Long makes untroubled progress

Rowing

All three British senior crews in repechage action yesterday went through to tomorrow's semi-finals of the World Championships at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell.

Chris Long, who stepped into the place vacated by the singles sculls champion, Peter Haining, after the Scot opted to move up in weight and compete in Atlanta, finished second to Estonia's Roman Lutoskin. Long led over the first 500 metres with victory in mind but, when the Estonian took up the challenge at the half-way stage, he opted to conserve his energy and settle for second place.

The sculler Susan Appleboom took a step closer to what promises to be the most interesting final of the championships when she finished second to Hungary's Monika Remsei. With four in the race and three to qualify, the competition ended when Iceland's Anna Steingrimsdottir dropped 10 seconds off the lead by the half-way mark, and survival for the others became a formality.

Easy promotion gives Appleboom the chance to recover before taking on Romania's Constanta Burcica, the 1993 gold medallist, and Saran Garner, of the United States, in her bid for a medal. Garner reputedly lost over two stones in weight over nine months to convert from heavy to lightweight sculling and in her heat beat the Romanian and Appleboom by a 16-second margin from a breakaway start.

Also through to the semi-finals is the new lightweight pairing of Jason Keys and James Brown, enjoying their first World Championships.

Results, Sporting Digest, page 23