One step closer to Olympic qualification for rowers

This day saw a mixture of repechages and semifinals. This meant a sudden-death scenario. Not making it into the top three of each semifinal ended the Olympic qualification bid. Not making the standard in the repechages also meant the end of any Olympic dream for 2008. Racing was intense and the atmosphere tense.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Repechages

Repechage One
Iva Obradovic of Serbia got into single sculling at the under 23 level and became an under-23 World Champion. She continued in this event and just missed out on Olympic qualification last year when she finished 14th overall. Today, Obradovic did everything possible to move closer to Olympic qualification. She got out to an early lead ahead of Russia’s Olympic medallist Julia Levina and kept the pressure on to keep her boat in front.

With only the top two able to move on to the final, the stakes were high and Belgium’s Annick De Decker, in third, was having the race of her life. Putting the pressure on Levina through the 1500m mark, De Decker went for broke. But the Belgian couldn’t maintain the pressure. Obradovic and Levina qualify for the final and keep their Olympic hopes alive.

Repechage Two
Four years ago Nuria Dominguez Asensio made Spanish history by being the first Spanish woman to make an Olympic rowing final. Today Dominguez aimed for her second Olympic Games. But it was Kristina Stiller of Great Britain that aggressively jumped out at the start. By half way, however, the more experienced Dominguez had the lead and moved away from the rest of the field. Stiller tried to hold on but Dominguez was dominating. The early pace set by Stiller was starting to show and Denmark’s Ulla Hvid had spotted it. Coming into the final sprint Hvid raised her rate to 38 and put her whole body into it. A photo finish at the line gave Hvid second and the chance to advance to the final. Dominguez moves to the final from first. Unlucky Stiller will now have to aim for the 2012 Olympics.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One
To move on to the final a top three finish was required. Slovenia’s Andraz Krek has slotted into the single for his country now that Iztok Cop is tied up in the double. World junior medallist (2006 bronze), Krek has been allocated the single spot for Slovenia and today he made the best of it by jumping out and into the lead. Andrei Jaemsae of Estonia tracked closely behind Krek with Damir Martin of Croatia challenging Jaemsae. Krek, Jaemsae and Martin moved away from the rest of the field. Both Krek and Jaemsae were out of racing last year due to Krek being in a car accident and Jaemsae having an operation.

The order at the end would be academic but it didn’t stop all three athletes going for broke. At the line only half a second separated Krek, Jaemsae and Martin. Jaemsae looked the smoothest at his 35 stroke rate. Jaemsae finishes first, Krek second and Martin third. They move on to the final.

Andraz Krek, SLO
“I’m very very happy because I have come back after an accident last year. When we were coming home from the race in Amsterdam [Rowing World Cup] and had an accident in the van we were driving, I broke my shoulder. I started rowing again in October. Before that I was only able to run. So I am very happy today and I am still young [20 years old]. Now I only have to take third [in the final] for Beijing.”

Andrei Jaemsae, EST
“I am happy because it was a good result. It wasn’t easy. I think though I still have more for tomorrow. Everyday it is improving in the boat for me. Last year I had an operation so now I’m very happy because this year I was able to train more.”

Semifinal Two
Coming through to this semifinal Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania has been looking good. Griskonis had a positive 2007 season finishing second at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and second at the European Championships. Today the Lithuanian led the second semifinal. Behind Griskonis Greece’s Ioannis Christou and Kenneth Jurkowski of the United States went head to head. Christou only recently started training in the single after losing his doubles partner who was tested positive to a masking agent.

Coming into the second half of the race Griskonis remained in the lead and Christou began to shake off Jurkowski who was now being challenged by the very experienced Ralph Kreibich of Austria. Jurkowski fought back. Kreibich did not have the sustainability. Griskonis, Christou and Jurkowski advance to the final. Unlucky Kreibich will not make the Olympics this year.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Semifinals

Semifinal One
Canada’s Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen both raced at the Athens Olympics. Calder retired directly after following a disappointing disqualification for going crooked and hindering another crew. Calder only came back to rowing late last year. Frandsen raced in the eight at Athens and has spent the last three years swapping between the pair, eight and four. This combination has gelled incredibly well and they took the lead ahead of Switzerland’s Florian Stofer and Stefan Sax and the Chinese, Lin Wu and Shunyin Zhang.

