Pre World Cup International Racing in Duisburg

Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) at the Duisburg International Regatta in 2002
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The Duisburg International Regatta came to a close on Sunday offering a promising preview of what to look forward to in the upcoming World Cup season less than four weeks away.

In the men’s eight, 2001 world champions Romania were to return home empty handed, as victory was swooped away from them on two occasions – in the Saturday race and the Sunday race by a very strong German crew containing world bronze medallists Sebastian Schulte, Torsten Engelmann, Jan Martin Bröer, Stefan Koltzk, Jörg Diessner, Enrico Schnabel, Ulf Siemes, Michael Ruhe and Peter Thiede.

A surprise win was to be witnessed in the men’s quadruple sculls, with Ukrainians Kostjanjyn Pronenko, Hennadjy Zakharchenko, Oleg Lykov and Leonyd Shaposhnykov. The winning crew rowed in over a second ahead of Russia and the Netherlands, leaving a favoured Hungarian crew containing 2001 doubles champions Tibor Petö and Akos Haller in fifth position.

Peggy Waleska, Marita Scholtz, Magdalena Schmude and Christiane Hufe were hard to beat in the women’s quad on Saturday building up their confidence for the next day. However, as Ekaterina Karsten – single sculling star of the past years – joined last year’s doubles partner Volha Berazniova in the Belarus crew for the Sunday race, the Germans had to give in, and were rowed down by four seconds by Belarus and Ukraine.

Karsten again remained unbeatable in the women’s single sculls, where she seemed to prove that she has recovered form last year’s back injury and is ready to take on her 2002 opponents for the coming World Cup season. The 34 year-old kept off a field of tough contenders including Frances Houghton for Great Britain and Hurnet Dekkers for the Netherlands.

The men’s single sculls was a battle between rowing’s top athletes. Here again Germany reigned, as Sydney bronze medallist Marcel Hacker took both Saturday and Sunday races. The next three places were shared among 2001 world champion form Norway Olaf Tufte, world silver medallist Iztok Cop from Slovenia and Dirk Lippits form the Netherlands.

Last season’s men’s quad champions André Willms and Andreas Hajek were beaten on both days in the men’s double sculls – on Saturday by Poland (Marek Kolbowicz and Adam Korol) and on Sunday by Ukraine (Konstantin Zaitsev, Serhiy Gilovshchenko).

The men’s coxless pair resulted with no surprise wins – reigning champions James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent proved supremacy and gave their piers a taster of the coming season by easily taking both races. Yugoslavians Djordje Visacki and Nikola Stojic who only just missed out on the title of World Champions last year, gave in this time by four seconds in their Saturday race against the winners.

Among the lightweights, Ireland took the men’s coxless pair with 2001 winning crew Gearoid Towey and Tony O’Connor still on top form. Britain held the women’s lightweight double sculls on both days with Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands. The duo was followed closely by Claudia Blasberg and new partner Nadine Möller. Irish lightweight single sculls champion Sinead Jennings achieved excellent performance with her doubles partner Heather Boyle by coming in second and third on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

For more information, race reports in German and English and full results visit the Rudern1.de website.