B Finals go for positions 7 to 12

By Melissa Bray

Flat water with a small head wind breeze and cool water on Munich’s Olympic Regatta Course meant that times weren’t fast for those racing in spots seven to twelve at the 2005 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup II.

Lightweight Women’s Single Scull

Naomi Hoogester of Great Britain showed her signature fast start to shake off the five other scullers in the opening metres of the very first race of the day. The Brit must have stirred up the rest of the field enough that they chose to sit behind her. Moving to a clear-water lead only Hilde Gudem of Norway was within striking distance. The question was had Hoogester gone out too hard? Coming into the final sprint both Gudem and Lara De Stefano of Italy attacked, but Hoogester remained ahead with De Stefano finishing second and Gudem in third.

Lightweight Men’s Single Scull

Great Britain’s Tim Male made it a double header for the Brits by winning the second race of the day but he did not have Hoogester’s luxury of leading the whole race. Although Male jumped out to a lead at the start he was soon overtaken by Slovenia’s Under-23 star Bine Pislar with Italy’s Jiri Vlcek right on their tail. These three boats broke away from the rest of the field and it was all going to come down to the final sprint. Male had the goods. Rating 36 strokes per minute, Male got his nose in front of Pislar with just 200 metres left to row. Pislar finished second staying just a smidgen ahead of Vlcek.

Lightweight Men’s Pair

Top athletes live on the edge of health and potential illness as their bodies are often worn down by the volume of training. This was the case for Chile’s Javier Godoy who withdrew due to illness leaving the field open for Germany’s two crews to show who was best with Great Britain also taking part in the action.

In one of the first upsets of the day Germany’s number four crew with Simon Stellmer and Mark Rippel beat out their number three counterparts, Andreas Toennies and Matthias Bergmann. Great Britain challenged for first but ran out of steam leaving the German crews in the top two spots.

Women’s Single Scull

Racing for World Cup points Peggy Waleska of Germany did her contribution by finishing first. Frida Svensson of Sweden, however, made Waleska work for her point. Coming out of the blocks together the two boats were still overlapping at the half-way point but Svensson was finding herself increasingly under threat from Yulya Levina of Russia. A big piece through the 1,200-metre mark propelled Levina into second and within striking distance of Waleska.

Coming into the final sprint Waleska looked in control with Levina’s two-part drive not managing to fight off the flying Olympian, Svensson. Waleska gets the World Cup point with Svensson finishing in second.

Men’s Single Scull

A slight head wind meant the finish line felt further away for these B finalists. Pushing to an early lead United States Athens gold medallist from the eight, Wyatt Allen got a slight edge over Eton finalist Nikola Stojic of Serbia & Montenegro  and Poland’s Adam Bronikowski. Young Lassi Karonen of Sweden was also in the picture. By the 1,000-metre mark Karonen had found a fraction of a lead over Stojic and was continuing to move.

Stogic’s sprint of 39 strokes per minute was not enough to catch the Swede who earns one World Cup point for his country by finishing first, Stojic in second and Allen holding on for third.

Women’s Pair

Germany and France led the way with the Czech Republic trying to hold on. But Kerstin Naumann and Chritiane Hoelzel of Germany were getting better as the race progressed and with a big push at the 1,500 metre mark Naumann and Hoelzel managed to shake the French getting just enough ahead that they could sit on a comfortable 33 strokes per minute as the closing metres of the race came into view. France finished in second easily ahead of the Czech Republic.

Men’s Pair

A fast start by the Serbian & Montenegrins cost them dearly when Goran Jagar and Cedomir Nikitovic could not hold off France and Poland in the final sprint. At the 1,500-metre mark Serbia & Montenegro were still in the lead but as Laurnet Cadot and Fabien Sant of France poured on the power with a 40 strokes per minute rate, the other boats couldn’t match it. Poland finishes in second and Nikitovic and Jagar fall back to third.

