A Day of Last Chances - 2004 World Rowing Championships - Junior Events

By Melissa Bray

Special to the world of rowing, repechages give crews a second chance to move on to the next round of races. Today's "last hope" day started with junior events under cloudy skies, warm temperatures and flat, calm waters at Lake Banyoles, Spain.

Monaco and Kenya made history competing for the first time at a World Rowing Junior Championships with Mohamed Khan of Kenya receiving the biggest cheer from a large appreciative audience in the finish line grandstand.

France's JM4+, Banyoles 2004
© Getty Images/Bryn Lennon

Junior Men's Coxed Four

"Tough racing." The voice of commentator John Boultbee opened the day's challenges with a reflection of the effort going on in the six laned Lake Banyoles course.

The formula in this event was a top two finish to qualify for the final and Great Britain showed the way in repechage one when they slipped out ahead Australia and the United States. To the delight of the large British contingent in the crowd, Great Britain kept their nose just in front of last year's winners Australia. The order did not change despite Romania putting in a bid for second and in the process overtaking the United States. Great Britain and Australia move on to the final.

Ukraine was unlucky in yesterday's heat when they were pipped in the last 50 metres and missed out on a direct path to the final. Today they were making no mistakes. With the same crew that finished seventh last year, Ukraine moved out to an early slight lead over Canada. Keeping an eye on each other the two crews paced each other ahead of Germany and France. Coming into the final sprint Ukraine felt comfortable enough to rate 31 strokes per minute remaining just ahead of Canada. Both boats qualify for the final.

Tatman racing for Great Britain
© Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Junior Women's Pair

A tight field of oh so close racing in the first of two repechages meant that Great Britain, Greece and the Czech Republic were not willing to give an inch. With two qualifying spots up for grabs Great Britain's Elizabeth Hills and Victoria Tatman got out to a small lead over the Czech Republic with Greece sticking to the pace. Going through the middle of the race all three boats demonstrated similar speed, but the Czech's were starting to burn out. This gave Vassiliki Laskaridou and Natsi Paraskevi of Greece a chance to push into second and remain there behind Hills and Tatman. Great Britain and Greece move on to the final.

The second repechage turned into a veritable procession with no challenges being thrown at Australia's Annika Naughton and Natalie Bale in first nor the United States in second. Despite this Naughton and Bale demonstrated their boat moving talent by qualifying with the fastest time – 11 seconds faster than the first repechage. The United States in second also easily qualify for the final.

Junior Men's Pair

Three repechages required crews to finish in one of the top three positions to move on to the semi-final and repechage one opened with the fastest time when Canada's Michael Flight and Kurtis Boyd set a challenging pace at the head of the field. Lithuania however was not going to let the Canadians dominate and, from one lane over, stuck with the leaders. Meanwhile the black and aqua Argentinean boat were working on a piece through the second 500 which propelled them past Italy and Lithuania and into second. Not satisfied with second Argentina then went after the lead and after overtaking Canada they had their nose at the front with less than 400 metres to row.

Italy's JM2-, Banyoles 2004
© Getty Images/Bryn Lennon

Boyd and Flight had other ideas and in the final sprint the Canadians fought back to regain the lead with Lithuania also pushing past Argentina. All three boats qualify for the semi-final.

Serbia & Montenegro established their mark on the lead of repechage two, but as they moved through the half way point only a second separated them from Malte Schubert and Matthais Lohse of Germany. Schubert and Lohse continued to gain and in the final sprint the Germans had pushed past Serbia & Montenegro to finish first with current World Champions Slovenia also qualifying by their third place finish. Meanwhile, steering problems by Great Britain in fourth saw the pair almost find the edge of the finish tower.

Alvar Raeaegel returns to stroke seat of Estonia's silver medal winning pair and with newcomer Rauno Talisoo they took off to a quick start over Georgia. Georgia pushed back taking the lead going through the half way point. However, the effort was too much for Georgia and a powerful piece by Croatia took them into a third 500 lead. Challenges continued to come from all sides and in the final sprint Estonia pushed back to cross the line just ahead of a sprinting Russia. Croatia, from third, moves on to the semi-final along with Russia and Estonia.

Junior Women's Four

The top four boats would qualify for the final which meant one unlucky crew and within the first 400 metres this was already decided. Italy had not been about to match the pace and slipped further and further back as the race progressed. Meanwhile, at the head of the field, Australia and Great Britain were taking each other on. Was it Commonwealth pride? Both boats wanted first place with Romania remaining just on the edge of the action and the United States seemingly satisfied with fourth. As the race closed Australia had found the lead over Great Britain and all four boats advance to the final.

Junior Men's Four

Three boats from each of the three repechages would move on to the semi-final and in the first repechage crews moved away from the starting area in the same order that they would finish in. Germany moved away to an early lead ahead of Belarus
with Poland following closely behind. The Germans looked like they were trying to redeem themselves from a sub-par effort yesterday and proceeded to widen their lead on the rest of the field. With the United States showing no threat to the qualifying spots, Belarus and Poland seemed satisfied to remain in second and third respectively.

A similar formula followed in repechage two with the order remaining the same from start to finish – Croatia in the lead over Belgium and Serbia & Montenegro in third. Although Belgium kept Croatia honest, Russia, in fourth, posed no real threat to Serbia & Montenegro. Croatia, Belgium and Serbia & Montenegro all qualify.

The fastest qualifying time had to wait until repechage three when the first 1000 metres saw challenges to the leading Swiss crew come first from South Africa, then Italy and finally Austria. Switzerland, feeling the pressure, kept their rating high and the power on. The opening pace, however, was too much for South Africa and Italy and a better paced Danish crew was able to work their way into the third and final qualifying position. Switzerland remained in first and Austria, finishing second, also moves on to the semi-final.

