Dreams, Realities and Photo Finishes – World Rowing Championships Milan, Italy

Under cooler conditions, the Idroscalo course offered B-final rowers gusty cross wind conditions and cloudy skies. Non-Olympic races opened the day with world placing of seven to twelve up for grabs. These were followed by the all-important Olympic events. The World Championships doubles as an Olympic qualification regatta. This meant the importance of these races mounted as Olympic berths for the competing nations added to the pressure.

In a clear reflection of the competitiveness of the athletes, the six finishing umpires had one of the busiest days of their umpiring careers as race after race called for a photo finish.

Lightweight Women’s Single B-Final

They would have arrived at the course early this morning to warm up and weigh in two hours before their 9.30am start. They would have prepared their mind and body for about eight minutes of body-burning work. This was the scene for the lightweight single scullers.

Opening the day it was Heather Boyle of Ireland who set the pace. Boyle got out to a slight lead over Kirsten Jepsen of Denmark and with half the race gone had over a boat length lead over the rest of the field. But the opening pace had cost Boyle. Both Ibtissem Trimech of Tunisia and Jepsen were working away at Boyle’s lead with Jepsen laying it all on the line, moving on the rest of the field with every stroke. Jepsen held on to take first with Trimech finishing second over a fading Boyle in third.

Lightweight Men’s Single B-Final

Australia hit the start running. George Jelbart was originally selected in the pair but has been making his mark in the single and today he led the field over 2000 World Champion, Michal Vabrousek of the Czech Republic. But Vabrousek stuck with the Australian and as half of the race slipped behind them there was nothing between these two boats. This is when Vabrousek used his racing experience over the less experienced Jelbart and opened up his sprint with Portugal’s Paulo Pereira in one lane over, following Vabrousek’s example. At the line Vabrousek becomes seventh in the world, Jelbart eighth and Pereira finished in a very respectable ninth.

Men’s Coxed Four B-Final

Two crews lined up and both clearly wanted first. As a non-Olympic event these boats are often the second string spares for either their country’s eight or coxless four. Today Egypt’s coxswain, Magdy Ahmed Farrag, who also coxes his country’s eight, propelled his boat into the lead. Behind them Croatia was hanging on and gaining speed. By half way the Croats had eaten at the two second Egyptian lead and continued to surge. With 400 metres remaining Egypt was holding on to a slight lead when Croatia decided to go. What started as a two second deficit was reversed in the final sprint as Croatia crossed the line a boat length ahead of Egypt.

Lightweight Men’s Pair B-Final

Olympians Ian Brambell and Chris Davidson of Canada finished seventh in the four at Sydney’s Olympic Games. Today, in this non-Olympic event, they set off at a scorching pace. The duo had open water over nearest rival, Portugal, with only 500 metres gone and this is where they stayed. Meanwhile Portugal had their work cut out by the charging South Africans. Sean Tangney and Charles Nyman were sticking close to the Portuguese. Despite a last minute challenge by Filipe Lopes and Ricardo Carvalho of Portugal, Canada remained in first and seventh in the world, Portugal in second and South Africa finished third.

Lightweight Women’s Quad B-Final

It was like watching two separate races. Austria and Great Britain at the front of the field were pacing each other. Behind them Italy and Mexico where going stroke for stroke. The lead swapped several times as Great Britain and Austria waged an all out tussle – first it was Austria, then Great Britain, then Austria then the final sprint got under way. The stroke rate increased in all crews as they charged for the line. At the finish absolutely nothing was in it confirmed by a photo finish announcement. Five minutes later the six one hundredths of a second announcement gave first to Great Britain second to Austria and Italy finished third.

Lightweight Men’s Quad B-Final

France’s starting lead was soon diminished by Spain as both crews battled to become seventh in the world and both crews remained in touch, boats still overlapping as the half way marker passed by. This is when Spain decided enough was enough and with a piece through the 1200 metre mark Albert Dominguez Lorenzo moved his Spanish crew away from France. This order remained the same at the line with Japan finishing with clear water back in third.

Women’s Single B-Final

The first of the Olympic events required scullers to be in the top three place to earn an Olympic spot. In the single the lead was all about Sonia Waddell of New Zealand. Olympian Waddell finished sixth in 2000 and went on to win a World Championship silver in the quad in 2001. Waddell took a break and got back in the boat in June this year.

Waddell had a handy lead at the start over fellow Olympian Caroline Luethi of Switzerland and never looked back. Meanwhile Spain’s Nuria Dominguez Asensio was working her way up from a slow start. Dominguez finished eighth last year and looked to be aiming for that same position. With 500 metres to go Dominguez had that spot, but no one was touching Waddell. Rating in the low 30s Waddell crossed the line with a yawning distance back to Dominguez and Luethi holding on to third and the final Olympic qualifying spot.

