World Champions Continue to Tumble – World Rowing Championships

All bets were off. Yesterday’s finals demonstrated the vulnerability and toughness of World Champion status. With the defeat of one World Champion after another, by day’s end many World Champions had fallen. This is the scenario that opened today’s racing under hot sunny skies and calm conditions that developed into gusty head winds.

Commentator Paul Castle summed up the racing proceedings during the lightweight women’s quad, “they’re showing no respect for the World Champions.” At the end of the day only five World Champion crews retained their status.

Men’s Coxed Four

World Champions Great Britain sat at the start line with Tom Stallard and Kieran West returning to the stroke pair of the boat. West’s experience includes an Olympic gold that earned him an MBE. Next to the British sat the relatively new crew from the United States. The US team got off to a flying start propelled by the long strokes of a crew that averages two metres in height with 160cm coxswain Marcus McElhenney calling the commands.

Already by 200 metres the United States had a small lead over France with Great Britain in hot pursuit. As France fell away from the pace Great Britain worked their way into second and continued to hold their boat speed. From one lane over McElhenney knew the Brits were close and with 400 metres to go McElhenney demanded more from his crew. But Great Britain’s coxswain Peter Rudge responded. Only 250 metres was left and the United States had barely a canvas over Great Britain.

Higher rating and pure aggression won the day. The United States crossed the line to become World Champions with a suitably disappointed Great Britain finishing in silver and Germany coming through to take bronze.

Lightweight Women’s Pair

Romania’s former junior champions, Liliana Niga and Elena Scurtu attempted to do what their open-weight counterparts were unable – go for gold. Both rowers have been in sculling events for most of this season, but they came together in the pair and led from the start over World Champions, Great Britain. Julia Warren and Michelle Dollimore of Great Britain are a new combination from last year’s winners and in their first international season they were called a warning after being late into the starting blocks.

Dollimore and Warren slipped into second place behind Niga and Scurtu with the United States following closely in third. Romania continued to hold off Great Britain and with 500 metres left to row had extended their lead to over a boat length. In the final sprint Warren and Dollimore were sustaining themselves firmly in second with the United States unaware of a charge going on at the opposite side of the course by Elpida Grigoriadou and Angeliki Gremou of Greece.

The Greeks had been sitting back for the first half of the race but were picking up speed as they moved into the second half. Greece continued to sprint for the final medal spot and in the last 40 metres pushed their bow into bronze.

Romania become the reigning World Champions with Great Britain finishing in silver position and Greece, squeezing ahead of the United States, in a photo finish, to take bronze.

Lightweight Men’s Pair

With the World Champions moving into an Olympic class boat, opportunity opened for last year’s silver medallists Italy. But the rowing Gods had not been on Italy’s side when they raced on this course earlier in the season and today the Gods remained firmly in another lane.

Denmark’s Bo Helleberg and Mads Andersen took an early lead from Frank Mager and Christian Gerlach of Germany. Helleberg and Andersen had finished first in the second World Cup but slipped to third behind Italy at the final World Cup. Today they were making no mistakes. Helleberg comes back to rowing after a break to have a baby and together with Andersen were pacing Mager and Gerlach at the head of the field.

As the Danes and Germans fought over the gold a second battle was raging for bronze. The Netherlands had a slight lead over Simon Carcagno and Michael Altman of the United States in their second season together. But with 1500 metres gone there was nothing in it.

At the front of the field Denmark and Germany remained locked together as the charge for the finish began. With only 300 metres left both boats were rating 37 and both boats were equal. With 200 metres left the Danes and Germans remained locked together, Germany rating 38 strokes per minute and Denmark at 39 driving into the lead. At the line the higher rating Danes became World Champions over Germany.

Meanwhile the Dutch had run out of steam leaving Carcagno and Altman to sprint into bronze position.

Lightweight Women’s Quad

World Champions in the LW4x : China

Germany jumped away to a flying start but did not remain there long when the low stroking Chinese used strong, solid strokes to move into the lead. Rating 33 China were not only took the lead, they continued to increase the gap on the rest of the field and with only 700 metres rowed Quan Li, Yaping Deng, Meiyun Tan and Weijuan Zhou had a boat length on the rest of the field. Eighteen-year-old Li had competed in the singles final yesterday but floundered at the back of the field and today in bow she was using her power and following the quad rhythm.

