BearingPoint Rowing World Cup - Day 1 (Heats) - World Cup Events

Tim Foster signing autographs

Women’s Single Scull (W1x)

Heat 1
With the first three to qualify for the two Semi-finals it was Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic looking to challenge for the medals after her fourth place at the 2004 Athens Olympics.  Knapkova held the lead throughout and was followed by Frida Svensson of Sweden, while the Greek sculler Chrysoula Bougla finished third, rounding out the first group to move on to the Semi-final.

Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus

Heat 2
The second heat contained two luminaries of women’s rowing, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the German, Kathrin Boron, winner of 4 Olympic and 11 World Championship Gold Medals since 1989.  It was Karsten who lead from the start and increased her lead from 1 second at 1000m to nearly four seconds at the finish. However it was Sophie Balmary of France who managed to upstage veteran German to take the second spot with Boron resting for later races in third place, 10 seconds behind.

Heat 3
Predictably this was a comfortable row for the Russian sculler, Yulya Levina, and the British Sculler, Debbie Flood who won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the quad. Levina held a narrow lead over Flood with 500m to go but Flood was determined to win and raised her game in the final quarter to beat the Russian. The Bulgarian sculler Anet-Jaklin Bushman took the third qualifying spot easily ahead of Spanish sculler Dominguez Asensio Nuria.

Men’s Single Scull (M1x)

Heat 1
In the first heat of the men’s single scull Olaf Tufte of Norway was the star of the show. World Champion in 2001 and 2003, as well as 2004 Athens Olympic Champion, he has been training with grim determination for this season. The gauntlet was thrown down by the Cuban sculler Yoennis Hernandez Arruez who took the lead briefly with 500m and refused to concede all the way to the line.  However it was Tufte who prevailed by merely 0.03sec. Both progress to the Semi-finals with the remainder of field, far behind, proceeding to the Repechages.

Marcel Hacker of Germany races in the heat

Heat 2
Fresh from his silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in the double Iztok Cop of Slovenia took a lead of one second by 500m gone from Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and rowed away unchallenged to win by 3 seconds over Synek who took the second qualifying spot.

Heat 3
Looking to atone for his crushing disappointment at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where he finished 7th, 2002 World Champion Marcel Hacker blew away the field in the first 500m, leading by over four seconds from the Swedish sculler, Lassi Karonen. He in turn lead comfortably over second Bulgarian sculler, Marin Yanakiev and the status quo was preserved to the line as these two advanced to capture the two qualifying spots for the Semi-finals.  

Heat 4
This heat contained Nikola Stojic who competed in the men’s pair at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where he finished fifth. The heat proved to be an epic contest with the qualifying positions being keenly fought over. Stojic managed to push out to a small lead by 500m and pressed hard to eke out a three second margin by the line. Behind him Colin Smith of Great Britain and Ivo Yanakiev of Bulgaria duelled for the second qualifying spot. Yanakiev, held the second position at the thousand-meter mark, but Smith attacked hard in the third 500 and snatched the second position in the final 500. Yanakiev, after being passed, chose to fall back and save his energy for the Repechage, leaving Smith to comfortably press on to a six-second defeat of the Bulgarian and the second qualifying position.

Matthew Wells of Great Britain races in the single’s heat

Heat 5
In a heat featuring a number of new faces in the single scull, including Robert Sens of Germany, formerly of the German quad, and a 2004 Athens Olympics fifth place finisher in the same event. Tim Maeyens of Belgium pressed Sens hard with only 0.5 secs separating the two at half-way; in the second thousand the plucky Belgian punched through and secured a margin of 5 seconds at the finish. Behind him the Egyptian sculler Mohamed Adb El Ghaffar challenged a fading Sens who struggled in the third 500 before re-establishing his length and beat the Egyptian by 0.5 second for the final qualifying spot in the Semi-final.

