Great Britain’s quadruple sculls women stage a storming finish to snatch gold

Great Britain’s women’s quadruple sculls crew claimed gold in a dramatic race to the line with the Netherlands.

Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, and Lauren Henry made a cautious start before moving past Ukraine into second spot behind the Dutch.

The 2023 world champions produced a storming finish in the final 250 metres – and a photo-finish was declared as the two boats crossed the line.

But it was the British crew who were punching the air with the margin of victory given as 0.15 seconds.

Scott told the BBC: “It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come.

“I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.

“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it.

“If you think you can, you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”

If you think you can, you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics

Great Britain missed out on a men’s quadruple sculls medal with a fourth-placed behind the Netherlands, Italy and Poland.

The quartet of Tom Barras, Graeme Thomas, Callum Dixon and Matthew Haywood were fourth at the first 500m marker and were unable to close the gap on their rivals.

The Netherlands took gold ahead of Italy and Poland, with the British crew just two seconds adrift of third spot.

Gold medal favourites Emily Craig and Imogen Grant progressed to the final of the lightweight women’s double sculls.

The British pair, unbeaten since missing out on a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics by 0.01 seconds, were threatened by New Zealand in the early stages of their semi-final.

Craig and Grant gradually pulled away to cross the finish line over three seconds ahead, while Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen also qualified for Friday’s final.

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George, who won bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s eight, claimed second place in their pairs semi-final behind Romania.

Ireland’s Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney finished third to also make Friday’s final.

Great Britain’s Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards missed out on a place in the women’s pairs final, as did Ireland duo Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh.

Ireland’s Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan qualified fastest for the lightweight men’s double sculls final, ahead of main rivals Italy.