07 Dec 2011
Racing Continues at World University Rowing Championships
Racing continued at the World University Rowing Championships in Nottingham this morning, under depressingly grey English skies and the odd spot of drizzly rain. Nothing dampened the enthusiasm of competitors, however, as four finals places were on offer for each of the repechage events.
First to go were the women's coxless fours, Australia and Great Britain never more than half a length apart right up the course. Both qualified with ease, Australia keeping their bowball just ahead. Following a power cut at the start, flags were used to send the crews on their way just for that first race, the traffic system back in action for the rest of the morning. The second women's coxless fours rep was delayed for an hour while Poland found a replacement for a broken blade: they promptly won their repechage with ease.
Three events had single repechages, sending four crews through to the A final. Of these, the men's coxless pairs was the tightest, the top four crews finishing within five seconds. New Zealand's David Schumacher and Rodney Stephens were edged out with a disastrous row, and clearly very disappointed to be relegated to the B final with Hungary.
The lightweight men's double sculls produced the only real race of the morning, with Poland, Australia and France within feet of each other and fighting for two qualifying spots. A great last 400 metres from France's Under-23 double of Maxime Guilhem and Pierre Pollez put them in the lead, while Szymon Wisniewski and Maciej Madej of Poland trying to match them snatched the second finals place from Australia. The other repechage was won by Germany, putting the last of their crews successfully into the A finals.
The remainder of the repechages start at 3:30pm BST (GMT+1) this afternoon.
Report contributed by and copyright to the Rowing Service.