_O4N8430 — Nathalie Benoit of France racing in the heats of the AS Women’s Single Sculls at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Arms, Shoulders Women’s Single Scull (ASW1x) – Heats

At the end of this event two boats will have qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games. This must have been on the mind of the 12 scullers lined up in two heats with the top boat in each heat going directly to the finals. This top boat would also earn an Paralympic spot. In heat one Alla Lysenko of Ukraine went into the race as a favourite. She won the Munich World Rowing Cup earlier this season and began rowing in 2009. Lysenko got out in front and stayed there. Only Moran Samuel of Israel tried to challenge her. Using a snappy stroke rate of 43 – 46 Lysenko continued to lead and at the finish she had earned a Paralympic spot and a World Champion final spot.

_O4N8415 — Monika Lengyel from Hungary and Alla Lysenko from Ukraine racing in the heats of the AS Women’s Single Sculls at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Reigning World Champion Nathalie Benoit of France was the one to beat in heat two and she showed why she is a World Champion. Benoit got out to a fast start and settled into a 34 stroke rate pace. In adaptive sculling there are ‘stabbers’ and ‘sweepers’ with the sweepers having the lower stroke rate. Benoit demonstrated the sweep method and it was getting her further and further away from the rest of the field. At the line Benoit had earned a Paralympic spot, a spot in the World Championships final and also scored the fastest qualifying time. Benoit, 31, becomes the boat to beat.

Alla Lysenko (UKR)
“I’m very happy to win the heat. Of course it is great that this also means the Paralympic qualification. But today it was only about this race and coming first here. For the final I'll hopefully will be 1 ^st again, as well as next year.”

Nathalie Benoit (FRA)

I qualified the boat, now I have to qualify the rower. I was really excited about the Paralympic Games and thought about it during the last 250m. I'm feeling emotional about it. I've always being doing sports and for a sportsperson, your ultimate goal is the Paralympics!”

_O4N8467 — Daniel Mcbride of New Zealand preparing himself for the start of the heats of the AS Men’s Single Sculls at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Arms, Shoulders Men’s Single Scull (ASM1x) – Heats

This event attracted the highest number of adaptive entries with 17 countries entered. These 17 were divided into three heats and the top two boats in each heat will go directly to the semifinals.

The first heat featured last year’s bronze medallist Daniel McBride from New Zealand. McBride, however, has been recovering from illness so readily admits that his build up had not been ideal. At the start Luciano Luna De Oliveira of Brazil had the lead, but only just, over McBride. McBride, at a 38 stroke rate, then pushed ahead. Germany’s Johannes Schmidt took up the chase. McBride, displaying a very quick catch, held off Schmidt to cross the line in first. Both McBride and Schmidt earn semifinal spots.

In heat two Alexey Chuvashev of Russia got out to a fast start. Chuvashev was fourth last year. Injured while serving in the Russian army, Chuvashev started rowing in 2009. Through the first half of the race Chuvashev was challenged hard by Jie Yang of China and Australia’s Erik Horrie. The pressure remained on until the line with Chuvashev maintaining his first place position and Horrie holding on to qualify for the semifinals from second.

When you have Tom Aggar of Great Britain in your heat you have to almost be resigned to racing for second. Aggar is the three-time World Champion and World Best Time owner and has shown to be in a class of his own. Today Aggar continued on his unbroken winning streak by getting out in front in heat three and moving clean away from the rest of the field. Only France’s Pascal Daniere could get close to Aggar, but Aggar, rating 35, showed his skill and class. At the line Aggar had qualified for the semifinal with the fastest qualifying time and Daniere, in second had also qualified.

_O4N8578 — Jonh Maclean (b) and Kathryn Ross (s) from Australia racing in the heats of the TA Mixed Double Sculls at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Sculls (TAMix2x) – Heats

This event had two heats with the top boat in each heat going directly to the final. The progression also meant that the top boat would qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games. At Bled, eight boats would qualify for the Paralympics and today was the first step on that path.

In heat one two-time World Champions, Iryna Kyrychenko and Dmytro Ivanov of Ukraine continued to show their skills. Both of them come from a sporting background with Kyrychenko having competed in the winter Paralympic Games and Ivanov has competed in javelin at the Paralympic Games. Today they got out to a lead over Australia and held their stroke rate in the high 30s. But Australia’s John MacLean and Kathryn Ross remained unrelenting. Ivanov and Kyrychenko got to the line first, but only just. This win means Ukraine has qualified in this event for the Paralympic Games. They also earn a spot in the World Championships final.

It took heat two for the fastest qualifying time to be recorded when three crews went head to head. At the start of the race there was barely anything between Great Britain, China and France. France’s Stephane Tartieu and Perle Bouge (second in 2010) had a slight advantage and using a solid 39 stroke rate the managed to keep their nose just in front. But China remained on task and for a very short time Lou and Fei of China got their nose in front of France. Tartieu and Bouge fought back getting to the 1000m finish line first. This first place gives the Frence a spot in the finals and also earns them a Paralympic Games place in this event.

Dmytro Ivanov & Iryna Kyrychenko (UKR)
Iryna: “The race did not go exactly to plan, we wanted to do it a bit better, but we were leading and our main goal was to win. We can still do better in the final. There are many competitors who are going well, but we hope to have a good final as well.”
Dmytro: “We were not thinking about anything but winning today, but when we got to the pontoon we congratulated each other to the Paralympic qualification also.”

Perle Bouge & Stephane Tardieu (FRA)
Perle: “Did we really win? This was so close and we were so focused on the race and ourselves that we did not really see if it was China or us in the end. This is great news and fantastic. To make it into the final was our first goal, the qualification came second in our mind. We are only realising all of this now. Great!”

bra — The Brazilian Adaptive LTAMix Coxed Four checking their boat at the 2011 World Rowing Championnships in Bled, Slovenia.

Legs, Trunk, Arms Mixed Coxed Four (LTAMix4+) – Heats

There were three heats in this event meaning that crews had to aim to be in the top two if they wanted a direct path to the semifinals. Racing opened in heat one with last year’s silver medallists, Great Britain leading the way. Great Britain also finished first at the Munich World Rowing Cup earlier this season and, as full time athletes, they will be the crew to beat. With that the British moved away from the field. Ireland held on to second and at the line Great Britain and Ireland had earned spots in the semifinals.

World Champions, Canada lined up in heat two and despite their pedigree the Canadians found that they were being pushed very hard by China. But the Canadians had the better stamina and, at a 32 stroke rate, Canada pushed away from the Chinese in the second half of the race. Both Canada and China qualify for the semifinals, Canada recording the fastest qualifying time.

Heat three saw last year’s silver medallists, Germany lead the way. The Germans used a 36 stroke rate to hold off France. The French finished fourth earlier this season at the Munich World Rowing Cup and they did not let Germany get too far away. At the line Germany and France became the two qualifying boats for the semifinals.

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