Heat 6
An emphatic win by the British sculler Matt Wells who lead throughout to win by nine seconds in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.  Behind him was a battle for the crucial second qualifying spot, with the Swiss sculler André Vonarburg taking his place Semi-final from Akos Haller of Hungary who finished third.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Heat 1 
The first heat of the Women’s Pair featured a new combination from Romania consisting of two Olympic Champions from the Romanian eight, Rodica Florea and Ioana Papuc.  This event is one that the Romanians traditionally dominate; however it was not to be today. Instead it was the Australian third pair of Sarah Outhwaite and Natalie Bale who took the top honours by four seconds from the second Australian pair of Pauline Frasca and Robyn Selby Smith with Germany fading from second to third in the last 500m and losing second by a mere 0.4 of a second.

Heat 2
The lead changed hands on several occasions in this heat of the Women’s Pair.  The Australian combination of Kate Hornsey and Sonia Mills held a narrow lead at 500m with the Belarusian’s, Tamara Samakhvalava and Natallia Helakh, in second and a new British pair of Beth Rodford and Alison Knowles in third.  A fantastic second 500 saw the GB pair take the lead and the Australian pair fall back to third.  The Aussies rallied in the third 500 and retook the lead by 0.5 secs from the Brits, who again fell back to the third spot.  The Australians held the lead to the line to win by 0.5 secs over the Belarussians, while the women from Great Britain narrowly held onto the final qualifying spot ahead of a desperate final challenge by the Dutch pair.

Heat 3
A more straightforward heat this time, going through 500m just behind the Bulgarian pair of Milka Tancheva and Anna Chuk, the Australian’s fourth combination of Emily Martin and Sarah Heard, rowed through powerfully to take a lead which they increased to 4 seconds by the line, with the Bulgarians in second. The Final qualifying spot was taken by the Czech pair who maintained a solid lead over the Dutch throughout the race. 

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Heat 1
A well-established pair from Croatia, the Skelin brothers Niksa and Sinisa, silver medallists at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In this first heat of the men’s pair they were strong and dominant as they won by three seconds over the Greek combination of Nikos Pagouins and Ioannis Christou. It was the Irish who missed out on direct qualification with Goran Jagar and Niktovic Cedomir of Serbia and Montenegro in third. 

Heat 2
One of the great races of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games was the men’s four final where Barney Williams just missed out on the gold medal to the British by 0.08 of a second.  This year he is joined in the pair by Canadian team-mate Scott Frandsen, who leaves the eight to also try his luck in the pair. They lead by 1 second at 500 m and maintained this control with their distinctive Canadian hang rock technique to the top qualifying spot. The Egyptian challenged but could not get on terms, finishing five seconds clear of the third pair from Germany who took the last direct Semi-final spot over the second Chinese pair who are left to try their luck in the Repechage.  

Heat 3
An extremely close race between the second Canadian pair and the unrelated Josh and Kieran West of Great Britain. Kieran West was Olympic Champion at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the eight and comes to Eton to rekindle old glory. Neither pair wanted to give an inch despite having clearly qualified for the Semi-final. Close at the halfway point the US pair fell back in the second 1000m but still finished well ahead of the Czech pair to capture the final direct qualification spot.

Women’s Double Scull (W2x)

Heat 1

Christiane Huth and Britta Oppelt of Germany

German Britta Oppelt won a Silver Medal in the double at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and is joined by a new partner this year, Christiane Huth, to join and improve the result to the middle of the awards stand. They made an impressive start to their campaign with a five-second victory over the Australian double and the direct path to the A final.  The Dutch double containing the 2004 Athens Olympic Games single sculler Femke Dekker raced to a disappointing fifth, but still maintain hope for a stronger performance in the Repechage. 

Heat 2
Only the first finisher advances directly to the A final while the rest will have to go through the Repechage. In this second heat that qualification spot was taken emphatically by the Bulgarian double. Behind them was a tussle between the Belarusian and Great Britain doubles. The British double featured Elise Laverick, bronze medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, but she lost out to the Belarusian double by 0.3secs. The remainder of the field followed closely behind and will have to race again in the Repechage.

Men’s Double Scull (M2x)

Heat 1
After a slower start in this first heat of the men’s double scull the Romanian double produced a dominant middle thousand to improve their position from an initial fifth to third by 500m to go. A real flourish in the last 500 saw them take the first and only direct qualifying spot in the A final. It was the Swiss who lost out, having lead with 500m to go, they faltered and dropped to third, with the surging Norwegian double taking second. 

