Opening with B Final racing - Rowing World Cup II

A bit of a breeze on the course kept rowers on their toes as they raced in the B Final, vying for positions 7 to 12 at this regatta.

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

Shaking off a fast start by Coralie Ribeil of France, Andrea Dennis of Great Britain grabbed hold of the lead and would not let go. Dennis broke on to the international scene at the first Rowing World Cup earlier this month and made the A Final. This time, against tougher competition, Dennis had to be content with winning the B Final. Behind her Orla Hayes of Ireland pulled through to second and Marie Gottlieb of Denmark takes third.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – B Final

A tight battle between Hong Kong China’s Rolandas Kazlauskas (originally from Lithuania and also known for his coaching skills) went on with Arnaud Pornin of France. Kazlauskas sat on 32 through the body of the race with Pornin a notch higher. Kazlauskas had the edge and can claim a 7th overall at this regatta, one point up from his position at the first Rowing World Cup. Liam Molloy of Ireland, racing in the single due to injury of his doubles partner, finished third.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – B Final

Switzerland’s Regina Nauheim took off for a flying start but then seemed to run out of steam before trying to pick it up again. This gave Tine Schoeyen of Norway, in her seventh year of international competition, a chance to push into first with Annick De Decker of Belgium coming through for second. Nauheim held on to third.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B Final

Doubling as the Holland Beker Trophy, this event saw such solid competition that even making the B Final was quite a task. Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands would have much preferred to be in the A Final especially in front of his home crowd, but instead made the most of this B Final. Hamburger is considered to be the best male single sculler that his country has seen in recent years and at 24 years old he has many years ahead of him. Hamburger took off at a blistering pace with only Santiago Fernandez of Argentina able to stick close by. Hamburger remained in the lead until the finish much to the delight of the audience. Fernandez take second and Sweden’s Paul Rosenquist earn 9th overall.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B Final

Two German boats in this B Final must train and race together regularly as they stuck to each other at the head of the field. Germany4 then found the pace too much as Denmark came through and Germany3 held the lead. Nadine Schmutzler and Lenka Wech can claim a 7th place overall with Denmark coming in second. Wech is the experienced of the German duo having raced at the 2004 Olympics while Schmutzler came to international rowing just two years ago.

Men’s pair (M2-) – B Final

A very tight race saw three different boats hold the lead at various times throughout the race. No one was giving up and as the last 500m came into sight the sprint was on. Poland1 got their rating up to 36 strokes per minute with Great Britain2 responding, also on 36. But as the final line came into sight it turned into an all Polish affair with Poland2 of Piotr Hojka and Godek Jaroslow throwing out their biggest sprint. Poland2 take first, Poland1 get second and Great Britain2 end in third.

Women’s double sculls (W2x) – B Final

Recently the president of Belarus threw his support behind rowing when he opened up a new international course and training centre. Tatsiana Narelik and Volha Ustsinenka of Belarus must have been taking advantage of this. They led the women’s double B Final from start to finish letting Norway and Estonia battle it out for second and third. Estonia got the better of Norway to take second. Belarus, from first, earn one Rowing World Cup point for their country.

Men’s double sculls (M2x) – B Final

Czech Republic’s Vaclav Chalupa was a no show, leaving Poland to grab hold of the lead for the first half of the race. But it was a very tight four-way battle that in the second half saw Poland fade and Mihal Dzianis and Shcharbachenia Stanislau of Belarus take over. This is where they remained with the United States pulling through to take second over Poland who struggled through in third.

Men’s Four (M4-) – B Final

With Germany1 out due to illness, Germany2 did their best to hold the fort. Their best had them racing in the B Final and at the start they sat back in third behind a very fast starting Egypt with Australia also on the pace. By half-way Egypt had slipped back and Germany2 had moved into the lead with Australia still holding the pace. Then Poland started to wind up from the very back of the field. It was enough to get the Poles into third. Germany2 take first, Australia second and Poland third.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – B Final

Former World Champion in the lightweight single, Sinead Jennings of Ireland decided she wanted to go to the Olympics. She’s been teamed up with Niamh Ni Cheilleacher for a year now and at the first Rowing World Cup the duo finished a disappointing 12th. Today they came back from an average starting pace to take the lead and remain there. But it wasn’t going to be easy for the Irish. In the final sprint they took their rating up to 36 to hold off a mad dash by China3 who were rating 41. Ireland stayed ahead by a canvas. Denmark takes third.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – B Final

There’s no doubt about the high standard of this event. Yesterday in the semifinal Denmark broke the World Best Time and set the new standard at 6:10.02. Today in the B Final the high standard continued. A fast starting Cuba set the early standard before China’s Guolin Zhang and Jie Sun took over in the lead. But coming into the final sprint it was the Belgians that brought the crowd to their feet. Belgium came through from fourth to chase down the Chinese. China held them off to earn one Rowing World Cup point for their country with Belgium taking second and Cuba in third.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – B Final

The Netherlands entered three boats in this event. Their second crew ended up in the A Final and boats 1 and 3 raced the B Final. After overtaking the Czech Republic, Netherlands1 took over in the lead with strong challenges coming from Ukraine, Netherlands3 and a continued presence of the Czech Republic. Netherlands1 prevailed at the line.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – B Final

Only three entries turned into a Great Britain against Great Britain battle with Switzerland slipping further behind. Great Britain2 take line honours.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – B Final

After overtaking Belarus at the start the United States took the lead and moved away from Belarus. But Great Britain took up chase and right to the line there was very little between these two crews. The United States got their stroke rate up to 36 strokes per minute to cross the line in first. Great Britain is second and Belarus takes third.

Women’s Eight (W8+) – B Final

A two-way race between New Zealand and Poland turned into no competition when New Zealand took the lead. Under the loud command of coxswain Candice Bardsley the New Zealanders moved further and further away from the Poles to take the seventh place overall at their first international race for the season.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – B Final

The Estonians had the lead at the start but soon lost it to an on-fire Belarusian crew. Once Belarus had the lead they were not going to give it up and it took the Netherlands all of their effort to try and keep up after sitting back in fourth for most of the race. Just before the line Belarus hit 40 then 41 strokes per minute to take first with the Netherlands earning second and France coming through for third. Australia, featuring the return of Oarsome Olympic rower James Tomkins, will not be happy with their final placing of 10th overall.