GB claim world gold, silver and bronze in Shanghai

Great Britain continued their dominance in the PR3 mixed coxed four by claiming their 14th consecutive international gold medal at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, as the men's and women's eights also made it on to the podium.

The PR3 mixed coxed four of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller and Josh O'Brien, along with newly selected cox Tom Bryce, were competing together for the first time since they won Paralympic gold in the Paris Games in 2024.

Rakauskaite took her career tally to six world golds in PR3 - five in the mixed coxed four and one in the women's pair - to become the joint most decorated woman in the category.

The men's eights were unable to defend their crown, claiming silver behind the Netherlands, while the Dutch also won the women's eights, with the GB crew finishing third.

A gold, silver and bronze on Saturday took the British team's tally for the championships to seven, following two golds on Friday and two silvers on Thursday.

"This means so much because I now have a record. I'm so proud of that - it's a big one for me," said 34-year-old Rakauskaite, who also has two Paralympic gold medals in the PR3 mixed coxed four.

She shares the mark of six world titles in PR3 with fellow Briton Naomi Riches, Birgit Skarstein, of Norway, and the Netherlands' Corne de Koning.

The British team finished seven seconds ahead of hosts China, while Germany were third.

Allen said: "Although we're unbeaten the nerves stay the same on the start line. I think the more you win, the more you have a target on your back. So it pushes us to keep going as fast as we can and push the limits as well."

The British men's eight crew of Will Stewart, Archie Drummond, David Bewicke-Copley, Fergus Woolnough, Miles Beeson, Sam Nunn, Matt Aldridge, Matt Rowe and cox Will Denegri battled through in the closing stages to finish ahead of the United States by just 0.16 seconds to claim silver.

A much-changed boat showed calm heads to keep their form after the race had to be re-started because of a technical problem.

Aldridge said: "We put up a good fight - we could have rolled over. It's a young crew with not much international experience so I'm really happy for these guys and looking forward to what happens next."

The women's eight of Eleanor Brinkhoff, Juliette Perry, Amelia Standing, Martha Birtles, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Heidi Long and Megan Slabbert and cox Jack Tottem also produced a strong finish to claim a first world medal in the discipline since 2011.

They were fastest in the second half of the race to pip Germany to bronze by 0.17 seconds, while Romania claimed silver behind the Netherlands.