World Rowing Championships ? Final Day B-Finals

By Melissa Bray

The 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan started 45 minutes early in anticipation of unfavourable rowing weather. The B-finals opened the day of racing in tail wind conditions with cooler temperatures, in the mid-20s degrees Celsius.

Lightweight Men's Pair (LM2-)

The 47,000-strong audience had their Sunday kick into life with the first race of the day ending in an exciting photo finish between Daniel Harte and Paul Mattick of Great Britain and Damien Margat and Vincent Faucheux of France. Harte and Mattick got the lead at the start and maintained it through the middle of the race, but they were far from having the race sewed up. Just over two seconds separated the top five crews at this half way stage with the closest battle going on between France and the Netherlands for second.

The final sprint saw France move ahead of the Dutch and close on Great Britain. The two crews sat after the finish line waiting for the result. Great Britain had got there first. These surely must be crews to watch out for in the future.

Lightweight Women's Double Scull (LW2x)

Maria Sakellaridou of Greece raced at Athens in this event. Her then partner has moved into the single and Sakellaridou has teamed up with Alexandra Tsiavou. Today they stayed ahead of Great Britain to win the B-final and become seventh in the world for 2005. The second photo finish of the day recorded second going to Great Britain ahead of a sprinting Greece.

Lightweight Men's Double Scull (LM2x)

Racing for 7 ? 12 position Japan's most accomplished rower and father of three, Daisake Takeda with partner Takahiro Suda went up against Great Britain's Mark Hunter and James Lindsay-Flynn. Great Britain held the leaders psychological advantage but the Japanese were willing to sprint. Gaining, gaining and gaining, Japan's lower rating was cutting into Great Britain's margin. The usually calm Japanese commentator was not holding back. A photo finish at the line had Hunter and Lindsay-Flynn a nose ahead of Takeda and Suda.

Lightweight Men's Four (LM4-)

Half of the field had a go at the lead during some stage of this very tight race. Russia got off to the fastest start. Then the United States took over in the lead. Finally South Africa showed that they had the best endurance. But even in the closing metres five of the six boats were still within range of winning. South Africa held them off rating 42 to second placed Great Britain on 44 strokes per minute.

Women's Quad Sculls (W4x)

Italy was unlucky in their repechage when stroke seat, Bascelli's oar hit something that made her stroke falter. Today they wanted to come back for a better race. But Romania had different ideas and took off at the start in the lead with the aim to increase it. Italy could not catch them and finish second.

Men's Quad Scull (M4x)

Current Olympic Champions Russia led the B-final with Great Britain in hot pursuit. With half the race gone Russia's lack of endurance was showing and the Brits found the lead, holding it until the finish. Russia came in second with the United States coming through to third.

Women's Eight (W8+)

Belarus's single sculling hero, Ekaterina Karsten, showed her versatility when she filled in for an ill Natalia Helakh. The crew led Russia for the full 2,000 metres to cap off Karsten's World Rowing Championships with a seventh place in the eight.

Men's Eight (M8+)

Olympic finalists Canada and the Netherlands pushed each other with Canada retaining the edge throughout the race. As the two crews start the cycle leading up to Beijing they move on as 2005 seventh and eighth position on the world.

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