B-finals at the BearingPoint Rowing World Cup

By Melissa Bray

The Rotsee regatta course in Lucerne, Switzerland opened with B-finallists on the last day of the final World Cup. Racing for place seven through to 13, the colours of at least 30 countries lined up in their respective race category. The temperature remained cool but rowers got to enjoy flat water and no wind.

The lightweight women singles broke the early morning water with Maud Klinkers of the Netherlands and Ibtissem Trimech of Tunisia dominating most of the race. Trimech held a slight lead over Klinkers only to let it slip away in the final sprint. Klinkers finished first, Trimech second and Spain was third.

Fabrice Moreau of France got away first in the lightweight men’s single and held this position for three-quarters of the race with the Netherlands and Portugal’s Luis Teixeira Ahrens sticking close by. It all came down to the sprint for the line with Portugal securing first followed by Cornelis Delis of the Netherlands.

The lightweight men’s pair featured a battle between Germany’s number three crew and France’s Franck Bussiere and Franck Solforosi. France had the upper hand by the 750-metre mark and held it to the end with Germany finishing second.

Nuria Dominguez Asensio of Spain gained a World Cup point for her country by finishing first in the women’s single. Australia and Chile took second and third respectively.

Davor Mizerit of Slovenia dominated the first half of the race in the Men’s single. But Switzerland and the United States remained very much in touch. However, the comback of the day must go to Simone Raineri of Italy. Raineri has an Olympic gold medal from the quad and maybe is still getting used to racing the single. Today he came out of the starting blocks last and had to work his way past six crews to win in the final strokes of the race. This relegated Conal Groom of the United States to second with Switzerland’s Reto Niedermann in third.

The Czech Republic and New Zealand led the men’s pair with the Czech’s retaining a slight advantage. The two crews kept at each other for the entire 2000 metres, New Zealand winning the battle at the line. The Czech Republic finished second and Slovenia third.

The women’s double was dominated by Svetlana Maziy and Nataliya Guba of Ukraine. They got away to a small lead over Russia and continued to extend it as the race progressed. Australia, with three-time World Champion Jane Robinson in stroke, finished third.

Germany gained a World Cup point for their country by finishing first in the men’s double. Behind them Cuba’s sole entry at Lucerne finished second and China took third. These three spots remained the same throughout the entire race.

Russia, New Zealand and the Czech Republic tussled with each other in the men’s four. First Russia took the lead before the Czech Republic got in front and didn’t look back. A fast finish by New Zealand propelled them into second with Russia holding on to third. All three crews will meet again in Athens.

The number two crew for Romania dominated the lightweight women’s double scull. Stroked by 1996 Olympic champion, Camelia Mihalcea, the Romanians held on to the lead for the entire race. Current number two in the world, Australia, retained second with Spain’s number one crew finishing third.

The lightweight men’s double opened with Spain leading the way. This was soon lost to Denmark’s Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist. Rasumssen and Quist won the first World Cup but have struggled with the added competition over the past couple of days. Today they won the B-final with Spain in second and Japan finished third.

The United States, with Steve Warner moving to stroke, came from behind to win the lightweight men’s four. Russia and Great Britain were second and third over the line. World Champions, Denmark, withdrew before the start of the race for medical reasons.

Denmark led the women’s quad from the start but had to hold off a strong challenge by China to finish in first. China finished second.

The United States qualified for Athens earlier this week and today established themselves at the head of the men’s quad B-final. After coming out of the start at the back of the field, the Americans had soon found their rhythm, grabbing first and holding on to it. Switzerland followed in second and Italy finished third.

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