Heat 2
A strong showing from the Russian double saw them lead from wire to wire to secure an automatic position in the A final. The new French double trying to take over from their 2004 Olympic Champion double also sculled well in second. While the fast striking Polish double, in second at the 500m finished third ahead of China in fourth and Estonia in fifth.

Men’s Four (M4-)

The new British men’s four

Heat 1
The first heat of the eagerly anticipated first appearance of the new look British four, with only one member of the famed Olympic four from Athens, Steve Williams on board. They could not have made a better start, leading throughout and, despite being pressed slightly by the Dutch, looked long and powerful winning by 2 secs.  They still have much to prove but remain the great hope of British men’s heavyweight rowing.

Heat 2
Second to the 1000m the Czech men’s four piled on the pressure in the second half and took control of the race to qualify directly to the A final. They secured their victory by merit of a two-second victory over the Polish crew who were followed by Ireland, two seconds further back in third. 

Olympic bronze medallist Marit Van Eupen of the Netherlands races with new partner Eeke Thomee in the lightweight double

Lightweight Women’s Double Scull (LW2x)

Heat 1
Only in 3rd at 500m and still there at half-way nearly three seconds behind Great Britain. They produced a blistering second thousand to snatch the lead in the last 250m to win by a mere 0.7sec over the British. The third qualifying spot in the Semi-finals was taken by the eye catching Swedish double, the Karlsson sisters. The Spanish and Hong Kong doubles will have to progress through the Repechage to join these three in the Semi-finals.

Heat 2
Looking to develop a strong team for the Beijing Olympics the Chinese had a strong performance to enjoy winning clearly by three seconds. The second German double and the Dutch double filled the other two qualifying spots and progressed to the Semi-finals.

Heat 3
Looking to build on the 2004 Athens Olympics silver medallist Daniela Reimer of Germany has a new partner and they took this heat convincingly by three seconds as the sun began to shine on the Dorney Regatta Centre.  In second was the Polish double who finished sixth in Athens, so this was a promising start from the new look German crew.  It was Greece who took third a full five seconds ahead of France who must now go to the Repechage.

Lightweight Men’s Double (LM2x)

Heat 1
Leading from the start with a quick first 500m the Hungarians hung onto the first heat of the lightweight men’s double, despite the close attention of the Japanese double who went down fighting beaten by 0.3 of a second. The third crew home was the Hong Kong double, but a distance behind the two front-runners and a distance ahead of the fourth place crew, the GB double, who therefore missed out on a direct qualification to the Semi-finals.

Heat 2
Despite having won Greece’s first ever Olympic rowing medal, a Bronze, on their home waters at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the Greek double could not match the hugely impressive base speed of the Canadians who won by a full eight seconds over the second place Spanish who just held on over the disappointed Greeks in third. All three advance to the Semi-finals.

Heat 3
With three crews separated by 0.5secs at half-way this promised to be a close race, however the fact that the fourth and fifth place crews lagged so far behind removed any pressure from the outcome. France came home first, four seconds ahead of Great Britain, while the Czech crew found themselves three seconds behind them. All three qualified for the Semi-finals.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

Heat 1
A hugely impressive row from the French who lead from the gun. Two seconds up at 500m they steadily increased their margin to four seconds at the finish. The Dutch were in second and a new Danish line-up was in third. Only the first crew qualifies for the A final however, the remainder must wait for the Repechages.

Heat 2
A blistering first 500m from the British lightweight men’s four gave them a lead they held until the last 500m, however the Spanish had other ideas and rowed them down to take the qualification spot for the A final.  The lightweight men’s four from Great Britain held second with clear water back to the Coakley brothers from Ireland in third.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Heat 1
The Poles dominated this first heat, looking very impressive as they qualified directly for the A final. Australia recovered from a slow start to take second and Great Britain looked powerful as they recovered from being fifth at 500m to take third by the finish.

Heat 2
Despite containing an Olympic Silver medallist, Juri Jaanson, the Estonians could only manage second over the Czech quad that lead throughout. Estonia will have to go to the Repechage along with the remainder of the field who were well behind. 

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