More Records Fall at the World Rowing Championships

By Melissa Bray

A World Best time stands for only 48 hours in the lightweight women's quad. Belgium secures a World Best time in the lightweight men's quad. Great Britain get both their men's and women's eight into the final and the water remains flat with slight tail winds and a small following current for the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan. Due to the Championships starting one day late, today was the day for two days of racing to be squashed into one. Read on for the second half, Group B, racing report of the repechages.

Irish lightweight men's pair: Siaghal Mac Colgain and Richard Coakley

Lightweight Men's Pair (LM2-)

One repechage with a top three finish necessary for advancement to the semi-final had the Netherlands and Australia get off the line first with Ireland following closely in third. Wolter Blankert and Paul Drewes of the Netherlands came together after Drewes raced to eleventh at the final Rowing World Cup with another partner.

Drewes and Blankert must be coming together well as they continued to lead this race. Nothing changed in the order of crews with Australia's George Roberts and Ross Brown holding onto second while Siaghal MacColgain and Richard Coakley (who replaces Siaghal's injured brother Diarmaid) remained stubbornly in third. A last minute challenge by Germany forced Ireland to ignore the pain and push on.

The Netherlands, Australia and Ireland advance to the semi-final.

Britain's lightweight quad: Tanya Brady, Lorna Norris, Hester Goodsell, Naomi Hoogesteger

Lightweight Women's Quad Sculls (LW4x)

In recent years this event has struggled to attract many entries, but this year it has become one of the most competitive events. In the heats Canada set a World Best time. The glory lasted only 48 hours. Today Great Britain reset the standard knocking two seconds off the Canadian time. Tanya Brady, Lorna Norris, Hester Goodsell and Naomi Hoogesteger can now call themselves World Best time holders. But for how long? This is how the race unfolded.

With four boats out of five qualifying for the final only one crew would miss out. For most of the race it looked like Japan would be the unlucky one. They were fighting at the back of the field with the United States while Great Britain, France and the Netherlands held the top three spots.

The Japanese must have gotten a boost when they came into range of the supporters grandstand and in the closing metres of the race the fight for fourth came down to a photo finish. Japan's flagship crew for their women had beaten the US to earn a spot in the final.

Lightweight men's quad of Belgium: Justin Gevaert, Francois Libois, Wouter Van der Fraenen, Kristof Dekeyser

Lightweight Men's Quad Scull (LM4x)

Belgium took the bull by the horns to not only lead this race but set a World Best time in the process. This is how it panned out.

Four of the five crews racing would qualify and as Kristof Dekeyser, Belgium's stroke, kept his crew rating high and in the lead. Austria settled into second with the United States and France tussling for third. Japan sat at the back of the field.

Moving into the second half of the race Belgium, in first, and Austria, in second, held on to the status quo. Meanwhile the United States, featuring two-time Olympian Greg Ruckman racing with two crewmates who are at their first international event, pushed past the French and into third. Coming into the final sprint Belgium had their eye on the time and took their rating to 41 with Austria following at 37. The US remained in third while France saw themselves under threat from a fast approaching Japan. France just got there.

Belgium crossed the line breaking a 13 year World Best time record and shattering it by three and a half seconds to qualify. Austria, the United States and France, holding onto fourth, also move on to the final.

Magdalena Kemnitz (b) and Ilona Mokronowska of Poland in the lightweight double

Lightweight Women's Double Scull (LW2x)

Three boats would advance to the semi-final and with half the race gone there were still five boats very much in contention. Great Britain's Helen Casey and Jennifer Goldsack were battling it out with Lourdes Guillen Cruz and Maria Almuedo Castillo of Spain at the head of the field with Thailand, Uzbekistan and Japan following closely behind.

Then disaster struck for Thailand. Bow rower Pack Nikree came off her seat. The duo had to completely stop, readjust and then keep rowing. But they had lost too much time. Meanwhile Japan had found a second gear and shot past Uzbekistan and into qualifying position. Great Britain, Spain's new line-up and Japan's Kyoko Aoyama and Maho Fukuda advance to the semi-final.

Lightweight Men's Double Scull (LM2x)

Four repechages lined up with the top two boats able to advance to the semi-final and repechage one opened with a hot race between Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik of the Czech Republic against Japan's Takahiro Suda and local rowing hero Daisaku Takeda who is known for making women swoon.

Lightweight double scullers from the Czech Republic, brothers Jan Vetesnik and Ondrej Vetesnik

Japan's competition, the Vetesnik brothers had won this year's Under-23 Champs and they took an early lead over the Japanese with Russia trying to stick to the pace. Suda and Takeda then moved ahead with the Czech's clinging on. Russia attacked back putting it all on the line in the final sprint. Again the Czech held on. Japan and the Czech Republic advance to the semi-final, Japan finishing just a smidgen slower than the World Best time.

