Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale found the going tough on his competitive return to international racing at Henley Royal Regatta today, suffering defeat to Aleksandr Aleksandrov of Azerbaijan in the Diamond Challenge Cup for men’s single scullers.
The New Zealander took a break from training after winning gold in London and tried his hand at triathlons and other enduranceevents. Aleksandrov was fifth in that Olympic final but won with something to spare today.
“I hate losing but I am actually quite pleased with the standard I am at now. This sport is so hard it would be crazy to come back with only a month’s training and beat the top guys”, said Drysdale.
“Mahe is a hero of mine. He’s a great guy with a big heart and I still feel really confused as to how I beat him”, said Aleksandrov.
Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist, Alan Campbell, also had a rocky opener today. He almost toppled in during a false start before recovering and winning on the re-start against Giorgi Bozhilov of Bulgaria, a world cup finalist 10 days ago.
“I was nervous for the race”, explained the popular Campbell who is renowned for his love of the Regatta. “The starter held us for a long time and I went before the “go” and because the stake boat boy didn’t let go I very nearly fell in. Luckily I was just given a false start. But I was very pleased with what I was doing race-wise in the middle of the course”.
Many of Britain’s other top guns also had their first outings since the London Games.
on the sun-basked, world-famous course today.
The British women’s eight, competing here as Leander Club & Oxford Brookes University was comfortable in victory, in front of the packed and at times vocal enclosures, against a crew composed of Newcastle University and ASR Nereus from Holland.
Olympian Beth Rodford said: “I think Henley is a really important part of our season but we will always respect the opposition. It’s a good feeling when you get up on a crew but you never know what’s going to happen and those booms can be scary places at times”.
Olympic Champion Helen Glover is racing here in a Leander-Minerva Bath crew in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup for women’s quadruple sculls. The crew also includes twice Olympic silver medallist, Frances Houghton and recent world cup gold medallists Polly Swann and Vicky Meyer-Laker. They came safely through their heat as did the Chambers brothers from Northern Ireland racing here in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup.
Swann said: “Jumping from a pair into a quad is a bit of a shock to the system but I am getting lots of technical tips which are a big help”.
The closest race of the morning session was probably that between Molesey B.C. and Vesta in the Remenham Challenge Cup with the former taking victory against the selected crew.
One of Britain’s strongest University crews, Oxford Brookes, were defeated today by the Dutch students from D.S.R. Laga from the Netherlands in the Temple Challenge Cup.
In the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for schoolboyeights, Hampton School took revenge by three-quarters of a length at the finish against their 2012 nemesis, Radley College, and now progress to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
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