Tail Winds and Ripples ? Poznan World Cup

Rowers returned to the Malta Regatta Course for a variety of events from repechages through to semi-finals and preliminary finals. Tail wind conditions called for faster times with the lively water demanding 100 percent attention from the competitors.

Lightweight Women’s Single – Repechage

The 9.30am start meant these athletes were at the course weighing in two hours prior to make sure that they were below the required 59kg weight limit. Leading the day was Olympic gold medallist Romania’s Angela Alupei. Alupei comes back to the international scene after taking time off post-Sydney and she has her sights set on getting back into Romania’s Olympic double. But, despite her experience, Alupei was being pushed by Michaela Taupe of Austria who paced the Romanian to the finish. Both scullers will move onto the final.

France’s Adeline Maddaloni-Gouelle moves from the double to the single and led the second repechage from start to finish. Her nearest rival, Jo Hammond of Great Britain was content to qualify for the final from second position.

Lightweight Men’s Single ? Preliminary Final

Six entries in this event meant the crews will race today for lanes in tomorrow’s final and Germany’s 2003 world bronze medallist Peter Ording used a flying start to take an early lead over Fabrice Moreau of France. While Ording established a handy gap Moreau had to contend with Luis Teixeira Ahrens of Portugal who was challenging the French sculler stroke for stroke. Moreau, however had more gas taking up the rating in his final sprint. He will go into Sunday’s final next to Ording in the centre lanes.

Lightweight Men’s Pair ? Preliminary Final

This race turned into a France-Great Britain war when Ben Webb and John Warnock of Great Britain resolved to concede nothing to Franck Solforosi and Franck Bussiere of France. A slight lead by France through the first 1000 metres was soon reduced to a Great Britain lead coming into the final 500 metres as Ben Webb gave the call to push. But France heard the call and responded giving just enough to cross the finish line a mere canvas ahead of Great Britain. In third position Switzerland put injury behind them to stay on the pace.

Women’s Single ? Preliminary Final

The first upset of the morning came when the fastest women in the world took to the water. Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria and Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski have been racing each other since junior days and both have rowing pedigrees that include World Championship and Olympic medals. Neykova is the current World Champion but Rutschow-Stomporowski has seen this position as well.

Today was Rutschow-Stomporowski’s turn to be in front. Establishing a slight lead at the start, the German continued to increase her advantage over Neykova and cross the line first. The younger Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic goes into her third season as her country’s top single sculler and she held her own by finishing in third.

Marcel Hacker
© Getty Images/David Rogers

 

Men’s Single ? Semi-final

The first of three semi-finals featured training buddies Marcel Hacker of Germany and Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland. They went through the first 500-metre mark with Adrien Hardy of France and Hungary’s Gabor Bencsik in hot pursuit. By half way Hacker and Vonarburg had pulled away from the rest of the field with Hacker keeping a slight lead over the Swiss as the two conducted their own private race.

Former World Champion and current number two in the world Hacker crossed the line ahead of the higher rating Vonarburg. Both will continue onto the final. With another year of experience behind him Vonarburg looked much more confident today. Last year saw Vonarburg push past his ability and burn out more than once, but today he appeared in control and stronger. Heads of the top single scullers will be turning at this performance and former top Swiss sculler, Xeno Mueller, may have made the right decision to change nationalities.

Iztok Cop is always in the medals and today he put himself back into contention by winning the second semi-final. However to everyone’s surprise it was the everlasting Estonian, Jueri Jaanson who pushed Cop to the line. Jaanson was World Champion in 1990 but in recent years he has not seen much winning podium action. In the final sprint Cop did just enough to stay ahead with Jaanson pacing the Slovenian stroke for stroke. Both scullers will continue onto the final. 

Olaf Tufte of Norway rediscovered his starting speed when he left the red buoyed area in first position. And this is where he remained. But it was Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic who showed no respect for the World Champion, fixing himself to Tufte’s pace and leaving the rest of the field in their collective wake. Tufte and Chalupa continued their own private battle attacking and counterattacking into the final 100 metres, Chalupa’s last 100 metres closing the gap to a mere canvas at the line.

Women’s Pair ? Preliminary Final

Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania dominated this event from 2000 to 2002 but lost their supremacy last year when Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop of Great Britain took over as World Champions. The two crews faced each other for the first time since last year’s World Championships testing their winter training speed. The conclusion ? neither crew will dominate this season.

