World Rowing Championships Begin

By Melissa Bray

A day later than originally planned, the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan opened today in perfect conditions with barely a whiff of wind. Fast times demonstrated the level of athlete ability and maybe a hint of a current on the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course.

Starting off with the first round of heats, crews raced for a spot in the final or semi-final, decided by the number of entries in each event.

Spanish lightweight single sculler Teresa Mas de Xaxares Rivero

Lightweight Women's Single (LW1x)

Hammond wears her cooling jacket after racing

Nineteen countries lined up in four heats with the goal being a top two finish necessary for the athletes to miss the repechage and go on the direct route to the semi-final.

One of the strongest rowing nations in the world Germany got the ball rolling in heat one when Laura Tasch led the way settling into a solid 34 strokes per minute through the body of the race. But her early enthusiasm was a bit too enthusiastic and Tasch's inexperience showed through as first Bénédicte Luzy-Dorfman of France then Teresa Mas De Xaxars Rivero of Spain pushed past. Head-to-head, Luzuy-Dorfman and Mas De Xaxars Rivero crossed the line in a photo finish with only 1/100 of a second separating them to take the top two qualifying spots.

Heat two featured favourite for this event, Marit Van Eupen of the Netherlands who won last month at the BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. Van Eupen has moved back to the single following an Athens Olympic bronze medal in the double. After shaking off a fast starting Ismaray Marrero Aria of Cuba, Van Eupen worked her way to a clear lead with Marrero settling solidly into second. Keep an eye out for the long-legged 23 year old Marrero. She has already competed at one Olympic Games and earlier this season she medalled at the first stage of the Rowing World Cup in Eton.

Switzerland's Lea Fluri has stepped up a notch this season and in heat three Fluri showed she meant business by leading from start to finish over Croatia's single sculling stalwart of ten years, Mirna Rajle. Despite a challenge by Marika Page of the United States at her first international event, the more experienced Fluri and Rajle move on to the semi-final.

It took until heat four for the fastest qualifying time to be recorded when Great Britain's Jo Hammond and Chrysi Bisskitzi of Greece fought it out for the entire 2,000 metres. Despite Hammond and Biskitzi being easily in the two qualifying spots the two were merciless on each other finishing just 0.41 of a second apart in a fast 7.34 and a matching stroke rate of 35 at the finish line.

Lightweight Men's Single (LM1x)

Four heats representing 20 countries started with Greece's first Olympic medallist in rowing (lightweight men's double) Vasileios Polymeros leading the way. Portugal's Paulo Pereira Dos Santos held on to Polymeros's pace over the first 1,000 metres and then did just enough to hold off France. Pereira qualifies from second.

Mark Gerban competing for Palestine in the lightweight single

Heat two featured a hot three-way battle between Gerard van der Linden of the Netherlands who moves from racing last year at the Olympics in the lightweight four, Marcello Miani of Italy who moves into the senior ranks after winning the World Rowing Under-23 Regatta last year and Peter Loerinczy of Hungary who won the Under-23 lightweight double in 2003 and 2004. The three boats knew that a top two finish would mean a day of rest and coming into the final sprint Loerinczy wanted it the most. Taking his rating to 39 as the bubble line approached, Loerinczy got just ahead to deny Miani of second. Van der Linden qualifies from first.

Ingo Euler of Germany wants to finish his rowing career at the top and in heat three he took the first step to do that. Leading over Tim Eichmann of Switzerland, the two scullers had such a good margin over the rest of the field that neither needed to sprint. Eichmann is in his first season as a single sculler and he moves on to the semi-final with Euler.

This year's Under-23 Champion, Zac Purchase of Great Britain got off to a fast start in heat four but with very little margin over Kazushige Ura of Japan and Lithuania's Rolandas Kazlauskas who, up until now, has been rowing for Hong Kong China. To the cheers of a large Japanese crowd, the three boats had nothing between them as they charged for the line. Ura was unlucky, finishing in third he will get another chance to qualify through the repechages.

 

Frenchwoman Sophie Balmary in the single

Women's Single Scull (W1x)

There were no surprises in the first two heats with heat one being led by the Czech Republic's Mirka Knapkova and the second by Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. The top three scullers from each heat would qualify and joining Knapkova from heat one was a clear water procession with Sweden's 24 year old Frida Svensson sitting in second and Rika Geyser of South Africa back in third. Surprisingly, Olympic finalist Nuria Dominguez Asensio of Spain was off the pace and will have to return to race the repechage.

