World Rowing Championships: Silver for Scott and Stratton in world quad sculls final

Hannah Scott and Finnola Stratton, alongside Great Britain team-mates Imogen Grant and Lola Anderson, secured silver in the women’s quadruple sculls at the World Championships in Amsterdam on Saturday.

The GB quartet were beaten to the gold by the Netherlands in a repeat of last year’s result.

Only 1.6 seconds separated the two crews at the finish with the Dutch holding on as both Great Britain and USA closed them down in the final few hundred metres.

The rivalry between the GB and Netherlands crews is one that shows no signs of abating.

GB took the gold from the Dutch at the World Championships in 2023 and then beat the them again on the final stroke of the Olympic final in Paris in 2024.

With two years to go until the Los Angeles Olympics it would be no surprise if the two countries battled with each other once again on that occasion.

Scott now has one gold and two world championship silver medals while for Stratton, this was her first taste of senior success.

“Today we were trying to channel just some aggression that we’ve been wanting to show in this regatta, and it’s been quite hard through the rounds to get it,“ said Scott.

“I’m just really proud of that race today. Finals day is another level up, and I think we rose to the challenge again, and I’m really, really proud of that.”

As expected the Dutch went out really hard looking to control the race but unlike the semi-final, Great Britain wouldn’t let them get away.

Never more than two seconds ever separated the crews but on the home water of the Bosbann and in the favoured lane one after they had to be reallocated because of the weather, the Dutch were not to be caught.

“I think that’s probably the best racing we’ve done all year. We did everything that we wanted to do, and it just felt so good,” added Stratton, who a year ago was racing and winning the world under-23s title.

“That one was pretty spicy. I mean, you can tell you’re among some pretty experienced athletes there.

“Everybody knows how to race. Everyone’s got their head in the game,” explained Stratton.

“I mean, under-23s is pretty fun as well, but that is really tough. Under-23s is the playground.”