After an early advantage by Germany, Bishop and Grainger took the lead and held it through the middle 1000 of the race. But Romania was starting to find their pace. Moving from third position Susanu and Andrunache closed the gap on Great Britain and, using a higher stroke rate, crossed the line ahead of the Brits. Tomorrow’s final will see more of the same exciting racing.

Skelin Brothers (Croatia) in Poznan
© Getty Images/David Rogers

Men’s Pair ? Semi-final

In the absence of World Champions Australia, world silver medallists from Croatia, Sinisa and Niksa Skelin, tested their boat speed in the first of two semi-finals. But that speed had to build over the course of the race when Germany and Denmark jumped out at the start, making the most of the tail-wind conditions. Croatia used a stronger middle 1000 to pull into the lead and dominate with a higher stroke rate in the closing 250 metres of the race. All three crews will advance to the final.

Leading the second semi, Nikola Stojic and Mladen Stegic represent the new look Serbia & Montenegro. Both returned from United States universities to row full-time for their country and both are benefiting from increased support for rowing in Serbia & Montenegro. From their middle lane, front position Stojic and Stegic kept an eye on the rest of the field, doing just enough to control the race. Behind them the real race was going on between Germany’s number two crew, Slovenia and Poland’s second crew while Denmark dealt with steering issues.

Going into the final sprint Germany and Slovenia held onto the final qualifying spots with an exhausted Poland missing out on the final.

Women’s Double ? Semi-final

There’s only one word after today’s semi-final ? Germany. The top names of German women’s sculling dominated this event and will take up three of the six lanes tomorrow. From the first semi-final Germany finished in spot one and two with France holding onto the third qualifying position.

Meanwhile, in the second semi Germany’s number one combination came back from a slow start to overtake Great Britain. But Bulgaria’s Miglena Markova and Anet-Jaklin Bushman were still in the lead and holding a slight advantage. Bushman and Markova know top rowing as they train side-by-side with World Champion Rumyana Neykova in Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia and today they challenged Peggy Waleska and Kerstin El Qalqili of Germany.

El Qalqili’s higher rating gave the Germans the edge as they pulled ahead of Bulgaria. Germany, Bulgaria and Great Britain will all move onto the final.

Hungary M2x
© Getty Images/David Rogers

Men’s Double ? Repechage

The race was on to qualify for the final by finishing in the top two positions and it was Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Matthew Langridge who led the charge in race one. Norway’s Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Gundro remained in contact from their second place position unchallenged by the rest of the field. These two crews will continue onto the final.

But the faster times came in the second repechage when former World Champions, Akos Haller and Tibor Petoe of Hungary returned to the front of the field after a sub-par performance yesterday. However, they weren’t alone. Adam Wojciechowski and Michal Jelinski of Poland brought the horn-blowing Saturday spectators to their feet by staying in close contact with the Hungarians. Poland have yet to qualify for the Olympics in this event, but moving into tomorrow’s final with Hungary bring Poland one step closer.

 

 

 

 

Men’s Four ? Repechage

Slovenia M4-
© Getty Images/David Rogers

If these repechage times are anything to go by, tomorrows final will be a fine battle. Less than one second separate the top four boats that qualified through today’s repechage.

Leading the pack ? if but only slightly ? is Slovenia. Keep an eye out for the names Miha and Tomaz Pirih, Grega Sracnjek, and Janez Klemencic. They could well be challenging for a medals spot at the Athens Olympics. But right on their tails is the new Dutch line up who closed the gap on Slovenia to less than half a second in the final sprint.

From the first heat Denmark controlled a tight battle over Russia ? albeit just barely. Russia was more willing to lay it on the line in the closing 300 metres of the race finishing a mere breath behind the Danes. Both crews advance to the final.

Lightweight Women’s Double ? Semi-final

In the faster of two heats Poznan native, 32 year old Ilona Mokronowska, teamed up with Magdalena Kemnitz. Kemnitz raced for Poland as a junior in 2003 and in a determined show of confidence the duo led the World Champion Germans for most of the race, slipping to second only in the closing metres of the race.

Behind them China’s Qian Li and Dongxiang Xu remained in third position throughout the race. Eighteen-year-old Li already has a World Championship medal from the quad and teaming up with Xu is proving to be a solid combination as they continue onto the finals.

