Ebbesen is back at Munich World Cup

This was just one of the many semi-final events contested today in cool but calm conditions on the 1972 Olympic course just outside of Munich. The athletes enjoyed slight tail winds with virtually flat water throughout the day of racing.

 

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Semi-finals

The record of Alexandra Tsiavou is bordering on impeccable. The Greek 25-year-old has regularly been at the head of the field whether she rows in the lightweight single or double. This year Tsiavou has started off the season in the single and right from yesterday’s time trial, Tsiavou showed that she still has the speed. Tsiavou led semi-final one from start to finish and rated a comfortable 29 strokes per minute coming into the finish.

Katherine Copeland,20, of Great Britain is an up-and-coming lightweight rower and she showed her potential today by holding Tsiavou’s pace and finishing ahead of former World Champion (2009), Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland. Both Copeland and Weisshaupt also advance to the final.

Brazil’s Fabiana Beltrame featured in semi-final two and she must be loving the loud and enthusiastic support she receives every time she races. Beltrame led from start to finish holding off both Agnieszka Renc of Poland and Marie-Anne Frenken of the Netherlands. Beltrame finished fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships and at 29 years old could well be part of Brazil’s drive to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Beltrame is already a veteran of two Olympic Games. From this semi-final Beltrame, Renc and Frenken move on the final this afternoon.

 

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Semi-finals

The first semi-final was racing at its best with four boats fighting to the end and only the first three spots available for advancement to the final. This finishing scenario began with Japan, France and Italy taking off together at the start. Italy’s Daniele Gilardoni (fastest time in yesterday’s time trial) then pushed into the lead and retained a slight margin over Maxime Goisset of France and Japan’s Hideki Omoto through the body of the race.

Coming into the final sprint Poland’s Milosz Jankowski gave it his all to break into the top three. Jankowski had been sitting at the back of the field trying to recover from a sub-average start and with his stroke rate at 34 he was bearing down on the leaders. This forced Gilardoni to take his rating to 38 with Goisset hitting 35. But Jankowski was just a tad too late. Gilardoni, Goisset and Omoto move on to the final with the three fastest times overall.

Semi-final two was much more pedestrian. Bulgaria’s Nedelcho Vasilev got out in front. Last year Vasilev raced at the under-23 level in the lightweight single and finished ninth. It looks like he has stepped up a notch over the winter as Vasilev led over the rest of the field. Peru’s Victor Aspillaga Alayza and Barthelemy Agostini of France pushed Vasilev hard, but the Bulgarian admirably handled the pressure.

At the line Vasilev, Alayza and Agostini had qualified for this afternoon’s final.

 

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Semi-finals

As the highest ranked crew in this event, 2010 silver medallists, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain were the crew to beat.  Stanning and Glover came together as the pair last year and held onto their positions in the boat this year after success at the British trials. The duo took such a flying start that by the first 500m mark they had more than a boat length lead. Coming into the finish Great Britain retained a 35 stroke rate pace as Erin Cafaro and Amanda Polk of the United States attacked the leaders. Stanning and Glover held them off. Great Britain, the United States and Romania advance to Sunday’s final.

The second semi-final turned into a United States vs the Netherlands battle. Taking over the top three spots right from the beginning were two Dutch boats and Susan Francia and Meghan Musnicki of the United States. Surprisingly Germany’s top pair was back in fourth and off the pace.  For the leading boats Francia and Musnicki were making the biggest impression and managed to get themselves in a position where they could watch the Dutch. Chantal Achterberg and Nienke Kingma of Netherland's second boat did the best job of attacking the leaders pace, but it wasn’t enough. Francia and Musnicki crossed the line first and will be joined in Sunday’s final by two Dutch crews. 

 

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Semi-finals

Last year Lorenzo Carboncini and Niccolo Mornati of Italy finished fourth at the World Rowing Championships. This year they will be hoping to step up into the medals and if today’s semi-final one is anything to go by this is on the cards. Carboncini and Mornati not only won the race but their time of 6.33 was the fastest of the two semis. This was despite limited pressure being placed on the Italians. France attacked early and Hungary gave it a go in the final sprint pushing their stroke rate to 40 at one point, but Carboncini and Mornati prevailed.

At the line Italy, Hungary’s Bela Simon and Adrian Juhasz and Nanne Sluis and Rogier Blink of the Netherlands had made it to the final.

Top seeded at this regatta and winners of yesterday’s time trial, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge had every reason to feel confident lining up in semi-final two. Their biggest threat in leading was likely to come from Greek brothers, Nikolaos and Apostolos Gkountoulas. The Greek combination is different from the crew that won bronze last year, but the time trials showed that they had good speed. Reed and Hodge took off to gain the lead right from the start – a position that they love to be in. The Gkountoulas brothers took up chase and kept the pressure on the British duo. But Reed and Hodge did just enough to stay ahead.