With China clearly in front the major battle was going on for silver. The Netherlands had overtaken Germany and were going head to head with World Champions Australia. Going into the final sprint the Netherlands and Australia remained locked together. China, under the tutelage of Nick Gioga, remained out of reach and, still rating 33, were able to watch the rest of the field. Behind them it was all about orange. The final charge of the Dutch earned them silver as another World Champion fell. A very subdued Australia collected bronze on the podium.

Lightweight Men’s Quad

An opening lead by Italy continued to grow as Fillippo Mannucci, Luca Moncada, Daniele Gilardoni and Emanuele Federici went after retaining their World Champion status that has been with their country since 2001. By the half-way point Italy had moved to an open water lead rating an impressive 39 strokes per minute.

The Italians refused to acknowledge the word “settle” as they continued to keep their rating high and their boat out of reach. Behind them Germany was firmly cemented in second and had a huge three second gap over their nearest threat, Australia, with 500 metres to go. Into the final sprint Germany remained in second. However Australia was surging leaving Germany to hold on and as 1850 metres flashed by the Germans still had silver in their sights. But Australia, now rating 40 strokes per minute continued to charge.

At the line Italy retained World Champion status for a third year with Australia taking silver over Germany in bronze position.

Lightweight Women’s Double

2002 World Champions Sally Causby and Amber Halliday of Australia came to Europe with high expectations but after being beaten by the Netherlands in the third World Cup last month and then losing to Romania earlier this week, they had to do some reassessing.

So Causby and Halliday decided to take the bull by the horns. At the start the Australians had a slight lead with Romania hanging on. But it was old rivals, last years silver medallists, Germany who were making big moves. With 500 metres gone Marie-Louise Draeger and Claudia Blasberg of Germany had a small lead.

This is when Constanta Burcica and Camelia Mihalcea of Romania decided to attack. With 900 metres down the Romanians had their bow ball in front and they continued to move. Only 500 metres remained and Romania held half a boat length over Australia with Germany surging down the outside.

It all came down to the final sprint. First Germany attacked, getting their nose ahead of Romania at the 1750 metre mark and then Australia followed suit, pushing Romania into third with 200 metres left to row. Romania however had other ideas. Only 100 metres remained and Romania was a bow ball ahead of Australia matching the green and gold boat stroke for stroke. It was all going to come down to the final few strokes. At the line Germany became World Champions, Australia pushed past Romania for silver leaving the Romanians with bronze.

Lightweight Men’s Double

They declared their intentions to break the World Record at last month’s World Cup and today World Champions Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari of Italy ignored the rest of the field to do exactly that. Italy took off at the start and never looked back.

Gold for Italy's LM2x

Luini and Pettinari were still rating a high 39 strokes per minute with 400 metres gone and by the half-way point had opened up such a lead that it looked like two races were going on. Behind them Poland’s Olympic Champions, Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz were tussling with Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey of Ireland. As they passed through the 1000 metre mark Sycz and Kucharski was in second but the Irish were well in touch. This is when Poland’s national heroes decided to move. The duo pulled ahead of Ireland and went after Italy.

In the final stretch Poland was rating 39 strokes with Italy’s aggressive, head down style charging past huge banners sporting their name and picture, to the line. Luini and Pettinari had retained the World Champion title with Poland finishing second and Ireland, indicating their intentions for the Olympics, in third. Conditions developing into gusty headwinds were evident as the Italians finished well outside World Record time.

Lightweight Men’s Four

He has stood on the winners podium for the last ten years and he made sure of it again today. Stroke of Denmark’s “guldfireren” Eskild Ebbesen is a rowing legend. Today Ebbesen took his crew away at a scorching pace to have three quarters of a boat length lead over nearest rivals Italy. Denmark had come through to the final after close semi-final racing and rating 39 strokes per minute they were making no mistakes.

With 1200 metres down Ebbesen, along with crew members Stephan Moelvig, Thomas Ebert and Thor Kristensen had opened up a boat length lead over world silver medallists, Italy. This is when the Netherlands decided to move. The Dutch first overtook Canada in their charge for the line and then went to challenge Italy. The Italians meanwhile were paying dearly for their fast early pace. With 80 metres to go Italy could barely hold on and the Netherlands took silver.

