Rowing World Cup B Finals

 Many of the crews won by leading the entire race. Some, like the Greek men’s lightweight double did it by sitting at the back of the field and then storming through in the last 500 metres.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – B Final

Frida Svensson of Sweden is trying to make B Finals a thing of the past, but sometimes the intensity of the competition means it’s unavoidable. At Lucerne Svensson, last year’s bronze medallist, found herself racing for place seven. The Swede did it in style. She took the lead at the start and moved her 172cm frame down the course ahead of Ulla Hvid of Denmark. Hvid, who first raced internationally back in 1991 before taking a long break from elite competition, tried to hold Svensson’s pace but remained in second. Svensson claims 7th at this Rowing World Cup.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B Final

Brothers Ivo and Martin Yanakiev are coached by their father and two of Bulgaria’s only elite males currently. They have rowed in the double together to mixed success and Ivo scored bronze in the men’s single at the 2004 Olympics Games. Today they raced against each other in the men’s single B Final. Ivo always kept his nose ahead of Martin as he dealt to a fast starting Ralph Kreibich of Austria. By the third 500 Ivo had the lead and remained there until the end despite a solid push from Kreibich. Ivo becomes the owner of place seven at this, the Lucerne Rowing World Cup.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B Final

Germany’s Kerstin Naumann and Silke Guenther held a head-to-head race with Nienke Kingma and Helen Tanger of the Netherlands. First Germany had the lead, then the Dutch took over through the centre of the race. Then the Germans attacked back for the last sprint. But Naumann and Guenther had lost too much in the middle of the race and Kingma and Tanger earn a B Final win.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – B Final

Two surprise additions to this B Final included winners of the first Rowing World Cup, Colin Smith and Matthew Langridge of Great Britain. Perhaps injury, that kept them from racing at the Henley Royal Regatta, was slowing them down. At the finish they looked exhausted. Also surprising was Andreas Penkner and Jochen Urban of Germany who more commonly race the A Final. But at the front of the field were the Poles. Jaroslaw Godek and Piotr Hojka held their own against the Germans to take the 7th overall spot. Penkner and Urban earn an 8th placed finish.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – B Final

Doina Ignat and Aurica Barascu of Romania both raced to gold in the women’s eight at the 2004 Olympics. Then they retired from international rowing. They are back. Ignat, at 38 years, is aiming for her fifth Olympics. Together in their post-retirement debut the duo won the B Final by leading comfortably over Hungary. At the back of the field Romania’s younger duo were off the pace. In the middle of the field Russia’s very experienced Larisa Merk and Julia Levina held on to Ignat and Barascu’s pace through the first half of the race before slipping back.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – B Final

Samuel Stitt and Matthew Hughes of the United States raced together last year in the quad. Moving to the double this year the duo led the B Final over Mario Vekic and Ante Kusurin of Croatia. Vekic and Kusurin have raced together in the double since 2002 and still have some work to do to push into the A Final. Today they finish 8th overall with Stitt and Hughes, using a long layback style, claiming 7th.

Men’s Four (M4-) – B Final

Over the recent years Slovenia bounce in and out of the A Final. Their performance so varied it is hard to tell whether they are a medal prospect of further back. Today they raced the B Final and for the first 500m of the race led the way. Then Canada attacked just before the half way point. Slovenia couldn’t hold the Canadians off and Canada took the lead. Slovenia then tried to hang on but it will be Canada taking the 7th overall spot and earning one World Cup point for their country.

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

Greece’s Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou finished with bronze at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Biskitzi called it the best result of her career. This year the duo have slipped back a peg. They finished 6th at the Rowing World Cup in Linz and today they contested the B Final. The Greeks decided to make a good race of it and led from start to finish. Erika Bello and Laura Milani of Italy put up a good challenge, always staying in touch with the Greeks. The Italians earn second, or 8th overall.

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

Greece made it a B Final double header. Dimitrios Mougios and the husband of last race’s winner Chrysi Biskitzi, Vasileios Polymeros of Greece, had to come back from the very rear of the field to win the B Final. Polymeros is a former World Champion in the lightweight single and has swapped to the double to target Olympic Games participation. First the Greeks overtook Canada and sat in fifth position. Then, showing off their sprinting capabilities the Greeks lifted their rating and charged for the line. Russia couldn’t hold them off. The Czechs couldn’t stop them. Japan had no answer. Leaders New Zealand tried. Greece take the 7th overall position and earn a World Cup point for their country.

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

Denmark own the World Best Time in this event. They’ve held it for eight years now. In that boat eight years ago was Eskild Ebbesen. After winning gold at the 2004 Olympics Ebbesen retired. He’s back and today, stroking the Danish boat, Ebbesen and his crew tussled with a very smooth crew from Egypt. Egypt held the edge for the majority of the race. But the Danes prevailed in the final sprint. Denmark finish in 7th overall and Egypt earn an 8th place finish.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – B Final

The men’s quad looks to be getting more and more competitive if this B Final is anything to go by. Today, with half of the race rowed, less than three seconds separated the entire field. After 1500m only just over three seconds separated the entire field. In the final sprint only 1/100th of a second separated the winners Great Britain from second place getters Canada. That small fraction of a second is the difference between a boat being at the catch of a stroke or being at the finish of a stroke. That minute amount is barely a bow ball. Great Britain earns one World Cup point for their country.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – B Final

The most noise of any race this morning was earned by the men’s eight which featured Switzerland. The president of the Swiss Rowing Federation has decided his dream is to boat a men’s eight at the Olympics. He has put his full support behind this venture and the crew have been trying to hand out the goods. Today Switzerland came out of the blocks in second with Belarus in the lead. Then Croatia took over before the ringing cow bells spurred the Swiss into the lead. Switzerland finish first, Croatia second.