By the half-way point Wu and Zhang had moved ahead of Stoffer and Sax. These three crews now looked to be the three crews that would advance to the final as Hungary, in fourth, fell off the pace. At the line Canada, China and Switzerland advance to the final.

Florian Stofer, SUI
“The Chinese had a good step up from Munich to Lucerne and from Lucerne to this Qualification regatta. That was only the semi, not the final. Tomorrow is the race for go or no go. And it is the race that matters. There are two places and we’ll be going for that.”

Seminfinal Two
It is difficult not to support the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Chalupa. The 40-year-old has raced at five Olympic Games, four of them in the single. His change to sweep rowing this year has seen some positive results. With partner Jakub Makovicka, the Czechs got off to a slow start in fourth position behind Italy, Ireland and Spain. Coming through the middle of the race Chalupa and Makovicka had moved into second as Italy’s Giuseppe De Vita and Raffaello Leonardo remained in the lead.

As the boats passed the 1500m mark, full-on sprints began. There were four boats in the running for three spots – the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Ireland. Spain’s Noe Guzman Del Castillo and Pedro Rodriguez Aragon got to 46 strokes per minute, Ireland were higher. At the line the Czechs finish first, Italy second and Spain, in a photo finish with Ireland, take the third spot. For Chalupa this is his first ever time to have to go through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. Both Chalupa and Makovicka have just had babies, Makovicka two weeks ago and Chalupa five weeks ago.

Jakub Makovicka, CZE
“It is nice to win but the important race is tomorrow and qualifying for Beijing. We must stay cool. We are rowing for fun.”

Raffaello Leonardo, ITA
“We know that the Czech Republic is one of the contenders for the two places and we lost in Munich to them but we beat them in an international race in Italy this year. I’m happy with our race today because we were in the lead and were easily in the final. It will be a tough race tomorrow for the two spots.”

Noe Guzman Del Castillo, ESP
“We are happy because we did a good time. We had a hard race but we were training very hard this winter. I think with the pressure of this regatta (to qualify) it makes it more difficult. We’ve been preparing for just this regatta all year. If we get an Olympic position it is wonderful. If we don’t, it is the end of our year.”

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Repechages

The top four boats would advance to the final and coming through the first 500m, three seconds separated the field of six. By the half-way point Switzerland’s Regina Naunheim and Nora Fiechter had inched into the lead, just a smidgen ahead of Marie Le Nepvou and Caroline Delas of France. Naunheim and Fiechter finished 10th at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup so their country’s selectors gave them the nod to race here.

Coming into the last 300m there were four boats clearly in the four top positions, but still these four raced it to the line. There is no room for taking anything for granted. Switzerland, France, Poland and Belarus move on to the final, finishing in that order.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Repechage

At the 2004 Olympic Games Bulgaria’s Ivo Yanakiev won bronze in the men’s single. Since joining with his brother Martin in the double, he has recorded mixed results. Last year at the Olympic Qualification regatta the Yanakievs did not finish. Today their challenge was to finish in the top four for advancement to the final.

Opening in the lead was Alexey Svirin and Alexander Kornilov of Russia. This line-up is different from the heats as Kornilov had “visa processing errors” and did not make it in time. A FISA executive committee decision has allowed Kornilov to race today. Obviously the visa problems had not hurt Russia’s motivation. They remained in the lead with only Bulgaria within striking distance. Bulgaria then did a piece through the 1400m mark and continued to move. At the line the Yanakievs take first, Russia earn second, Italy hold on to third and the Czech Republic, in fourth, are the last remaining boat that will get to advance to the final and keep their Olympic dreams alive.

