Repeat but go faster – World Cup repechages

The Irish lightweight men’s coxless four will race in tomorrow’s semi final A/B
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The calm conditions continued with only a whispy tailwind on the waters of Milan’s international rowing venue. Strong Italian coffee added a haze to unconditioned visiting writers, but the repechages must go on.

Lightweight Men’s Single

One heat, six lanes and the top three rowers advancing to the semi-final made up the rules for the lightweight men’s repechage in the single. Some new names to international rowing took honours with Turkey’s Mete Yeltepe leading the way. Belgium and Greece also advanced.

Men’s Single

The volume of men’s singles continued a six repechages lined up with the top two boats from each moving onto the semis. In his second year as Switzerland’s single sculler, Andre Vonarburg finished his race in the fastest qualifying time. Both of France’s scullers join Vonarburg along with Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Sweden, Austria, Great Britain, Finland, Estonia and Croatia.

However there was disappointment for Estonia’s number one sculler, Jueri Jaanson, who finished last in his repechage.

Women’s Pair 

In the women’s pair three repechages lined up with the top three crews advancing to the semi-final. Moving from single sculling to sweep rowing paid off for Sophie Balmary as she and her French partner, Virginie Chauvel finished first in their race after dominating from the start.

Great Britain’s new combination of Beverley Cough and Rosamond Carslake won Britain’s pairs trials last month and rowed a solid race to take out their repechage. They were followed by Bulgaria and Russia who also qualify.

South Africa and the United States battled against each other in the third repechage with a déjà vu feeling for South Africa’s Rika Geyser who rowed at college in the U.S. Both boats qualified along with China’s second boat.

Men’s Pair 

United States secured its first win of the Milan World Cup with pair combination of Jason Read and Bryan Volpenhein rowing down Poland in the men’s pair repechage. Volpenhein is not new to winning being one of the few survivors of the three times World Champion U.S. eight from 1997 – 1999.

In the closest finish of the day Lithuania, Slovenia and Brazil battled to the line. All three boats finished in less than a second of each other with disappointment for Brazil who lead through the middle 1000 of the race but at the line missed out on qualifying by two hundredths of a second.

Further qualifiers include an all-European line-up of Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland.

Women’s Double

Italian supporters took notice as young rowers Elisabetta Sancassani and Gabriella Bascelli crossed the finish line in first place to qualify for the women’s double. Sancassani and Bascelli will be happy having posted the fastest time of the four repechages.

In their third race of the day, the United State combination of Hilary Gehman and Laurel Korholz, preserved enough energy to qualify for the semi after also racing in the women’s quad earlier today. Also qualifying was Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Netherlands and Great Britain.

Men’s Double

Crews sorted themselves out early in the one repechage for the men’s double and two more Italian crews added themselves to the list of semi-finalists coming first and third. A very happy Greece also qualified from the second position after maintaining their pace in the last 500 metres.

Men’s Four

One repechage and three qualifiers for the semi-final added Ukraine, China and Italy’s number two crew to the list of survivors. The Ukrainian boat is new to the international and with a time of 6.09 they are likely to stir up results in the semis.

Lightweight Women’s Double

Four repechages put 17 crews back on the water all vying for a first or second qualifying position. Xiujuan Song and Dongxiang Xu of China squeezed out the fastest time of the day in the lightweight women’s double with the help of continued gentle tail winds and a fast finishing Polish crew who also wanted to qualify in style.

In a demonstration of German consistency Laura Tasch and Daniela Reimer covered the 2000 metre course in almost even splits to win the second repechage and qualify along with second place finisher, Bulgaria. Greece dominated the third heat in first and second spot as they work towards qualifying for their homeland Olympic Games. Romania and Denmark also move onto the semi-finals.

Lightweight Men’s Double

Three crews would miss out in the one repechage of the lightweight men’s double and three crews would move onto the semis. The Netherland’s, Brazil and China put their bodies on the line to move on in the regatta with Gerard van der Linden and Ivl Snijders of the Netherland’s controlling the race with a fast start and just enough pressure to keep their bow in front.

Lightweight Men’s Four

Lightweight events continued with three repechages in the men’s four. It was the high rating of stroke Guoyang Zhou that led the Chinese crew across the line in first position. With the top three crews to qualify, Great Britain and Greece also advance.

The United States crew, having only qualified last weekend at national team trials, controlled the second repechage and stroke Stephen Warner was able to underrate second and third place qualifiers, Chile and Switzerland in the closing quarter of the race. Chile is banking on a fast four having added their 2002 World Champion pair to the line-up in their nation’s preparation to qualify an Olympic boat.

Also qualifying in this event from the final repechage was Austria in the lead. Ireland and Portugal were forced to race it to the line after a strong challenge from a young South African crew who were not able to match the sprint.

Men’s Quad

Just in time for the men’s quad Milan’s weather God’s threw a 180-degree wind change at the rowers with a head wind that started off gusting lightly growing in strength by the final race. This made times meaningless between races but still supplied the last semi-final qualifiers of the day.

Four repechages lined up with crews vying for the top two spots to advance. The Czech Republic and Estonia grabbed the first two positions followed by France and Romania ahead of a very disappointed and very tired Chinese crew. Continuing last years rivalries, Belarus and Ukraine took the third repechage swapping narrow leads throughout the race. Belarus has retained their same 2002 crew while Ukraine altered two members.

Just as the weather hit the edge of rowing comfort, the final race of the day took to the Idroscalo basin and it was the United States who remained unruffled. Stroked by Wyatt Allen the U.S. led from the start with Italy’s number two crew – 2002 World Champion lightweight men’s quad – securing the last qualifying spot of the day.

And only then did the thunder and lightening begin…