With a Firm Grip on the Handles – the World Championships Begin

Marcel Hacker checks his e-mails after a comfortable win in his heat

The 2003 World Championships opened to round one of the heats and conditions lent themselves to fast times as a slight tail wind followed boats down the Idroscalo rowing course. However, hot and humid conditions saw athletes working hard to stave off dehydration especially among lightweight rowers who often need to reduce fluids to make their required weight.

The flavour of the day required rowers to finish in the top spot for a direct path to the semi-final in all races except the women’s double where crews needed to be in the top three.

Lightweight Women’s Single

China’s Qian Li did it in the first heat. Li impressed earlier this season when she was part of a medal-winning double at the second World Cup. Now in the single and in her first international season, Li came through to qualify with the fastest time.

Janet Raduenzel of Germany has had a fragmented season after being beaten in her country’s trials and therefore not making the top boat, the double, and then suffering a back injury. But she’s back on form and today won the second heat by leading from the front despite Australia showing superior form in the second 1000 of the race.

Canada’s Fiona Milne comes off a Pan American silver medal in the open single and today showed the form that also won her gold in the lightweight double at the same regatta. Milne won the third heat ahead of Denmark.

The final heat went to Daniela Nachazelova of the Czech Republic who finished a solid fifth in 2002. Nachazelova was pushed by Switzerland’s Lea Fluri who remained in a close second spot throughout the race.

Lightweight Men’s Single

Six heats gathered in the silence of the starting zone of Milan’s Idroscalo. Six scullers would move directly to the semi-final and it was Great Britain’s Tom Kay who did it in the first heat. Kay was pushed by Australia’s George Jelbart who looks to have successfully moved from the pair to the single. Michal Vabrousek of the Czech Republic has been quiet this season but comfortably won heat number two and will move onto the semi-final.

Qualifying in a time that puts him right on Tom Kay’s bow ball, Germany’s Peter Ording fended off a final sprint by Slovenia to move onto the semis with the third fastest time. But right with Ording in the semi will be fourth heat winner, Csaba Denes of Hungary who led from the starting green light and was never challenged, rowing his own race far in front of the rest of the field.

The fifth heat went to Stefano Basalini of Italy who rowed through a fast starting Brian Young of Ireland to finish comfortably in first. But the quickest qualifying time of the event was recorded in the sixth and final heat when newcomer Lubos Podstupka of Slovakia was paced by Portugal’s Paulo Pereira. The two scullers in next-door lanes matched each other stroke for stroke down the 2000 metre course. A slightly stronger sprint by Podstupka gave him the edge in the closing 300 metres of the race and with that Podstupka takes a direct route to the semi-final.

Women’s Single

The champions were already seeded into the middle lanes of each of the four heats and they willingly showed the form that has kept them at the top of the single event. Clearly leading the first heat was Germany’s Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski who was the World Champion in 2001 and is yet to lose an international race this season. Rutschow-Stomporowski had the confidence and space to take the pressure down in the last 300 metres of the race to finish first.

Two-time Olympic Champion, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus followed Germany’s example in the second heat leading from the front and looking comfortable at the finish. Russia’s Yuyla Levina has been improving throughout the season already appearing on the medal podium at the World Cup. Levina led the third heat easily fending off a strong challenge from China’s Xiuyun Zhang.

The final heat saw the comeback of Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova. Neykova shook off bad memories of the first World Cup when she suffered from the heat on this course in May. Today Neykova qualified with no pressure, wisely wearing a white cap in Milan’s heat and posting the fastest time despite remaining unchallenged throughout the race.

Men’s Single

The World Champion, Marcel Hacker of Germany led the first of six heats and it was no surprise to see Hacker reduce pressure in the close of the race never feeling challenged by Olympian Ivo Yanakiev of Bulgaria. Hacker, who uses a customised Empacher single, designed to hold his weight and power rowed away after the finish looking relaxed.

The fastest qualifying time went to second heat winner and new father, Iztok Cop of Slovenia. Leading from the start over Santiago Fernandez of Argentina, Cop, like Hacker, was able to reduce pressure in the closing 500 metres of the race.

Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic moved through the third heat and his twenty-third season with a comfortable win. Joining Chalupa in the semi-final is Norway’s 2001 World Champion, Olaf Tufte who remained a boat length ahead of Italy throughout the fourth heat race.

Australia’s Duncan Free finished fifth at the third World Cup in Lucerne and could be the one to challenge these frontrunners after taking out the fifth heat over Ukraine’s newcomer Volodimir Pavlovskij. Finally in the sixth heat Lucerne World Cup local hero, Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland battled Dirk Lippits of the Netherlands with Lippits conceding in the final 300 metres handing Vonarburg a spot in the semi-final.

Women’s Pair

Romania’s Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu are going for a three-in-a-row World Champion win. They have not lost an international race in the pair for the last two years but following today’s heats, their domination may be under threat. Despite winning the first heat, Andrunache and Susanu are not the boat to take the fastest qualifying time to the semi-final. This honour goes to last year’s bronze medallists, Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus.

Bichyk and Helakh accomplished the fastest qualifying time in the third and final heat, leading from the front over the strong and consistent Great Britain crew.

The second heat also clocked a faster time than the Romanians when Canada’s Jacqui Cook and Karen Clark remained just ahead of the United States using superior boat speed to keep their boat in front. Disappointment was felt by Sophie Balmary and Virginie Chauvel of France who started this season in impressive form, medalling at the first World Cup, but they never found their rhythm today and finished in fourth.

