Danes and French Pushed in Semis

There were no easy wins for Olympic champions France and World Cup champions Denmark in the lightweight men's coxless four with both pushed right to the line during Group B semifinals at the FISA World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland today (Friday).

The lightweights ruled the water in racing today with the men's quad the only heavyweight boat in action.

Denmark came out fast in semifinal one of the lightweight men's coxless four but Austria was paying no attention to reputations and refused to let them get away.

They worked the Danes to the line, finishing just half a length behind, with Canada in third.

In the second semi it was Italy that threatened to stop France from taking the top qualifying spot. They led for the first 1000 metres, a French push just before the 1500 metre mark ending their run.

Italy continued to push to the line but the race belonged to France by a length.

And it wasn't to be Italy's day in the men's quadruple sculls either.

Though Italy is the Olympic champion in this event, only Simone Raineri remains from the Sydney crew.

They were in front through the middle third of the race but were surprised by a sprint from Olympic bronze medallists Germany. Germany came from third to win, Poland rowing down Italy to finish second. The Italians qualified third over Estonia.

Olympic silver medallists the Netherlands look to have returned to form with a win in semifinal two. They led from the 500 metre mark, holding off the strong new USA crew, with Ukraine third.

Germany and Poland ruled the lightweight double sculls, with each country winning one semifinal in both the men's and women's events..

Two-time world and reigning Olympic champions Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz took semifinal one of the lightweight men's double after leading for most of the race in a controlled display.

In the second semifinal, Germany's Ingo Euler and Manuel Brehmer left it till the last minute to take their win. They rowed through the leaders, Olympic silver medallists Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari of Italy, in the final few metres to claim first place.

By contrast, Poland's Katarzyna Demianiuk and Ilona Mokoronowska took semifinal two of the lightweight women's single by getting in front early and staying there.

They were briefly challenged by second placed Jane Hall and Helen Casey of Great Britain but had a length to spare as they crossed the line.

The German duo of Olympic silver medallist Claudia Blasberg and Janet Radnuzel held off a late-charging Romanian crew of Monica Stan and Irina Acsinte to win semifinal two.

In the lightweight men's quadruple sculls Spain put its hand up as a real contender for gold with a last-minute sprint to take semifinal one.

They rowed through both Germany and leaders Denmark to win by 0.17 seconds.

Italy faced little difficulty in their semifinal two win though, finishing 3.39 seconds ahead of Greece. Defending champions Japan made it through in third.

For a more details on every race see the Race by Race report in news.