Photo finish and powerful messages in World Cup heats

The Dutch men’s eight pushed 2010 world silver medallists, Great Britain, to a photo finish, just pipping them at the line, while the World Champion German men’s eight had to give it their all to beat the United States. The lightweight men’s four continued to be tight with the six qualifying boats having a spread of less than two seconds between them.

Crews got to enjoy flat, calm conditions with barely a ripple over the water. This is the rowers' favourite, the Rotsee, where rowers get to listen to cows tinkling their bells at the start line and the local crowd ringing their cow bells at the finish.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Heats

Divided into three heats the top three in each heat would get to advance directly to tomorrow’s semifinal and therefore avoid this afternoon’s repechage. After a fast start from Poland, in heat one the Netherlands’s Marie-Anne Frenken took over the lead. But Belgium’s Jo Hammond had the best sprint and came through from a nearly three-second deficit to overtake Frenken. In a very close finish that saw Japan miss out on qualifying by 15/100^th of a second, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland qualified.

Heat two featured Olympian and World Champion Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece. Tsiavou often spends the first half of the season in the single before going back into the lightweight double for the World Championships. Today, in the single, she recorded the fastest qualifying time and totally dominated her race. Canada’s Patricia Obee and Eugenie Vince of France battled for second and third with Obee prevailing. Tsiavou, Obee and Vince move on to the semifinal.

Switzerland’s Pamela Weisshaupt gave the crowd something to cheer for as they watched her easily win heat three. Weisshaupt, 33, has been on the Swiss national team for 16 years and her best results to date are two World Championship titles. Coming through from the back of the field Antonia Van Deventer of Zambia finished second to qualify along with Weisshaupt while Eri Wakai, Japan’s second boat held on to third to also qualify.
 

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Heats

A solid 24-boat field was divided into four heats with the top boat only qualifying for the semifinals. In Hamburg at last month’s World Cup a very happy Henrik Stephansen of Denmark won his first World Cup gold in the single, beating former World Champion, Duncan Grant of New Zealand in the process. Today Stephansen finished first in heat one after overtaking Pietro Ruta of Italy. Stephansen also recorded the fastest qualifying time finishing in 7:08.

The next fastest time went to three-time World Champion, Duncan Grant. Grant raced in heat four and looked comfortable, enjoying the flat waters of the Rotsee. Grant qualified for tomorrow’s semifinal. Maxime Goisset of France also looked comfortable. Goisset led heat two from start to finish and his smooth rowing made him look like a definite A-finalist. Goisset, who was second at the Munich World Cup, advanced to the semifinal. Heat three was all about Jonathan Koch of Germany. Koch was challenged by Italy’s Fabrizio Gabriele, but Koch had done enough in the middle 1000m of the race to stay ahead of any challenges that Gabriele threw at him. Koch moves on to the semifinal.
 

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Heats

The 12 entries in this event were divided into two heats with the top boat in each heat earning a spot in the final to be raced on Saturday afternoon.  In the first heat Italy was the standout boat. Luca De Maria and Armando Dell’Aquila of Italy first saw success together when they medalled at the 2005 World Rowing Junior Championships. They come to Lucerne having finished third at the first World Cup of the season in Munich and  today De Maria and Dell’Aquila qualified directly for the final, finishing nearly four seconds ahead of Spain in second.

After a fast starting South Africa was reigned in, Bastian Seibt and Lars Wichert of Germany took the lead and never let go in heat two. Seibt and Wichert won the Hamburg World Cup last month and they had the confidence to hold off all challenges including New Zealand, who were second in Hamburg. Germany goes directly to Saturday’s final.
 

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Heats

With more entries than normal, the women’s pair had to be divided into four heats. This meant, under the FISA advancement system, crews would have to finish in the top two if they wanted a direct path to the semifinal. At the end of the four heats Caroline Lind and Taylor Ritzel of the United States were the standout crew. Lind and Ritzel are part of the very strong US women’s sweep squad and both have come through to the national team from collegiate rowing. Lind was part of the 2008 Olympic winning eight and she also took World Championship gold in 2009 and Ritzel was in last year’s eight that took gold. Lind and Ritzel led heat three from start to finish and their time of 7:07 was the fastest qualifying time as well as being an impressive time for a women’s pair. Also qualifying from heat three was Australian’s Sarah Tait and Phoebe Stanley who race internationally for the first time since last year’s World Rowing Championships.