The Australian chant followed race leaders Cameron Wurf and Sam Beltz down the course in repechage two. But their lead was tenuous as both Ukraine and Maros Sloboda and Lubos Podstupka of Slovakia were hot on their tails. Tasmanian's Wurf and Beltz held onto the lead while Slovakia struggled with Ukraine. The better sprint by Sloboda and Podstupka earned them the qualifying spot along with Australia.

Repechage three was all about a two-way tussle between France's Frederic Dufour and partner Arnaud Pornin against the United States' Mike Altman and Bjorn Larsen. On paper France had the edge with Dufour already having an Olympic silver medal and 11 years of international racing experience. But Altman has the fire that comes from being an Olympic spare and the pain from being only able to watch his sport from the sidelines at Athens.

France and the United States continued their battle for the full 2,000 metres and both move on to the semi-final. South Africa was unable to finish when they broke an oar early on in the race and were forced to abandon the race. They have been permitted to race in the C/D semi-final.

Great Britain's Mark Hunter and James Lindsay-Fynn took off with a flying 48 strokes per minute start in the final repechage. But Pawel Randa and Robert Sycz of Poland were hot on their tails and going through the third 500 the Poles had not only grabbed the lead, but also moved to an open water advantage. The order did not change and both crews advance to the semi-final.

Dutch men's four: Geert Cirkel, Jan-Willem Gabriels, Matthijs Vellenga, Gijs Vermeulen

Lightweight Men's Four (LM4-)

This was all about a four-way battle for three spots with Poland and South Africa at the front and Japan and the Netherlands fighting it out for the last qualifying spot. Poland, stroked by Milosz Bernatajtys who won in the quad at last year's Under-23's, did just enough to hold off the South Africans. In the final sprint the leading two spots did not change leaving it up to the Japanese and Dutch to make a sprinting decision.

Japan got the edge and another of their crews advance.

Romanian women's quad: Adriana Oancea, Florina Atomulesei, Alina Poncisei, Ionelia Neacsu

Women's Quad Sculls (W4x)

Three boats raced and two would advance in the first of two repechages. Russia and France moved into these positions with Italy trailing in third. Then a boat stopping crab by Gabriella Bascelli in stroke put the Italians completely out of contention. Russia and France comfortably advance to the final.

The second repechage started off with a close three boat battle between Ukraine, the United States, featuring a back to health Caryn Davies and Romania. With 1,500 metres rowed there was still only one and a half seconds between these leading crews. The Romanians then appeared to give up the ghost. Ukraine and the new priority crew for the United States, move on to the final.

Men's Quad Scull (M4x)

Romania opened the race in the lead, but it turned out to be short-lived when Australia pushed into the front with the United States in hot pursuit. The US is a completely new crew and includes two international first-timers and former national team sweep rower Daniel Walsh in three seat. Australia has the familiar face of Craig Jones sitting in two seat, who started on the international scene in 1991 and has two Olympic Games now under his belt.

Coming into the final sprint it was still Australia and the US neck and neck with Romania dropping off the pace. This gave Ukraine the opportunity to push through to the third qualifying spot. Rating 35, Australia then got overtaken by a 37 stroke rate American crew. The United States, Australia and Ukraine move on to the semi-final.

Australia's women's eight

Women's Eight (W8+)

Four boats would advance to the final, two boats would miss out and early on there was no doubt about where the United States wanted to be. Taking an early lead American coxswain Mary Whipple, who remains from the silver medal Athens Olympic eight, kept her boat in front shaking off first Belarus and then Germany.

Coming into the last 500 metres Germany had second, Great Britain third and Belarus were still in fourth. But the Australians suddenly found an extra gear pushing past both Belarus and Germany to go from fifth to third in a very short space of time. Great Britain also overtook Germany. Qualifying for the final, the United States did it by leading the whole way. Great Britain and Australia did it by pulling out the best sprint and Germany did it by clinging on.

Men's Eight (M8+)

Only the top two boats would qualify in each of the two repechages that finished up today's day of racing and in repechage one it was going to come down to who had the most left for the second 1,000 metres. At the half-way point only one and a half seconds separated all of the crews.

Poland and Russia started off with the leading advantage and both crews seemed to have more boat speed, while France the Netherlands and Croatia appeared to be unable to keep up. Poland kept the pressure on looking confident at the head of the field. They will move on to the final along with Russia in second.

The second repechage featured four boats in line for two spots with Romania off the pace. Italy and Canada looked like the main candidates early on in the piece and at the half-way point this remained the case.

Then Great Britain started to come into their own. Four weeks ago, coach Steve Gunn, with the backing of men's head coach Juergen Grobler, decided to strengthen the eight by bringing pair rowers Josh West and Kieran West back into the eight. It must have been a good decision. Working their way up to Canada, the Brits did just enough in the final sprint to grab the second qualifying spot. Italy, still in first, also advanced on to the final.

Nothing can compare to the joy displayed by the British supporters at the finish of the race. Since winning gold at the Sydney Olympics, the eight has struggled to find form. Today the British supporters showed that they still love their eight.

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