A Morning of Heats – Lucerne World Cup

Apart from the ripples from blades gripping the water, the Rotsee Lake was calm. Blue skies above and cool temperatures made racing conditions ideal. The men’s pair made the highlight of the day.  Read on …

The heats of the lightweight women’s single started the day with three boats from each race qualifying for Saturday’s semi-final. As often seen in heats, most outcomes were decided by the half way point and so finishes were not tight. Mirna Rajle of Croatia qualified with the fastest time in a line up that had many new names.

The lightweight men’s single followed. With 23 entries only the winner would go through to the semi-final. Steve Tucker of the United States qualified with the fastest time making a solid start to his 2002 international season debut.

Similarly in the lightweight men’s pair only one boat would go directly through to the semi-final. The number two Italian combination of Carlo Gaddi and Franco Sancassani finished ahead of their number one crew to go to the semi with the fastest time. Great Britain and Ireland also qualified.

The first Olympic event of the day, the women’s single, started minus two time Olympic Champion, Ekaterina Karston, who pulled out at the last minute citing personal issues. There were no surprises in first place qualifiers of the six heats. Roumiana Neykova of Bulgaria raced the fastest time with a very respectable 7.38. This shows favourably for her comeback to the international scene. Also qualifying directly to the semi is a list of rowing champions – Sophie Balmary of France, Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski of Germany, Russia’s Yulya Levina, Hurnet Dekkers of Holland and Miroslava Knapkova of the Czech Republic.

The men’s single was less of a challenge for the top rowers with the first three earning a spot in the semi-final. Iztok Cop of Slovenia started his international season strongly qualifying with the fastest time of 6.57, one second ahead of world champion, Marcel Hacker, of Germany. Olaf Tufte of Norway also won his heat. This event is minus Swiss man and former Olympic Champion, Xeno Mueller, who returned home for family reasons. Switzerland still qualified for the semi-final with Andre Vonarburg coming third in his heat.

The women’s pair, likewise, was the top three boats qualifying and Romania goes through with the fastest time. Georgeta Andrunache (Damian) and Viorica Susanu continue their winning season, leading their heat from the start. Belarus and South Africa also won their respective heats.

Australians Tomkins and Ginn cross the finish line in first place of the men’s pair heat

Italy must have wondered what they did to upset the rowing Gods, drawing both Australia and Great Britain in their heat of the men’s pair. These two crews never got to meet at the 2000 Olympics after Australian, Drew Ginn, suffered a back injury. Although the race was ‘just a heat’, pride was at stake and the unbeaten British combination of James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent suffered their first loss to Ginn and James Tomkins of Australia. In this uncharacteristic position of second, Cracknell and Pinsent looked tense, forcing a higher stroke rate than the Australians at the finish.

These four exceptional oarsmen will make the men’s pair the event to watch at Lucerne. Both crews are sporting heroes in their respective countries and there is no love lost between these Olympic champions. “Aussies are the nicest people to beat and the worst people to lose to,” Cracknell told the Telegraph.

The women’s double had the winner going directly to the A-final and Great Britain and Lithuania chose this route. The rest of the crews will meet each other in the repechage including Germany’s new combination of Britta Oppelt and Julia Heitmann who finished their heat in third, behind the United States.

In the men’s double the top boat of each heat would qualify for the semi-final and each of the three races were clear cut with Germany, Poland number two and the Czech Republic qualifying directly with just one second between them at the finish. The only surprise was the 2001 World Champions, Hungary, coming third in their heat. They will need to qualify through this afternoon’s repechage.

Without Great Britain’s number one crew – out due to illness – the men’s four will be open to challenge. Italy qualified for the semi-final posting the fastest time and will be joined by France and Germany. All other crews will have to try again through the repechage.

Having to weigh in, between two and one hours before their event, the athletes in the lightweight women’s double all weigh less than 59 kilos. The Netherlands qualified with the fastest time. They will go directly to the semi-final along with yellow jersey holders, Germany and Great Britain.

The next event, the lightweight men’s double, has a weight maximum of 72.5 kilos for the athletes and the first boat in each race qualifying directly for the semi-final. Yellow jersey holders, Italy, recorded the fastest time and will be joined by direct qualifiers Great Britain, Denmark and Germany.

The winner of each heat in the women’s quad earned themselves a rest day by going directly through to the final. Ukraine and the new German combination will enjoy an easy Saturday while all other crews will meet again in the repechage. Ukraine recorded the fastest time.

No surprises in the men’s quad. Italy dominated their heat and qualified for the semi-final five seconds ahead of Ukraine and Poland who also won their respective heats. Russia gave a strong challenge to qualify, but missed out on the top spot by a tenth of a second and will have to go through to this afternoon’s repechage.

Crews in the lightweight men’s four were probably breathing a sigh of relief as yellow jersey holders, Denmark, pulled out yesterday. Denmark was dealt a double blow of illness for Eskild Ebbersen and an injury to Thomas Ebert. With three to qualify for the semi-final Italy recorded the fastest time in the closest race of the morning. They stayed ahead of fast finishing Germany who will also make the semi. Winners of the two other heats, Canada and Austria will qualify in the middle lanes for the semi.

The men’s eight completed the morning of heats. Testing their speed against international competition for the first time this season was the United States, China, Canada and Australia. All but Australia qualified directly to the semi-final. Germany recorded the fastest qualifying time by half a second over the United States. The third and final heat was won by Croatia.