Poland and Great Britain still strong - Munich World Cup

The last races of the afternoon included the competitve lightweight women's and men's double, the men's lightweight men's four and men's quad. Three-time World Champions Poland again proved their strength in the men's quad, as did last year's World Champions in the lightweight men's four, Great Britain.

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)

Heat One

After their bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of The Netherlands went separate ways. Kirsten became a mother and Marit a triple World Champion in the lightweight single. Now in the Olympic year, they are back together again, and blend extremely well. Leading the field down the course, the one and only semifinal spot would be theirs. Great Britain’s Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell followed behind in a steady second and Switzerland’s Eliane Waser and Fabiane Albrecht in a steady third. Albrecht flew in at the last minute to replace an injured Pamela Weisshaupt.

Heat Two

Venezuela, Greece, Italy, Germany and Great Britain sat on the line waiting to race for heat two of the lightweight women’s double sculls. The first spot would go through to the semifinal, the rest of the field would get a second chance repechage. Top of the field, and racing in lane four were Marie-Louise Draeger and Berit Carow, 2005 World Champions, who took bronze here in Munich at the World Rowing Championships last year. The race was a fight between Germany and Italy. Italy led at the start, but by 500m Germany were already ahead. By the 1000m mark Italy had caught up again, and also passed the 1500m mark ahead. But this was not to Germany’s taste, and they were not going to be beaten on home turf just yet. By the finish line, Germany were to take the race by over three seconds altogether ahead of Italy, Great Britain 2, Greece 2 and finally Venezuela.

Heat Three

First at the half-way mark were 2007 European Champions and 2006 world bronze medallists Alexandra Tsiavou and Chrysi Biskitzi of Greece, with a one-and-a-half lead over Poland. Poland’s Olympians Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska followed in second, unable to close the gap, and Croatia in third, one length behind. Nine years separate Biskitzi and two-time world under-23 champion Tsiavou and with two seasons of international competition under their belt, their experience is paying off. Greece moves on directly to the semifinal.

Heat Four

The race was clearly dominated by France in the first 750m, but a sudden push ahead by China and Japan around the 800m mark meant that this heat, described by commentator Robert Treharne Jones as a “Far East extravaganza”, took on a truly Asian flavour. At the 1000m mark Japan, who finished ninth on this course during the World Champs last year, was ahead, but still battling hard to keep China’s Dongxiang Xu and Haixia Chen behind. Both boats kept a substantial lead over the rest of the field all the way to the line. But between those two boats, the battle was on all the way. By the 1500m timing point China had edged its way up to the front and would stay there to the end. Both contenders kept a consistent stroke rate of 32, and despite Japan’s last minute push China kept the lead crossing the line a couple of seconds ahead of their Asian rival. At the back of the field, South Africa’s Alexandra White and Kirsten McCann remained quite consistently in third position, with France a short way behind in fourth and finally Spain who never really managed to keep up.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Heat One

Olympic silver medallist in the lightweight double Frédéric Dufour and his new partner Maxime Goisset led the field throughout the first quarter of the race, but with Italy closely on its heels. After the 1100 metre mark, France had lost its advantage to Italy, with eight-time World Champion in the lightweight quad and Top 10 rower Daniele Gilardoni in stroke seat. Now competing in an Olympic boat class, clearly Gilardoni has Beijing on his mind. But France was not about to give in, and with 500 metres to go, attacked back, took over Italy and crossed the line first. Germany chased Italy and France down the course in third, with Belgium and Bulgaria in fourth and fifth respectively. France, Italy and Germany move forward to the quarterfinal.

Heat Two

Five crews waited patiently for the starter to give the go-ahead for this second heat of the lightweight men’s double. Among them, Greece, silver medallists last year at the worlds, who took the lead right from the start. Belgium had two crews competing in this event. One of them, Wouter van de Fraenen and Kristof Dekeyser were part of the 2005 lightweight men’s quad who took silver in 2005 in Gifu. This race was more or less decided from the start. All the way, the line-up was Greece, Belgium, Uruguay with just a bit more excitement in the back between Israel and Algeria. Although Algeria had raced most of the course in fourth position, the Israelis made a good push just before the 1500m, getting ahead of Algeria. This fourth position finish gives them a small chance to take part in the quarterfinal, as the last place is determined by time-trial.

Heat Three

Hungary’s Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga, 2005 World Champions in Gifu, Japan, and European Champions in 2007, led from start to finish, with Brazil’s Thiago Gomes and Thiago Almeido going after them in second. But gradually moving up the ranks were Portugal’s Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes; in fifth place at 500-metre mark, they sprinted in the last 200 metres, overtaking Brazil. The Croatians, in third position during the first half of the race, lost speed in the second half, finishing in fourth, but still managing to qualify for the quarterfinal.

Heat Four

This race started out as Italy’s. Marcello Miani and Daniele Danesin, who is a three-time world champion in the lightweight quad, held on to a good three-quarter length lead ahead of Spain. Ireland were just behind ahead of China and Slovakia. But after 1250m the Spaniards increased the rate, drawing level and then leading the field for the second half of the race. With only 500m remaining, China began closing in – fast! At that stage Ireland was in third position, but it all happened in the last hundred metres, with any one of the five crews in contention for the three quarterfinal spots and only about one-and-a-half lengths between all of them with 400m to go. In a last minute comeback, China come in half a length clear of Spain and win in 7:10.60.

