who edged Italy into silver by just 2.92 seconds.

Six riders – three men and three women – compete for each nation in the unique event, which is rarely seen outside a world championship and has only been held since 2019.

The men were first to tackle the 14.1-kilometre circuit around Wollongong. As soon as the second male rider crossed the finish line, the women rolled down the start ramp to complete the same course. The team’s time was recorded once its second female rider crossed the line.

Australia was the sixth of 16 nations to start on a grey, gusty Wednesday afternoon.

Lucas Plapp, Luke Durbridge and four-time Tour de France stage winner Michael Matthews got Australia off to a strong start, completing the men’s leg in the provisional fastest time.

Alexandra Manly, Sarah Roy and triple Commonwealth champion Georgia Baker brought Australia home in 34:25.57 to take the provisional lead by over four minutes.

However, the strongest nations were yet to come, so the Aussies settled into the leaders’ hot seat to see whether their time would hold.

First came France and Denmark, whose men were faster at the halfway mark, but who slipped behind Australia by the end of the women’s leg.

On the ground at Wollongong’s beachfront, the partisan crowd cheered for every red time check that meant Australia had survived another challenge.

Then came the powerful Swiss team. Stefan Bissegger, Mauro Schmid and Stefan Kung handed the Swiss women a firm advantage at the halfway mark, and Australian hopes began to waver knowing the strength of the Swiss women to come.

Italy’s men slotted in 10 seconds behind the Swiss, putting the Azzurri firmly into the medal race.

The Swiss women dropped main engine Marlen Reusser in the final kilometres, but Nicole Koller and Elise Chabbey were able to drive them home in a time of 33:47.17, ousting Australia from the hot seat.

The new race leaders had to wait nervously as Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini and Vittoria Guazzini sprinted for gold, but the Swiss time, famously unwavering, stood firm by a handful of seconds.

This was Australia’s first-ever participation in the mixed relay team time trial, and its third medal of these world championships after Grace Brown and Hamish McKenzie won silver medals in the individual time trial.

Article Sourced: AusCycling