The second fastest qualifying time was in heat four when last year’s silver medallists and winners of the first World Rowing Cup, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain finished first. Glover and Stanning were put under a bit of pressure by South Africa, but not enough to really push them to the end. South Africa’s Naydene Smith and Lee-Ann Persse qualify for the semifinal from second.

At the Hamburg World Cup last month New Zealand’s Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown really pushed themselves to the line in their heat. Today, in heat two, they appeared to be much more relaxed pushing away from the rest of the field through the middle of the race. Australia’s second entry of Kate Hornsey and Pauline Frasca pulled out a big sprint to press the New Zealanders at the end, but Haigh and Scown did enough to stay ahead. Hornsey and Frasca also qualify for the semifinals.

Heat one saw the continuing rise of Romania’s Camelia Lupascu and Nicoleta Albu. The duo have been plugging away together since 2009 when they finished second at the World Rowing Championships. But last year they finished seventh and it seemed to knock the wind out of their sails. Today they look to be back to some of their old form with a win over the powerful USA duo of Susan Francia and Meghan Musnicki. Both crews advance to the semifinal. 
 

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Heats

This World Cup has the second biggest field ever recorded and a chunk of this was due to the 28 boats entered in the men’s pair. These boats were divided into six heats with the top three or four boats in each heat all earning a spot in the quarterfinals.

A number of these races saw crews do just enough to qualify, obviously conserving energy as quarterfinal racing meant that they would have another race this afternoon. Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge of Great Britain was a perfect example of this in heat one. The world silver medallists got out in front and held the pressure on for the first half of the race before taking the pace down to a fast, but comfortable level. The duo did not sprint the finish. Behind the British, however, a great battle went on between two Serbian crews and Australia’s first boat. Nothing separated these three boats coming into the finish. A better sprint by Goran Todorovic and Nikola Stojic of Serbia’s first boat gave them second. Australia’s first entry and Serbia’s second entry also qualify for the quarterfinals.

The nemesis of Reed and Hodge, World Champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand raced in heat four and, like the British, never really had to push themselves in the second half of the race. Murray and Bond, who have been racing the pair together since 2009, met 2008 Olympic silver medallists, Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen of Canada for the first time. Calder and Frandsen have not raced together since 2008 so this is their first real test as they gear up for this year’s World Rowing Championships. Calder and Frandsen finished second to qualify for the quarterfinals along with Croatia’s first boat and Spain who were third and fourth respectively.

Heat two witnessed Lorenzo Carboncini and Niccolo Mornati of Italy racing out in front. The Italians held off challenges from France and Great Britain2, before breaking away. Italy, France, Great Britain2 and Norway qualify for the quarterfinals.

It was not surprising to see Nikolaos and Apostolos Gkountoulas of Greece out in front in heat three. This talented duo was third at the first World Cup this season and were also part of the silver medal four at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Behind the Gkountoulas brothers, and also qualifying for the quarterfinals, was Germany’s second boat, Poland and Netherlands’ second boat.

Heat five saw Adrian Juhasz and Bela Simon of Hungary lead the way. The duo partnered up in 2009 and took silver at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. In 2010 they finished outside the under-23 medals but they appear to be working their way back up the ranks, now at the senior level. Juhasz and Simon qualify for the quarterfinals taking with them Australia’s second entry and United States’ first boat.

Maximillian Munski and Felix Drahotta of Germany are having a good season. They finished second at last month’s Hamburg World Cup and fifth at the opening World Cup of the season. Today Munski and Drahotta raced in heat six at the head of the field. They qualify for the quarterfinal along with South Africa and the Czech Republic.  

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Heats

The four heats in the women’s double sculls required crews to finish first if they wanted to go directly to the semifinals. Heat one seemed to be over before it started. With unbeaten reigning World Champions Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger of Great Britain sitting in lane four, the rest of the crews seemed to be resigned to the fact that they would be racing a repechage.

Watkins, who is back in the boat after having time out with a back injury, sat behind Grainger and the two of them kept their reputation truly alive by taking off in the lead. By the half way point Watkins and Grainger had an open water lead with no challenges coming their way. Watkins and Grainger move on to tomorrow’s semifinals.

Watkins and Grainger will be keeping an eye out for Kerry Hore and Kim Crow of Australia. Hore and Crow raced at the front of the field in heat three and at the finish line they had recorded the fastest qualifying time. Hore and Crow were second behind the British at last year’s World Rowing Championships and this is the first regatta since then that these two crews will meet. Hore and Crow move on to the semifinals.