Karsten's lead in heat two was not as formidable as sometimes seen as single sculling newcomer, Michelle Guerette of the United States sat just off Karsten's stern. Happy to sit in third Yulya Levina of Russia also qualifies from finishing third.

Is this going to be the season for Sophie Balmary? Balmary of France has moved into the single after spending Athens in the pair and since getting to the international level nine years ago, she has recorded a mixed bag of results. Today she comfortably led heat three over Germany's Peggy Waleska with Annie Vernon of Great Britain sitting in third. Both Waleska and Vernon have spent the season swapping between different sculling boats as their respective coaches work on finding the best combinations. For Waleska the single is her prefered boat even though coach Jutta Lau often makes the quad her priority.

Balmary, Waleska and Vernon advance to the semi-final.

Tim Maeyens of Belgium competing in the men's singles heat

Men's Single Scull (M1x)

Under-23 competitor and former Junior Champion Aleksandr Kornilov of Russia set the early pace of heat one. Only a first place finish guaranteed a spot in the semi-final and Kornilov wanted to give it a bash. An unruffled Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand let Kornilov do what he could and then with less than half of the race gone Drysdale had found the lead with David Crawshay of Australia chasing hard. Not quite hard enough ? Drysdale becomes the sole qualifier.

Once it was clear that Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic had a good lead the rest of the field seemed to leave him to it. Synek comes from competing in the double at last year's Olympics but the single has shown to suit him. He already has two Rowing World Cup gold medals this season. In second, and now preparing for the repechage, Tim Maeyens of Belgium took the pressure off in the closing stages of the race looking like he was feeling the heat a bit too much.

Dutch Under-23 Champion Sjoerd Hamburger gave Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway something to think about. With Tufte in the lead, Hamburger stuck doggedly to Tufte forcing the Norwegian to pull out a piece at the 1,250 metre mark to try and shake off Hamburger. The piece worked. Tufte moves on to the semi-final.

Former World Champion Marcel Hacker of Germany had a bad Athens Olympics. Missing the Olympic A-final Hacker is rebuilding his game and today he worked at holding off Sweden's Lassi Karonen to take the qualifying spot. Karonen put up a good fight and even held a small lead going through the middle of the race. Hacker recovered the lead and advances to the semi-final.

Australian women's pair: Sarah Outhwaite and Natalie Bale

Women's Pair (W2-)

In the first of two heats Australia's Sarah Outhwaite and Natalie Bale showed that winning at the Rowing World Cup in Eton wasn't a fluke. The duo from the same club in Perth had to shake off the new American pair of Lindsay Shoop and Caroline Lind. A better second half by the Australians forced Shoop and Lind to return for the repechage.

Olympic finalists Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand are the only remaining crew from that memorable race when Romania's Andrunache and Susanu added another Olympic gold to their collection. Today Romania's new crew of Rodica Florea and Simona Strimbeschi could not even get close to the New Zealanders and Coles and Haigh continue where they left off at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne ? in first and on their way to the final.

Manoj Augustine and Joshi Satish of India in the men's pair

Men's Pair (M2-)

Italy's new Technical Director, Beppe De Capua has been working on harmony and smoothness of the stroke. Luca Agamennoni and Dario Lari have been listening. In heat one Lari and Agamennoni pushed past a fast starting United States pair to take the lead using long smooth strokes. Two qualifying spots were available and it was Canada's Malcolm Howard and Chris Jarvis that overtook the United States in the final sprint to finish second and force the Americans to come back for the repechage.

It was no surprise in heat two when dual Rowing World Cup winners, New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater, took the lead. The New Zealanders were taking no chances and within the first few strokes they were in front, setting the pace at a solid 35 strokes per minute. This left Great Britain's Tom Broadway and Phil Simmons and the Czech Republic to fight it out for second. Simmons has raced most recently in his country's eight while Broadway is at his first World Rowing Championships and together they got the upper hand and move on to the semi-final.

Back on the international scene in style after a post-Athens break, Ramon Di Clemente and Donovan Cech are not only the flagship crew for South Africa but also the African continents most successful rowers. Today they led heat three from start to finish with Greece's new pairing of Nikos Pagounis and Ioannis Christou overtaking Australia to take second.

