Olympic Champs Still in Running for Eights

Olympic men's eight champions Great Britain and women's eight champions Romania rallied from losses in the heats to take each of their repechages at the FISA World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland, this afternoon (Wednesday).

Fast and exciting races characterized Group B repechages as the rowers used the last chance they had to make it to the next stages.

The eights are a highlight of any day's racing and they did not disappoint today.

In the sole women's eight repechage, only four boats from a top-class field of six could make the cut for finals.

Romania did not lead from the start and instead trailed the USA and Belarus, with Germany, Canada and the Netherlands still in touch.

Belarus slowed in the third 500 as Romania moved through USA to take the lead. Germany was also making moves and edged into second to take the only other finals place. USA was second and Belarus third.

In repechage one of the men's eight, no one was out of the picture at the halfway stage. Great Britain had just taken the lead with half a canvas over Russia. Canada was the same distance back again with Egypt and the Netherlands both within a length of the leaders.

Once in the lead, Great Britain were able to stay there as Canada advanced to take the second qualifying spot.

Olympic bronze medallists Croatia were the crew to watch in repechage two. After a lacklustre performance in the heats, the crew attacked the race from the start and were able to maintain their early lead to win.

They had to fight constantly to hold off a clingy USA crew that came in second, 1.01 seconds behind. Olympic silver medallists Australia, with a totally new crew since Sydney 2000, left their charge too late and missed out by two-thirds of a length.

In the men's quad, former world champions Germany looked commanding as they took their repechage with clear water to qualify for Friday's semifinals.

Just 0.13 seconds slower were repechage two winners USA, the new quad looking strong as they held off a challenge from Estonia. Ukraine were the winners of a blanket finish in repechage one over Australia and Russia – both boats also qualified for the semifinals.

It was USA's day in the quads, with the Americans picking up wins in every quad boat class.

They took repechage one of the women's quad with clear water over Australia, the sole lightweight men's quad over Lithuania and repechage one of the lightweight women's quad over Greece.

Great Britain took the second women's quad repechage with a sprint through Ukraine in the final 500 metres, while Italy took the second lightweight women's quad race.

The promising Canadian men's lightweight coxless four continued to impress with a win in the first repechage. They led from the start and looked comfortable as they held off a late German challenge.

Things were a little closer for Spain in repechage two as they held off Australia by just a canvas to win. Italy took repechage three with clear water.

World lightweight quad sculls champion Daisaku Takeda and partner Kazsushiga Ura of Japan took their repechage of the lightweight men's double sculls with clear water.

The rest of the first places were much tighter though. Spain's Juan Zunzunegui and Ruben Alvarez took the first repechage by a length over Nicolas Laett and Markus Gier of Switzerland, Australia's Dan Stewart and Karl Parker won the second by the same margin over Belgium while Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark had two thirds of a length to spare from Russia in the other repechage.

Switzerland kept the crowd happy with a win in the only lightweight women's double scull repechage. Lea Fluri and Jan Bogorad got the better of a blanket finish from Denmark, Spain and Hungary.

It was a good day's racing for Chile, as the emerging rowing nation qualified two crews for the next stages.

In the lightweight men's coxless pair, Cristian Yantani and Miguel Cerda used a final sprint to take repechage two and earn a place in the final while the Chilean lightweight men's quadruple sculls is through to the semifinals. They finished third behind the winners USA and Lithuania. Simon Kolkman and Robert van der Vooren of the Netherlands were the other lightweight pair winners.

Germany left its run too late in repechage two of the men's coxed four, bowing out by just 0.18 seconds behind second qualifiers Great Britain. Italy took the race by half a length. Romania took the first repechage by a length from Croatia.

Semifinals begin tomorrow with Group A. Not all boat classes have semifinal though, with some moving straight to finals.

The latest timetable is available in the Events section, along with the semifinal startlists.

More details of today's races can be found in the Race by Race report .