The second repechage was cancelled after Uzbekistan did not make it into Poland due to visa issues.

Men’s Four (M4-) – Repechages

Repechage One
In the lead of repechage one was Argentina. They knew that there were only two spots available for advancement to the final and they decided that getting out in the lead at the start was the way to go. This looks to be a positive step up for the Argentineans who finished 11th earlier this season at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup. Ukraine followed closely behind Argentina.

Coming through the middle of the race the Egyptians started to move. Pacing themselves incredibly well Egypt had managed to overtake Ukraine and begin to close the gap on Argentina. Ukraine began to panic and look a little frazzled. Egypt looked smooth. Argentina, at 39 strokes per minute, remained in the lead. Argentina and Egypt advance to the final. At the line the four Ukrainian athletes slumped down in the boat. Their Olympic dreams will not be answered this year.

Repechage Two
In Canada the men’s eight is the priority boat and won last year at the World Rowing Championships. The four did not qualify for the Olympics so have come to Poznan to do just that. Right from the start Greece and Canada broke away from the rest of the field, Greece holding a small edge.

By the half-way point Canada had pushed past Greece and into first with the two boats continuing to move away from the rest of the field. Canada then began to open up and pull away from the Greeks. Meanwhile Croatia had picked up the pace and were giving it their all to catch the Greeks. Had they left it too late? Croatia was at 39, Greece held on. At the line Canada take first and Greece had just held off Croatia to take second. Sitting in three seat of the Croatian boat, Igor Boraska will not be going to his fourth summer Olympic Games.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Repechages

Repechage One
Poland have been regular A finalists in this event and Ilona Mokronowska has been a regular in this boat competing at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Just this year she has a new rowing partner, Weronika Deresz. Together they raced to fifth at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup. Today they led repechage one in front of the home crowd. With a top two position needed for advancement to the final, Poland was looking good. So was Belarus. Hanna Bandarevich and Snezhana Tishkevich had established themselves firmly in second and opened up over a boat length on Hungary in third. The order did not change. Poland and Belarus make the final.

Repechage Two
This race was closer than repechage one. Italy’s Erika Bello and Laura Milani along with Pamela Weisshaupt and Eliane Waser of Switzerland took over at the front of the field with New Zealand a bit back but chasing hard. By the half-way point Bello and Milani had the lead and were beginning to look comfortable. In the final sprint to the line Italy remained in first, with Switzerland holding off New Zealand for the second spot. New Zealand rated higher. Switzerland was stronger. Italy and Switzerland go to the final.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One
Coming into this qualification regatta New Zealand’s Storm Uru and Peter Taylor looked to be the crew to beat. They had finished second at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup proving their boat speed against the best in the world. Today they took over in the lead of semifinal one and were dominating the race even before they hit the first 500m mark. This left the rest of the field to fight for the remaining two spots that would mean advancement to the final. All remaining five boats were close to each other.

By the half-way point Spain’s Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez and Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans had moved into second with Slovenia following in third and Portugal now back a bit in fourth. Coming into the final sprint Uru and Taylor looked comfortable at a steady 36 stroke rate that they had maintained down the course. Then Portugal’s Pedro Fraga Nuno Mendes charged. Rating 39 the Portuguese had closed on Slovenia and were coming after Spain. At the line Slovenia had missed out. New Zealand, Portugal and Spain earn the vital A-Final spots.

Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans, ESP
“Portugal was a surprise…on Sunday we won the heat [Portugal was fifth]. We know all six or seven teams are all close in times and we know that Portugal has a good final 500m sprint. We felt it was easier on Sunday than today. We know it is a very close race for the three spots. It is possible New Zealand will be ahead a few seconds but it will be very close racing for the rest of the field.”

Semifinal Two
Slovakia and Turkey shot out at the start of semifinal two with Canada just a fraction back. This is Canadian Douglas Vandor’s second chance at trying to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and with new partner Cameron Sylvester he is looking strong. By the half-way point the Canadians had found the lead with now the Czechs stepping up the pace into second. Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik of the Czech Republic are former under 23 champions and, on a good day, they have the boat speed that could get them through to the Olympics.