Men’s Single B-Final

Places one to five – seventh to eleventh in the world – would qualify their boat for the Olympics so the pressure was on to not be last. A field including four Olympians lined up but it was newcomer Santiago Fernandez of Argentina that decided he wanted the whole field behind him and took off at a blistering pace opening up a boat length lead at the start.

Fernandez had finished second at the recent Pan American Games and he kept his blue and white stripes in front. Behind Fernandez a tussle was going on for second. Olympian from the quad, Dirk Lippits of the Netherlands briefly held onto second before 21-year-old Italian Marco Ragazzi and then Jueri Jaanson of Estonia took over. Jaanson finished sixth at the 2000 Olympics and has an international career that stretches back to 1988. Jaanson looked to be after Olympics number five. Moving through the field Jaanson’s final sprint brought him to the lead. Fernandez qualified by finishing second and Lippits from third. Also qualifying for the Olympics was Ragazzi and the final spot went to another Olympian André Vonarburg of Switzerland who had recovered from yesterday’s semi-final when he limped across the finish line exhausted.

Women’s Pair B-Final

The tension was high and the heat on as athletes had to finish in the top two positions for an Olympic spot and it was Bulgaria that shot out to an early lead. The duo kept their pace through to the 900 before Germany’s Bettina McIntyre and Andrea Unger decided to do a power piece taking a minuscule lead in the process. Newcomers McIntyre and Unger, using long finishing strokes, continued to extend that lead as the race progressed. This left the real battle to go on for second place and the final qualifying spot. France’s Sophie Balmary an Olympic single sculler and Virginie Chauvel have had an inconsistent World Championships but today they kept in contact of the qualifying position. In the final sprint France’s superior endurance paid off as they slipped ahead of Bulgaria to take the final qualifying spot.

Men’s Pair B-Final

The qualifying goal here was a top five position but these six crews were not after just qualifying, they wanted first. In an event where even making the b-final was a huge achievement Mladen Stegic and Nikola Stoyic of Serbia & Montenegro set the starting pace, moving with Adam Michalek and Petr Imre of the Czech Republic who are in their third season together and finished sixth in 2002.

But a move by Rob Hellstrom and Nathan Twaddle of New Zealand propelled the Kiwis past the Czechs and into second place. These three boats moved into the final 500 metre sprint together with Slovenia’s Matija Pavsic and Andrej Hrabar who were holding onto the pace. As the boats hit 250 metres to go absolutely no clear water separated the top five crews with Luke Walton and Artour Samsonov of the United States hanging in there. With barely one hundred metres to go it was still all on. Stegic and Stoyic had a tiny advantage over New Zealand, Slovenia was just ahead of Michalek and Imre and the United States were charging on Slovenia.

In a photo finish New Zealand took first followed by Serbia & Montenegro, then the Czech Republic with Slovenia and the United States also qualifying for the Olympic Games.

Women’s Double B-Final

The race was over. Crews just sat consumed in some of the tensest moments of their life. Ukraine, Romania, France and Hungary all wanted to know who were the two qualifying boats. Six umpires from six different countries huddled in the finishing tower analysing the photo finish.

The race had seen Romania’s Georgeta Craciun and Aurica Barascu taking a slight early lead over Nataliya Guba and Svetlana Maziy of Ukraine with both boats fighting off challenges first from Hungary and then France. The final decision went to Ukraine in first and Romania qualifying from second.

Men’s Double B-Final

Hungary's double scull qualify for the Olympics by winning their final B
© Getty Images

Five qualifying spots were available and all six boats remained in the running for all of the 2000 metres. But it was two time World Champions, Dr Haller and 22-year-old Tibor Petoe of Hungary that continued to make their comeback from injury by leading the field. Behind them Cuba’s Yosebel Martinez and Yoennis Hernandez were battling with Estonia’s Igor Kuzmin and Andrei Jamas. Only 400 metres of racing remained and these three crews were still locked together.

But the race was still unfolding. A slow starting Steve Gillespie and Brett Wilkinson of the United States, in their second year together, had finally discovered some boat speed and from last position were working their way past Norway, then Lithuania. In the final sprint all six boats overlapped as stroke rates shot into the high 40s. Another photo finish was needed with Hungary remaining in first, Cuba sprinting to second, Estonia holding on to third and the United States and Lithuania taking the remaining qualifying spots.

Men’s Four B-Final

It was all about having one boat behind you as the top five boats would become Olympic qualifiers. Maybe that sounds easy but when all six boats came into the final sprint, after 1900 metres of racing, nothing separated them. The United States averaging 2 metres in height exploded into the lead. Mark Flickinger, weighing in at 100 kilos, in bow kept a keen eye on the rest of the field that saw second place yo-yo between first Denmark, then Russia, then Poland as boats challenged and counter challenged.

