Lucerne decides final finalists

Weather conditions warmed slightly into the low 20 degrees Celsius. The waters of the Rotsee regatta course remained flat. Just a sniff of a breeze barely registered any ripples on the water.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Repechage

These six rowers all wanted to be in the top two positions. This would keep their chance of being in tomorrow’s final alive. Almost from the first strokes this became a United States – Germany battle. USA2 of Lindsay Shoop and Caroline Lind took an early lead. The fact that Shoop and Lind are the number two crew shows the strength of the team. Both rowers were Olympic Champions last year and are back for another world champion shot this season. Germany is Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig. Both rowers have worked their way through the junior and under 23 team ranks and onto the German senior team.

The lead had swapped going through the middle of the race with stroke Sinnig taking her boat into the lead. The Germans then decided not to sprint the finish. Shoop and Lind crossed the line in first. Both crews went on to the final.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Repechages

The two repechages required that crews finish in the top two for advancement to tomorrow’s final. Repechage one saw Olympic finalists, Shaun Keeling and Ramon Di Clemente of South Africa in the lead. Yesterday the South Africans missed out on a direct path to the final with a sub par race that looked a little loose around the edges. Today they made no mistakes. But Greek twins, Apostolos and Nikolaos Gkountoulas did not let the Keeling and Di Clemente get away. The boats remained overlapping for the entire race. France tried to hold their pace but did not have enough of a second half kick.Coming into the line both South Africa and Greece sprinted. South Africa’s sprint was better. Both crews will be in the final.

Repechage Two opened with three boats all well in contention for the two qualifying positions. The United States of David Banks and Charles Cole had the edge with Poland and the Czech Republic pressing hard. Coming through the middle of the race Banks and Cole had built up a small comfort level with the Czech’s (Jakub Makovicka and Vaclav Chalupa) now in second. Makovicka and Chalupa were late qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics and this is their second season together. Chalupa’s long and illustrious career has almost exclusively been in the single and goes back two decades. In 2005 he was beaten at Czech trials for the first time by Ondrej Synek and Chalupa then joined team boats. Now in a pair he does not look to be slowing down.The race turned into pretty much of a procession with Poland slipping right back and the USA and the Czech Republic remaining in the top two positions. These two crews will be in the final.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Repechage

The top two crews from this race would go to the final. An initial burst by Great Britain soon got swallowed up by New Zealand’s Anna Reymer and Paula Twining. Great Britain won the first Rowing World Cup but bow seat Annie Vernon withdrew for medical reasons bringing Rosamund Bradbury into the boat. Now out in front Reymer and Twining had to content with the ever-approaching Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy. Going through the third 500, Schiavone and Sancassani managed to inch in front. New Zealand held on. Coming into the line Italy was nicely in control with New Zealand, from second, was rating two pips higher (on 36 strokes per minute). Both boats will go to the final.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One featured Henley Royal Regatta winners, Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen of New Zealand. The duo continued on their winning ways by getting out in front at the start. But the New Zealanders were closely followed by Belarus, France and Slovenia. They would have to keep on their toes. Coming through the middle of the race, Belarus started to feel the heat and dropped into fourth while brothers Jan and Luka Spik (SLO) gave a big push and moved up on the Trott and Cohen. The Slovenian kick, however, had taken its toll and gave France’s Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain the opportunity that they had been waiting for. Berrest and Bahain came from their country’s Olympic quad and have decided the double is what they want to do. The duo has already targeted London 2012 as their goal in this boat. Coming into the line, New Zealand continued their standard high rating style to cross the line in first. France crossed in second with a more sedate 30 strokes per minute and Slovenia held off Belarus to take the third and final qualifying spot.