There was nothing between the two leaders in the second semi-final when Marit van Eupen and Kirsten van der Kolk of the Netherlands decided to take on number three in the world ? Romania. Van Eupen and van der Kolk had the upper hand through the halfway point with Romania looking ruffled. But a piece brought Constanta Burcica and Camelia Mihalecea of Romania back into the lead. Not to be outdone, the Dutch reacted and snuck ahead. It was only in the last 50 metres that Romania managed to regain the lead. Denmark also goes through to the final.

Lightweight Men’s Double ? Semi-final

Denmark’s Mads Rasumssen and Rasmus Quist continued on their winning ways but not without a challenge. A slow starting Hungary was finding their pace in the first semi-final and pushing past Slovakia, then Russia, then the Czech Republic as the race continued. With the Danes still out in front Hungary and the Czech Republic sprinted for the line. All three crews move onto the final.

A solid start gave Pascal Touron and Frederic Dufour of France the confidence boost they needed. Edging ahead of Germany at the start, stroke Dufour worked on opening up a gap. But Germany and Belgium were not prepared to be dominated and moved with the French. Meanwhile Spain, rating 39 strokes per minute, did a last minute effort to move into the third qualifying spot. Catching Belgium off guard Justin Gevaert and Wouter van der Fraenen had to react. And they did. France, Germany and Belgium move onto the final.

Lightweight Men’s Four ? Semi-final

The surprise loss by World Champions Denmark was reversed today when the crew led the field from the outside lane. World record holder on the indoor rowing machine, stroke Eskild Ebbersen was making no mistakes in today’s semi-final. But another upset was going on beside them. Germany’s number two crew was leading Germany number one who finished fourth at last year’s World Championships. At the line two German crews go through to the final along with Denmark.

Lightweight rowing is well known for close finishes and today’s second semi-final did not disappoint. With 500 metres to go less than a length separated all six crews. At 250 metres to go it was still tight. A photo finish at the line gave Russia the upper hand followed by Poland and Germany’s number three crew. 

Women’s Quad ? Preliminary Final

With World Champions Australia still in the southern hemisphere, Belarus putting their strength into other boats and Germany racing doubles, the quad was up for grabs.

Great Britain have put their top four single scullers in the quad and they came together today to overtake China and win centre lane for tomorrow’s final. None of the crews looked pushed as they saved themselves for Sunday.

Men’s Quad ? Repechage

Belarus comes back to international competition from an inconsistent 2003 season with one change to their crew ? Stanislau Shtcharbachenia. Having qualified for the Olympics the crew are looking to improve their boat speed throughout this season and today they led the first repechage. They continue onto the final along with Estonia.

From repechage two Russia and France paced themselves down the Malta Regatta Course the lead changing through the middle half of the race. In the closing sprint Russia, rating 36 strokes per minute, kept their nose in front of France. Both boats will move onto the final.

Women’s Eight ? Preliminary Final

W8+ Romania
© Getty Images/David Rogers

The strength of Belarusian rowing was displayed as two of the four eights in this event hailed from Belarus. But with talent split between the two crews, both Belarusian crews were off the pace leaving Germany and Romania to race each other. The race played out a similar story to last year when Germany and Romania finished first and second at the World Championships.

Germany has changed one member from last year. Dana Pyritz joins her twin sister, Anja in three seat. Romania has five new members but retain Elisabeta Lipa, Liliana Gafencu and Doina Ignat who all competed in their country’s Sydney Olympic gold crew. Today Germany finished in front with Romania in a close second.

 

Men’s Eight ? Repechage

Sitting in stroke and seven seat of the Dutch boat are 1996 Olympic gold medallists Michiel Bartman and Diederik Simon. They competed in their country’s quad last year but are back leading the eight. Today they indicated to coaches that it was a good decision when they won the repechage in a time just seven seconds off the world best time ? also set by the Netherlands.

Behind them Great Britain, stroked by nineteen-year-old Tom James, held onto the pace while keeping a wary eye on third placed Croatia. France will also qualify for the final from fourth position.

Racing continues in the afternoon with B through to E finals.

 

 

 

Croatia M8+
© Getty Images/David Rogers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

German M8+
© Getty Images/David Rogers