Men’s Pair

In an event already full of fast boats and champions, Canada added themselves to the talent list. Wayne Pommen and Scott Frandsen are rivals through the off-season as Frandsen rows for his university, Oxford and Pommen for Cambridge University in England. But today they opened their international season together with a solid win in the first heat. Not only that, they qualified for the semi-final with the fastest time despite only having rowed together since June.

The remaining five heats delivered no surprises. Sitting in heat two was the 20 gold medal duo. Great Britain’s Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell hardly need introducing and today they demonstrated their experience and maturity as rowing champions by sitting just in front of the field unfazed by a Lithuanian attack in the closing 200 metres. Despite Lithuania’s charge, Pinsent kept the stroke rate low and crossed the line in first.

A last minute seat change put Niksa Skelin back into stroke seat for Croatia and with older brother Sinisa the duo easily qualified in the third heat ahead of Egypt.

In the fourth heat Italy led the way. Giuseppe De Vita and Dario Lari won at the final World Cup in Lucerne last month and today they chose to take no chances. They kept their rate up right until the finish line qualifying for the semi-final over Slovenia.

The next heat saw the long awaited return of Batman and Robin. Drew Ginn and James Tomkins of Australia chose to debut their international season at the World Championships today and they did it with finesse over the Czech Republic. Tomkins kept the strokes long and did not push the rating to finish in first.

Again no surprises in the final heat when the South African’s, Ramon Di Clemente and Don Cech secured their place in the semi-final by leading from the start over Serbia & Montenegro.

Women’s Double

Three heats of the double required crews to place in one to three position for advancement to the semi-final. This altered the tone and race plan from the previous races but it did not change the pressure felt by the athletes.

World Champions, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand earned a slight lead at the start of the first heat – just enough for them to keep an eye on the rest of the field. And a wary eye is what they kept. Behind them Australia and Romania were battling it out for second and in the process remained in touch with New Zealand.

Australia’s Elizabeth Kell and Catriona Oliver arrived in Europe for the July World Cup in Lucerne, but at Lucerne injury caused a crew reshuffle with Oliver ending up racing the single. Today the duo debuted internationally as a double and finished second ahead of Romania who will also qualify for the semi-final.

The second heat posted the fastest qualifying time when Russia’s Larisa Merk and Irina Fedotova led from the front ahead of Italy and the United States who also move onto the semi. Merk and Fedotova pushed the New Zealanders at the final World Cup in Lucerne and their time indicates they have continued to improve in the last six weeks.

Germany’s Britta Oppelt and Kathrin Boron kept their boat ahead in the third heat despite a solid challenge by Rebecca Romero and Deb Flood of Great Britain who were meanwhile preoccupied in staving off the strong finishing Dutch duo. These three boats move onto the semi-final.

Men’s Double

The large field of six heats lining up for the double was not short of talent and heat one showed no exception. Rossano Galtarossa and Alessio Sartori of Italy know Olympic gold from the quad but they have returned to the double after the gold medal quad did not race well last month. Sartori and Galtarossa set the pace and the standard in this event by clocking the fastest qualifying time for the semi-final.

Matthew Wells and Ian Lawson of Great Britain missed the final World Cup after Lawson became ill, but despite this forced hiatus from international racing Wells and Lawson looked confident in their win of the second heat. The Brits retained a boat length lead over Norway throughout the race forcing the Norwegians to return for the repechage.

The third heat baptised Arnaud Duchesne and Tim Maeyens of Belgium to the international scene in true style. They qualified in first place over a very experienced German duo. Following five minutes later in the fourth heat, Milan Doleck and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic held off a constant challenge from the Lithuanians to qualify directly for the semi-final.

Australia’s David Crawshay and Peter Hardcastle have spent the last six weeks acclimatising in nearby Varese, Italy and it looks to have paid off as they remained calm and solid from lead position in the fifth heat. Slovenia’s Matej Prelog and Luka Spik held onto Crawshay and Hardcastle for the first half of the race but conceded in the second half and will return to race the repechage.

The final heat brought the vocal French supporters to their feet. Sebastien Vieilledent and Adrien Hardy won silver in 2001 but suffered a season of bad luck in 2002. At the Milan World Cup the duo showed they were back on form and today they qualified with the second fastest time. Behind the French, World Champions, Hungary, continue to build their boat speed as they make a post-injury comeback.

Men’s Four

The top four contenders for this season – Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Canada – lived up to expectations when they each won their heat. But they did not race unopposed.

In the first of four heats, Canada felt the pressure. Barney Williams, Jake Wetzel, Tom Herschmiller and Cameron Baerg chose a blistering start to take an early lead. But their lead was challenged by New Zealand who moved from fifth position to second when they revealed their powerful middle 1000 to the world. This put the Kiwis within striking distance of Canada however not close enough to qualify. New Zealand will return for the repechage while Canada qualifies with the fastest time.

Italy, in the second heat, was also challenged. The United States announced their crew less than three weeks ago and they debuted their 2003 season in style at the Idroscalo when they clung onto Italy’s stern throughout the race. Italy qualifies and the United States look well-placed when they get another shot to qualify in the repechage.

The final two heats were won by perennial rivals, Germany and Great Britain with Great Britain finally demonstrating that they have found a fast start that has eluded them all season. The start put the Brits into a solid first position and they continued to increase their lead throughout the race.

Germany had a tougher time to qualify when Australia threw down the gauntlet and demonstrated their willingness to keep the pressure on right until the final horn. Australia will return for the repechage.

Racing concluded with the same slight tail wind conditions that opened the day as crews dispersed to rehydrate and make plans for the next level of racing. Monday’s races will see the second round of heats beginning at 9.30am (CET). Follow the racing on worldrowing.com’s live race viewer.