Germany’s Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger won last month’s Rowing World Cup and they followed in their winning ways by leading Semifinal Two from start to finish. But they did not have an easy time of it. At the start Great Britain, Estonia and Switzerland were all on top of the Germans and this had hardly changed with over 1,000m rowed. Only two seconds separated the top four boats and with just three boats qualifying no one could give an inch. In the second half Germany then separated themselves slightly from the group with Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo of Estonia neck and neck with Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain and Switzerland just a pip back. It was all on in the sprint to the line. A flurry of sculls saw stroke rates go up into the high 30s. Switzerland topped out at 41. It would be a photo finish. Germany had remained in the lead, Estonia took second and Great Britain had managed to stay just ahead of Switzerland. Germany, Estonia and Great Britain are in the Final.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One looked like a walk in the park for last month’s Rowing World Cup winner, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. After the initial 500m start, Knapkova moved to be over a boat length ahead of Emma Twigg of New Zealand in second and remained in a comfortable leading position. With World Champion Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) out due to injury and Olympic Champion, Rumyana Neykova (BUL) racing this season in the double, Knapkova is looking to be this season’s sculling leader. Back from injury Frida Svensson (SWE) moved into third and none of these top three rowers had any reason to sprint for the finish. Knapkova, Twigg and Svensson are in the Final tomorrow.

Semifinal two featured Great Britain’s most successful female rower, Katherine Grainger. Grainger was disappointed after not medalling at the last Rowing World Cup. With her coach, they worked on some technical changes and today she was able to lead this second semi. China’s Xiuyun Zhang followed in second with Belgium and Norway back fighting for the remaining qualifying spot.Coming into the second 1,000m, Grainger looked content to take the pressure down a notch and let Zhang earn the lead. Zhang pulled out a reasonable sprint. Grainger cruised. Annick de Decker of Belgium meanwhile had got the better of Norway and earned the final qualifying position.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

There was no surprise in Semifinal one with winner of last month’s Rowing World Cup, Mahe Drysdale (NZL) in the lead. Perhaps more of a surprise was Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek (CZE) coming out at the back of the field. By the half-way point, however, Synek, who is not having the best of seasons, had worked his way into second and closed on Drysdale’s lead. Germany’s new single sculler Mathias Rocher followed in third and the order remained reasonably settled. Back from injury, could Sweden’s Lassi Karonen get up into the top three? Drysdale crossed the line in first with no sprint. Synek followed in second, with no sprint. Rocher found himself under pressure from a huge push by Karonen. Rocher had just enough water left to stay ahead of Karonen. Drysdale, Synek and Rocher are in tomorrow’s Final.

In Semiinal Two Olaf Tufte of Norway showed the work he has been doing on his opening 300m of the race. Tufte had the lead over the usual flyer that Belgian Tim Maeyens presents. Maeyens has dabbled this season in a double, but has decided he has better chances to do well in the single and is back with vengeance. Maeyens stalked the Olympic Champion, Tufte down the Rotsee regatta course holding on to a very close second. Behind the top two positions, Argentina was having the race of his life. Ariel Suarez remained on the leaders’ pace. Coming through the third 500m Suarez had dropped back a little. The final sprint was coming into view. From fourth place, Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania charged. Suarez tried to hold him off but was running out of steam. Tufte took first, Maeyens second and Griskonis earned the final qualifying position.

Men’s Four (M4-) – Repechage

The Czech Republic jumped out to a small early lead. Only two boats would qualify and the Czechs were doing their best to be there. Going into the second 1,000m both Germany and France were on top of the Czechs with Germany having the edge. A huge third 500m push by France then gave them the lead. This was going to come to a three-way sprint to the line. Stroke rates hit the low 40s as the Czech Republic, Germany and France charged. Despite their awesome sprint, the Czechs missed out. France and Germany are in the Final.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Semifinals

Last month’s Rowing World Cup winners, Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking of Great Britain raced in Semifinal one and raced very convincingly. The new 2009 double held off Belgium’s Jo Hammond and Evi Geentjens despite the constant pressure exerted down the 2000m Rotsee regatta course. Belgium, although being in a comfortable qualifying position, must have wanted to give the British a shake up and they continued to attack the leaders. In the final sprint Belgium rated 35. Great Britain went to 37 to hold them off. Meanwhile, Poland was burning down the outside to earn the final qualifying spot over the Netherlands. They did it. At the line, Great Britain, Belgium and Poland became finalists. 