Heat Five

The Czech Republic’s Vetesnik twin brothers Jan and Ondrej stormed out in first and fought to stay there throughout. But it was a close battle at the half-way mark, with France’s Jeremie Azou and Remi Di Girolamo overlapping the Czechs. Behind them the battle was on for the remaining quarterfinal places. From Japan, two-time Olympic finalist Daisaku Takeda in stroke seat with Athens partner Kazushige Ura in bow, gained speed in the last half of the race, moving up from fourth into third and holding on until the line. But Turkey was about to surprise. In fourth at the half-way mark, Cem Yilmaz and Ahmet Yumrukaya stormed through the field in the last 200 metres, taking over France and Japan and finishing in second. The Czech Republic, Turkey, Japan and France move on to the quarterfinal.

Heat Six

This was clearly going to be all about Great Britain and New Zealand. Straight out of the starting blocks, the British 2007 world bronze medal crew of Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter were neck and neck against New Zealand’s Storm Uru and Peter Taylor about eight metres ahead of the rest of the field. Uru is two-time under-23 World Champion in the lightweight men’s single and will be trying to qualify for the Olympic Games in Poznan, so he’s here to fine-tune his strategy among the international field. Behind this leading duo, Denmark Two with Martin Batenburg and Sophus Johannesen made it ahead of Venezuela’s Jose Guipe and Eduardo Cova. Ahead of the field, in the last 500m the leading boats dropped their rate, sure of their quarterfinal place. Great Britain finish ahead of New Zealand with a large lead. Denmark finish third and Venezuela will have to wait and see if they race in the quarterfinal based on their time, or if they go to the E Final on Saturday.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

Heat One

The first two boats would move on to the semifinal, and in the first of two heats, the reigning World Champions would prove they did not lose their form over the winter, leading from start to finish. The fight would be for second place, and Spain was determined to be that second boat. At the half-way mark Spain was overlapping Great Britain. But Serbia was just as determined and had kept energy for the second half of the race, moving up the ranks from fourth at 500 metres. With one quarter of the race left, the battle was very close between Spain and Serbia, but Spain was losing stamina and Serbia went digging down into its reserves to finish in second.

Heat Two

The two leading boats will go to the semifinal, all the others will have to race a repechage tomorrow. China clearly dominated this race from the start and was never really threatened by any of the other crews. Despite Ireland, with Gearoid Towey back in the boat after a year out, trying to challenge them, they still kept the lead throughout, showing that they intend to dominate this event just as they did in Linz and Amsterdam last year. China did not give. Ireland kept trying, but on the line the verdict was very clear: China was still five seconds ahead. Ireland finished second, and made it through to the semifinal. Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italy and Portugal, in that order, prepare for tomorrow’s repechage.

Heat Three

Heat three of the lightweight men’s four contained a good handful of talent. The French crew, who have medalled in the World Championships in the past three consecutive years, made a good start out of the blocks, and were ahead through to the first 500m mark. The crew is the same as last year bar one: Guillaume Raineau replaces long-standing member Jeremy Pouge in this regatta. The Danes, with double Olympic gold medallist and Top 10 rower Eskild Ebbesen in stroke and Thomas Ebert who is just back now after a post-Athens break in view of Beijing were strong all the way down the course. France and Denmark remained in first and second position alternatively at the various markers. But coming in to the final stretch, and Germany in the lead in the final quarter of the race, France and Denmark ended up in a final sprint for the line, and for the semifinal spot. The photo finish determined France the winner of this duel.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Heat One

Surprisingly, three-time world champions and 2006 World Rowing crew of the year Poland were rather slow off the block, and actually trailed the field for the first 300m of this race. It was Slovenia, in lane two that took the race by the scruff of the neck, burned off the blocks and stayed in contention for most of the 2000 metres. Ukraine, who were silver medallists in Eton two years ago, remained consistently behind Slovenia. At last, Poland pulled themselves together, and showed what they were really about. They quickly got ahead of Ukraine before the 1500m mark and then quickly worked their way up ahead of Slovenia into first. With 100m to go this was looking like a tight finish between all three leaders. Poland were still working hard, and Slovenia managed to squeeze out Ukraine on the line, qualifying for the second semifinal spot at stake.

Heat Two

Setting out of the starting blocks ahead was Germany, with only Rene Bertram remaining from last year’s world bronze medal crew. The German boat remained ahead all through the race, not giving any of the other crews much of a chance. Italy, containing World Rowing Top 10 rower, Olympic champion and six-time world champion Rossano Galtarossa, did try to catch up, but just managed to remain closely behind the entire way. With 300m to the finish, it was still Germany, Italy, Russia, with Australia trying to make a comeback against Russia towards the finish. But Australia had no incentive to make a final push as only first and second progress to the sought-after semifinal spots and stayed in fourth position, keeping their energy for the repechage.

Heat Three

This would be the last race of the day in the late spring heat on the Munich regatta course. By the half-way mark the lead had already changed three times: first the Czechs, then Estonia, then France. France, 2007 wolrd silver medallists, took the race firmly in hand from the beginning. The crew has remained the same since last year except for Pierre-Jean Peltier replacing Jean-David Bernard. At 300m France was already two boat lengths ahead of the followers and Belarus and the Czech Republic would have no chance to come back. Despite the Czechs raising the rate at the end, this would not be enough to take them past Belarus to the semifinal. In the end, France and Belarus take the favoured spots, Czech Republic, Estonia and Spain will have to go through the repechage.