Italy Asserts and Canada Sweeps ? World Cup, Munich

The Olympic boat class finals saw a number of upsets as World Champions struggled and new blood surfaced. In the final day of the second BearingPoint World Cup Munich, Germany turned on sunny weather with steady head winds.

Women’s Single Sculls

Two-time Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus opened her racing season last weekend in Duisburg and after qualifying through the heats she came into this final well refreshed. Karsten prefers to warm up on her bicycle. She has been seen around the course towing her growing daughter for added weight training and today the added weight training must have paid off as Karsten got out to an early lead over Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic.

Together Karsten and Knapkova completely dominated this race with the rest of the field slipping further and further behind. The order stayed the same at the line with Femke Dekker of the Netherlands leading the second group to take bronze.

Success for Chalupa – finally
© Getty Images/Jamie McDonald

Men’s Single Sculls

It’s been a long time coming. Valclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic knows gold medal success but in his 16-year international rowing career it has been a while since he appeared on top. Today Chalupa did it and with dominating conviction.

But notice must be taken of the gutsy performance by World Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. Although a bad start had Tufte at the back of the field with a huge seven second deficit, Tufte was not giving up. Working his way through the field Tufte went after the Czech. But Belgium and Sweden had been very successful through the heats and were in the pack chasing after Chalupa who was maintaining a clear water lead.

In the final sprint a fading Lassi Karonen of Sweden could not match Belgium’s Tim Maeyens determination. Maeyens is still aiming to qualify for the Olympics and his motivation must be fired up.  The final result: Chalupa remained in first, Tufte in second and Maeyens in third. 

Chalupa credited some of his success to the weather. ?I like the head wind,? said Chalupa after the race. But Chalupa does not see that the season is wrapped up, admitting it will be very hard to beat Marcel Hacker at Athens.

Women’s Pair

Canada took off to a flying start with Darcy Marquardt in bow and Karen Clark replacing an unwell Buffy Williams in stroke seat. With 500 metres gone they had established a clear-water lead using a 36 strokes per minute pace. But World Champions, Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop were hanging on. Easing past the Canadians, Great Britain took the lead and never looked back moving further and further ahead of the field.

Meanwhile, one piece of the United States eight, Caryn Davies and Lianne Nelson, were pulling out the big sprint. At the line the Canadians had managed to hold off the United States and go to the medal podium in second placed with Great Britain holding on to first. Davies and Nelson win the first international medal for the US this year by finishing with bronze.

Italy wins the pair
© Getty Images/Jamie McDonald

Men’s Pair

Dario Lari and Giuseppe De Vita of Italy finished fifth in 2003 and spent the winter rectifying that result. Today they demonstrated what winter training had done for them. Although coming out of the blocks at the back of the field, Italy whittled away at the leading Canadians who were pacing South Africa at the front of the pack.

Dave Calder and Kyle Hamilton of Canada had led from the front in every race at this regatta and they still had a slight advantage at the halfway point. But the Canadians, despite shortening their stoke and attempting to drive at a higher rating, were slipping back. Meanwhile, the aggressive Italians managed to get their bow in front of Ramon Di Clemente and Donovan Cech of South Africa who had also pushed past the Canadians.

In the closest finish of the day the Italians knotched their rating up and went for the line. South Africa held on to keep second and Canada finished in third. Cech and Di Clemente now head back to South Africa as they will not be racing in Lucerne. ?We have a few more things to do before Athens,? said Di Clement after the race. ?We are 95% ready.?

New Zealand dominates the double
© Getty Images/Jamie McDonald

Women’s Double Sculls

It was all over within the first few strokes. The two-time World Champions, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand were not only racing, they were completely dominating and had a boat length advantage within the first minute of the race. The rest of the field were left to fight for the minor positions.

It was Great Britain’s Sarah Winckless and Elise Laverick that decided to grab hold of spot number two. Winckless and Laverick have been improving with every race this season and they look to be coming into their own as they held off the Germans. Germany, who dominated this event throughout the 1990s, could only hold on to third. As Kathrin Boron still out of the boat with health issues, the Germans must be hoping that Boron can make a big enough difference to go after the New Zealanders.

New Zealand’s clear dominance meant that they were happy to drop the stroke rate down in the last 250 metres. But the Kiwis, after the race, said there was still a long way to go before the Olympics. While waiting for the medal ceremony Caroline admitted that they were expecting much tougher competition at Athens.  Christiane Huth, who filled in for Boron in the German boat said they had expected to do better today. ?It just didn’t go very well at the start. It was a long time before we had the pace again,? said Huth.

