Munich moves one step closer

The temperature for the rowers of about 12 degrees Celsius brought out long sleeves for the athletes especially amongst the lightweight rowers. The water remained flat with virtually no wind.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Repechages

The two repechages in this event required boats to finish in either first or second if they wanted to go on to the Final. All other boats would miss out. The new Dutch pair jumped out into the lead in Repechage One and surprisingly held on through to the middle of the race. Great Britain’s Alice Freeman and Lindsey Maguire (GBR2) then attacked, taking with them Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig of Germany with China’s Liang Wang and Li Dai also right there. Coming through the third 500m there was very little between these four crews. Then the Dutch began to tire. Hartmann and Sinnig, rating 34, burst clear with Freeman and Maguire holding on. At the line Germany and Great Britain had qualified for the Final.

China is racing in their provincial crews at this regatta and have entered four boats in the women’s pair. All four of them raced in today’s repechage. Sisters Tong and Meng Li from Beijing went into the lead, matched stroke for stroke by Germany’s second crew of Katrin Reinert and Nina Wengert. In adjacent lanes, China and Germany must have felt that they were the only boats in this race. For over half of the race China1 and Germany matched each other. In the second half it appeared that the Li sisters had more gas in the tank and they started to push away from Germany. Germany did enough to stay in second until the line. China1 and Germany are in the Final.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Repechage

After Great Britain’s dominating win at the first Rowing World Cup last month, it was assumed that they would be the crew to beat this season. But instead Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge of Great Britain found themselves racing in the repechage after being beaten by a new New Zealand combination. In today’s only repechage, Reed and Triggs Hodge made no mistakes. They got out in front and kept their boat ahead of Serbia’s Olympic double of Nikola Stojic and Goran Jagar, right to the end.

With five boats in this event (after Poland withdrew) only one boat would not advance to the Final. By the half-way point Belarus had dropped off the pace. Still Hungary and the Czech Republic went hard, trying to out-do each other. The lower-rating Czechs featuring the incredible Vaclav Chalupa, got ahead of Hungary to finish third. Great Britain, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are in the Final.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Repechages

The two repechages required a first or second place finish for these athletes to advance to the Final. Repechage One had Poland in the lead. Poland’s top single sculler, Julia Michalska, has teamed up with Magdalena Fularczyk and together they stayed just ahead of a very tightly packed field. Coming into the final 500m, Fularczyk and Michalska still had the lead with China and New Zealand right there and challenging hard. Having just enough of a lead to keep an eye on China and New Zealand, Poland was able to push away, leaving the fight for the final qualifying spot to go on behind them. A photo finish at the line gave the slightly tidier Chinese the qualifying spot. Poland and China1 are in the Final.

Four years ago, Bulgaria’s top single sculler, Rumyana Neykova, teamed up with Miglena Markova and finished second at the 2005 World Rowing Championships. Neykova then disappeared, had her second baby and came back to become Olympic Champion in the single at Beijing. Neykova is back in the double and today in Repechage Two the duo led from start to finish with enough of a lead coming through the final 500m that they did not have to really push it. Behind Bulgaria, Romania tucked into second for most of the race, but an aggressive finish by Fie Graugaard-Udby and Lea Jakobsen of Denmark (that Romania did not respond to), put Denmark into second at the line and qualifying, along with Bulgaria, for the Final.  

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semifinal

In Semifinal One Estonia’s Kaspar Taimsoo and Allar Raja shot off the line in the lead with Germany’s Stephan Krueger and Eric Knittel along with Tim Maeyens and Christophe Raes of Belgium holding on the most successfully. Going through the middle of the race this order had changed. Krueger and Knittel had moved into the lead. Krueger, 20, raced at the Olympics last year in the quad while Knittell took a year off due to injury. Together they have been proving themselves in national team trials and today they shook off Estonia to be the leaders. Coming into the final sprint, winners of the first Rowing World Cup, Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, then picked up the pace, overtook Estonia and went after Germany. They nearly caught up. At the line less than half a second separated Germany and Great Britain with Germany just in front. Germany, Great Britain and Estonia are in the Final.

New Zealand’s Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen shot out into the lead at the start of Semifinal Two. Germany’s number two crew of Tim Bartels and Mathias Rocher moved with the Kiwis, and Poland slotted into third. With 500m left to row, only two seconds separated the top three crews, but as three crews would qualify it was more a race for lane preference. Going into the final sprint Trott and Cohen continued to push it rating 38 strokes per minute. Germany and Poland did not respond. New Zealand, Germany2 and Poland will go to tomorrow’s Final.

