Munich Rowing World Cup heats show men’s four pace

Racing continued in the first Rowing World Cup for 2007 under sunny skies and very light head wind conditions. Munich, Germany, had turned on the best in rowing weather and lapping it up especially were the men in the four. In this afternoon of heats many races turned into processions as crews played tactical games. But in the men’s four it was all go – high rating and fast finishes.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Racing for the afternoon opened with three heats in the women’s pair with Germany’s new pair combination of Lenka Wech and Maren Derlien showing the way. Three semifinal spots were available from each of the races and Wech and Derlien wanted to be in no doubt one of the spots would be theirs. Wech, who is trained as a doctor, finished first with Derlien last year at the European Rowing Championships and both rowers have been racing internationally for well over a decade. The Germans moved into an open water lead ahead of Australians Sarah Cook and Kim Crow. Cook and Crow had a great season last year until the final of the World Champs on this course when Crow caught a crab that dropped them into fourth. At the end of this heat Germany finished first, Australia second and Romania third.

Heat two presented the first major surprise of the regatta. Leading the way was Sarah Siegelaar and Annemiek de Haan of the Netherlands. Siegelaar and de Haan come out of the stern pair of their eight as their country’s top combination. Not leading but trying to catch up were the current World Champions, Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus with France and the United States on qualifying pace. Coming into the line Siegelaar and de Haan remained in front with Belarus pulling into second and France qualifying in third.

With two entries for China in the third heat, Chinese team selectors must have been keenly watching the outcome of this race. Would China One cross the line before China Two? You Wu and Yulan Gao of China One took the lead with the new American combination (Elanor Logan and Caroline Lind) and China Two hanging on to Wu and Gao’s pace. Coming into the second half of the race Wu and Gao looked like they were racing the clock as they opened up a huge gap over Logan and Lind. At the line Wu and Gao earn the fastest qualifying time of the three heats by a huge 16 seconds with USA and China Two also moving on to the semifinal.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

A large field of 24 countries were divided into four heats with the winner of each heat moving directly to the semifinal. Croatia’s Skelin brothers made no bones about their intentions in heat one. Niksa and Sinisa Skelin have experienced mixed results ever since their Olympic silver in 2004. A back injury for Sinisa didn’t help matters and last year they were unable to make the A Final. Today the Skelins kept their stroke rate high and the rest of the field at bay. Serbia put up a good fight with a big sprint coming from China and Great Britain. But Croatia held the lead and they earned semifinal position.

Switzerland’s rowing president had his heart set on a men’s eight for his country at the Olympic Games. After the eight was unable to qualify last year, the Swiss went back to the drawing board over winter and put their two strongest rowers, Florian Stofer and Stefan Sax into the pair. They will now try and qualify in this event for Beijing in June. Stofer and Sax made a good start towards this goal by easily winning the second heat. This was despite going up against the best from the USA and the very skilled Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic who has left sculling behind to try and qualify for the Olympics in this event with partner Jakub Makovicka.

Heat three turned into the first really close race of the regatta with two German crews joined by Denmark’s Morten Nielsen and Thomas Larsen as well as Ireland’s Jonathan Devlin and Neil Casey all going hard for the one qualifying spot. Devlin is rowing for Ireland for the first time although he has international experience from being on the British team as well as South Africa’s team. Coming into the closing sprint a huge sprint by Ireland and Denmark took them to the line first, Denmark just in front. Morten and Larsen took the final Olympic qualifying spot last year at the World Rowing Championships when they finished 11th and this win in heat three will surely help their confidence.

France’s Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot had a great 2007 season finishing fourth at the World Rowing Championships. They started this season off on a fine footing by leading heat four. China put up a good fight but it will be Peron and Cadot heading directly to the semifinal.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

In this event the women of the double needed a top two finish for a direct path to the semifinal. Germany set the standard in the first of four heats with their new combination of Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth in the lead. By the half-way point Thiele and Huth had open water over Ukraine in second and the rest of the race remained a procession, Germany and Ukraine qualifying for the semifinal.

Current World Champions, Qin Li and Liang Tian of China continued their classy domination of this event by rowing a smooth and controlled race in heat two. This left the rest of the field to race for the second qualifying spot and in the first 500m the remaining four crews looked very evenly matched. But going through the middle of the race Romania and Norway had slipped back as Switzerland also struggled to keep up with Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk and Agnieszka Madaj. This new Polish combination includes Madaj who has not raced internationally since being an under-23 competitor back in 2002. At the line Poland qualify for the semifinal along with China.

