Repechages at the Final BearingPoint Rowing World Cup

By Melissa Bray

Lynch and Towey through to the semi-final
© Getty Images/Gary Prior

The final chance to move on in the racing had crews return to the water for their second race of the day. As the weather conditions changed once again from calm to a slight tail wind to calm crews took it to the line with several races finishing in a photo finish. The closest and most exciting finish goes to the first repechage of the lightweight men’s single when all five crews crossed the line together.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls

Six more boats moved on to the semi-final with the fastest time this afternoon going to Kirsten Jepsen of Denmark. Jepson had Daniela Nachazelova of the Czech Republic keeping her honest as the two paced each other for 1500 metres. Nachazelova then decided she was content to qualify from second and backed off. Both crews go to the semi-final. Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia and Tunisia also qualify making it a truly international affair.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls

Switzerland’s Stephan Steiner moves on with the fastest time from repechage number two, taking with him to the semi-final the Netherlands and Austria. But it was heat one that became the race of the day when five crews all charged for the line producing a photo finish that had crews waiting at the line for the results.

The race opened with Italy’s Filippo Mannucci taking off at a blistering pace and getting as much as a four second jump on the rest of the field. This lead remained through the majority of the race with positions two to five swapping incessantly. It all came down to the final 500 metres and as Mannucci began to fade the rest of the field sprinted after him. At the line less than one and a half seconds separated the whole field. Italy, France and Portugal were lucky and move on to the semi-final. Ireland and the United States were unlucky but must be take comfort in being part of such a fine race.

Italy’s third crew also qualified by winning repechage three with Great Britain and Spain, in second and third, also moving forward.

Lightweight Men’s Pair

Germany entered four boats. All four ended up in the three repechages and all four qualified for the semi-final. France, Spain, Japan, Switzerland and Russia will join them in the semi-final.

Women’s Single Sculls

Switzerland’s Carolina Luethi led the one and only repechage over Chile’s Olympian Soraya Jadue and Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil. Luethi qualified for Athens by coming ninth at last year’s World Championships but was then required by her national federation to either achieve a time standard or finish in the top half of her races. At the Munich World Cup Luethi achieved this and today the home crowd encouraged their rower down the course. Jadue and Beltrame also advance from second and third place. Both of these athletes qualified for the Olympics last month at the Latin American qualification regatta.

Men’s Single Sculls

In the first of four repechages, with the requirement of a top two finish, Andre Vonarburg led the way. Vonarburg’s name is currently plastered around Lucerne as an advertisement for this World Cup and he kept his chances alive by leading over Conal Groom from the United States. Groom missed out on Olympic qualification earlier this week but is back to race and from finishing second Groom also moves on to the semi-final way ahead of the rest of the field.

Repechage two recorded the fastest qualifying time when Argentina’s Sergio Fernandez and Simone Raineri of Italy paced each other for the full 2000 metres. Fernandez kept the upper hand to finish first and both boats will continue to the semi-final.

The third repechage again featured Switzerland. Reto Niedermann of Switzerland had to overtake Nikita Morgatachev of Russia, then Anderson Nocetti of Brazil to work his way into first position in a race that had Nocetti dominating through the middle 1000. Nocetti held on to second and thus qualifies for the semi-final along with Niedermann.

Slovenia has put their top two single scullers into the double for Olympic preparation and this leaves next in line, Davor Mizerit, to take over the single. Mizerit kept the Slovenian name alive by winning the final repechage. Going with Mizerit to the semi-final is Hans Jespersen of Denmark who stayed comfortably ahead of Great Britain in third. 

Winner of the first World Cup, Jueri Jaanson had to pull out due to illness.

Men’s Pair

In the first of three repechages the winner came down to the last stroke in a battle between New Zealand’s Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater and Adam Michalek and Petr Imre of the Czech Republic. Although Michalek and Imre had held the lead, Twaddle and Bridgewater remained very much in touch with never more than two seconds separating the boats. Italy’s second crew also held onto the pace. Coming into the final 500 metres Michalek and Imre still retained a slight advantage and as the two crews sprinted for the line the lead changed several times with New Zealand only taking first in the very last stroke. This gives Twaddle and Bridgewater the fastest qualifying time and a path to the semi-final along with the Czech Republic and Italy Two.

Great Britain’s Toby Garbett and Rick Dunn kept ahead of the second Czech Republic crew with Australia following in the third. Nick Baxter and James Chapman are competing for Australia in the absence of their number one boat ? World Champions Drew Ginn and James Tomkins. Ginn and Tomkins will race only once this year internationally when they appear at the Olympic Games. These three boats move on to the semi-final.

Slovenia’s second crew shot out to an early lead in the third repechage taking Argentina’s Marcos Morales and Walter Naneder with them. Morales and Naneder finished second at last year’s Pan American games and recently qualified for the Olympic Games through the Latin American qualification regatta. The Argentineans had soon overtaken Slovenia and were being challenged by Germany and Slovenia’s number one crew of Matija Pavsic and Andrej Hrabar. In one of the tightest finishes of the day these three crews crossed the line so closely that the finishing judge excitedly beeped the horn one too many times. These three crews will continue on to the semi-final with the award for the best sprint going to Germany.