Men’s Four (M4-) – Semifinals

Germany must be pleased to see how their new-look programme is shaping up after watching the first semifinal. Sitting in first and second place coming into the line was Germany2 (in front) and Germany1 (just behind). This was not always the case. At the start the Czech Republic were leading, but by the half-way point Germany2, stroked by Philip Adamski, had gotten in front. The two German boats are made up of a split between the four that raced last year at the Beijing Olympics and by the final 500m these two boats sat in first and second. The Czechs held on to remain in third. Two German boats and the Czech Republic advance to the Final.

Belarus shot off in the lead in Semifinal Two only to be overtaken by Great Britain going into the middle of the race. Great Britain, which is an entirely new line-up from the crew that won gold last year at the Beijing Olympics, won gold at the first Rowing World Cup last month. Stroked by Matthew Langridge, this crew has three members of the Beijing Olympic eight that won silver. Slovenia had now moved ahead of a tiring Belarus but could not catch Great Britain. The British, Slovenia and Belarus are in the Final.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One featured two entries from the Czech Republic, two from Poland and two from Germany. By the finish, the Czech Republic had managed to completely box the rest of the field out. Top boat for the Czech Republic since 2001 has been Mirka Knapkova. Meanwhile, Jitka Antosova has come through in team boats from the junior level in 2003 and raced at Beijing in the double. But illness struck Antosova before the Olympic Final and Knapkova jumped in the boat at the last minute to finish sixth. Today Knapkova took the lead and moved out to over a boat’s length of clear water by the second half of the race. Antosova pushed ahead of Poland’s Agata Gramatyka and into second place with the race turning into a procession to the line. Knapkova, Antosova and Gramatyka are in the Final.

In Semifinal Two, New Zealand’s Emma Twigg got a small lead at the start with Russia’s Julia Levina and Katherine Grainger of Great Britain following closely. By the half-way point, Twigg had managed to open up near half a boat length lead, but in single sculling this means nothing. Levina and Grainger were still right there. This three-way battle continued through the third 500m and it appeared that the order would be down to who cared the most about that all-important psychological advantage going into the Final. Grainger did. She upped the rating to 34, then 36 strokes per minute while Twigg remained at 30. Grainger won the first Rowing World Cup last month and finishing third yesterday in the heat did not please her. At the line Grainger finished first with Twigg and Levina qualifying for the Final from second and third respectively.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

Is Great Britain’s Alan Campbell on a roll? After winning the first stage of the Rowing World Cup last month, Campbell raced in today’s Semifinal One and again finished first. Campbell, as is normal, got out into the lead at the start followed by Beijing Olympics silver medallist, Ondrej Synek. In the past Synek has been able to draw Campbell in with his stronger second half, but today either he could not or did not want to. Campbell remained in the lead. Synek stayed in second. Who would get the third qualifying spot? Netherland’s newcomer, Roel Braas, had been sitting in that position but a second half burst from Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania left Braas in the dust. Campbell, Synek and Griskonis are in the Final.

The top two boats in Semifinal Two sat in the centre two lanes – Mahe Drysdale (NZL) and Olaf Tufte (NOR). Drysdale went off hard at the line and by the half-way point the World Champion from New Zealand had a handy two-second lead with Tufte now slotting into second. Going into the second half of the race Drysdale looked comfortable and in control on a 32 stroke rate, while Tufte looked decidedly out of sorts. This gave Drysdale a chance to move out to over a boat length’s lead over Tufte. Drysdale, Tufte and Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg (in third) will go to the Final tomorrow.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

Is Great Britain’s Alan Campbell on a roll? After winning the first Rowing World Cup last month, Campbell raced in today’s semifinal one and again finished first. Campbell, as is normal, got out into the lead at the start followed by Beijing Olympics silver medallist, Ondrej Synek. In the past Synek has been able to draw Campbell in with his stronger second half, but today either he could not or did not want to. Campbell remained in the lead. Synek stayed in second. Who would get the third qualifying spot? Netherland’s newcomer, Roel Braas had been sitting in that position but a second half burst from Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania left Braas in the dust. Campbell, Synek and Griskonis are in the final.

