Race by Race Report - Group A Reps

Several blanket finishes kept the crowd on the edge of their seats as rowers gave their all in the first day of repechages at the FISA World Rowing Championships.

Full split times are available on the Race Tracker.

The clouds present for the early races cleared and the day was sunny and warm at the Rotsee, with still water.

Men's coxed pair(first two to final): USA's Curtis Browder, Dana Schmunk and Joseph Manion (cox) rowed through Georgios Dimitriou, Konstantinos Kariotis and Lamprakis Rizos (cox) of Greece to win in the final 500 metres. Early leaders Czech Republic missed out on the final. Cornel Nemtoc, Ioan Florariu and cox Marin Gheorghe of Romania had repechage two from the start, with Andriy Kozyr, Sergiy Chykanov and Vasil Basarab of Ukraine safely in second.

Lightweight women's single sculls (first two to final): Mirjam Ter Beek of the Netherlands was the clear winner of repechage 1 after she saw off an early push from USA's Lisa Schlenkar. Schlenkar also qualifies. Mirna Rajle of Croatia was not content to settle for just qualifying. She was safely in second postion and through to the final but put in a final sprint to row through Victoria Dimitrova of Bulgaria to win. Dimitrova was second.

Lightweight men's single sculls (first three to semifinal): Frenchman Frederic Dufour held off a determined Pawel Randa of Poland to take repechage one by a third of a length. Ulf Lienhard of Argentina took the third semifinal spot. USA's Steve Tucker got the better of an early battle with Andrei Chevel of Russia to take repechage two. Lubos Podstupka of Slovakia qualified third. World champion Michel Vabrousek of the Czech Republic took the final repechage after leading throughout the race. Peter Ording of Germany was second by a length and Romulo Bouzas of Mexico third.

Women's coxless four (first two to final): The Dutch women's coxless four rowed through the USA in the final strokes to take repechage one. They had sat just behind them for most of the race but had the better sprint. Both crews qualify. In repechage two, three boats finished within 0.83 seconds but only two could go through. Belarus took the first place and China the second leaving Germany to wonder what might have been.

Lighweight men's eight(first two to final): Last year's silver medallist Great Britain took repechage one after a thrilling race to the line with Canada and Australia. With just two places at stake, none of the crews was prepared to give up but the race was Britain's by a canvas over Australia. Canada was the unlucky third. And there was more exciting action in repechage two. Italy beat Denmark by just a metre after the two crews had stuck together for the length of the course. Both qualify.

Women's single sculls (first three to semifinals): Italy's Erika Spinello took the sole women's single sculls repechage but had to work hard to leave behind former world champion Maria Brandin of Sweden and Nuria Dominguez of Spain. Both women also qualified.

Men's singles sculls (first two to semifinals): Estonian veteran Juri Jaanson staged a remarkable comeback to take repechage one. He had been behind early battlers Matthew Wells of Great Britain and Todd Hallet of Canada but came through in the final 300 metres to take the lead. Hallet took the second place as Wells dropped off the pace. Norwegian Olympic double sculls silver medallist Olaf Tufte faced no serious competition in his repechage two win. He had open water over Jan Ziska of Slovakia who was the clear second qualifier. Santiago Fernandez of Argentina used a strong push in the second 500 metres to move himself clear of the other crews. He finished first by 4.92 seconds over Frederic Kowal of France. Ivo Yanakiev of Bulgaria and Duncan Free of Australia looked relaxed as they took the top two qualifying spots. Yanakiev was first by three lengths, with Free comfortably in second.

Women's coxless pair (first three to semifinals): USA's Suzanne Walther and Michelle Whitcome Borkhuis took a hard-fought repechage one. Despite the top three crews looking assured of the semifinal spots early on, all wanted the win. USA, Yevgeniia Andreieva and Nina Proskura of Ukraine, and Virginie Chauvel and Celia Foulon of France swapped the lead throughout the course. France eventually took second, a canvas behind USA, with Ukraine two lengths back in third.

Men's coxless pair (first two to semifinals): The Czech Republic's Adam Michalek and Petre Imre established a good lead early on, taking repechage one by a length over former world junior champions Neil Dennis and Stefan Szczurowski of Australia. Both qualify. Lithuania's Giedrius Zadeika and Einius Petkus won a competitive second repechage. They had a length over first half leaders Akrm Mohamed Abdel Shafy and El Bakry Yehia El Bakry Yehia of Eygpt. Italy's Rossario Gioia and Dario Lari took the lead in repechage three early and held it to win by nearly two lengths. Russia's Andrey Okorokov and Anton Chermashentsev held on for second by half a metre as Slovenia's Miha Pirih and Grega Srachjek sprinted in the final 100 metres. The first two places were clear cut in the final repechage. Damian Ordas and Walter Balunek of Argentina were comfortable in first, with Jan Herzog and Ike Landvoight of Germany safely second.

Women's double sculls (first two to final): Olympic singles sculls champion Ekaterina Karsten and partner Volha Berazniova of Belarus took repechage one with little difficulty. Just behind them though Frances Houghton and Deborah Flood of Great Britain could not quite catch the second qualifiers Olympic bronze medallists Birute Sackickiene and Kristina Poplavskaja. Olympic single sculls finalist Yulia Alexandrova and partner Larisa Merk took the second repechage by a length. Swiss pairing Bernadette Wicki and Caroline Luthi delighted the crowd with a late sprint into the second qualifying spot over Hungary.

Men's doubles sculls (first three to semifinals): Germany's Stephan Volkert and Stefan Roehnert appeared relaxed as they took the first repechage half a length over Mauricio Monterserin and Jaime Rios of Spain. Switzerland's Andre Vonaburg and Christian Stofer qualified third. Four crews made a blanket finish in the quest for the three semifinal spots in the second repechage. Slovenian Olympic champion Luka Spik and new partner Davor Mizerit made it to the line first by 0.42 seconds. Great Britain's Peter Gardner and Ian Lawson were second, a third of a length ahead of Anderson Nocetti and Marcellus Silva of Brazil. Belgium's Bjorn Hendrickx and Stijn Smulders missed out by a canvas. Cuba's Yosbel Martinez and Yoennis Hernandez were the clear winners of the final repechage. They crossed the line ahead of Gerritjan Eggenkamp and Gerard Egelmeers of the Netherlands and Kestutis Keblys and Einaras Siaudvytis of Lithuania.

Men's coxless four (first two to semifinals): USA took repechage one after getting its nose ahead of the battling French and Egyptian crews. The Americans managed to stay ahead as France pulled ahead to pip Egypt on the line. In repechage two it was Slovenia who got ahead early to win and was able to watch the battle between New Zealand and Italy for the second spot. That went Italy's way and they eventually crossed the line just over a length ahead.

Repechages continue tomorrow at 13:30 CET for Group B. Group A are next in action in semifinals on Thursday.