Lightweights take over the course at the Munich Rowing World Cup

Times reflected this general dislike with the women single scullers taking over nine minutes to get down the course, while the men in the singles were still rowing after eight minutes. Still, the sun shone and more boats qualified for tomorrow’s Finals.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Semifinal

Narrowed down to the Final 12 rowers, two semifinals opened with a flying start by Michaela Taupe-Traer of Austria in semifinal one. The only rower that was able to react to this fast start was Mathilde Pauls of Great Britain and by the half-way point Pauls had not only gained the lead, but was also moving away from the Austrian. Meanwhile, the only other boat in for a shot at the Final qualifying position was Hua Yu of China. Pauls remained in the lead, Yu closed the gap on Taupe-Traer, the order remained the same. Pauls, Taupe-Traer and Yu move on to the Final.

Times remained slow with these lightweight rowers taking more than nine minutes to cover the 2000m course. Germany’s Laura Tibitanzl gave it her best shot to get her boat humming along in semifinal two as she moved into the lead. Weronika Deresz of Poland also got off to a solid start with New Zealand’s Candice Hammond also hitting the opening pace. The leading order did not change through the middle of the race, but this was about to change. Great Britain’s number one boat, Andrea Dennis (fifth in 2007) was moving into a solid piece and had overtaken Deresz, pushed past Hammond and began to close on Tibitanzl. Coming into the Final sprint, Deresz stopped rowing momentarily with 350m left to row. Tunisia was also barely moving. Tibitanzl was sprinting for her life to hold off Dennis. Tibitanzl, Dennis and Hammond qualify for the Final.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Semifinal

Last year’s World Champion Duncan Grant of New Zealand dominated every race of the international season, not losing one. Today, in semifinal one, Grant seemed to have lost some of his strength. Was he feeling the injury that had kept him out of the lightweight double? This opened up the head of the field to Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands (third in 2007). Schouten made the most of it, pulling away from Grant in second with Tianfeng Dong, 21, of China following in third. Schouten continued to move away from the rest of the field and did not need to sprint the finish. Dong moved ahead of Grant with 500m left to take second and Grant did just enough to hold off a charging Japan. Schouten, Dong and Grant go to the Final. This will be a big boost for Schouten .

The Netherlands made it a double header. Semifinal two was won by under-23 silver medallist Frederik Heijbrock. Pierre-Etienne Pollez of France, however, gave Heijbrock a solid run for his money. Pollez opened up in the lead before a push after the 500m mark set up by Heijbrock in front. The unrelenting Pollez held on and in the process left the rest of the field behind which included three Austrian boats. In the closing 500m of the race Pollez did a Final push and then let it go with 50m remaining. Heijbrock takes first, Pollez second and Austria’s number one boat, Sebastian Sageder qualifies for the Final in third.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Repechage

A top two finish was necessary for advancement to the Final and in the first of two repechages the Netherlands got off to a flying start. Italy Three of Fabrizio Gabriele and Luigi Scala was not letting the Dutch get away and by the half-way point Italy had the lead. France’s Jeremy Pouge and Vincent Faucheux then came into their own moving past the Netherlands and bearing down on Italy. France has only come together this season as a pairing after Pouge lost his spot of three years in his country’s lightweight men’s four. Coming into the Final sprint, despite steering issues, France crossed the line first with Italy taking second. The Netherlands had dropped right back by this stage.

The surprise loss of World Champions Andrea Caianiello and Armando Dell’Aquila of Italy in yesterday’s heats must have forced them to do some reflecting on their racing. Today they took off in the lead of the second repechage with fellow countrymen, Michele Savrie and Giogio Tuccinardi holding on. Germany could not match the pace of the two Italian crews and slipped back out of qualifying contention. Italy One and Italy Two were matching each other coming into the Final 500m. With 400m left to row both crews pushed at the same time. The result on each other was negligible. At the line Caianiello and Dell’Aquila had done just enough to stay ahead with Savrie and Tuccinardi taking second. Tomorrow there will be three Italian boats in the Final.