The top two boats in semifinal two sat in the centre two lanes – Mahe Drysdale (NZL) and Olaf Tufte (NOR). Drysdale went off hard at the line and by the half-way point the world champion from New Zealand had a handy two second lead with Tufte now slotting into second. Going into the second half of the race Drysdale looked comfortable and in control on a 32 stroke rate, while Tufte looked decidedly out of sorts. This gave Drysdale a chance to move out to over a boat length’s lead over Tufte. Drysdale, Tufte and Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg (in third) will go to the Final tomorrow.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Semifinals

Winner of the first Rowing World Cup Germany’s Marie-Louise Draeger and Anja Noske must have been feeling a level of confidence when they fronted up on their home waters in semifinal one. But Great Britain is back on form. Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell did not get to race together at the first Rowing World Cup due to an injury that Goodsell was overcoming. Today they showed that they are the worthy British double by leading the Germans from start to finish. Draeger and Noske did execute a late push, but it had little impact. Great Britain, Germany and Great Britain’s number two crew are in the Final.

Poland’s Ilona Mokronowska and Weronika Deresz are an interesting combination. Lining up in semifinal two they represent the young and the not-so-young of rowing. Mokronowska, 37, was rowing internationally 17 years ago. Deresz, 23, is relatively new having been on the international scene for three years. Together they led the second semifinal and in doing so established themselves as a combination for others to be wary of. Mokronowska and Deresz issued a devastating start that gave them nearly a boat length lead with just 500m rowed. Belgium’s Jo Hammond and Evi Geentjens then slotted into second with Poland’s second crew following very closely in third. This order remained the same until the line. Poland One, Belgium and Poland Two are in tomorrow’s Final.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals

Great Britain are the current Olympic Champions in this event but they have an entirely new line up this year of Paul Mattick and Rob Williams. In semifinal one Mattick and Williams led the way. Williams raced last year in his country’s lightweight quad while Mattick was in the British lightweight four at the Beijing Olympics. Going through the first half of the race Lars Wichert and Michael Wieler of Germany were the closest to the British duo. Then as the race wound into the closing straight, Poland’s Robert Sycz and Lukasz Siemion moved on up. Sycz and Siemion had been hovering back in the field but looked to be improving as the race progressed. Coming into the final straight Poland did a piece. Germany responded. Great Britain remained comfortable. At the line Great Britain remained in front, Poland took second and Germany earned a qualifying spot from finishing third.

They may be the winners of the first Rowing World Cup, but Storm Uru and Peter Taylor of New Zealand decided to take the Italians head on in semifinal two. Jumping out at the start Uru and Taylor earned a slight margin over Elia Luini and Marcello Miani of Italy. This slight margin was enough to give the New Zealanders confidence. By the half-way point Uru and Taylor had over a boat length lead on the Italians. Maintaining this lead, Luini and Miani then found themselves under pressure from a storming Danish combination. Denmark took their rating to 40. Italy upped theirs to 37. Denmark closed the gap. Italy just held them off. At the line New Zealand, Italy and Denmark earned spots in the Final.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Repechage

Japan’s new German coach must be feeling proud. Today Diethelm Maxrath got to watch his crew win the repechage of the lightweight four with a well executed race that saw them lead from start to finish. Sato, Suda, Kataoka and Omoto got out ahead of Great Britain, retained a steady pace and held on to the end. Great Britain, in second, also earned a spot in the Final as the race was all about getting in the top two.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Repechages

This event saw two repechages line up with the top two boats from each repechage earning a spot in tomorrow’s Final. Germany, stroked by Marcel Hacker and with replacement bow man, René Bertram, took off in the lead. Slovenia, stroked by the famous Iztok Cop followed closely behind. By the half-way point Cop had inched his crew to just get their nose ahead of the Germans. Germany reacted back. Neck-and-neck through the third 500m made for exciting racing from these two crews. Coming into the line Germany took their stroke rate to 37, then 38. Slovenia held on. Slovenia finished first and Germany took second. Both crews will be in the Final.

Repechage Two featured three-time world champions and current Olympic champions, Poland. Poland finished second to Croatia in yesterday’s heat – only the second time that they have lost a race since 2005 – so today they took on the repechage and rowed it with the confidence of a champion crew. Russia and China did their best to keep up with Poland and in the process carried out an incredibly close battle for second. At the line Poland got to move on to the Final and China just missed out with Russia finishing second, thus qualifying.