World Cup Events - Poznan World Cup Finals Continued

Great Britain’s Four at Victory Ceremony
© Getty Images/David Rogers

Calm conditions turned into a steady tail wind and choppy waters as the Olympic class boats got under way at the Malta Regatta Course. Race commentating could barely be heard above the crowd that would have fit right in at a football match ? whistles, horns, chanting and flag waving kept the spectators warm and every competitor feeling like a champion.

Women’s Single

There was no doubt who would lead the pack, but in what order? Germany’s Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski had beaten World Champion, Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria earlier in the week so all bets were off for today’s winner. But it was the younger Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic who challenged at the start.

Despite Rutschow-Stomporowski’s stronger start, Knapkova was hanging on and at the half-way point Neykova was in the unusual position of being third. But the Bulgarian was not going to rest on her laurels. Neykova opened up into a piece before the 1000 metre mark only to have it countered by both Rutschow-Stomporowski and Knapkova. Coming into the final sprint Neykova challenged again and, using a higher stroke rate, went for the line. Rutschow-Stomporowski’s lead however was too great and pushing past Knapkova the World Champion finished in second behind Germany.

After the race Rutschow-Stomporowski said she was please with her winter training. ?This is my first big race. It’s important but I know I have a lot more to do before Athens.?

Men’s Single

Clear domination of the medals podium was put to rest today when the experience of over two decades of rowing outshone the newer stars. Thirty-eight year old Jueri Jaanson of Estonia saw World Championship success in 1990 and has barely seen the A final, let alone the medals podium, since. 

Today he pushed back the top three in the world to take line honours. But let’s step back to the race. Germany’s Marcel Hacker likes to control his races from the front and today was no exception. The former East German jumped to an early lead followed closely by Iztok Cop of Slovenia. World Champion, Olaf Tufte meanwhile was simply trying to hold his own.

Jaanson, however, had found a new gear was starting to wind. From third position, the Estonian caught both Hacker and Cop off guard taking the lead with 500 metres to go. It was then up the Jaanson to hold on. And he did. Meanwhile, Cop and Hacker absorbed in each other were charging for the line. It was only the final stroke that put Hacker into second place over Cop.

Crediting his coach, Jaanson said he was surprised by the win. ?I’ve spent a lot of time in the United States with my previous coach Igor Grinko,? said Jaanson at the finish. ?We’ve known each other a long time and there’s good cooperation.?

An upbeat Hacker commented, ?all is possible in the men’s single.?

Women’s Pair

Germany’s Maren Derlien and Sandra Goldbach paid dearly for a flying start that saw them take on the number one and three in the world. Coming into the final sprint Derlien and Goldbach still had a slight lead when Romania and World Champions Great Britain decided to unleash their superiority.

Romania’s Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu have been in the pair together since 2001 and dominated up until last year when Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop of Great Britain took over the top spot. Today the Brits and Romania’s tested each other, looking for the payback from the long winter training. The quicker catches of the Romanian’s outshone the higher rating British duo and at the line Andrunache and Susanu gained the edge. Germany held on for third.

?Coming second gives us something to fight for,? said a satisfied Grainger at the finish. ?We don’t like losing.? Bishop was also pleased with their performance. ?This time last year we were seven seconds behind the Romanians.”

Andrunache described the race as hard but not too difficult. She was happy with her result knowing that Romania’s National Olympic Committee President, Mr. Ion Tiriac was watching the race from Bucharest.

Men’s Pair

The race unfolded to plan for Croatia’s rowing flagship, Niksa and Sinisa Skelin. The brothers took an early lead and gained just enough water to watch the battle for second. First Germany’s second crew grabbed the spot, but Germany One were not to be outdone. Just past the Vodka factory landmark, Jan Herzog and Tobias Kuehne of Germany pushed into second with Nikola Stojic and Mladen Stegic of Serbia & Montenegro in hot pursuit.

