A Second Chance at Munich's World Cup

Start of the lightweight women’s double
© Getty Images/Jamie McDonald

In almost flat conditions the morning’s breeze kept away as rowers were offered a second chance to move onto the semi-final through this afternoon’s repechages. Every athlete on the water had already raced at least once today in their initial heats and in between races it would have been all about keeping warm, rehydrating, resting, eating and psyching up for the next race.

The number of withdrawals due to health issues that had already altered a considerable number of crews this morning, continued to occur in the afternoon reflecting the fragility of the athletes’ physical condition as they continually push their bodies to the limit of healthiness. 

Lightweight Womens’s Single

With three repechages lining up each rower needed to be in the top three of their race to move onto the semi-final and in the first heat number two in the world, Mirna Rajle of Croatia led the field over Germany’s Janet Raduenzel. Angeliki Gremou of Greece finished third and will continue to the semi-final.

Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany was under no pressure as she headed repechage number two leading Finland and Japan into the semi-final. France made easy work of the final rep and takes Tunisia and Denmark with her to the semi-final.

Men’s Single Scull

They started off as 25 athletes. Six qualified for the semi-finals by winning this morning’s heat and this afternoon rowers in the six repechages were required to finish in either first or second place. Germany’s top single sculler and Munich local Marcel Hacker, out of competition due to the flu was content to video-record the races for future reference.

Austria’s Christof Uhl led the first race to the chant of coaches’ voices who were following the race by bicycle along the side of the course. Uhl continues onto the semi-final along with Croatia. Repechage two was no competition after Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg withdrew due to illness. This allowed Finland’s Jaakko Hasu and Ralph Kreibich of Austria to move onwards with no pressure.

Argentina’s Santiago Fernandez led repechage three and will continue onto the semi-final with Sean Casey of Ireland. In repechage four Egypt’s Aly Aly Ibrahim showed that he much preferred this afternoon’s flat water to win the race ahead of France who will also move onto the semi-final. Aly Ibrahim is heading for his second Olympic Games and has followed his coach to the United States in his buildup to Athens.

It was Slovenia versus Slovenia in repechage five and, with no challengers, that is exactly how it finished up. Davor Mizerit and Ziga Galcic will return for the semi-final. The last repechage saw Raphael Hartl of Austria and Reto Niedermann of Switzerland work their way past Ireland who could not hold the pace leaving all of his energy in the first half of the race.

Men’s Pair

The top three boats would advance to the semi-final in this trio of repechages and third place getters at Poznan, Germany made sure they would give the home crowd something to watch for another day. Tobias Kuehne and Jan Herzog led from the start over Argentina. But it was Slovenia that showed the most desire. Pushing past Lithuania, then Argentina, Slovenia finished in second with Argentina qualifying from third.

Canadian winners at the Duisburg regatta last week decided to get out in front and do just enough to hold off any challenges. The race went to plan despite a challenge from Slovenia’s number two crew; the order did not change with Denmark number one finishing third. In a further example of the fragility of athletes’ health Denmark’s second crew had to withdraw due to illness.

The final race came alive when Great Britain decided they wanted this race and grabbed the front spot in the opening strokes of the race. But Adam Michalek and Petr Imre of the Czech Republic were having none of it. In one lane over from Toby Garbett and Rick Dunn of Great Britain, Imre and Michalek were throwing out one challenge after another and in the final sprint it was the Czechs who gained the upper hand. France finished in third and will also move onto the semi-final. 

Women’s Double Sculls

One repechage gave crews a chance to finish in the top three to continue on for another day and it was Hungary’s Lidla Veroeci and Victoria Szekely who grabbed the lead over Hilary Gehman and Kelly Salchow of the United States coming down the 2000-metre course for their third race of the day. Behind the two leading boats the rest of the field disappeared back into the horizon with the Czech Republic doing just enough to qualify in the final spot. 

Men’s Double Sculls

Crews needed to be in the top two positions of the four repechages and Germany secured themselves for another day of racing by leading the Irish in repechage one. Ireland’s Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey normally row as lightweights but decided to preserve their health rather than loose the four kilograms necessary to row in the lightweight double. Towey, although not at 100% health, held it together to qualify from second place. 

Estonia and the United States dominated race two with Leonid Gulov and Tonu Endrekson of Estonia holding off a last 500-metre sprint by the United States. Poland’s lightweight double, like Ireland, chose not to loose weight and rowed today in the open event. Lightweight Olympic Champions, Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz of Poland were chased down the course by Norway who settled for qualifying through second position. 

Former World Champions Akos Haller and Tibor Petoe of Hungary struggled in their 2003 season with injury and looked to be starting off this season slowly as they worked their way through the fourth repechage. But after calls for more from their coach following the race on his bicycle, Petoe and Haller forced the pace in the last 250 metres overtaking race leaders Great Britain and finishing with the fastest qualifying time. Both crews go onto the semi-final.

Men’s Four

The top three boats would move onwards and in repechage number one of three the fight was on for first. Slovenia had the leaders advantage but in the scramble for the line, all of the top four boats were still overlapping with crews attacking and counter attacking. Looking pretty was definitely not the aim. From second position, just strokes before the line, Great Britain’s second crew caught a crab which slowed them down to a crawl and gave Italy two and Croatia three the opportunity to qualify for the semi-final.

Poland led the way in repechage two holding off first Croatia One then a sprinting Egypt. The elated Egyptians finished just ahead of Croatia. The Czech Republic recorded the fastest qualifying time in repechage three beating Italy’s new line-up who just held off Greece. All three boats advance to the semi-final with the Greeks especially happy to be through to the next round.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

Four repechages required crews to finish in the top two positions and Finland opened up the proceedings by beating China’s number one crew to the line. Both crews continue on to the semi-final along with Great Britain and Hungary from the second repechage.

In repechage three, Ireland’s Sinead Jennings is back in the boat after dipping into competitive cycling over the winter. With partner Heather Boyle, they battled with France for the full 2000 metres, neither crew surrendering until the line. But the fastest qualifying time came in the final repechage, when China’s number two crew of 18-year-old Qian Li and partner Dongxiang Xu kept the pressure on throughout the race, broadening their lead over Switzerland who will also qualify for the semi-final. 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

The top three boats in the three repechages would move on to another day of racing and in repechage one the Greeks put themselves on the rowing map by recording a comfortable win over Switzerland’s crew of Silvan Aerni and 1996 Olympic gold medallist Markus Gier.  Way back in third position Austria also qualifies.

Sydney Olympians Daisaku Takeda and Kazushige Ura recorded the fastest qualifying time in repechage two followed by Great Britain and Portugal. Bronze medallists at the first World Cup, Germany, led repechage three with Belgium following closely on their heels. The Czech Republic, with top single sculler Michal Vabrousek in stroke seat, also stayed in the action although choosing to preserve its energy and slow down once he knew he had secured a qualifying position. 

Lightweight Men’s Four

The afternoon of repechages finished with a four-boat charge for the line. The top three boats would qualify and as the Czech Republic dropped off the pace early on in the race, China, Great Britain and Japan chose to tussle with each other in preparation for their semi-final tomorrow.

Racing continues on Friday 28 May at 10am as boats race in the C and D finals.