Kaisa Pajusalu of Estonia races the single
© Getty Images/Bryn Lennon

Junior Women's Single

Sally Kehoe of Australia was not happy to miss out on qualifying for the semi-final yesterday. Today she needed a top three finish in the first of three repechages and took off at a cracking pace opening up a clear water lead with only 500 metres of the race rowed. Kehoe's lead continued to widen when the Australian decided to bring the pressure down. This allowed Germany's Julia Kroeger to move up and overtake Kehoe who, in the last 200 metres had brought her rating down to the low 20's. Behind Germany and Australia, Paraguay qualify from third position.

One sculler would miss out in the second repechage and with Singapore unable to match the pace the top three crews were under no pressure. Italy's Gisella Bascelli finished first, Bulgaria qualify from second and the United States also moves on to the semi-final.

Chile's Maria Orellana Gomez got out to a fast start gaining more than three seconds over her nearest rival Katalin Szabo of Hungary. Gomez held this lead through the middle of the race before Szabo pushed through with Kaisa Pajusalu of Estonia following suit. The order remained the same with Szabo, Pajusalu and Gomez moving to the semi-final from the fastest repechage.

Junior Men's Single

Six repechages and two from each qualifying for the semi-final meant that racing would be cutthroat. Russia's Ivan Gerassimenko led in the first repechage hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner, fellow countryman Alexander Kornilov. Gerassimenko, however, took until the final sprint to find the lead in a race led by Viktor Grebennykov of Ukraine who was forced to sprint right until the line by a fast finishing Brazil. This led to disappointment for Jose Rangel of Brazil who missed out on qualifying by half a second in a photofinish.

Canada led the first half of the second repechage but could not sustain the effort when both Klemen Kogler of Slovenia and Ivan Lajov of Bulgaria pushed past. In the final sprint Kogler and Lajov charged for the line. Both boats will qualify with Kogler gaining the upper hand.

The third repechage recorded the fastest time when Oscar Vasquez Ochoa of Chile set the pace over Mexico and Croatia and held on to first until the line. Meanwhile Valent Sinkovic of Croatia had to work hard to overtake Mexico and earn the second qualifying spot. Germany withdrew due to illness.

Greece and Latvia led repechage four and with no challenge coming from Monaco, Greece and Latvia move on to the semi-final. Repechage five turned into a procession by the half way point with the United States and the Netherlands in the two qualifying spots and no challenge coming from Colombia. The final repechage followed the same theme with Aliaksandr Dudar of Belarus in the lead followed well back by Peru who will also qualify for the semi-final. Kenya was well out of contention but in the spirit of rowing Mohamed Khan of Kenya received the biggest cheer when the crowd brought the Kenyan home. From a nation known more for running Khan makes history by being the first Kenyan to compete at the World Junior Championships.

Kobets & Yarmolynska for Ukraine at the start of the double
© Getty Images/Bryn Lennon

Junior Women's Double

Three repechages required a top three finish and World Champions Australia led the way in race one. Kim Brown and Jacque Benson had open water within the first 500 metres and continued to extend the lead leaving Great Britain and Greece to sort out the order of spot two and three. Great Britain used a solid sprint to find second leaving Greece to take third.

Spain and Lithuania kept each other honest by challenging and counterchallenging at the head of the field. This caused Hungary to slip back but remain in third and the final qualifying spot. Spain finished on top with Lithuania taking second.

The final repechage had the Czech Republic stamping their name on first with an easy boat length lead by the half way point over the Netherlands. In third Switzerland had gained enough ground to enjoy an easy ride to the semi-final.

Junior Men's Double

Crews needed to finish in position one and two in each of the four repechages and it was Denmark's Sophus Johannesen and Christian Schmidt who put on a fine show by having to work their way from the very back of the field and a five second deficit to be in third by the 1000 metre mark. Johannesen and Schmidt must have been revved up as they continued to sprint, passing Slovenia to grab first. But not satisfied with being in front Johannesen and Schmidt extended their lead and easily qualify for the semi-final along with Slovenia in second.

Germany and Portugal had put themselves into qualifying contention within the first 500 metres and with no threat being posed by France, the two leader move forward to the semi-final. The Czech Republic followed the German example by taking a handy lead leaving Greece and Bulgaria to fight it out for second. Greece, using a strong third 500 piece, found the qualifying spot and moves with the Czech's on to the semi-final.

The fastest qualifying time came in repechage four when Great Britain and Norway tussled for the leading spot. Zachary Purchase and Daniel Tipney of Great Britain held the edge and move with Norway to the semi-final.

Junior Women's Quad

Italy took an early lead over Ukraine holding it through the middle of the race to the sounds of supportive singing from their team mates in the boat park. But Ukraine had their sights set on first and found it with 1500 metres down. This put Italy was under pressure as attacks came from all sides. France had gained and Poland was moving closer. In the final sprint Ukraine held their lead with France in second and Italy and Poland earning the last two spots to take them through to the final.

Junior Women's Eight

Two repechages required a top two finish and the anticipation by Italy caused a false start which brought crews back into the blocks. A cautious Italy then got away to a slower start while France chose to belt out of the starters hands. New Zealand went with them, but it was Poland that had found a superior rhythm. By the half way point Poland had a small lead over France and was continuing to open up a gap. In the final sprint France took their rating to a 38 to hold off Italy. They succeeded. Poland and France move to the final.

Three boats raced for two spots in repechage two and it took a full 2000 metres for a conclusion. Germany had gained a marginal lead by the 1000 metre mark increasing it to nearly a boat length coming into the final 500. But the United States and Belarus were not giving up. Belarus brought the rating up to 40 strokes per minute to overtake the United States and qualify in the last 30 metres of the race along with Germany.

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