Denmark dominates lightweight events at the Rowing World Cup

Denmark dominated both lightweight double events. Australia showed their strength in the men’s pair and Ekaterina Karsten remained the queen of the single.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Final A

Beautiful conditions continued at the Rotsee for the women’s double and these conditions smiled on the Evers-Swindell twins from New Zealand. The Evers-Swindells are the reigning Olympic Champions but could only finish third at last year’s World Rowing Championships and then at their first international race of the season took silver behind the Chinese. Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell did what they liked to do best: they took the lead at the start and held it. Through the body of the race the New Zealanders sat on a solid 32 strokes per minute holding off Christiane Huth and Peggy Waleska of Germany with Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy grabbing tightly on to third.

Coming into the final sprint New Zealand remained in the lead with Italy putting Germany under threat. Huth and Waleska managed to hold off the young Italians and the final order is New Zealand first, Germany second and Italy third. Schiavone and Sancassani can lift their arms in triumph as it is unusual for Italian women to be standing on the medals podium at an international event. Huth and Waleska can be proud as they end the season as leaders of the World Cup series.

Evers-Swindell Sisters (NZL) – gold medal
“The race plan is “just go” because you never know what the other crews are going to do. We were expecting heats and semis to be a lot stronger. We definitely have the motivation, we are not lacking that. We have a few more weeks to get it faster. We don’t know how fast the Chinese and the Australians are.We don’t know [what we will do to prepare for Munich]. We hand it over to our coach, he has it under control. But we are starting tomorrow.”

Christiane Huth (GER) – silver medal
“I just want to make the race perfect, to see our differences and to see what we can do in the next part. We wanted to win but we knew that with New Zealand it would be very difficult. We had the strategy and we tried to follow it. We are definitely looking forward to the World Champs.”

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Final A

Right from the starter's green light the Estonians made no bones about their intentions. In the outside lane, indicating that they come to this final from finishing well down in the semifinal, Tonu Endrekson and Jueri Jaanson of Estonia took the lead. Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen of New Zealand, in their first international regatta together, are getting known for their fast starts but they couldn’t match the Estonians and sat in second. This left the reigning World Champions France and Olympic silver medallists Slovenia further back in the field.

Showing that their win at the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup was no fluke Estonia not only led but widened their lead. The 42-year-old Jaanson has spent his long career in the single, but the double with Endrekson, is serving him well. They sat on 35 strokes per minute through the body of the race.

Coming into the final sprint the only crew to really attack the Estonians was Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain. But Estonia popped their rating up to 39 and held the British off. Jaanson and Endrekson take gold, Wells and Rowbotham earn silver – and retain the World Cup leaders bib – and Slovenia’s Luka Spik and Iztok Cop take bronze.

Tonu Endrekson (EST) – 1st place
Q. What was your strategy?
“I don’t know, maybe the stroke had the strategy (laughing) and I just followed it. He’s an old fish they say (referring to Jueri Jaanson). We thought if we can be with the Slovenians in the first thousand we will be ok, because they are fast, but we were first on the first thousand.
Q: Were you nervous?
“Yesterday I was very nervous, but today not really.”

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Final A

Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson of the United States have been rowing together since 2006. As a combination they finished fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships in the pair and took gold in the eight at the same regatta. Today they took the lead at the start over 2005 World Champions Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand. Both crews left the starting blocks in the mid 40s, the New Zealanders rating a bit higher than the Americans.

At the half-way point Cooke and Mickelson still had a tiny edge rating a solid 35 strokes per minute. But then going through the 1200m mark Coles and Haigh pulled out a piece. The Americans couldn’t hold them off. With 500m left to row Coles and Haigh still had the lead. Both boats sprinted with the New Zealanders rating just a beat above Cooke and Mickelson. New Zealand take gold. The United States earn silver and a long gap back, 2004 Olympic Champions, Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania come out of retirement and straight into the medals – they take bronze.

Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles (NZL) – gold medal
“We do get a few quiet days after this. It is something we have been working on (finding more speed in the pair) and we’ve been doing a lot of kilometres until now. Our strategy going into this race is a secret."

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Final A

By luck of the draw and the plan of seeding Australia and New Zealand, the gold and silver medallists from last year’s World Rowing Championships, didn’t meet until today’s final. Duncan Free and Drew Ginn of Australia came out of the start in second with Canada, doing what looked like a ¾ slide stroke, taking the lead. But by the half-way point Ginn and Free had the lead. Settling into a comfortable 33 strokes per minute Ginn and Free had the psychological edge with France’s fast starters Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot in second.