The two-time under-23 champions, Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova of the Czech Republic continued to impress at the senior level when they raced in heat three. Antosova and Varekova qualified for Beijing when they finished fifth last year and today they shook off Hanna Nakhayeva and Volha Berazniova of Belarus to cross the line well in the lead. Belarus, who finished third last year at the European Championships, put in enough effort to give them the second qualifying spot in the semifinal.

China’s large team here in Munich included a second women’s double. Bin Tang and Ziwei Jin of China got a chance to stretch their legs in heat four and they did it in a one-on-one battle with the United States. Megan Kalmoe and Ellen Tomek of USA are a new combination with Kalmoe racing once before internationally three years ago while Tomek was part of her country’s quad last year. At the line China add another boat to the semifinal and Kalmoe and Tomek hold on to second to also qualify despite a middle 1000 challenge by 2004 Olympic medallists, Elise Laverick and Sarah Winckless of Great Britain.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

Four heats lined up in the men’s double with the crews all aiming for a top two finish which would give them a direct path to the semifinal. In heat one a tight battle went on between Germany’s Clemens Wenzel and Falko Nolte and Australians Scott Brennan and David Crawshay. The German duo is a new combination on the international scene while Brennan and Crawshay qualified this boat for the Olympics last year. At the start Germany had the lead but through the middle of the race Australia gained the edge. A better sprint by Germany got Wenzel and Nolte over the line just ahead of Australia. At this stage Brennan and Crawshay are the selected boat for the Olympics for Australia while Wenzel and Nolte still have to prove their position. Surprisingly Belarus, who finished fifth last year, was well back in the field.

Heat two panned out in a similar way with two boats ducking it out at the head of the field. Greece’s Ioannis Tsamis and Ioannis Christou held a slight edge over Mario Vekic and Ante Kusurin of Croatia. Back in third Denmark’s top lightweight duo, Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist were just a little off the pace to make it into a qualifying spot. A strong third 500 by Vekic and Kusurin enabled them to take the lead. At the line Croatia and Greece earn a semifinal position, Croatia from first and Greece in second.

Despite a shaky season last year, Adrien Hardy and Jean-Baptiste Macquet of France managed to finish the season with silver. Today in heat three the French found themselves up against a new Belgium combination. Bringing top single sculler, Tim Maeyens into stroke seat with Christophe Raes in bow, created a problem for the French. Hardy and Macquet took off in the lead, but Raes and Maeyens were not letting the French get away. With 500m left to row Belgium had the lead. Both boats kept the pressure on. Belgium remained in the lead. Belgium and France move on to the semifinal.

Heat four featured Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain who qualified this boat for the Olympics by finishing fourth last year. Wells and Rowbotham are known for their raw power. Today they started at the back of the field with Italy’s Simone Venier and Luca Agamennoni leading the way. By half-way Wells and Rowbotham had pushed into second and were putting the heat on Italy. A powerful sprint by the Brits gave them the lead and a spot in the semifinal. Venier and Agamennoni also get to go directly to the semi.

Men’s Four (M4-)

Heat one of three heats opened with Great Britain’s flagship crew. The British were the top crew for 2005 and 2006 before a fourth-place finish last year. This caused coach Juergen Grobler to look at other options to make his crew stronger and the solution was to replace one member. Tom James came into the boat although an injury has kept him away from Munich and allowed Tom Lucy to join the boat in bow seat. Today, in heat one, the British used a high and aggressive stroke rate to take the lead right from the start. The rest of the field remained within two seconds of each other.

Three semifinal qualifying spots were up for grabs and with Great Britain looking solid in first, Greece, Germany and Slovenia did their best to earn one of the other two spots. Slovenia have been regular A Finalists but do not often manage to get in the medals. Germany, surprisingly, did not make the final last year. Today in the final push Germany got ahead of Slovenia. Great Britain, Germany and Slovenia are off to the semifinals.

Heat two opened with an extremely tight battle between the Netherlands, France and Germany. Despite all three boats being in qualifying positions, they must have wanted to shake off some winter training cobwebs and the pace remained hot with none of the three relenting. Coming into the final 500m last year’s bronze medallists, the Netherlands gained a slight lead over Germany with France dropping back. All three crews go on to the semifinal.

There’s a new fast crew on the block. The Czech Republic grabbed hold of heat three and took it through to the fastest qualifying time of the event. However, their time was only one second faster than the other two heats. This is shaping up to be the hottest event of the regatta. Holding on to the Czech’s coat tails was Italy’s leading men’s crew. They kept their rating high and the pressure on the Czechs with Ireland doing their best to hold on. At the line the Czech Republic remained in the lead. Italy and Ireland will join them in the semifinal.