Racing for seventh place at the Rowing World Cup

This is the last day of racing at the third and final stage of the 2009 Rowing World Cup and, as rain subsided, the B Finals got under way in flat calm conditions.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

The relatively small Chinese team here at the final Rowing World Cup are all preparing for their National Games later this year. They are racing for their provinces and for some this year it is their first time to row internationally. China’s Xiaojie Liu and Xiaobei Yin came through as the winners of today’s B Final after working their way past Belarus and France. Liu and Yin have not raced together in the pair before this regatta and, although they looked a bit rough around the edges, the duo used their power to get to the finish line in first. The smoother looking Nina Bondarava and Natallia Koshal of Belarus came through in second.

Results: CHN2, BLR, FRA, CZE

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Greece has stepped up a peg at this regatta and today their second crew won the B Final of the men’s pair. Stergios Papachristos and Gerogios Tziallas are normally in their country’s four but head coach Gianni Postiglione is trying different combinations before choosing the final Greek team for the World Rowing Championships. The four finished third at the first Rowing World Cup. Papachristos and Tziallas worked their way through France and Italy to reserve the front position and finish this regatta seventh overall.

Also worth noting is Lukasz Kardas and David Paczes of Poland. This Polish duo came through from the back of the field to finish second.

Results: GRE2, POL, FRA2, ITA

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

When Great Britain’s Annie Vernon pulled out for medical reasons Rosamund Bradbury was brought in to join Anna Bebington in the country’s top double. They performed a commendable effort by leading the B Final from start to finish and crossing the line in first meant they earned one World Cup point for their country. Bebington will join again with Vernon in preparation for the World Rowing Championships. Denmark tracked the British closely down the course to finish in second, while Beijing Olympic lightweight medallists, Finland, now rowing openweight, finished third.

Results: GBR, DEN, FIN, SUI

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

The local spectators brought out their cow bells for this race. Leading the way were Florian Stofer and Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland. Vonarburg has been Switzerland’s top single sculler ever since the retirement of Xeno Mueller, but he has decided that he has gone as far as possible in the single and wants now to row in a team boat. Vonarburg teamed up with former sweep rower, Florian Stofer. Stofer was injured earlier this season, so the duo has not been able to row as much as they wanted together. They rowed a very tight semi-final yesterday and today comfortably led the B Final.

Behind Switzerland an incredibly tight battle went on between Poland, Belarus, the United States and Germany. Only two seconds separated these four crews at the line.

Results: SUI, POL, BLR, USA, GER2, CZE

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

This race began in a very tight six-way battle and ended in an even tighter two-way fight. Switzerland’s Regina Naunheim came out in the lead before Juliane Domscheit of Germany pushed ahead. Then Tale Gjoertz of Norway used a very strong middle 1,000m to get her nose ahead of Domscheit. Nineteen-year-old Gjoertz medalled as a junior last year and this is her first time racing at the senior level internationally. The student from Aalesund looks to be a rower to watch out for in the future. Both Gjoertz and Domscheit shifted their stroke rate to 36 in the final metres of the race. Gjoertz had just a smidgen of an edge.

Results: NOR, GER2, SUI, EST, GER1, POL

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

An injury earlier this year set Olympic sculler Lassi Karonen of Sweden back a notch. Today in the B Final Karonen left the starting blocks relatively cautiously. But Karonen’s strength and skill had him in the lead of this B Final coming into the middle of the race. Behind Karonen, fellow Scandinavian Nils Jakob Hoff of Norway2 hung closely to the Swede. Coming into the final sprint, Karonen looked relaxed and in control, rating 36. Watch out for Karonen at the World Rowing Championships. There is every possibility that the Swede will be back on form.

Results: SWE, NOR2, IRL, USA, ARG, GRE

Men’s Four (M4-)

With the Czech Republic out of this race for medical reasons, the three remaining crews made the best of this race matching each other through the first half of the race. Italy then slipped back a little off the pace leaving France2 and Poland to challenge each other through to the line. Stroked by 2004 Olympian Piotr Buchalski, Poland managed to keep their nose in front of France and then open up a two-second margin in the final sprint.

Results: POL, FRA2, ITA

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

Austria’s very experienced single sculler, Michaela Taupe-Traer is in the double at this regatta with Stefanie Borzacchini and together they took the lead ahead of Michelle Trannel and Kristin Hedstrom of the United States. Hedstrom comes through to senior racing from her country’s under-23 team, while the more senior, Trannel, 26, first made the US team in 2006. Today the Americans used a strong second 1,000m to push ahead of the Austrians and finish seventh overall at this regatta.

Results: USA, AUT, SWE1, HUN, NED, SUI

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Two-time Olympic Champion (2000, 2004) Robert Sycz of Poland has returned to rowing after an unsuccessful Beijing Olympics to join with new partner, Mariusz Stanczuk for another Olympic cycle. Today the duo got out to a fast start. By the half-way point China had closed the gap on Poland and sat right on their tail. Could Poland hold them off? Coming into the final sprint Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes of Portugal unleashed their trademark sprint. Poland couldn’t match it. China’s Hui Li and Tianfeng Dong take the seventh spot overall holding off Portugal’s 41 finishing stroke rate.

Results: CHN, POR, POL, GER2, AUT2, GER1

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

Japan raced a very solid semi-final yesterday, leading for much of the race. They tried this again today in the A Final. At the start, the Japanese were able to build up half a boat length lead and retain this through the middle of the race. But then the Dutch began to move through and coming into the final sprint there was very little between Japan and the Netherlands with Olympic medallists from Poland burning down the outside. The Dutch had the best sprint.

Results: NED, JPN, POL, SUI, BEL, NZL

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

France has been mixing up their quad and trying different seating arrangements. Today former doubles World Champions Adrien Hardy and Jean-Baptiste Macquet sat in stroke seat. Together they took the lead over Estonia and China. France’s Hardy and team mate Jean-Baptiste Macquet used to be their country’s top double, but this year they have missed out on that boat and join Jonathan Coeffic and Pierre-Jean Peltier in the quad. The French led for the entire race leaving China and Estonia to battle with each other.

Results: FRA, EST, CHN

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Two boats meant head to head racing for the United States and China. The US crew is being coached by recently hired new head coach Tim McLaren. McLaren is rebuilding this eight after numerous post-Olympic retirements. This is potentially not the final line-up for the World Rowing Championships in August. Final team selection does not happen until early August. Today the current US crew led the Chinese from start to finish but will not be happy in missing out on the A Final.

Results: USA, CHN