Then the New Zealanders started to move. Winners of the last Rowing World Cup George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle of New Zealand pulled out a piece. Stroked by the powerful and tall Bridgewater, the New Zealanders moved into second. But Ginn and Free still looked in control and unrattled by the advancing Kiwis.

Coming into the final 250m Bridgewater and Twaddle attacked again. New Zealand’s rating rose to 39. The Australians reacted by lengthening their stroke and sitting on 38. Just 1:83 seconds separated these two crews at the line. Four athletes from the Southern Hemisphere take the top two spots. Peron and Cadot step up to third.

Erwan Peron (FRA) – bronze medal
Q: What is your next move in terms of training?
A: “We will go on a training camp with our National Federation. We will do cycling, weight training and be quiet for one or two days.”

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Final A

It only took about 30 strokes for Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus to get a boat length lead over the rest of the field. Karsten came out of the blocks at a solid 41 strokes per minute and separated herself from the rest of the field. As has been the way for the last two years, Karsten, in this event, is in a class of her own and she leaves the rest of the field to go for second and third spots.

Also showing incredible consistency, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic always takes silver when she races. What can the rest of the field do? What can the returning Bulgarian Rumyana Neykova do? What will Xiuyun Zhang of China be able to show?

This race panned out like all other women’s singles finals lately. Karsten held the lead. France’s Sophie Balmary gave it a good go at the start but then faded back. Knapkova pushed through to second. What was Neykova doing? The Bulgarian sat at the back of the field unable to hold anything near to the pace, but Zhang was moving. Pushing into second the tall slim, lone Chinese had overtaken Knapkova. Coming into the final sprint Karsten saw the fight between Knapkova and Zhang and upped her rating to 34 to stay clear of it. Knapkova sprinted hitting 41 strokes per minute. The top two positions remain the same: Karsten gold, Knapkova silver and Zhang earns her second medal of the season – this time bronze.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Final A

What went on early in the race barely had any meaning in this, the lightweight women’s double. The order of the top three boats remained absolutely unknown until the last stroke. This is how it unfolded.

From their middle-lane position Katrin Olsen and Juliane Rasmussen of Denmark left the starters hands at a cracking pace, their rating hitting the low 50s. Settling to 40 strokes per minute, Olsen and Rasmussen tried to find the lead. But it wasn’t to be. German’s Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger had the edge at the front of the field with the United States pulling into second.

Through the middle of the race Americans Wendy Tripician and Jana Heere who are in their first year on the US national team and already in their early 30s, took over in the lead. Tripician and Heere held that lead to an ever closing gap of three crews – Denmark, Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron and Germany. The gap continued to close as the finish line came into sight. The gap got smaller and smaller. Canada brought the rating up to 41 with 300m left to row, Denmark followed suit. At the line Denmark had done it. Olsen and Rasmussen earn their second gold medal of the season. Jennerich and Cameron earn their second medal of the season and Carow and Draeger take the bronze.

Lindsay Jennerich (CAN) – 2nd place
Q: What was your strategy going into the race and did you follow it?
“We have a tight plan and I would like to stick with it, we just gotta improve the physiology.”

Berit Carow (GER) – 3rd place
Q: What was your strategy going into today’s race?
“Get a little bit in front at the start and try to stay there and not do too much and then at the 1000m we wanted to make a solid move to push ahead and try to keep the speed all the time afterwards. And the for the sprint pushing harder every stroke for the finish line and hoping that other crews my fall apart.”

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Final A

Current World Champions, Denmark’s Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist took off out of the blocks at a solid 43 strokes per minute. But this was not nearly enough to give them the lead and the duo ended up sitting at the back of the field. Instead it was Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter who took off at a cracking pace with France following closely behind.

But the early speed by Purchase and Hunter was taking its toll. As World Rowing’s featured athlete of the month Mads Rasmussen and partner Quist settled into their stride they moved comfortably into first with the rest of the field unable to react. Coming into the final sprint Rasmussen and Quist had nearly a boat length lead over Australia who now sat in second. The sprint began. Sitting side by side in lane one and two Australia and Great Britain tackled each other. Their duel totally missed the storm brewing on the other side of the course. Hungary (Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga) have barely had any impact this or last season despite becoming World Champions in 2005. Today they were changing that. Moving into sprint mode Hirling and Varga popped the rating up to above 40 strokes per minute and let loose.

At the line Rasmussen and Quist had won – again. Hirling and Varga take second and Purchase and Hunter win the battle against Australia on the final stroke to earn bronze.