After racing they said.....

W1x 

Miroslava Knapkova, CZE, Silver medallist and Women’s single World Cup winner

“I wasn’t expecting to do this well this year, but I’m very happy. It’s a great feeling to be among these

Miroslava Knapkova of the Czech Republic

competitors.”

Her predictions for the Seville 2002 World Champs in Seville:
“I don’t know, it’s still far away. Between now and then I will be training, and hope to be ready for a first place at the World Championships. I was tenth in the Championships in Lucerne, so this year I hope to do better.”

On continuing in the single next year:

“I will continue in the single, because in my country, there are not really any other rowers who I could double up with.”

M2-

Niksa Skelin, CRO. Gold medallist and Men’s pair World Cup winner

“We are very happy. Unfortunately the Australians and Great Britain were not here, but we expected this place today and we had a very good race so now we’ll prepare for the World Championships – that’s the most important.”

On their chance for the World Championships

“I think it will be tough. I will not predict anything, but…of course this does give us a big boost in confidence.”

“We’re going to training camp in Croatia next for a month and a half, then we go to Seville.”

W2x
Georgina  and Caroline Evers-Swindell NZL, gold medallists

Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand

Georgina: “We didn’t expect it – hoped it, but it’s been a big week – we’ve been here for less than a week, this is our fourth race in three days, so, yeah, it was pretty cool!”

On this being there first chance to race up against strong crews like GBR and LTU

Georgina: “Yeah, it’s been hard at home because we hear about all these Europeans racing each other, and with the Germans not here this year it was such an big open field, we were looking forward to coming over here and testing ourselves against the others after twelve months of training.”

On what they will be doing now and Seville

Caroline: “Getting faster”
Georgina: Yyeah, I’m sure we can. We’re off to Hazewinkel (Belgium training camp) for about four or five weeks. “

On the race

Georgina: “We just wanted to get out and get a tough rhythm early, see how the other crews did in the first five hundred, and once we established a rhythm, we just took it from there. Our focus was the middle thousand and we wanted to move away from them there.

What will they be working on in the next few weeks.

Caroline: “Our tans!”
Georgina: “Well, just everything really.”

On doubling up again for Seville

Georgina: “It’s up to the coach – hope so!”

LW2x
Amber Halliday and Sally Causby, AUS, gold medallists

On their first international race this year

Amber: “First race of the season and first race in the double.”
Sally:  “We arrived in Munich about a week ago”

Amber Halliday and Sally Causby of Australia

On their preparation
Sally: “We spend a lot of time on the internet, looking up the results from Lucerne and Hazewinkel and things like that, but we’ve been training in Adelaide, Australia.”
Amber: “I think the key to it is to stay motivated when you’re very isolated back in Australia and kind of bearing in mind what it’s all about over in Europe.”
Sally: “It’s going to be a whole different race [at the World Championships] with a lot of new competitors and it’s a long way away, so I don’t think we can really take much and compare it to that.”
Amber: “We’ll just have to take the confidence from this, and keep going, I guess.We’ll actually going to train up in St Moritz, Switzerland, a lovely place.”

LM4-

Robert Mitchell, AUS Silver medallist

On beating the World Champions from Austria:

“Ah, it’s not too bad, the real thing we wanted here was to beat the Danes, but that’s a start anyway. We just got off the plane five days ago, so it’ll take us another couple of weeks to really get into things, so it should be good then.”

“We’re going to Varesi in Italy that’s where we’ll do a bit of training again, get back into the swing of things. Looks like it will be good. We’re going to Nottingham for the Commonwealth Regatta as well, that’s for four days, then back to Varesi, and training there until Seville.”

Is it hard to have to train in Australia and not be able to compete against the rest of the field for the beginning of the season?

“Oh no! Wouldn’t do anything else for quids, we love it down there our training, we get a lot of good work done, and it’s a bit cooler as well, so you can work a bit harder, so it’s really good actually. We’re here for the Worlds, that’s what we want to do, and it should be good.”

Stephan Moelvig, DEN,Gold medallist

“It’s fantastic! I’ve had six days [training with the rest of the crew] so technically I have not changed anything, but mentally, yes. It’s a big change to row with these guys. They are a bit tougher than everybody else, I think. It was nice.”

Was there any pressure on you replacing Soeren (Madsden)?

“Actually no, because I’ve only had six days, so they couldn’t demand anything more than I gave them. In my opinion, of course there was pressure, but it wasn’t that different from a normal race.

I’ve been training with them for about six years, but I’ve only rowed with them once. I’m normally in the lightweight men’s eight who won this morning, but I got the chance [to row in the LM4-] so I grabbed it.”

“I think if Soeren Madsen’s back is all right, then he will be back in the boat until the day they lose. Then I’ll have my chance.

Soeren is doing very well right now, so in my opinion he will be rowing in the Championships this year. Everybody rows for their chance, so next time it may be me. But I’m satisfied in being the lightweight men’s eight.”