Men’s Double Sculls

It was anyone’s guess who would fill the top spot at the start of this final. After yesterday’s semi-finals these six boats were going into this race with less than three seconds separating the entire field and every boat containing an impeccable rowing pedigree of experience. Today it was the Olympic Champions from the quad, Alessio Sartori and Rossano Galtarossa of Italy, who rowed the dominating race. Sartori and Galtarossa repeated their semi-final race plan by jumping out at the start and taking the lead from France and Slovenia.

Sartori and Galtarossa were still in first and had opened up a boat-length lead with half the race gone. This left Olympic Champions and Slovenia’s local heroes Iztok Cop and Luka Spik to be in the unusual position of the chaser. But the Slovenians also had Current World Champions Sebastien Vieilledent and Adrien Hardy of France to worry about. The competition was intense, the experience was unquestionable.

At the line Italy had maintained the leading position in what can only be described as a stunning performance. Slovenia finished in second, with France holding onto third.

Pirih and Sracnjek of Slovenia’s four – happy with bronze
© HJ Kaeufer

Men’s Four

After yesterday’s semi-finals, this was shaping up to be a humdinger. The closeness of racing and the intense rivalry between crews had all six of them looking over their shoulder. It was also the first time Great Britain and Canada would meet this season. But Great Britain was unable to boat their number one crew. After not feeling well yesterday, Great Britain’s rowing hero James Cracknell had to be replaced by Tom Stallard. The news must have given the rest of the field a boost.

In a display of raw power, Canada took an early lead followed closely by Germany. With half the race gone Canada had increased the gap and was pushing hard into the head wind. Germany, however, was not submitting. As the boats charged for the line Germany closed the gap on Canada and with 150 metres to go both boats were level. But the Canadian power got the better of the Germans and they stayed just in front to take gold.

In third spot Slovenia was pleasing a large group of vocal supporters on the sidelines. This crew has been improving with every race this season. One change has been made to the crew that finished sixth in 2003 and with every race this season the crew has made leaps forward in boat speed. At the line nothing could compare to the joy of the Slovenians with the red, white and blue flag colours waving from the grandstand.

Canada’s stroke Barney Williams admitted after the race that they still had work to do before Athens. ?We have to improve the second half of the race,? said Williams. 

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

Claudia Blasberg of Germany has dominated the German lightweight scene for six years, continually winning the singles trials, and her reign looks likely to continue. Along with partner Daniela Reimer they won the first World Cup and today they continued that trend. Despite a fast start by Canada, Germany pulled into the lead and had opened up a clear-water gap early on in the piece.

This left a surprised Fiona Milne and Mara Jones of Canada in the chasing position with the Netherlands challenging from the outside lane. As the final sprint came into view, Canada and the Netherlands were still neck and neck with each other while Germany remained comfortably in front. Milne and Jones were still aware of the threat from the Netherlands and gave it all they could in the final sprint to the line.

At the line Germany remained in the lead with Canada following in second and the Netherlands in third. ?I didn’t expect that we would win by this big a margin,? said Blasberg at the finish. ?But rowing against a head wind is what I really like.? 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

First World Cup winners, Mads Rasmussen and Rasums Quist of Denmark shot out of the blocks like something possessed. They knew this race was going to be tough and they wanted to establish an early dominance. But France was having none of this. Pascal Touron and Frederic Dufour of France had finished behind the Danes in Poznan and wanted to reverse that position.

As Quist and Rasmussen started to suffer from their early speed, Touron and Dufour took the lead. However the biggest threat to the finishing order was coming from the outside lane where three-time World Champions Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari of Italy were sticking to their race plan. Over the last few years Luini and Pettinari have appeared to be unbeatable, but after finishing third in yesterday’s semi-finals, their competition had been given a confidence boost. Italy, however, had other ideas.

As the crews came into the final sprint France, Germany, Denmark and Italy were all in a position to win. This is when Italy let loose. Using the rest of their energy stores they charged for the line overtaking Denmark, then France. But doing just as impressive things was the crew from Germany. Ingo Euler and Manuel Brehmer had been rowing a very steady race, minding their own business. Then, in a perfectly judged sprint, and to the delight of the crowd, they pulled themselves into second behind Italy. France finished in third.

