Olympic Rowing Finals for St Mary's Alumni

St Mary’s Alumni Karen Bennett and Moe Sbihi have reached the finals of their rowing competitions at Rio 2016. Karen has reached the finals of the Women’s Eight after winning their qualification heat. The crew completed the course in a time of 6:09.52, winning their heat and achieving the second fastest time of the heats behind the United States. She will row in her final at 3pm on Saturday 13^th August. Moe meanwhile, who is competing in the Men’s Four, reached the final after winning the semi-final over three second ahead of Canada in second place. The crew also won their heat with a comfortable margin. Moe will compete in his final at 3.20pm on Friday 12^th August. Speaking of their success Director of Sport Andrew Reid-Smith said, “The GB women’s eight did an outstanding job in the heat, they timed their race to perfection to row through Canada and New Zealand in the last 500m.  This means that they qualify direct to Sunday’s final making them the first GB women’s eight in Olympic history to go through directly from the heat to the A final. “The GB men's four cruised to victory in the heats and their semi-final saw them win by a significant margin to send out a clear statement of intent to their rivals.  Since winning bronze in London Moe has won three World titles, for him and his teammates this Olympic final is all about producing a performance that will win Gold.”