Croatia's Niksa and Sinisa Skelin finished second at Athens and warmed into their next four year cycle towards Beijing with a win in heat four. But Slovenia's Gregor Novak and Bostjan Bozic kept the race well and truly alive by challenging the Skelins. Both crews move on to the semi-final.

Women's Double Sculls (W2x)

At the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne New Zealand's Caroline and Gerogina Evers-Swindell lost their first race in three years to Miglena Markova and Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria, but only by a whisker. As a consequence of pre-heats seeding, New Zealand was in heat one and Bulgaria in heat two of the two heats that made up this event. The Evers-Swindell come to Japan after spending the last six weeks fine tuning back in New Zealand's winter. Neykova and Markova finished their training in Bulgaria doing time trials to decide if the double was the way to go rather than Neykova racing her trademark boat, the single.

Both countries easily won their heat to go directly to the final. Respective coaches, Dick Tonks for New Zealand and Svilen Neykov (Neykova's husband) for Bulgaria will be pouring over the results sheets to see who may have the edge in the final. In the very fair conditions on Nagaragawa International Regatta Course it looks like the Bulgarians have a slight advantage with their time two and a half seconds faster than the New Zealanders. The question is, were both crews racing full out? New Zealand crossed the line doing 26 strokes per minute while the Bulgarians were keeping well out of reach of Great Britain in second and rating 32. The answer will be revealed in the final.

Brothers Martin and Ivo Yanakiev of Bulgaria in the men's double

Men's Double (M2x)

Four heats with a total of nineteen nations began their progression to World Champion status opening with Christian Schreiber and Rene Burmeister of Germany leading heat one. Behind them the real race was going on for second and the only other semi-final qualifying spot. Hungary's Gabor Bencsik and former World Champion partner Tibor Petoe had to work their way past Serbia & Montenegro, then the United States to find that position. Germany and Hungary move on to the semi-final.

Cop and Spik move into another Olympic cycle at the head of their game. In heat two Iztok Cop and Luka Spik (gold in 2000, silver in 2004) led from the start over Stijn Smulders and Christophe Raes of Belgium. Both crews now move one step closer to the 2005 World Rowing Championships final by reserving a spot in the semi.

Following in the footsteps of their Olympic Champion predecessors, Adrien Hardy and Sebastien Vieilledent, France's Jonathan Coeffic and Jean-Baptiste Macquet won heat three by overtaking Dmitro Prokopenko and Volodimir Pavolovskij of Ukraine who medalled at the BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Munich. Both boats move on to the final despite a strong challenge from Poland in the close of the race.

Heat four was all about Russia's Denis Kleshnev and Nikita Morgatchev and Italy's luca Ghezzi and Federico Gattinoni. The hunched Russian crew had the early advantage before Italy took over and moved their boat further into the front of the field. Both boats will move on to the semi-final.

This event is shaping up to be a hot semi-final as only one and a half seconds separate the times of the top boats.

Dutch men's four: Geert Cirkel, Jan-Willem Gabriels, Matthijs Vellenga, Gijs Vermeulen

Men's Four (M4-)

The Netherlands has taken three of their Olympic silver medal eight members and stuck them in the four this year with the addition of Geert Cirkel. Together in heat one they led a tight race over Italy. Despite two spots being up for grabs for advancement to the semi final, both crews raced hard so that at the finish the Dutch boat had recorded the fastest qualifying time of the three heats.

Lining up in heat two Great Britain's 2005 unbeaten four of Andy Hodge, Alex Partridge, Peter Reed and Steve Williams got off the start line rating 46 strokes per minute. But Switzerland, on 44, left even faster. This didn't last long as Great Britain pulled into the lead. By the half way point the Czech Republic had secured the second qualifying spot with Slovenia fighting hard to overtake. At the finish Great Britain remained in first with the Czechs holding their own in second.

In the third and final heat of the day the United States were taken by surprise when instead of the usual fight with Canada, New Zealand had the lead. This was all to change as the New Zealanders started to tire in the second half of the race. The United States pushed into the lead with Denmark following the American example and Canada also on the pace.

At the line the United States and Denmark were the two qualifying boats and also the only boats from their respective countries to qualify today.

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