Aiming for Saturday afternoon's Finals

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls – Repechages

Four remaining spots in the Final meant a top two finish would be necessary in both repechages of the lightweight women’s single sculls.

Manuela Laimboeck from Austria is racing her first World Rowing regatta here at the Rowing World Cup in Munich. She finished second in her heat yesterday, behind Denmark’s experienced Olympian Juliane Rasmussen. In the first repechage, the Czech Republic’s Klara Janakova steadily followed Laimboeck. These two crews crossed the finish line more than three lengths ahead of the rest of the field. They will meet again in this afternoon’s Final.

Repechage Two was all about the Germans: Daniela Reimer and Laura Tibitanzl. Daniela Reimer is a World Champion and Olympic silver medallist in the lightweight double while Tibitanzl is a regular medallist in the lightweight single at World Cup and under-23 level. Reimer led the race from the start, with Tibitanzl following closely behind. At the line, they both qualified for the Final, in safe distance from the rest of the field.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls – Semifinals

Duncan Grant of New Zealand and Adam Freeman Pask of Great Britain finished first in their respective heats yesterday.  Duncan Grant is a two-time World Champion in this boat class and racing his first 2009 international regatta while Freeman Pask is a relative newcomer at World Rowing senior level and was a World Cup bronze medallist a few weeks ago in Banyoles. Grant led the field in world champion style and by the half-way mark was almost one length clear of Adam Freeman-Pask, behind in second. Austria’s Florian Berg moved up the ranks steadily throughout the race, overtaking Serbia’s Lukas Babac and Germany’s Felix Oevermann to take the third and final qualifying spot for this afternoon’s A Final.

Daisaku Takeda from Japan is the older rower in this field of lightweight single scullers, with two Olympic Games under his belt. Ondrej Luzek from the Czech Republic did not let the stature of the Japanes unfaze him, nearly overtaking Takeda during the race. But Takeda resisted the challenge and stayed in the lead. The Czech finished in second, while Austria’s Joschka Hellmeier took the final qualifying spot for the Final.