Cerda Silva of Chile shows his joy at bronze in the lightweight four
© HJ Kaeufer

Lightweight Men’s Four

The lightweight racing continued with what was shaping up to be another tight fight. Ireland had been showing dominance over the last couple of days. Italy were throwing out signals that they had something special going on. Denmark wanted to improve on its poor showing earlier this week. Chile was an unknown quantity that had impressed during the semi-finals and as it is planning to qualify for the Olympics next month in Lucerne, it wanted some quality racing.

But no one expected Italy’s race plan. It kept the same bronze medal line-up from last year and today it left the starting zone in the lead with Chile closely following. As the halfway marker came into view, Italy still had a slight lead, Chile was still with them and the Irish were still throwing out a challenge.

The hot pace continued into the final sprint as Ireland worked past the Chileans. But the Irish could not touch Italy’s perfectly executed race. Italy finished in first, followed by Ireland and Chile in third. At the very back of the field World Champions Denmark showed that it is always tough at the top in the uncertain world of international rowing.

After the race, bowman for Chile, Jorge Morgenstern Medina, said the expectations on them were now higher. ?We want to go to Athens and we hope to be in the medals.?

Women’s Quadruple Sculls

The day had been a little sluggish on the medals front for the German camp who are used to dominating World Cup regattas especially when they are in held their own country. But today had not been kind on the Germans with prominent members of their squad out due to illness including the men’s double and quad. Peggy Waleska, Britta Oppelt, Manuela Lutze and Meike Evers decided to change this trend.

The Germans jumped out at the start and handily led the rest of the field establishing clear water between them and their competitors with only half of the race gone. To the delight of the crowd, this lead extended and it was up to Great Britain and Denmark to fight it out for second. Great Britain got the upper hand, finished in the silver medal spot, which earned fill-in Sarah Winckless her second silver medal for the day.

After the finish German stroke Meike Evers commented, ?We weren’t so good last year so we had to show everyone that we are back again ? and we sure are!?

Men’s Quadruple Sculls

The World Champion Germans were out due to illness after Marco Geisler struggled through yesterday’s semi-final race before he realised he could not go on. This left the door open to six other countries with Poland and the Czech Republic being possible favourites after finishing second and third respectively at the first World Cup in Poznan.

But Estonia had other ideas. With only Andrei Silin remaining from last year’s seventh-placed crew, the new line-up was out to impress. Starting off in the middle of the bunch Estonia used a perfectly even split timing through the middle of the race and passed first Poland then the Czech Republic. But Belarus was also after a medal. Working its way back from an unimpressive start, the Belarusians pulled out the best sprint of the pack and in the closing strokes of the race grabbed hold of the gold. Estonia finished in second with the Czech Republic fading to third.  

After the finish Estonia’s Andrei Pliashku admitted, ?The finish was very hard. Belarus was much stronger in the last 200 metres.? The Estonians’ silver was even more impressive as this combination has been together for just two weeks.

Women’s Eight

China surprised everyone yesterday in the preliminary final when they not only beat the German World Champions but also went after former World Champions, the United States. In the end the United States put up the bigger fight and rowed past China to take first.

Today a similar scenario played out as China took an early lead only to be overtaken through the middle of the race by the United States. First position is where the US remained and although China stuck to the United States’ side, coxswain Mary Whipple kept her crew in the lead. Germany remained in contact but could only manage the bronze position.

The United States team now moves to its European training base in Italy and will then compete at the final World Cup next month in Lucerne. Four seat Alison Cox said afterwards that the strength of their eights rowing lay in collegiate rowing. ?We all come from university rowing and have trained together since we graduated.? 

Men’s Eight

Germany met Canada for the first time this season last week in Duisburg where it was beaten by a clear water margin. This inspired coach Dieter Grahn to bring Michael Ruhe back into stroke seat and today it closed the gap on the Canadians and remained in attacking distance throughout the race. Canada, as in Duisburg, stayed in the lead right from the start while further back the Netherlands and Great Britain carried out their own private battle.

At the line Canada had a two-second advantage over Germany with the Netherlands coming out on top in their tussle with the British.

A happy Thorsten Engelmann ? four seat for Germany ? said at the end of the race. ?We solved our problems before this regatta and we have found our rhythm again with strokeman Michael Ruhe.? Englemann said the final line-up for Athens was still to be set but the crew would remain the same at the Lucerne World Cup.

By Melissa Bray

 

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