World Rowing Championships - Race for lanes and Semi-Finals C/D

By Melissa Bray

The fourth day at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan opened with racing in the C/D semi-finals as crews aimed to earn a spot in the C Final. After an initial cloudy start the skies cleared and temperatures rose with it hovering in the low 30s degrees Celsius while on the water a tail-cross wind and a slight following current continued to see fast times.

The following race report follows the order that the races took place in starting at 9:30am local time.

Women's Four (W4-) ? Race for lanes

Giving us a sneak preview of what Saturday's final will hold, four crews raced for the first time for the practice and for lanes. Australia's crew already have Gifu racing experience as they have been competing in their country's eight and have already raced twice in the eight. Today they worked their way past a higher rating Germany to take the lead before the half way point.

Australia then settled into a comfortable 30 to 32 strokes per minute to finish first followed by Germany and then a distance back to Belarus.

Men's Coxed Pair (M2+) ? Race for lanes

Also racing for lanes in Saturday's final, the men's coxed four had three starters. Formerly an Olympic event, the coxed four has been slipping from popularity in recent years. Rowers in this event are often known for their leg power as they have to haul a 50 kg coxswain down the 2,000 metre course. Leading the field for the entire race was Australia stroked by 204 cm tall Sam Conrad. Conrad is used to rowing in coxed boats having competed last year at the World Rowing Championships to sixth position in the coxed four.

Italy, who are the defending champions in this event (but this year with a new crew), sat back tussling with the United States. Will this be the order on Saturday? Coming into the final 300 metres no crew was rating above 28 strokes per minute and must be saving themselves for the Saturday Final.

Lightweight Women's Single (LW1x) ? C/D semi-final

Two C/D semi-finals raced for a spot in the C Final and in the second race Italy's Giulia Cappabianca of Italy qualified with the fastest time. From Rome, Cappabianca raced last year at the Under-23 Regatta and here she is competing at her first World Rowing Championships. Japan and Tunisia also move on to the C Final from the second race.

Race one was not much more than a procession at the finish with Ilona Hiltunen of Finland in the lead after shaking off fellow Scandinavian, Sigrid Svarta of Denmark. Both rowers crossed the line rating a low 29 and both move on to the C Final.

Lightweight Men's Single (LM1x) ? C/D semi-final

Hong Kong China's Hiu Fung Law has been plugging away internationally since 2000 and today he raced to first in race one of two races for a spot in the C Final. Juan Estefanell Ucha of Spain hung on to Law for 1,500 metres, but then seemed content to let Law have it. Palestine's Mark Gerban will go down in history as the first Palestinian to row at the World Rowing Championships and today, from third position, he advances to the C Final.

The second race had Jacob Moeller of Denmark in the lead with Tunisia and India tussling for second. By the finish line it was an unexciting procession with Denmark very much in the lead, followed by Tunisia, then way back to India. All three crews move on to the C Final.

Lightweight Men's Eight (LM8+) ? Race for lanes

Two crews raced for lanes in Saturday's Final with Italy and Japan leaving the starting blocks together. At the other end of the 2,000 metre course the Japanese finished second to last year's silver medallists, Italy, Japan will still be getting cheers from the crowd when they race again. Coming into the finish Italy crossed the line comfortably in the lead rating a low 29 strokes per minute.

Men's Single Scull (M1x) ? C/D semi-final

Two races with the top three crews advancing to the C Final had Olympic gold medallist from the eight, Wyatt Allen of the United States, shaking off a fast starting Ronan Matthieu of France. Allen is coached by the famous Kris Korzeniowski who has been coaching in the US since 2001. Hungary's former World Champion from the double, Dr. Akos Haller also overtook France to finish second. All three boats advance to the C Final.

The second race was not much more than a procession after the half way point with Kostiantyn Zaitev of Ukraine in the lead, Poland's Adam Bronikowski (two-time Olympian in the quad) in second and 2002 Junior Champion Aleksandr Kornilov of Russia in third. The three move on to the C Final.

Men's Pair (M2-) ? C/D semi-final

Three boats would advance to the C Final and the United States, Lithuania and the Philippines all made a good race of it in the first of two races. Sprinting to the line the Philippines got their rating to 38 in the 100th race of the World Rowing Championships. These crews will meet again in the C Final.

The second race had Egypt do their signature fast start rating 45 strokes per minute and settling into a solid 36. This led the Netherlands to race for second and both boats will advance to the C Final.

Men's Double (M2x) ? C/D semi-final

It was a surprise to see Norway's Nito Simonsen and Morten Adamsen in this race as last year they were at the top of their game, racing with the very best in the Olympic Final. Today they held off Lithuania and Serbia & Montenegro, who both put up a solid challenge. All three crews advance to the C Final.

Nils Torolov Simonsen and Morten Adamsen of Norway in the men's double

In one of the tightest races of the morning three boats went for two spots with Switzerland's Olympic quad leftovers, Olivier Gremaud and Florin Stofer holding a small lead. Estonia then shook off a strong Korean challenge. Switzerland and Estonia advance to the C Final.

Lightweight Men's Double Scull (LM2x) ? C/D semi-final

Russia, Hong Kong China and Portugal went head to head for the full 2,000 metres with South Africa just on the edge of the three C Final qualifying spots. At the finish only two seconds separated the top three crews and they advance to the C Final.

Some close tussling during the first half of the second race turned into a procession in the second half with Ukraine in first, Slovenia in second and Spain back in third to move on to the C Final.

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