Stojic and Stegic came together at last year’s World Championships and have been working full time on their rowing through the winter. Today their winter training paid off. In the final sprint Stojic and Stegic moved past the Germans and took on the Croatians.

At the line Croatia remained in first place, Serbia & Montenegro second and Germany One held onto third.

Niksa Skelin acknowledged the absence of some top crews in this event. ?It was more of a control race to put into check what we have done over the winter,? said Skelin. ?It’s good because we are faster than last year.?

Women’s Double

The red, yellow and black colours of Germany showed no mercy. In a display of coach Jutta Lau’s talent Germany had three boats in the final and they were quite prepared not to share the top spots. But it was Bulgaria that got out to an early lead taking France with them.

It wasn’t long, however, before the Germans began to move. Completely ignoring the rest of the field the German women’s national sculling team took control. First it was Britta Oppelt with replacement partner, Meike Evers who snuck out in front. Then Manuela Lutze and Christiane Huth reacted and were in front with 500 metres to go. Meanwhile, Germany’s number one boat of Peggy Waleska and Kerstin El Qalqili were moving up from fifth place to third.

At the line Oppelt and Evers were back on top followed by Lutze and Huth with Waleska and El Qalqili in third. Evers downplayed the German tussle admitting the win was nice but none of them yet know who will be selected for the German quad and double. ?We will be tested next week in the single,? said Evers who acknowledged that the squad would be at a much higher level with the return of a healthy Kathrin Boron.

Men’s Double

This event was anyone’s guess as the top crews were not racing today and it was the new Great Britain line up of Matthew Wells and Matthew Langridge that decided to grab the bull by the horns.

However their early lead was being whittled away by Rene Bertram and Christian Schreiber of Germany and a fast middle 1000 by Norway that pushed the Brits back to third. It was then that Leonid Gulov and Tonu Endrekson of Estonia, buoyed by Jaanson’s win earlier today, felt the coffee kick in and made their move.

In the final sprint barely a canvas separated Germany, Estonia and Great Britain with this order remaining the same at the finish.

Langridge admitted at the end that despite a solid first 1000 their second half of the race was not so good. ?Germany was a little too strong in the third 500 metres and we didn’t have quite enough at the end,? said Langridge.

Men’s Four

In the absence of Canada, Germany and Great Britain ruled the four through the 2003 World Cup season with the Germans continually getting the upper hand. But Germany knew the new-look British line up was bound to stir things up.

Stroked by Matthew Pinsent, Great Britain got away to a solid start keeping a wary eye on Germany from their centre lane. By the half way point Germany were still well and truly in contact and focusing on the Brits. The two crews continued their own private battle unaware of Slovenia sneaking up on the outside.

Slovenia had been holding third position over Denmark and were rowing a very solid middle 1000 metres. In the final sprint Slovenia continued to reel in the Germans and Great Britain, but not enough water was remaining. Great Britain crossed in first position followed by Germany and a very happy Slovenia in third.

?It’s almost two years since I’ve seen the back of the German’s head,? said Steve Williams who is Great Britain’s only remaining member of last year’s four. ?We never felt really under pressure,? said stroke Pinsent.

Lightweight Women’s Double

Through the regatta Poland had been setting themselves up for a medal chance and they took this attitude with them to the start line today. Leading from the opening green light Ilona Mokronowska of Poznan and partner Magdalena Kemnitz took a slight lead over World Champions Germany. Holding onto this lead Poland remained in front with over half of the race completed.

However, with 750 metres to go the situation began to change drastically. Claudia Blasberg and Daniela Reimer of Germany had pushed into the front and the Netherlands were starting to wind up with Romania hot on their heels. Poland, however, had not conceded, holding onto second behind the Germans.

It all came down to the final sprint. Four crews charged for the line with Germany the close winners. The crowd then had to wait for a photo finish to determine second. The final result put the Netherlands in second and Olympic gold medallists, Romania in third.