Coming into the finish Reed and Hodge looked very comfortable on their 34 stroke rate while the Greeks took their stroke rate to 37 to close on Great Britain, but also hold off Germany’s Maximillian Munski and Felix Drahotta where were attacking with a 40 stroke rate. The order didn’t change and Great Britain, Greece and Germany move on to the final on Sunday.

 

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Semi-finals

Melanie Wilson of Great Britain is versatile. Last year she rowed in the single and prior to that was part of the women’s eight. Now Wilson has jumped into the double to replace an injured Anna Watkins and Wilson is doing it with comparative ease. Joining Great Britain’s most successful woman rower, Katherine Grainger, Wilson helped their boat win the time trial yesterday. Today they battled the United States to come away from semi-final one as the winners and also the fastest time overall.

Sarah Trowbridge and Kathleen Bertko of the United States started off just ahead of Great Britain and held the lead through most of the race. But Wilson and Grainger stayed on their case and overtook the United States coming into the final 500m. Wilson and Grainger then felt confident enough to drop their stroke rate to 29 through the closing metres of the race with the United States unable or unwilling to challenge for the lead. Great Britain, United States and Austria (getting the better of a finishing fight with Finland) move to the final.

Yesterday’s time trials indicated that Yuliya Bichyk and Tatsiana Kukhta of Belarus had some very good boat speed. Bichyk and Kukhta reconfirmed that today by leading semi-final two from start to finish. The duo teamed up in 2010 and raced to fourth at the European Championships. They have remained together this year and look like a combination that will stick. Behind the Belarusians Ireland and Romania went head-to-head leaving each other absolutely no breathing space. It took until the final sprint for Ireland (Dilleen and Pushure) to get the better of Romania. Both boats move to the final along with Belarus.

 

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semi-finals

There are two German entries in this event and Germany’s second boat (Mathias Rocher and Hans Gruhne) raced in the first semi-final. The duo took off just behind Estonia’s Raja Allar and Kaspar Taimsoo. By the middle of the race Rocher and Gruhne had not only grabbed the lead, they had moved away from Estonia. Coming through to the final sprint Germany kept their strokes strong and their rating at 37 strokes per minute. It was enough for them to hold the lead.

Meanwhile the United States’ new combination (William Miller and Glenn Ochal) had moved on up to attack Estonia’s lead. Allar and Taimsoo attacked back. Performing the better sprint, Allar and Taimsoo got back into second. Germany, Estonia and the United States move on to tomorrow’s final.

Finishing with silver last year make Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman of Great Britain the highest seeded boat in this event. But it was Germany’s first boat (Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger) who had taken the lead at the start. Wells and Bateman, otherwise known as the ‘Red Express’ did not let Knittel and Krueger get away and the two crews went through the middle of the race almost on top of each other. Lithuania’s Sauliua Ritter and Rolandas Mascinskas, was also well on the pace as all three crews moved together through the second 1000m of the race.

Wells and Bateman kept the pressure on and in the final sprint took their stroke rate to a full-on 38 pace. Knittel and Krueger could not quite match it. Ritter and Mascinskas held on. Great Britain, Germany1 and Lithuania2 will compete in tomorrow’s final.

 

Men’s Four (M4-) – Semi-finals

The Greeks have been proving themselves in this event over the last couple of years and, despite a slightly different line up from the crew that took silver last year, the crew did very well in yesterday’s time trial. Today Papachristos, Tsilis, Tziallas and Christou continued to do well. But first they had to shake off Germany in the first of two semi-finals.

It took the Greeks until the third 500m to sneak just ahead of Germany, but the Germans were not giving up. They were also very much aware of last year’s winners, France right on their tail. Greece and Germany both rated 38 coming into the line, with France also keeping the speed up. The order did not change. Greece, Germany and France qualify for the final.

In the slower of the two semi’s, semi-final two had last year’s fourth place finishers, Great Britain, in the lead. The British have added Olympic Champion (in the four), Tom James to the crew and they have every intention of getting their boat to the top this year.

Great Britain held onto the lead while the Netherlands, Belarus and Italy battled it out for the final two spots. The Netherlands final sprint let them down. Great Britain, Belarus and Italy make the cut for Sunday’s final.

 

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Semi-finals

Kathryn Twyman and Andrea Dennis of Great Britain may be their country’s number two boat, but they are not acting that way at this regatta. In the first semi-final, Twyman and Dennis not only won but they clocked a time faster than their number one crew. Twyman and Dennis led from start to finish leaving the rest of the field to work out the lesser positions. The Netherlands’ Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head did the best job of it, staying ahead of Denmark to remain in second. Great Britain’s second boat, the Netherlands and Denmark will race in tomorrow’s final.

The second semifinal featured Great Britain’s first boat who raced to fifth at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking had a head-to-head battle with the United States (Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols) with neither crew relenting. Both crews looked rather tired coming into the end of the 2000m race which gave under-23 champions, Greece a chance to close the gap. Great Britain, the United States and Greece move on to the final.

