Semi-finals continue in Lucerne ? Second World Cup

Three semi-final heats gave an indication to the depth of the women’s single field. Therefore, only the top two positions would qualify for the A-final. Roumania Neykova chose to stamp her dominance by posting the fastest time of 7.38 ahead of World Champion, Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, who made it through from the second spot. The Czech Republic, France, Russia also qualified by coming first or second. Italian, Elisabetta Brugo, also made it through after recovering from a slow start.

Dirk Lippits of the Netherlands joined a star line up in the A-final of the men’s single by coming third in his heat. Full of World and Olympic Champions the other qualifiers included yellow jersey holder, Marcel Hacker of Germany, World Champion, Olaf Tufte of Norway and eternal bridesmaid, Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic. The Slovenian Olympic Champion double of Iztok Cop and Luka Spik raced each other ? a mirror of technique. Both qualified comfortably.

Romania continues their domination of the women’s pair.
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Australia had three boats in the semi-final of the women’s pair. The combination of Monique Heinke and Emily Martin were the only ones to qualify for the A-final. The happiest combination had to be Germany’s Daniela Gorr and Elke Hipler, who won their race just ahead of South Africa. Both crews will race each other again in the A-final. No surprises seeing Romania qualify with the fastest time ahead of Belarus. The new United States combination capped off the A-final.

Setting the stage for one of the hottest finals of the regatta, crews in the men’s pair had reserved their spots by the 1000 metre mark. Great Britain and Australia won their respective races, both crews showing their experience by taking the pace down in the last 250 metres. They will be joined by the Czech Republic, South Africa, Croatia and Germany. Indicating a reflection of the ceding process, all of these crews finished in the top two of their heat yesterday.

Due to the number of entries, the women’s double was raced as a repechage with the top two crews making the A-final. The hottest racing came in the first heat where barely a bow ball decided that Germany wouldn’t qualify and the Belarusians would. This was devastating for Britta Oppelt and Julia Heitmann who led for most of the race. However, their fellow nationals, Magdalena Schmude and Christiane Huth, qualified with the fastest time ahead of the USA in second spot. The final qualifier was Hungary who ranked ninth last year.

The strain – Willms and Hajek for Germany
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The men’s double race continues to surprise. World silver medallists France failed to make the A-final while World Champions, Hungary, had to settle with qualifying from second position behind the Czech Republic. German stalwarts, Andre Willms and Andreas Hajek, finished with the fastest time of 6.28 and will be joined by Germany Two and Poland again in the A-final.

A very happy Great Britain crossed the finish line to qualify in the men’s four. Made up of the country’s number two crew, they will move on to an entirely European A-final. Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Slovenia make up the rest of the six lanes.

Netherlands showed their depth in lightweight rowing by qualifying two crews for the lightweight women’s double. However, World Champions, Germany, still dominated, qualifying with the fastest time. The sliver medallists at the first World Cup, Great Britain, won the second race and Canada also stepped up their game to make it through along with Denmark.

A similar deal in the lightweight men’s double had World Champions, Italy, qualifying with the fastest time. They will be joined in the A-final by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Russia and Great Britain.

The Canadian men’s lightweight four made their season debut in style by winning their semi-final and securing a centre lane tomorrow. Next to them in the A-final will be France who led their race from the start. Austria, Germany, Italy and Great Britain will fill in the rest of the lanes.

The women’s quad was also a repechage with the top two boats making the A-final. This do-or-die racing had Russia, the United States, Great Britain and Denmark joining yesterday’s qualifiers, Ukraine and Germany in the A-final.

Men’s quad semi-final
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Conditions remained perfect with a slight drop in temperature at the Rotsee. There were twenty-four rowers in each race of the men’s quad and only 12 of them could make the A-final. Ukraine qualified with the fastest time and will again race Germany and Belarus along with Poland, Italy and Estonia, making up the six boats in the final.

Egypt, who were the surprise bronze medallist in last month’s World Cup men’s eight, had to settle for the B-final after coming fourth in a more competitive field. Yellow jersey holders, Germany, retained their middle lane in the A-final and will meet the United States for the first time tomorrow. Also qualifying were Romania, Croatia, Canada and a fast finishing Russia.

The women’s eight raced for lanes with the same three crews, as in Hazewinkel last month, battling it out. Germany will take the centre lane on Sunday after winning comfortably over Romania and Belarus. Australia, who will join the other three crews in the final tomorrow, could be an upset.