Women’s Double Sculls

Elise Laverick of Great Britain is an Athens bronze medallist but a hit-and-run accident earlier this year set her training back. Paired up with new partner Annie Vernon, the duo led the B Final from start to finish gaining a point for their country.

Behind the Brits Volha Berazniova and Hanna Nakhayeva of Belarus tried to hold on to Laverick and Vernon at the start and even though they were very much underrating Great Britain, Belarus did hold on. Coming into the close of the race Belarus was recording even splits and rating a low 28 they nearly caught the leaders. Norway finished in third.

Men’s Double Sculls

Norway and Switzerland left the start together. Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Adamsen of Norway had raced together in the historical seven-boat Athens Final while Florian Stofer and Olivier Germaud of Switzerland had been part of their country’s Olympic quad. Today Norway and Switzerland went head to head.

The two crews were still within spitting distance as the half-way point went by with Great Britain holding on. This is when Stijn Smulders and Christophe Raes of Belgium decided to step up the pace. As the finish came into view Belgium overtook Norway with Simonsen and Adamsen fighting back. This left Switzerland in their wake. At the line Belgium had the point with Norway in second and Switzerland in third.

Men’s Four

At Eton Slovenia won the Legends Sprint celebrating the Sydney Olympic final. The crew is back for another season but had a bad start that put them in dead last – over five seconds behind the leaders, New Zealand. Poland didn’t fare much better out of the start and had joined Slovenia at the back of the field with 500 metres rowed.

By half-way this had all changed. New Zealand still had the lead but Poland had sprinted through to second with France following in third. Coming into the close of the race Slovenia was rapidly making up ground and rating 37 strokes per minute they pushed past New Zealand and closed in on the now leaders Poland. Crossing the line Poland gained a point by finishing first, Slovenia in second and New Zealand falling back to third.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

Ireland’s Niamh Ni Cheilleacher and Heather Boyle dominated this race gaining an open-water lead by the 750-metre mark, leaving Sweden and Great Britain to race each other. First Swedish sisters, Lena and Sara Karlsson got the edge, but Jo Hammond and Helen Casey of Great Britain fought back and with Ireland remaining in the lead, the Brits took second with the lower-rating Swedes in third.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

A lot of new combinations lined up in this B-Final and a lot of tussling went on as these six crews came down the course. Slovenia soon had to give up their lead to the Czech Republic with Belgium putting the pressure on. But brothers Jan and Ondrej of the Czech Republic were rowing a very good race and had opened up a gap over Slovenia and Belgium.

As the final sprint came into sight Belgium’s Justin Gevaert and Vouter Van der Fraenen had closed the gap. Rating 38 Belgium went for the line. But the Vetesniks held on, crossing the line in first with Belgium overtaking the Slovenians to finish second, Slovenia in third.

Lightweight Men’s Four

Italy’s second crew out-rowed the entire field and got a well-deserved cheer as they crossed the finish line ahead of Poland and Austria. For Poland to gain second they had to push past Austria’s second crew and then hold off Austria One who had their own tussle going on with Italy One. The final sprint sorted out the finishing order with Poland’s 42 stroke rate drawing them closer, but not close enough, to Italy Two.

Men’s Quad Sculls

Belarus led the way over Germany in this race for places 7 – 12. And despite a bit of a tussle between these two leaders, the race all but turned into a procession coming down the 2,000 metres. Still, the boys from Belarus pulled out a 38 strokes per minute sprint. But the big surprise was Italy only managing a slow third. Stroke Simone Raineri set the World Best Time in this event 11 years ago, then went on to win the quad at Sydney along with two seat Alessio Sartori. There will be some reshuffling going on in the Italian camp.

Men’s Eight

Wrapping up the B Finals Croatia and Egypt went head to head in the big boat class. Egypt were relegated to this race after their boat weighed in yesterday below the required weight. But they picked themselves up from disappointment and ploughed their way down the course. Croatia, however, had higher rating and a bit more swing. At the finish Croatia gained one World Cup point for their country with Egypt just behind in second.

RELATED LINKS
World Cup Standings
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Detailed Results

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