Lightweight Men’s Double

Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist gave their Danish selectors what they wanted ? and more. Leading into the finals Denmark were the clear favourites but Hungary, France and Germany were improving with every race.

Denmark got off to a quick start and continued to increase their lead so that by the half way point they had a full boat length over their nearest rival, fifth in the world, Germany. But Germany could see France advancing from one lane over as Pascal Touron and Frederic Dufour moved into a piece through the 1250 metre mark. Together the two crews charged for the line. Denmark in front did just enough to hold onto the lead and it was only in the final 10 metres that France managed to get their nose in front and seize second spot from Germany by a whisker.

A happy Rasmussen at the finish said the win for them was extremely significant. ?We wanted to be one of the best at the beginning of the season,? said Rasmussen who, along with Quist needed to be in the top four today to be considered by the Danish Olympic Committee for Olympic selection.

Lightweight Men’s Four

The calm weather turned to a tail wind adding rougher water to the Malta Regatta Course and this appeared to suit the World Champion Danish crew. Bo Helleberg, Thomas Ebert, Thor Kristensen and Eskild Ebbesen got off to a flying start comfortably leading the field by more than a boat length with only 500 metres gone.

This left Germany’s number one and two crews to battle for the second spot. But the two German crews had miscalculated the speed of the Russians. Coming into the final sprint Russia was bearing down on the Germans, pushing past Germany Two and going after number four in the world, Germany One. At the line Germany One held onto second with Russia in third. Denmark regained top spot. 

Danish stroke Ebbesen said at the end that the race was an important part of their Olympic preparation. He dismissed their loss earlier in the week during the heats. ?That was our first race of this season and we were a little rusty,? said Ebbesen. The crew admitted that the pressure was still on to perform as the final boat line up was yet to be confirmed.

Women’s Quad

An early lead by Great Britain was never challenged by the rest of the field. Great Britain goes into the season with two new members in the boat. Last year’s double of Debbie Flood and Rebecca Romero join top scullers Alison Mowbray and Frances Houghton and after two weeks together they looked strong and ready to meet the Germans at World Cup number two.

Today Great Britain left it up to Denmark, China and the Netherlands to fight it out for second and third spots. And the fight was tough. Barely a second separated these three crews throughout the race with spot number two remaining unclear until the line. Denmark came out ahead with China finishing third.

Men’s Quad

Russia dismissed German sculling dominance by taking on the World Champion crew from the first buoy. Russian stroke, Sergej Fedorovtsev led his crew at a hurried pace through the tail wind conditions holding onto a slight edge over Germany and Poland.

Positions however were about to Change. Germany, from third position, was beginning to move and Russia looked to be under threat from Poland. Meanwhile the unsuspecting race leaders were not prepared for the Belarusian charge. In the closing metres of the race Belarus moved from fifth position through the field taking the Germans with them.

At the line Germany finished on top with Belarus second and Russia just held onto a medal by finishing in third.

Women’s Eight

In a race that reflected yesterday’s preliminary final, Romania and Germany again went head to head. The big boats looked rough as they cut through the bumpy water with Romania getting a slight advantage at the start followed closely by Germany. However, unlike yesterday, Belarus was hanging on.

With half the race over Germany had a slight lead over Romania and the two leading boat began to move away from the rest of the field. This remained the name of the game to the line with Germany creating more distance between them and Romania.

Germany added another gold to their impressive medal tally. Romania finished second and Belarus was third.

Men’s Eight

Romania is yet to qualify for the Olympics and showed every indication of wanted to aim for this when they took on powerhouse Germany in the last race of the day.

Germany had snuck away to an early advantage in the choppy tail-wind conditions only to be overtaken first by Romania and then by France. This was the boost that German coxswain, Peter Thiede needed. As his crew moved into the third 500 metres of the race he challenged France and then went after Romania.

The Romanian’s, using an upright, shorter style that was in contrast to their women counterparts, kept the stroke rate high and the distance between them and Germany manageable. At the line Romania remained in first, Germany in second and a very happy France finished third.