Greece may have a new top lightweight double. Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou of Greece took over in the lead. This gave the confident Germans and Canadians something to think about. Germany’s Anja Noske and Marie-Louise Draeger tried to hold the Greek’s pace, but found more to worry about in the form of Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Sheryl Preston. Going through the third 500m Greece had earned a reasonable lead with Germany still being challenged by Canada. All three crews sprinted for the line. Greece got up to a 39 stroke rate. Germany and Canada were on 35. Greece crossed the line first. Germany and Canada crossed together. The photo finish showed Canada just one-hundredth of a second back. These three crews will be in tomorrow’s Final. 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals

In Semifinal One there was very little between the top five boats. France’s Frederic Dufour and Jeremie Azou had a small margin over Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands with Poland a second down. Racing remained just as close going through the middle of the race, this time the Netherlands being the slightly slower crew and Great Britain’s Rob Williams and Paul Mattick getting a bow ball lead over the French.

France remained on the pace as these two crews now held their own battle to the line with Germany and the Netherlands (Paul Drews and Jaap Schouten) now scrapping for the final qualifying position. The Dutch had done it. France, Great Britain and the Netherlands qualified for the Final. Germany was unlucky. Stroke Lars Hartig was taken out of the boat to receive medical assistance.

The second semifinal was rather more pedestrian in its finish. New Zealand’s Storm Uru and Peter Taylor inched into a slight lead over Canada at the start of the race. New Zealand comes into this regatta having won the second Rowing World Cup last month. Canada raced at the first Rowing World Cup to second and, like the New Zealanders, had an unsatisfying 2008 Olympic Games experience. By the half-way point there was nothing between New Zealand and Canada with Italy’s most stable crew, Marcello Miani and Elia Luini slipping comfortably into third. No other boat was in any position to challenge the top three boats. In the final sprint New Zealand and Canada raced for leader’s pride with Italy content to be in third. New Zealand, Canada and Italy will be in tomorrow’s Final.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Semifinals

Japan showed how far they have come in the first semifinal. Rather than being at the back of the field, Japan was up there in the final sprint for first. This is how they did it. Japan got away just behind Italy at the start and by the half-way point still remained neck-and-neck with Great Britain for second. Coming into the final sprint Japan was in third with France closing in on the top three crews. Four boats sprinted for the finish line. All boat rating in the low 40s. One crew would miss out. A devastating sprint by France brought them from fourth place into first. Japan had just missed out on a spot in the Final. But this race showed how far they have come. France, Italy and Great Britain will be in the Final.

For the first time this season Denmark has lost a race. In Semifinal Two Denmark got out in front with four other boats in hot pursuit. Only Belgium was not handling the heat. By the half-way point the story remained the same with the Czech Republic and Germany just inches behind Denmark and the Dutch and Switzerland still right in the picture. Denmark then seemed to falter. The Czech Republic attacked. Germany and the Netherlands held on. Denmark tried to fight back, but the Czechs had managed to build up just enough margin to win in on the final stroke. The Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany went to the Final.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Repechage

The opening lead by China took all other crews by surprise. The Czech Republic got over their shock the quickest to challenge China, but China just held them off. Then Italy gave it a go, knocking the Czechs out of second and going after China. The Chinese held them off. Then France went after the Chinese. Could this Chinese provincial crew win a World Cup semifinal? Could 2m high three seat, Yinan Zhou use his full length?In the final sprint China had run out of gas. Italy made it look easy crossing the line in first. The Czech Republic, in second, had made all of their early hard work pay off. Italy and the Czech Republic will be in the Final.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Repechage

Four boats out of the six racing would make it to the Final. Great Britain decided to do it with an aggressive start and flew off the line in first. The Netherlands held on coming out in second with Poland on the pace. This race had all the look of a Final as five boats went through the middle of the race practically on top of each other. Only China had dropped back. The closeness remained going through the third 500m and into the final sprint. None of these five boats, the Netherlands, USA, Great Britain, Italy or Poland was giving an inch. The sprint was close and the sprint was wild. The Dutch crossed the line first, Poland, Great Britain and Italy followed in that order. The United States just missed out on the Final by one-hundredth of a second.