Rowing: Women to the fore as men founder: Triumph in coxless pairs and fours at international regatta

BRITISH women stepped into the void left by the men and won the pairs and fours events at Duisburg International Regatta with some style. The men's team, meanwhile, failed to reach two major finals.

The coxed pair of the Searle brothers, the Olympic champions nine months ago, finished fourth on Saturday and took second yesterday only when the Croatian pair caught a crab and rolled over into the water.

The lightweight women's four, who won a silver medal in the world championships last year, raced in the open event with Jane Hall replacing Claire Davies, who has a virus. They won yesterday, racing with ferocious intent and purpose. Third for most of the first half, they crept into the lead just before the 1,000-metre mark before holding off an attack by the Czechs at the finish. Their winning time was just one second outside the course record for heavyweights.

The women's pair of Miriam Batten and Jo Turvey won on both days without looking fully stretched over the second half. Their event has been cut from the Olympic programme but Fisa, the governing body, is to consider a proposal from Batten that the pairs be reinstated and the women's eight limited to six entries.

The women's lightweight scullers, Helen Mangan and Patricia Corless, were placed second after a photo-finish while Peter Haining, the lightweight single sculler who has transformed his basic strength over the winter, took the lightweight single sculls on Saturday. The event was weakened by the Fisa World Cup, however, which attracted some of his more potent rivals. Yesterday he lost in a close finish.