Men’s Double Sculls

The top three in each of these three repechages would go to the semi-final and Germany’s Rene Burmeister and Marco Spielau led the way in the first repechage over Alexandre Soares and Marcelus Silva of Brazil. Burmeister and Spielau kept the pace up until the 1000 metre mark and then, having established a comfortable lead over Brazil, Germany seemed content to stay just a little ahead. Brazil closed the gap on Germany with a solid final sprint and qualify by finishing second. Behind Brazil and offering no real challenge, Estonia’s second crew also qualify for the semi-final.

The second repechage opened with Estonia’s number one crew of Leonid Gulov and Tonu Endrekson leading over former World Champions Akos Haller and Tibor Petoe of Hungary. Gulov is preparing for his second Olympic Games after finishing ninth at Sydney and has paired up this year with Endrekson. However, Estonia could not maintain their opening pace and Hungary had pushed into the lead soon after the half way point. Also still on the pace was Russia’s Ivan Podshivalov and Aleksandr Lebedev, who finished at the back of the field in 2003. Haller and Petoe retained a slight lead with Russia and Estonia taking it to a photo finish ? Russia just making it into second. All three boats will go to the semi-final.

Cuba, in their first international regatta for 2004 took on Milan Dolecek and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and both crews had soon moved ahead of Australia and China. As the leading boats went through the half way point Yosbel Martinez and Yoennis Hernandez of Cuba were now in front. Martinez and Hernandez finished eighth last year and are aiming for their second Olympic Games. They are Cuba’s sole representatives at this World Cup.

The race continued through the 1500 metre mark with Dolecek and Synek reclaiming the lead and this is where they remained. Cuba finished second and China qualified for the semi-final by finishing third.

Men’s Four

One repechage required a top three finish and with half of the race completed there was nothing between the Czech Republic, Russia and Romania. The Czech Republic, however, had a slight advantage and they were using it to their benefit. Slowly they were pulling ahead of Romania with Russia clinging on. At the line all three crews qualify – the rest of the field well behind and never posing a threat to the top three spot.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

Australia’s Sally Newmarch and Marguerite Houston demonstrated their fast start in the heats this morning and took off again at the front of the first repechage. This did not seem to bother Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands. They already have a silver and a bronze medal from the first two World Cups this year and by the half way point van der Kolk and van Eupen had pulled into the lead. Meanwhile Australia was trying to show their worth and kept at the Dutch, remaining in close contact. Behind them China was slipping back but still remained in the third qualifying position.

Despite Australia’s sprint, overrating the Dutch, van der Kolk and van Eupen remained in first. Along with China all three boats now advance.

Romania qualified their second crew for the event by winning repechage two over China’s number one crew. Niga Liliana and Camelia Mihalcea of Romania will have to show their worth at this regatta if they are to be selected by their country to row at Athens, so the pressure is on for them to perform. Behind them China and Spain’s number two crew also move forward to the semi-final.

The final repechage began with Spain taking an early lead but they soon lost it to Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands of Great Britain. Casey and Langlands were executing a strong middle 1000 and it was doing them proud as they moved ahead of Spain and then a sprinting Hungary. Edit Stift and Monika Remsei of Hungary qualified for Athens last year at the World Championships and this will be Remsei’s second Olympic Games. The final order at the finish was Great Britain in first, Hungary in second and Spain also qualify by finishing third.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

Three more repechages with a top three position required opened with Greece leading the way of repechage one. Nikolaos Skiathitis and Vasileios Polymeros of Greece got off to a solid start and maintained this spot throughout the race. Skiathitis and Polymeros qualified for the Olympics last year at the World Championships and today they stayed ahead of Japan to move on to the semi-final. Meanwhile Japan’s Kazushige Ura and Daisaku Takeda had to work their way past Brazil and hold off Russia to retain second. Japan has also qualified for Athens after finishing ninth in 2003. Russia held on to third and will continue to the semi-final along with Greece and Japan.

Ireland’s Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey kept their nose in front of World Champions Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari of Italy in the second repechage. The Irish still had their bow in the lead coming into the final sprint and these two crews looked content to leave the sprint for another day. Italy did just enough at the end to overtake Ireland and finish first. Australia, in third, also qualify for tomorrow’s semi-final.

Denmark jumped out to an early lead in the third repechage followed very closely by Spain and Germany. The very closely was too close for Denmark’s comfort and going through the middle of the race both Spain and Germany had overtaken with Germany’s Ingo Euler and Manuel Brehmer now in the lead. But Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist pushed back and managed to get past the Spanish. In the final sprint Rasmussen and Quist moved away from Spain and closed the gap on Germany. All three crews will move on to the semi-final.

Lightweight Men’s Four

Six boats lined up for the one and only repechage with all crews aiming for a top three finish. The leaders sorted themselves out early on with Japan making themselves crew to beat, followed closely by Russia and Great Britain. As the second half of the race unfolded, Russia had taken the lead with Japan remaining in second. A sprint to the line was still necessary as China, in fourth, was not giving up.

At the line Russia finished first with Great Britain taking it to a photo finish with Japan. Great Britain came out just ahead and all three crews will go to the semi-final.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls

Only one crew would miss out in this race and all four boats took it to the line with the last race of the day concluding in another photo finish. China had the upper hand for the first half of the race leading just ahead of Belarus. But Belarus, from one lane over, kept tabs on the Chinese and managed to pull off a successful piece that propelled them into the lead. China, however, were not giving up and the margins remained excruciatingly close. As the finishing line came into site, Estonia and Great Britain were still in the picture and the charge was on. All four crews remained at the finish waiting for the results. Belarus, China and Estonia rowed away happy.

 

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