In the final sprint stroke ratings rose and bow balls surged as crews moved closer and closer together. At the line there was only two seconds separating the field and in a photo finish the order saw US remaining in first, Russia’s final charge putting them in second, Poland holding onto third, Romania in fourth and New Zealand being the lucky final qualifier in fifth.

Lightweight Women’s Double B-Final

The three top spots qualified these countries for the Olympics and it was Bulgaria that took the early lead with Great Britain’s Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands following in second. Casey and Langlands had limped across the finish line in yesterday’s semi-final and after finishing with bronze in 2002 were extremely disappointed. Today they had rediscovered their energy source keeping pace with Bulgaria at the head of the field.

Meanwhile Monika Remsei and Edit Stift were working their way back from a huge five-second deficit at the tail of the field, moving past Greece, then Denmark. It all came down to the final sprint. The award for best sprint must go to Eva Mirones Sola and Maria Mas De Xaxars Rivero of Spain. They came together earlier this season from singles to compete in this Olympic event and had been challenging the best. At the line Great Britain stayed just ahead, Spain moved into second and the final qualifying spot went to Hungary in third.

Lightweight Men’s Double B-Final

On of the biggest and most competitive events of the World Championships just getting into the b-final was an accomplishment in itself. For Olympic qualification a top five finish was necessary and, following the days theme, nothing separated the field. From a slight lead Ruben Alvarez Hoyos and Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans of Spain were pacing the rest of the field. First they held off a charge from Denmark’s Mads Radsmussen and Rasmus Quist, then a charge from Australia’s Anthony Edwards and Haimish Karrasch. Meanwhile Spain and Australia had their work cut out for them by Olympian Daisaku Takeda and partner Kazushige Ura of Japan.

As the finishing line came into view Spain remained in the lead, last year’s bronze medallists, Denmark held onto second, Japan grabbed third from Australia and the first boat to qualify for Olympic nation Greece finished in the final qualifying spot, fifth.

Lightweight Men’s Four

The top five spots were up for Olympic qualification and six boats wanted these positions. Russia’s new line-up set the opening pace followed closely by Australia. With half the race over Russia, stroked by Aleksandr Zyuzin, had a pinhead of a lead over a strong Spanish crew that, with two changes, has stepped up in the rankings after finishing sixteenth in the world last year.

The gap between all crews remained slight as all six boats entered the final sprint. Australia and Russia were going head to head with Spain hanging on. Then the United States started to charge. At the line Australia was in front, the United States in second, Spain held onto third with Russia slipping to fourth and a very happy Great Britain qualifying in fifth. The final crew, Poland, limped across the line. With 50 metres to go they completely ran out of energy.

Women’s Quad B-Final

This was all or nothing as only one Olympic qualifying spot was up for grabs. At the start Russia that got their boat into a leading position and set the pace. But Denmark, who had finished with silver in 2002, were moving with them. Denmark were very disappointed not to make the A-final and with one change to last year’s line-up, Christina Rindom, they were sticking to Russia. With 1200 metres gone, Denmark opened up a devastating piece that brought them into spitting distance from Russia. But the Danes did not stop there. At the line Denmark earned the only qualifying spot with Russia in second and the Netherlands in third.

Men’s Quad B-Final

Another five Olympic spots were available. Another six boats lined up. Another photo finish saw all six boats in contention for the full 2000 metres. Estonia got away to a solid start with the Netherlands in tow. The Estonians had finished seventh in the world last year and put themselves back into that position. The order remained the same through the first half of the race when attacks and counter attacks began.

First it was the flying French that got past the Netherlands and Switzerland to put themselves close to Estonia. Then Great Britain, from last position, made their charge. In the closing sprint Estonia stayed at the head of the field, France claimed second and Great Britain’s sprint put them in third with Switzerland and Belarus also qualifying from fourth and fifth position.

Women’s Eight B-Final

Although an Olympic event a total of five qualifying spots means that only the A-final would allow qualification. China and Ukraine paced each other down the course to finish seventh and eighth in the world, the higher honour going to China as the country builds their rowing squad with the aim of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Men’s Eight B-Final

One boat only could qualify for the Olympics from this six boat B-final. The scene opened with host country Italy leading the charge. Poland stuck closely to the leaders keeping Olympic qualification hopes alive and going through the middle of the race they remained with the leaders. It was then that Romania charged. The charge propelled them into second and closer to Italy. But the Romanian’s were spent. In the closing sprint Poland moved ahead. At the line no one could catch Italy who became Olympic qualifiers.

Poland fought back to second and Olympic bronze medallists, Croatia, finished in third.

The day continued with C, D and E-finals and closed with time trials for adaptive rowing crews. This would determine lanes for Saturday’s finals.