 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semi-finals

As the biggest event on this programme, these final 12 boats had already done a fine job to get this far. With all athletes roughly the same height and very similar weights, racing is often very tight and very close. France’s Jeremie Azou and Frederic Dufour set the standard in semi-final one. Azou and Dufour got out in the lead at the start and held on to it. Behind them Germany and comeback crew, Denmark (Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist) battled with each other. All crews sprinted to the line with Denmark getting their stroke rate to 40 while Germany managed 35. At the line France remained in first, Denmark held on to second and Germany (Linus Lichtschlag and Lars Hartig) qualifies for the final from third.

The second semi-final was the slower of the two despite featuring top seeds and reigning World Champions, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain and 2010 silver medallists, Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini of Italy. Purchase and Hunter made no bones about their intentions by getting away very quickly at the start followed closely by Serbia. Through the middle of the race Italy moved on Great Britain and took their boat into second place with Jonathan Winter and Brian De Regt of the United States following closely behind.

The order remained the same into the line as the leading crews were under no pressure for their qualifying positions. Both Italy and Great Britain felt confident enough that they took the pressure down in the last 20m of the race. Great Britain, Italy and the United States will meet again in tomorrow’s final.

 

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Semi-finals

It has been a long time since Switzerland has boated a really good lightweight four. Last year they put together a crew that really worked and under the guidance of coach Tim Foster they look good coming into this season. As the cow bells rang, Switzerland took their boat through the entire race in the leader’s position.

Meanwhile reigning World Champions, Great Britain were back in third, but still on the pace. Could Great Britain pull out something big to get back to the head of the field? It appeared not as France did just enough to stay ahead of Great Britain, while Switzerland continued to relish their first place position. A very happy Switzerland moves on to the final with France and Great Britain.

The second semi-final featured Denmark with the remarkable Eskild Ebbesen. Ebbesen all but owns this event. He has three Olympic golds and one bronze and if he wins at the London 2012 Olympics, he will be Denmark’s most successful Olympic athlete. Ebbesen started training seriously late last year and this is his first international race since ‘retirement’ following the Beijing Olympics. Despite some very persistent competition, Denmark managed to keep their boat in front at the finish line with a 38 stroke rate.

Behind the Danes it was very close between Italy and the Netherlands. Both crews rated 40 strokes per minute and the Dutch was just a bit quicker. Denmark, the Netherlands and a very happy Italy advance to tomorrow’s final.

 

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semi-finals

It looks like the status quo of recent years has returned. In semi-final one (after a false start) Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus was the winner. Karsten has dominated the single for most of the past decade with just a few hiccups along the way. One hiccup occurred at last year’s World Rowing Championships when Frida Svensson of Sweden beat Karsten to the line. Today Svensson stuck with Karsten, but Karsten did just enough to cross the line in first. Karsten goes on to the final and will be joined by Svensson and Germany’s Annekatrin Thiele.

In recent years Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic has been a regular finalist and very often a medallist. Today she raced in semi-final two but in quite a different manner. Starting off at the back of the field, Knapkova took until the halfway point to move into second. She then had to battle fellow Czech, Jitka Antosova to find the lead. Antosova has come out of the double to do a bit of single sculling and she is obviously no slowpoke.

Then coming into the finish China’s Xiuyun Zhang moved on up. Zhang retired from international rowing in 2009 and took up coaching. Finding that she was still faster than her athletes, Zhang decided to make a comeback and at this regatta she has been making her mark. Coming into the line Knapkova was in the lead, Zhang dropped her stroke rate but remained in second and Antosova took the final qualifying spot by finishing third.

 

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semi-finals

Germany’s Marcel Hacker came through at the head of the field in yesterday’s time trials. Today he finished in the winning frame in semi-final one. Hacker took a break from international racing last year and in November 2010 baby Haakoon was born. The break from rowing must have done good things for Hacker as he looked very comfortable as he raced at the head of the field. So comfortable, in fact, that Hacker could drop his stroke rate in the final sprint. This left a dual between Luka Spik of Slovenia and Alan Campbell of Great Britain. Usually Campbell can pull off a massive finishing sprint, but today he looked decidedly sluggish. Still Campbell did enough to hold off Spik. Hacker, Campbell and Spik will meet again in tomorrow’s final.

The second semi-final was missing Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte who pulled out of racing for medical reasons. This left the door wide open for World Champion, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic to dominate the race. Synek did it in style and coming into the final sprint, Synek looked long and strong and clean through the water.

Meanwhile Lassi Karonen of Sweden had his work cut out for him as Lithuania’s Mindaugas Griskonis was grabbing the bull by the horns and charging. Griskonis rated 41 to Karonen’s 40 and managed to squeeze past the Swede at the line. Still Karonen and Griskonis will both go to the final along with the dominant Synek.