The Czech sisters, Lenka and Jitka Antosova found themselves in a tight battle in heat two. The sisters left the starting blocks with three crews just ahead of them. In a very tight race four boats, Italy, China the United States and the Czech Republic all went through the half-way point together. Then the Czechs and the United States pushed away both racing hard to the line. The Czech Republic finished just ahead of USA to qualify for the semifinal.

The 2009 World Champions, Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska of Poland had a relatively comfortable time of it in heat four. They stayed just ahead of Switzerland until the Swiss gave it away and let Fularczyk and Michalska qualify for the semifinal with ease.
 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Heats

This event boasts the most number of entries at this regatta with 29 crews lining up. These crews were divided into six heats with the top three or four boats from each heat making it to the quarterfinals. Whether three or four boats get through depends on finishing times so these crews had the added incentive of doing a good time if they were not the leading boat.

Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes of Portugal made their appearance in heat one. Fraga and Mendes are in their eighth year of rowing together and they now can claim to be Portugal’s most successful rowers ever. They have their sights set on an Olympic medal after finishing eighth in Beijing. Today they moved one step closer with a win over 2008 Olympic medallists, Denmark in this heat. The Danes came through from the back of the field to take second with Turkey and Angola finished third and fourth respectively to also qualify for the quarterfinals. This is the first time Angola has competed at a World Rowing Cup and they keep their racing hopes alive by advancing to the next round.

Heat two was led from start to finish by Jeremie Azou and Frederic Dufour of France. Dufour, 35, is the experienced Olympian in the boat with 22 year old Azou they raced to a silver medal in 2009. Back together this year Azou and Dufour they have already taken a medal at the first World Rowing Cup in May. Azou and Dufour qualify for the quarterfinals along with Bulgaria, Poland2 and the Netherlands.

It took until heat three for the fastest qualifying time to be recorded. This was done by Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini of Italy. Bertini and Luini are silver medallists from the 2010 World Rowing Championships and when they race well, they race very well. Today Bertini and Luini were pushed for the full 2000m initially by Austria, Great Britain and Hungary and then in the last 500m by the Hungarians (Tamas Varga and Peter Galambos). Italy held off Hungary with boat boats qualifying for the quarterfinals. Austria and Great Britain also qualify.

Canada’s Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester made their 2011 international debut in heat four and they did it in style by leading for the whole 2000m. Commentator Robert Treharne Jones noted that the duo looked a bit uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem to slow them down as they recorded the second fastest qualifying time. Behind Canada, and also qualifying for the quarterfinals, was Belgium, Greece and Poland’s first boat.

Winners of the Hamburg World Rowing Cup, New Zealand (Storm Uru and Peter Taylor) had control of heat five. The Kiwi duo took off in the lead with Japan’s Daisaku Takeda and Tomohiro Yaku slotting into second. Takeda, 37, is Japan’s most accomplished contemporary rower. He first rowed internationally in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics and it looks as if he’s now aiming for Olympics number five. The order did not change through the race with New Zealand, Japan, Ireland and Hong Kong’s second entry qualifying for the quarterfinals.

Linus Lichtschlag and Lars Hartig of Germany missed the second World Cup to concentrate on their training and they were back in full-form action today in heat six. Together Lichtschlag and Hartig crossed the line ahead of Switzerland and Norway. All three boats qualify for the quarterfinals this afternoon.
 

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Heats

The men’s double sculls was divided into four heats and these crews needed to finish first if they wanted to go directly to tomorrow’s semifinals. All other boats would have to race in a repechage this afternoon to advance.

The first heat was delayed after Great Britain’s crew suffered boat damage to bow and bow-ball during their warm-up. This left heat two to take off first. Heat two featured a last-minute adjusted German crew. With Eric Knittel out for medical reasons, Hans Grunhe was brought in to row with Stephan Krueger. Gruhne and Krueger did a fine job of it. Together they pushed away from Norway in the third 500 of the race to earn an open water lead. This lead was substantial enough that Gruhne and Krueger did not have to sprint the finish to qualify.

Current World Champions, Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan of New Zealand completely dominated heat three racing hard right to the line to be the sole qualifying boat. This heat also included the return of Olympic Champions, David Crawshay and Scott Brennan of Australia, to the double. But Crawshay and Brennan had to contend with an open water gap between them and the New Zealanders. Crawshay and Brennan will race in this afternoon’s repechage.

