European Rowing Championships: Great Britain win men's eight & women's lightweight sculls

Great Britain won five medals, including two golds, on the first day of finals at the European Rowing Championships in Slovenia.

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant defended their title in the women's lightweight sculls, while the men's eight also retained their crown in Bled, winning a thrilling blanket finish.

The women's four, featuring returning Olympian Helen Glover, finished second.

And the women's quadruple sculls and mixed double sculls PR3 claimed bronze.

Britain had looked on track to make it three golds after the women's four of Glover, Rebecca Shorten, Rowan McKellar and Heidi Long led by a length after 750 metres of the 2,000m race.

But a charging Romanian boat overhauled them in the closing stages to win by half a length.

James Cracknell, who won two Olympic golds in the men's coxless four, said: "That is disappointing because of how clear they were at halfway. They looked in control, were taking less strokes a minute and moving fast. From that position you would be disappointed to lose."

The British women's four were unbeaten in 2022, but Samantha Redgrave has since been replaced by mum-of-three Glover after switching to the eight as she continues recovery from a finger injury.

• Watch Saturday's European Championships action on BBC iPlayer

Glover, 36, came out of retirement this year and is aiming to represent Team GB at a fourth Olympic Games after winning gold in the women's pairs with Heather Stanning in 2012 and 2016, and finishing fourth in Tokyo with Polly Swann.

"This is our first race in the four," said Glover. "It's a quick learning curve as it's a faster race and the thinking time you have in the pair is just gone in the four, which I kind of love. There's definitely more to come."

The current season is building towards the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in September, which will double as the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On current form, Britain's Craig and Grant, the reigning world champions in the women's lightweight sculls, will be heavy favourites to add another world gold this year. The pair, who were fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, finished more than two seconds clear of Greece in second place to retain their European title.

The men's eight also went into the Europeans as heavy favourites after going unbeaten since claiming bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

But it took an almighty effort to edge out the Romanian crew by just five hundredths of a second, while the Netherlands were just half a second back in third.

Britain's women's quadruple sculls had to settle for bronze after failing to defend their title. Lauren Henry and Hannah Scott joined 2022 gold medallists Georgina Brayshaw and Lucy Glover and were in the mix in the middle part of the race before falling away as Ukraine powered to gold and the Netherlands took silver.

Annie Caddick and Sam Murray produced a great display to win bronze in the mixed double sculls PR3 event behind winners France and silver medallists Ukraine. The race will make its debut in the Paralympics in Paris next year.

The European Championships conclude on Sunday with coverage on BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and the BBC Sport website from 09:45 BST.

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