International events race their finals on the Rotsee

Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (LW1x) – Final A

A duo of Dutch and Danish led the field until the 1500m mark, followed by France, a length down. Two-time and reigning World Champion, Marit van Eupen clearly led throughout the first A Final of the last Rowing World Cup for 2007 after winning her semifinal earlier today. Denmark's Maria Pertl won silver in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan, and then moved to the lightweight single last year.

French rower Benedicte Dorfman, winner of semifinal one, is now back in the lightweight single for the first time since winning World Championship silver number three in the lightweight single in Gifu nearly two years ago. Leaving the lightweight double, she has returned to her most successful international boat. With a perfectly timed execution, Dorfman picked up her stroke rate in the last few hundred metres, overtaking Denmark and finishing in silver medal position behind the Netherlands.

Benedicte Dorfman (FRA):
"I'm happy to be back in the lightweight single and enjoy results from the single rather than the double. The race was hard because I was pushed from the Danish girl (Pertl) as well as pressure to hold on to Marit Van Eupen."

Lightweight Men's Single Sculls (LM1x) – Final A

This fight for medals was all about New Zealand, as the better New Zealand boat would earn the right to compete at the upcoming World Rowing Championships in Munich. Duncan Grant was rowing as New Zealand1. Bronze medallist at last year's World Rowing Championships and gold medallist at the Rowing World Cup in Amsterdam, he clearly proved his skill from the first to the last stroke of the race.

Storm Uru in Kiwi boat two had firmly secured second place and was not about to give in to Italy's Lorenzo Bertini, behind in third up until the 1500m point. In a surprise move up the field, Jaap Schouter of the Netherlands overtook Italy in the last 200 metres and finished in bronze, leaving Italy behind in fourth.

Grant finishes at the head of the field with gold, two lengths ahead of Uru, in silver position.

Lightweight Men's Pair (LM2-) – Final A

Apart from leaders Armando Dell'Aquila and Andrea Caianiello of Italy, the lightweight men's pair final could have been anyone's race for second. In the end the top two medals went to Italy and Great Britain. Both crews have won gold this season, Italy at the Rowing World Cup in Linz, and Great Britain in Amsterdam, and both won their heats yesterday, thus directly qualifying for today's A Final.

Australia started out in third place and moved up to second by the 1500m point, but the dream of bronze would not be. With 250 metres left, Great Britain's Matt Beechey and Daniel Harte attacked. So did Germany's Felix Otto and Stefan Mlecko. The British and Germans moved up from third and fourth to grab silver and bronze behind winners Italy.

Women's Four (W4-) – Final A

A race for lanes yesterday assigned the three competing crews in this boat class to lane one for Germany, the middle lane to Great Britain, and lane three to Italy. Winners of yesterday's race Great Britain led for the first 500 metres, but soon fell behind and into second.

Germany, with 2006 world silver medallists from the eight Nina Wengert in bow and Nadine Schmutzler in stroke, found new energy after competing in the women's pair repechage earlier this afternoon. Moving up from second place to take first with 1500m to go, they stayed in the lead until the line, followed by Great Britain, and Italy, who had stuck to bronze medal position throughout.

Nina Wengert, Silke Guenther, Kerstin Naumann & Nadine Schmutzler (GER)
"We already raced today and were not satisfied with our results in the pair so are excited about doing well in this four."

Men's Coxed Four (M4+) – Final A

One World Champion featured in Germany's boat. Stephan Koltzk was a member of the 2006 World Champion men's eight and he was determined to prove his worth in the men's coxed four, after racing in the men's eight at the Rowing World Cups in Linz and Amsterdam earlier this season. By the half-way point the Germans had secured the lead and stayed in the gold medal spot until the line. Medals silver and bronze turned out to be pre-assigned to the Netherlands and Italy early on in the race.

Christof Coenders, Reinder Lubbers, Sander Smulders, Rogier Blink, Hergen Meijer (NED):
"We're happy about our finish and prepared for this race by doing a lot of short and powerful pieces before this weekend's regatta." 

Lightweight Women's Quadruple Sculls (LW4x) – Final A

In the Race for Lanes yesterday, Great Britain's Sophie Hosking, Laura Greenhalgh, Mathilde Pauls and Jane Hall qualified for the favoured middle lane start today. Making their intention to win gold clear to the rest of the field from the start, they led throughout, with a small exception… With only 250m left to row, the Netherlands charged, overtaking the Brits, but the Brits would have none of it and held their fort, making it to the line first, ahead of the Netherlands and Germany.

Lightweight Men's Quadruple Sculls (LM4x) – Final A

The Italians have more medals in this event than they can count. Two-seat Daniele Gilardoni has topped the list of top 10 male rowers for 2006 thanks to the seven World Championship medals he won as a member of this boat for nearly a decade. The Italians have also been holding the World Best Time in this event since 1992, one of the longest standing times in any boat class.

Yesterday, they qualified directly for the final by winning their heat, as did Great Britain's Simon Jones, Robert Williams, Chris Bartley and Dave Currie. But Germany2 seemed to have the most energy to fight for silver, despite having to race in the repechage yesterday, and they led Great Britain for three-quarters of the race. The positions remained unchanged at the line. Italy wins gold, Germany silver and Great Britain bronze.

Lightweight Men's Eight (LM8+) – Final A

Italy are the reigning World Champions, but Germany wanted gold. And so Germany took the lead but Italy stayed on their toes for the whole race. Appearing to loose a bit of stamina with less than 250m left to row, Italy suddenly found themselves behind the Netherlands in third. Fighting back, Italy overtook the Netherlands and finished just two seconds behind gold medallists Germany. The traditional throwing of the cox from the podium into the water had to be slightly postponed until the condition of one of the German crew members who had collapsed from the long-hauled effort stabilised.

This is 2000m racing at its best.