France’s Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain had total control of heat four rating a comfortable 33 stroke rate through the body of the race. The rest of the field did little to try and keep up with France, giving Berrest and Bahain an easy win and a spot in the semifinals.

Heat one finally got underway with the very confident British battling it out with Slovenia. Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman come to Lucerne on the back of a win last week at the Henley Royal Regatta, a win that also earned them a course record. But former Olympic Champions (Sydney 2000), Iztok Cop and Luka Spik of Slovenia can never be ignored. Cop and Spik led for the first half of the race before they got overtaken by Wells and Bateman. The Slovenian’s then eased off and Great Britain earn the one qualifying spot, rowing over the line comfortably.
 

Men’s Four (M4-) – Heats

Four heats lined up in this event and the FISA progression system means that crews had to finish first to take a direct path to the semi-finals. Some of the hottest racing so far at this regatta played out.

Heat one saw a very close battle going on for most of the race between Great Britain and the United States. The two boats played out their own race at the head of the field. But then the British showed their greater stamina and they were able to break away in the last 500m with neither the United States, nor Great Britain sprinting to the line. Great Britain earn a spot in the semifinals.

The Greeks (Papachristos, Tsilis, Tziallas and Christou) made the best of heat two although they did not race in the conventional – get-out-at-the-start-in-front style. The Greeks did not have the best of starts recording the slowest first 500 of all of the crews. But they made up for it through the middle of the race and had caught the leaders, Australia, by the third 500. Taking their stroke rate to 40 coming into the finish, Greece was able to hold off Australia. A very disappointed Australia, featuring the return of Drew Ginn to international rowing , will have to race in this afternoon’s repechage.

The French World Champions have not been having such a good season and in heat three today they found themselves fighting for the line with the Netherlands and New Zealand in a photo finish. The New Zealanders had the best sprint and they will have the afternoon off as they advance directly to tomorrow’s semifinals. But less than a second separated the top three crews and France and the Netherlands remain a force to be reckoned with.

The German men’s sweep squad continues to reshuffle between the four and the eight. Today a new four lined up in heat four and proved that they could be the right line-up by leading from start to finish. Germany earn the sole qualifying spot by finishing first. 
 

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Heats

This event attracted 23 entries making it one of the biggest women’s events of the regatta. These 23 crews were divided into four heats with the top boat only from each heat advancing directly to the semifinals tomorrow.

In heat one World Cup leaders, Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols of the United States led from the start to finish. Hedstrom and Nichols finished third at the first World Rowing Cup and then won the second World Cup. Today they continued to show their form by easily holding off New Zealand to take the only qualifying spot.

Heat two featured two Italian entries and in a surprising upset Italy's second boat of Laura Milani and Enrica Marasca finished first. But even more of an upset, Miliani and Marasca’s win also put them ahead of Germany’s formidable duo of Marie-Louise Draeger and Anja Noske (who were fourth) as well as Australia’s Alice McNamara and Hannah Every-Hall. McNamara and Every-Hall were fourth at 2010 World Rowing Championships, but also have the status of winning here at Lucerne last year. Milani and Marasca get their prize of moving directly to the semifinal.

The fastest qualifying time went on in heat three with last year’s World Champions, Canada leading the way. Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron of Canada have been training back in Canada and this is their first international race of the season. They led the way over the rest of the field and held off a last minute dash by the United States's second entry. Canada qualifies for the semifinal.

Great Britain’s Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking won the first World Cup this season before missing the second World Cup. They are back in fine form racing today at the head of the field. The Netherlands challenged them hard but a crab by Dutch stroke Maaike Head gave the British the opportunity to win relatively easily. Goodsell and Hosking advance to the semifinals.
 

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Heats

Three heats lined up in this event and the goal of these crews is to be in the top two positions for a direct path to the semifinals. At the end of the three heats, the six qualifying boats had a spread in finishing times of just two seconds. This is how it panned out.

Heat one saw the arrival to the 2011 international scene of Australia. The Australians found themselves in a tight battle with Canada, South Africa, Switzerland and early leaders, Italy. This battle continued through the middle of the race and was only truly sorted out in the final sprint to the line. Australia showed that they had the biggest sprint, overtaking the Italians in the last metres of the race. Both Australia and Italy qualify for the semifinals.

