Enniskillen rower Holly Nixon, who rows for Great Britain, powered into the final of the Women’s Quad scull on Day one of the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida.
The former Portora Boat Club member was taking part on Sunday and alongside crew members Beth Bryan, Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Jess Leyden they secured an A final spot, pipping USA in a thrilling finish to clinch the second and final place.
Poland won the heat with the GB crew producing a strong finish to edge out USA by one hundredth of a second. The key to this was that it meant the crew avoided the repechage on Tuesday which the United States subsequently won.
Holland and Australia qualified from the other heat but the heat that GB finished second to Poland was the marginally faster.
Speaking in the Impartial Reporter last week, Holly stated that their focus was solely on making the final after which they would think about the final and the tactics needed to medal.
Holly will be looking to repeat last year’’s heroics when she won gold in Rotterdam but the level of competition is sure to be fierce and not all the crews will have fully shown their hands at this stage.
Holly and crew did win bronze at this year’s European Championships and they will certainly be hoping to make the podium again.
The final is scheduled for Saturday at 11.53am Florida time and live streaming is available on worldrowing.com.