07 Dec 2011
Italian rowers selected at the Paolo d’Aloja
| The Memorial Paolo d’Aloja meant more to the Italian rowers than just another regatta. The weekend’s racing at Italy’s national training centre in Piediluco was a chance to earn a spot on the national team to compete at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich at the end of May. Piediluco is a village of 400 inhabitants in the green, rural central Italian province of Umbria. It is a short drive to the home of the city of Assisi where St. Francis started his life’s work and the cultural city of Spoleto, home of the famous music festival. Lake Piediluco was created by Roman soldiers and empties excess water over the man made waterfalls at Terni, a steel mill town about 20 minutes drive from Piediluco. In the 1980s and 1990s, Piediluco was a center of international rowing under the direction of legendary coach Thor Nilsen. When coaches were asked if they have been to Piediluco, the answer was "yes" or "not yet" but never "no". The rowing mecca of the 1960s was, without a doubt, Ratzeburg, Germany, home of the famous Karl Adam eight. |
 The men’s eights racing at Piediluco |
As well, the rowing mecca of the later part of the 1990s until today is Seville. But Piediluco is starting its comeback.
The new President of the Italian Rowing Federation Renato Nicetto and his new Technical Director Beppe De Capua want to return Piediluco to the top international scene. They made extra efforts this year to invite as many nations as possible and the result is 21 nations. Discussions are under way to host a training camp for the two weeks preceeding the regatta in 2007 with good support for participating nations. Many coaches are very positive about this initiative as April is a good time of the year for a warm up event in anticipation of the season. As well, FISA and the Italian Rowing Federation hosted a coaches and team manager’s seminar on the Friday evening which featured a key note address by Thor Nilsen.
Despite competition from 20 other nations, Italy showed the strength of their rowing by dominating the majority of the events with many of last year’s crew back for another year of elite competition.
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Only one change in the men’s 2005 silver medal eight has been made and they easily held their spot on the team by finishing with clear water over the number two Italian crew. The men’s medal winning double and pair remain the same as last year after winning their respective events. A shakeup in the lightweight men’s double sees Elia Luini and Marcello Miani taking the national team spot from Stefano Basalini and Leonardo Pettinari after easily beating them on both days. The men’s lightweight single went to Japan’s most successful rower Daisaku Takeda with Italy not featuring strongly in this event. Alessio Sartori takes on a new role as Italy’s single sculler after winning over competition from Mario Vekic of Croatia and Kestutis Keblyo of Lithuania. |
Italy’s top women single sculler, Gabriella Bascelli was not so lucky. Bascelli missed out on the national team after losing to Sweden’s Frida Svensson.
Italy’s new men’s four lineup held off the Croatian four loaded with top pair Niksa and Sinisa Skelin. The Italian four will now move on to competing at the Rowing World Cup.
For a full list of results please go to: www.canottaggio.org
Italian national team for the Rowing World Cup in Munich:
Women’s lightweight single (LW1x): Laura Milani
Women’s lightweight double (LW2x): Erika Bello, Francesca Gallo
Women’s double (W2x): Laura Schiavone, Elisabetta Sancassani
Women’s pair (W2-): Claudia Wurzel, Cleonice Renzetti
Men’s lightweight double (LM2x): Marcello Miani, Elia Luini
Men’s lightweight pair (LM2-): Luigi Scala, Franco Sancassani
Men’s lightweight four (LM4-): Lorenzo Bertini, Catello Amarante, Salvatore Amitrano, Bruno Mascarenhas
Men’s single (M1x): Alessio Sartori
Men’s double (M2x): Luca Ghezzi, Federico Gattinoni
Men’s quad (M4x): Simone Raineri, Paolo Loriato, Simone Venier, Matteo Stefanini
Men’s pair (M2-): Luca Agamennoni, Dario Lari
Men’s four (M4-): Sergio Canciani, Marco Resemini, Andrea Tranquilli, Lorenzo Carboncini
Men’s eight (M8+): Lorenzo Porzio, Niccolo Mornati, Pierpaolo Frattini, Valerio Pinton, Mario Palmisano, Dario Dentale, Raffaello Leonardo, Carlo Mornati, (cox) Gaetano Iannuzzi
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