The reigning World Champions, Great Britain showed that they still have what it takes by winning heat two and recording the fastest qualifying time – albeit only just. With one crew change, the addition of young Peter Chambers, the British had to fight their way through from the back of the field to record the win. Germany, who finished second, had led for most of the race, but the Germans did not have the same sprint as Great Britain. Both Great Britain and Germany advance to the semifinals.

World Cup leaders, Denmark had a three way battle in heat three. They found themselves up against a feisty Serbian crew as well as a new United States arrival on the international scene. Coming into the final sprint, and with only two spots up for grabs, Serbia took their stroke rate to 39 to match Denmark’s 39, while the United States hit 41 strokes per minute. Denmark finished first, Serbia second and the United States in third will have to return for this afternoon’s repechage. 
 

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Heats

Two heats in this usually small event meant that the first boat in each heat only earned a direct path to the final on Sunday and by the end of the two heats it looked like the status quo had been shifted.

Ukraine got off to a bang this season by winning the first World Rowing Cup and beating World Champions, Great Britain. But then Ukraine slipped back to second at the Hamburg World Cup last month. Today, in heat one, they struggled through the race finishing an unfamiliar fourth. Instead it was Great Britain back in the lead. The British have one substitute, Melanie Wilson, in the boat with Frances Houghton out due to injury. It did them no harm and they finished relatively comfortably ahead of New Zealand in second. Great Britain go directly to the final.

In heat two Germany earned the fastest qualifying time and they did it by leading from start to finish. The Germans did not have to really push it through the race to stay in the lead despite the United States putting up a good challenge. Germany goes directly to the final on Sunday.
 

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Heats

The 15 entries in this event were divided into three heats. Crews needed to finish in the top three for a direct path to tomorrow’s semifinals. Heat one featured the reigning World Champions, Croatia. Croatia started off being chased hard by Ukraine, New Zealand and Estonia. By the middle of the race Estonia had dropped back with Ukraine and New Zealand still on the pace. The Croatian’s, however, looked comfortable and by the finish line they had a boat length lead. From heat one Croatia, New Zealand and Ukraine qualify for the semifinals.

Germany recorded the fastest qualifying time, but only by a fraction, in heat two. The Germans are having a good season with a gold medal from the first World Cup and silver from World Rowing Cup II. Today they had a tough battle for the first half of the race with Russia, but seemed to shake the Russians back into resignation for the second half of the race. Russia held their pace so as not to get overtaken by France who, in turn, were under pressure from the United States. At the line Germany, Russia and France had qualified.

Australia’s new 2011 line up debuted their international season in heat three and did it in true style by taking the British down a notch or two. There is a strong sporting rivalry that exists between Australia and Great Britain and today in the quad, the Australians had the upper hand. Behind Australia, Great Britain qualify from second with Switzerland taking the third and final qualifying spot. These crews will meet again in tomorrow’s semifinals. 

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Heats

The eight entries in the women’s eight were divided into two heats with the goal being to finish first if crews wanted a direct path to the final on Sunday. This event is the most anticipated of all of the women’s events according to public vote on World Rowing’s Facebook site. The Netherlands are always a popular crew and they made the most of heat one by taking off in the lead and staying there. At the finish the Dutch had earned a spot in the final and in the process held off Canada who were silver medallists in 2010. The Netherlands raced against Canada last month over 250m in the St Petersburg sprints and also got the better of the Canadians there.

Heat two featured two countries who in recent years have been the two nations to dominate women’s eights – Romania and the United States. The US is the reigning Olympic and World Champions, but Romania still holds the legacy of many Olympic wins. Today the United States and Romania went head to head with Great Britain holding the pace of these two mighty crews. Romania had the edge for the first half of the race, but then the United States showed their superior fitness and pushed ahead through the third 500.

By the line the United States had a solid lead with Romania getting to the line just a fraction ahead of Great Britain. The United States earn a direct path to Sunday’s final. 

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Heats

Four heats lined up to race with the progression system meaning that these scullers had to aim for a win if they wanted to go directly to the semfinals. Using a seeding agenda, the top crews were spread amongst the four heats. Heat one featured World Champion Frida Svensson of Sweden up against Chinese Olympic medallist, Xiuyun Zhang. Svensson led at the start but couldn’t maintain the lead under the ever increasing pressure put on her by Zhang. By the half way point Zhang was in the lead and it looked as if Svensson had decided that she did not have what it would take to reel Zhang back in. Zhang finished easily in first to qualify for the semifinal. Zhang had also recorded the fastest qualifying time.

