Day Two International Events ? Munich World Cup

Look into the distance for 2000 metres and then imagine focusing every ounce of energy in your body to cover that gap, or rather, expanse. At the same time try to coordinate every movement your body makes and then on top of that make sure you’re doing it faster than anyone around you. This was the story for the morning of racing at the second BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Munich, Germany.

Lightweight Women’s Single Semi-final

Narrowed down to the final 12 rowers, the formula to advance required a top three finish in the two semi-finals. The first semi turned into a German affair as former World Champion, Janet Raduenzel took off at a cracking pace, shooting out of the starting blocks in first place. But fellow countrywoman, Nina Gaesler was following a different race plan that allowed her to maintain boat speed for longer. By the halfway point Gaesler was in the lead with slow-starting Jo Hammond of Great Britain finding her stride. 

At the line Gaesler had to hold off a sprinting Hammond leaving Raduenzel to slip to third. All three boats qualify for the final.

The second semi was a two-way battle between China’s Fengjun Fu and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany. The two boats came out of the start together with Draeger having a smidgen of an advantage. But with a push through the 800-metre mark, Fu gained the lead. Draeger reacted and as the two boats moved into the last 500, Draeger used her final energy to stay just ahead of Fu. Both will continue to the final with last year’s silver medallist, Mirna Rajle of Croatia, finishing in the third and final qualifying spot.

Lightweight Men’s Single Repechage

What do you do when you look out of your boat with three-quarters of the race gone and you still have three other crews sticking to you like glue? As a crowd of coaches yelled encouragement from their bicycles, rowers on the water tried to generate an extra push towards the line. There were only two qualifying spots and Austria, Finland, France and Denmark all wanted one of them.

Try saying beep, beep, beep as fast as you can and you’ll get an idea of the gap between boats at the finish. At the line Jacob Moeller of Denmark managed to just squeez out Fabrice Moreau of France in the final metres. The effort ensured their place in the final.

The second repechage was a similar story but this time with three boats going head to head. Switzerland was trying to hold onto an early lead with Hungary and Ireland right with him. It all came down to the final sprint and it was Ireland’s Tim Harnedy that displayed the most desire, moving past Switzerland from third and into the second qualifying spot, finishing just barely behind Peter Loerinczy of Hungary.

Lightweight Men’s Pair Repechage

The formula required a top four finish for crews to carry onto the final and with six boats lining up in the starting blocks, each crew was hoping to always see two boats behind them. Nicola Moriconi and Salvatore Di Soma of Italy, however, had other plans. They took off at a cracking pace and never looked back. Following in hot pursuit and pushing past Turkey in the process, Great Britain tried to reduce the Italian clear water gap. In the final sprint Ben Webb and John Warnock closed in on Moriconi and Di Somma. Both boats qualify with Turkey and Japan also moving forward to the final.

The World Rowing Media team values any feedback it receives from its readers.