Racing in the international Finals at the World Cup

Three finals warmed the audience up in a preview for tomorrow’s finals day and the crowd loved it, especially the Dutch who managed to fill the winners podium with a lot of orange.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x)

The battle for Canada’s Olympic boat, the lightweight women’s double, just got hotter. In the first final of this regatta, Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich showed that she is a strong contender for the double by winning the single. Jennerich was in the double last year, but at this regatta Melanie Kok has moved into her spot. With the double yet to be decided, Jennerich may be back in the Olympic boat. Today she picked up a Rotsee gold medal.

The crowd showed their approval for the silver medallist. Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland held on to second for the entire race despite a strong challenge from Haixia Chen of China. Chen has spent most of her recent international racing in the double so racing here today in the single indicates that Chen is now on the edge of Olympic selection. Chen earns a bronze medal.

The B Final, raced just prior to the final, was led from start to finish by Germany’s Laura Tibitanzl. This is a step down for Tibitanzl who won this race at the first Rowing World Cup. But Tibitanzl made the best of it. Ana Santoyo of Venezula also made the best of it. Her second place makes her the eighth best at this regatta.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x)

Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands won the first Rowing World Cup and added another gold to his neck today by beating World Champion Duncan Grant of New Zealand to the line. Grant, who missed out on racing in his country’s trials for the double due to injury, left the starting blocks with Schouten, but couldn’t get his nose in front of the Dutch man. Coming into the close of the race Grant opened up a 35 stroke rate sprint in an attempt to catch Schouten. Schouten, at 33, held off Grant.

Meanwhile Frederik Heijbrock of the Dutch second boat was steaming down the outside. Taking the rating to 38 strokes per minute, Heijbrock got within spitting distance of Grant. Grant held him off. Schouten takes gold, Grant earns silver and Heijbrock is the bronze medallist. The Dutch have decided that Heijbrock and Schouten will not go into a double this season. The question now will be, who will earn the Dutch spot in the single for this year’s World Rowing Championships. As the three athletes received their medals the large Dutch contingent in the audience sang them a rousing version of the Dutch national anthem.

Canada’s Matt Jensen made no bones about his intentions in the B Final. Jensen already had a boat length lead with just 500m raced. This left Switzerland’s Frederic Hanselmann to work at holding off Cuba in second. Jensen continued to open up a margin and crossed the line with an open water lead over Hanselmann in second.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-)

Closing off the day of racing as the sun came out, the lightweight men’s pair saw Kasper Winther and Morten Joergensen of Denmark make it a second World Cup gold for the season. Winther and Joergensen left the starters hands in the lead followed closely by Great Britain. As Great Britain began to slip back Roeland Lievens and Paul Drewes of the Netherlands took over in second. This order remained the same through the body of the race.

Coming into the final sprint France’s Jeremy Pouge and Vincent Faucheux decided to redeem themselves from their slow start. Taking their stroke rate to 45, France charged. Denmark and the Netherlands had enough of a lead to hold their positions, but Great Britain could not match the sprinting French. Gold goes to Denmark, silver to the Netherlands and bronze to the gutsy French. This is Pouge and Faucheux’s second bronze for the season.