Heat two opened with Russia’s 38 year old rowing stalwart, Julia Levina in the lead. Levina held it through into the third 500 when silver medallist from the Hamburg World Cup, Emma Twigg of New Zealand pushed through. Once in the lead Twigg took off and left the rest of the field for dead. At the finish Twigg had not only qualified, but had earned an open water lead.

It was no surprise to see Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus making easy work of heat three. As these heats are seeded so that the top scullers are spread over the four heats, Karsten did not have any real competition and she easily qualified for the semifinals.

Heat four saw a battle go on between Iva Obradovic of Serbia and the Czech Republic’s Mirka Knapkova. Obradovic had the edge for most of race, but the superior and more confident sculler, Knapkova pushed through in the final 500m with Obradovic having nothing left to fight back. Knapkova earns a spot in tomorrow’s semifinals.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Heats

A full field of 27 boats started out in the men’s single. They were divided into six heats and the aim was to get in the top three or four if they wanted to earn a direct path to the quarterfinals this afternoon. The field included a veritable who’s who of the best scullers in the world minus two obvious finals contenders – Alan Campbell (GBR) who was recovering from a sore throat and Marcel Hacker (GER) who cancelled at the last minute.

Two-time Olympic Champion in the single, Olaf Tufte of Norway made the most of heat one. He started off behind Mario Vekic of Croatia but used the 2000m distance to slowly advance on the Croatian and overtake, with not too much effort in the final 500m of the race. Tufte has not been at the best of health this season, missing the Hamburg World Cup due to health issues. Today Tufte did enough to get through to the next round but did not expend all of his energy. Vekic also goes to the quarterfinals along with Slovakia and Chile.

Four-time World Champion in the single, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand was the top seed in heat two. Drysdale started his international campaign last month at the Hamburg World Cup where he won. He then raced reigning World Champion, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic at the Holland Beker in Amsterdam but finished second. Today Drysdale did not have the fastest start but did enough to push through the field to take the lead in the third 500. Drysdale qualifies for the quarterfinal this afternoon along with Saulius Ritter of Lithuania's second entry, Australia and Great Britain's second entry.

Lithuania's first entry, Mindaugas Griskonis seems to make positive steps every time he races and today was no exception. Griskonis led heat three from start to finish being pushed hard for the majority of the race by Canada’s Malcolm Howard. Howard is an Olympic Champion from the eight but switched to single sculling last season and has remained there. Like Griskonis, Howard continues to make positive headway. At the line Griskonis finished first to qualify, Howard second and Poland and Belgium also qualify.

Ondrej Synek did not have much of a race in heat four. Synek raced steadily to the half way point keeping just ahead of Australia's second boat Jared Bidwell. But Synek looked as though he did not have to do too much in the second half. Synek’s finishing time of 7:16 showed that he was not really pushed. Qualifying along with Synek was Bidwell and Haeidr Hamarasheid of Iraq.

Falko Nolte, Germany's second entry and China’s Liang Zhang made a race of it in heat five. The two went head to head for 1500m of the race before Nolte decided that he was happy to take second and buttoned off. Zhang, Nolte and Belgium2, Hannes De Reu advance to the quarterfinals.

Sweden’s Lassi Karonen recorded the fastest qualifying time in heat six. Karonen has been a regular in the single since 2004 and he made the final of the Beijing Olympics. Karonen is yet to win a major title but he has regularly taken lesser medals at the World Cup level. At Hamburg last month Karonen took silver. Today he raced against Hamburg’s bronze medallist, Kenneth Jurkowski of the United States. Karonen held off Jurkowski and the two will go to the quarterfinals along with France and Greece.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Heats

The 11 entries in this event were split into two heats and the aim of each crew was to finish first. This would earn them a direct path to Sunday’s final.

The unbeaten German crew (2009 and 2010) World Champions were handed one of their toughest races in the last two years when the United States challenged them for the full 2000m in heat one. The United States kept an overlap throughout the race giving the Germans, who were just in front, no breathing room. At the line Germany had won and earned a direct path to the final – but only just. The United States finished less than half a second back and that will surely boost their confidence going into tomorrow’s repechage.

The final heat of the regatta, heat two of the men’s eight, turned out to be the closest race of the entire morning when the Dutch and Great Britain pushed each other to a photo finish. The final verdict by the finish line judges went the way of the Netherlands by a hundredth of a second. That is a margin of barely a bow ball. The Netherlands now get to go directly to Sunday’s final with Great Britain back for Saturday’s repechage.