Coming into the final sprint a flurry of four boats were fighting for three spots. Canada remained in the lead, the Vetesniks followed in second and Lukas Babac and Maros Sloboda of Slovakia found themselves under huge pressure from Turkey. At the line Canada, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were very happy. Turkey was devastated.

Lukas Babac, SVK
“I’m not really happy with this result. We were expecting a little better. We have enough power to bring up the rate and usually we can do it for the final 500m but this time our rate was only higher for the last 200m. The Turkish guys did really good at the end so we had to pick it up just a little bit.
With the three spots it is all really close. We had four boats not much more than one second apart in this race. It’s going to be close and I feel that we’ve saved enough power for the final so we’ll see.”

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Repechages

Repechage One
Spain finished a relatively average 11th at the Munich Rowing World Cup earlier this season. Today they made a huge impression by leading repechage one from start to finish. This young crew plus the experienced Alberto Dominguez Lorenzo were being pushed hard by Switzerland. Together Spain and Switzerland moved away from the rest of the field taking up the two spots that would enable them to move on to the final.

Coming into the final sprint Spain and Switzerland were taking no chances and kept the rating high, Spain hitting 43 strokes per minute. South Africa then began to really move. They had let open water form between themselves and Switzerland but now they were closing fast. The South African, however, had left it too late. Spain and Switzerland advance to the final. South Africa just miss out on making the final.

Repechage Two
The Czech Republic jumped out to an early lead with the nearest challenges coming from Ukraine and Greece. As the half-way point came into sight Ukraine had slipped back into fourth and Greece and Serbia had moved up to challenge the Czechs. A strong piece in the third 500 by Serbia could not be matched by the high-rating Czechs, and Serbia moved into the lead.

Serbia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine all charged for the line. Serbia cross first, the Czech Republic hold on to second and unlucky Ukraine just miss out finishing third.

Veljko Urosevic, SRB
“It was a bit better than yesterday, still we didn’t do so well in the first 1000m and had to catch up, be we hope it will continue to go better for tomorrow. It’s been going well but we’ll see – we had a good season coming back last year. We were in Athens and took two years off. We needed time off, but we trained hard this year to catch up to the teams that didn’t take time off.”

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Repechage

This repechage required a top four finish. Two boats would miss out. Slovenia appeared to be the most experienced. They finished fourth in Munich and established themselves in the lead of this race very early on. Going through the middle of the race all six boats were still in striking distance of making it into the top four. Romania and China were a little bit back but were still well in touch. Then Romania and China began to falter. Slovenia looked very comfortable in the lead. Great Britain, who had established themselves in second, had a nice rhythm and did not appear to be under any pressure. Argentina and Egypt tussled for third.

At the line Slovenia take first, Great Britain second, Argentina third and Egypt fourth.

Jernej Jurse, SLO
“We had a very fast first 500m. We have more in the tank for the final 500 still. For the final we will try to take over Belarus (winner of heat one yesterday) and see how it goes.”

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Repechage

The top four would advance to the final. Two boats would miss out and lose their chance at an Olympic berth. Croatia, who medalled at the 2000 Olympics in this event, took off in the lead followed closely by Switzerland and Belarus. Going through the middle of the race this had all changed. Croatia remained in the lead but Switzerland had slipped back to fourth and Italy had moved up from the back of the field and into second.

Now that Italy had some momentum they were not stopping. Coming into the final sprint Italy challenged Croatia for first. Croatia could not hold the charging Italians off. In a flurry of blades and bodies, Italy take first at the line, Croatia earn second, Estonia move up from the back of the field, rating 39, to take third and Switzerland sneak through to qualify from fourth. This is a real bonus for Italy and Switzerland whose eights are no longer their country’s priority boat. This is also a bonus for Estonia. The small, country of just one million inhabitants will be proud to have gone so far in this big boat class.