Rowing legend Eskild Ebbesen stroked to gold in the LM4-
© Getty Images

Denmark returned to the medals podium as World Champions and Italy gained bronze. At the finish Ebbesen admitted, “We were really nervous going into this race because the heat and semi-finals had not been so good.” Obviously the nerves had been shed.

Women’s Quad

Australia was feeling confident. They had beaten the World Champions, Germany earlier this season at the third World Cup and had come into the finals only being challenged once by Belarus. But it was Ukraine who chose to chase Australia out of the starting blocks.

However Ukraine were soon feeling the pace and by half way it was Belarus who had moved into a close second to Australia with Germany working back from a slow start to take third. With 600 metres left to row Australia remained at the head of the field with Belarus, Germany and Great Britain locked together in the stampede for silver.

It had taken all morning but finally there were smiles on the face of the Australians. Jane Robinson, Dana Faletic, Kerry Hore and Amber Bradley had pulled off the first ever World Championship gold medal in the quad for Australia. Belarus, in silver position, earned the second medal of this World Championships to team members Ekaterina Karsten and Yuliya Bichyk and Germany in bronze position return to the medal podium once again.

Men’s Quad

Poland looked to be the favourites going into this event after qualifying through the semi-final with the fastest time in a fine display of rowing. But the World Champions, Germany decided to put the week behind them and aim at retaining their mantle.

As head winds continued, Germany snuck away from the inside lane to a boat length lead over Poland. But it was the Czech Republic that were handling the blustery conditions the best. As Australia had to pick their boat back up after a bad stroke the Czechs, rating a solid 34 through the middle of the race, were charging on. But Robert Sens, Marco Geisler, Stephan Volkert and German rowing legend, Andre Willms were revelling in the lead.

Going into the final straight Poland remained in touch with the Czech Republic. However the Poles could not retain the pace. Germany finished in front with gold, the Czech’s earned a well deserved silver and Poland got back onto the medal podium but in bronze position.

Women’s Eight

Where’s Romania? What’s Germany doing? And why are World Champions, the United States stopping? A mystery was unfolding in the first half of the women’s eight.

World Champions, the United States got out to an opening lead with their rating in the mid 30s. But Germany, coming off a season that saw them finishing behind both Romania and the United States at the World Cup races, had winning on their mind. By the first 500-metre mark Germany’s coxswain Annina Ruppel had got their pink coloured boat’s nose in front of the Americans. Then disaster struck. The blustery conditions had caught the United States off guard and a bad stroke with 700 metres gone brought their boat to a complete standstill. Romania and Canada decided to take advantage of the situation and moved ahead of the Americans who quickly recovered but were back in fifth position.

Germany takes the women's eight

Meanwhile, at the head of the field, with 1200 metres gone, Germany had a clear water lead, their rating remaining at 35 strokes per minute. As the race moved into the final sprint it looked as if no one could touch Germany. But Romania and Canada were giving it their best. Both boats rating 37 started to overlap the Germans.

Germany held on to become World Champions with stroke Lenka Wech admitting afterwards, “we didn’t expect to win that clearly.” Romania’s Rower of the Century, Elisabeta Lipa, returned with her crew to the medal podium in second and a very happy Canada finished in third.

As five boats only qualify for the Olympics from this event, Australia in fourth and the United States in fifth can take consolation in their position while Belarus in six miss out on qualification.

Men’s Eight

Conditions remained blustery for the final race of the day. The United States let their intentions known early in the piece when they took the lead over World Champions Canada. But with 400 metres gone Canada, rating 38, had got their bow in front and continued to move.

Coming into the 1000 metre mark Canada’s coxswain, Brian Price had steered the boat into half boat length advantage with the higher rating United States sticking at their side. As the two leading boats moved into the third 500 Great Britain began to attack and with 600 metres left there was little between the Brits and the Americans. It was all going to come down to the final sprint.

The United States looked to be unconcerned about Great Britain. They only had eyes for gold and overrating the Canadians they continued to drive for the lead. At the line Canada held onto the lead becoming two time World Champions with a visibly disappointed United States in second and a jubilant Great Britain in third.

As the Canadians collected their medals, six seat Andrew Hoskins, proudly displaying his young son, attributed their success to the change in coaches since the 2000 Olympics.

As the 2003 World Championships closed France’s men’s eight paid tribute to the large appreciative crowd that remained along the banks of Milan’s Idroscalo as the final medal tally was announced. Including adaptive rowing, Germany finished in first followed the United States and Australia in third.