Rowing World Cup finals reveal a clean slate

The results truly reflected a new season with any betting person left struggling to pick the real favourite. In the men’s pair the Skelins are back. In the women’s double the Chinese rule. Read on to find out more.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x)

Despite being the A Finals at this first Rowing World Cup for the 2008 season, times remained slow, often more than a minute off the World Best Time. This was certainly the case for these lightweight women as they came up against head wind conditions on the Munich course. Laura Tibitanzl of Germany handled the start the best taking off ahead of Austria’s top lightweight, Michaela Taupe-Traer. Great Britain One, Andrea Dennis then got in on the action and overtook both Tibitanzl and Taupe-Traer to take the lead. The Austrian and German held on.

Meanwhile Mathilde Pauls of Great Britain’s second boat struggled with a crab in the first 100m and was coming back strongly and working her way into the top three. In the sprint to the line Tibitanzl gave it all she had to finish first. Dennis crossed in second and Taupe-Traer earns bronze in third. This is a big improvement for the German who finished 10th in this event last year.

Laura Tibitanzl (GER) – Gold
"At the start it was a bit strange because they had changed the lanes and then Mathilde caught a crab so I kind of lost the orientation and had to turn my head quite a lot to actually figure out what was happening in the race and with who. But it went well and it was great to come out as a winner. When I knew I had to row the single, I told myself that I really wanted to win in Munich, but actually doing it is another thing. Great. I will also row in Lucerne and was just told that I can also row at Linz which is a good motivation.”

Andrea Dennis (GBR1) – Silver
"I worked hard on the start and it went fine today.”

Michaela Taupe-Traer (AUT) – Bronze
"I know that I am normally very good at the start which I was today as well. Unfortunately I lost that advance further on in the race. Therefore I am happy with the third place. Today’s weather conditions are much better than yesterday. I am really looking forward to the champs in my home country.”

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x)

Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands caused an upset when he finished ahead of the reigning World Champion, Duncan Grant of New Zealand in the semifinal. The two raced again today. Grant finds himself back in the single after trialling for the double over the New Zealand summer. An untimely injury kept him out of the double.

Leading from the start Schouten got out ahead of Grant with the Netherlands second boat, Frederik Heijbrock following closely behind. Schouten’s determination was clear as he moved further away from Grant who had found himself under threat now from Heijbrock. At the line Schouten had won easily. Heijbrock takes silver and Grant finds himself back in bronze. The question now is whether Schouten and Heijbrock will unite to try and qualify for the Olympics in the Olympic lightweight event, the double.

Jaap Schouten (NED) – Gold
"This victory means a lot. We still have lots to work on. But aiming for the Olympic Games is a great feeling.”

Duncan Grant (NZL) – Bronze
"This was my first big race of the season and a really hard one. I had a hamstring injury and just got back into the boat on Wednesday. I was out of the boat for 10 days so my fitness isn’t quite up to what I hoped it would be so it was a bit of a struggle. But that’s something to work on. I am happy I still made it to bronze and I will be back for Lucerne.”

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-)

World Champions fell again in the third finals race. Andrea Caianiello and Armando Dell’Aquila of Italy suffered a surprise loss in the heats but managed to come through in first for their repechage. Today Caianiello and Dell’Aquila took off in the lead. But it didn’t last. Kasper Winther and Morten Joergensen of Denmark reeled the Italians in and took over in the top spot. Joergensen joins the pair after spending last season in his country’s lightweight four. The return of Thomas Ebert knocked him out of that boat and he appears to have added power to the pair.

Italy, meanwhile, were not letting the Danes get away and coming into the final sprint there was very little between these two crews. At the line Denmark had held on to first, despite steering problems caused by the power of Joergensen. Italy take second. Coming in third Jeremy Pouge and Vincent Faucheux of France are a new combination this season. Like Joergensen, Pouge comes from his country’s lightweight four which he has been part of for the last three seasons and this result may put him back into the four. Anything is possible in the all important Olympic year.

Morten Joergensen (DEN) – Gold
"It feels very great to beat last year’s championships winners. We are a new team. This was just the second 2000-metre race together. But it was a very hard race. The wind was very strong the last 1000 meters. We don´t know if we’ll stay together in the pair because we are substitutes for the lightweight men’s four.”

Armando Dell’Aquila (ITA1) – Silver
"We are more happy than sad about the second place.”

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

This race almost looked like a repeat of the pattern that has followed through 2005 and 2006. With the return of Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria last year, the status quo got disrupted. But Neykova had to withdraw due to illness half-way through this regatta leaving the showdown between reigning World Champion Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and the Bulgarian for another day.

As we have become used to, Karsten got out in front followed by Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic with a reasonably new face to the senior single, Emma Twigg of New Zealand, coming out in third. Then Iva Obradovic of Serbia, who is hoping to qualify in June for Beijing, rowed through Twigg. But the Serbian couldn’t maintain that pace and began to fade. Karsten, meanwhile, was battling a third quarter charge by Knapkova. Knapkova, who usually attacks earlier in the race, looked to be trying a new tactic. Karsten pushed back crossing the line in first. Knapkova earns yet another silver medal and Twigg finds herself on the medals podium at a senior event for the first time, taking bronze.

Ekatarina Karsten-Khodotovitch (BLR) – Gold
"This was the first big race of the season and not very easy. But a good start and I know what to work on.”

Mirka Knapkova (CZE) – Silver
“I am happy about the silver medal, but with this wind it was a very, very long race and quite tough to lift it up at the finish.”

Emma Twigg (NZL) – Bronze
“I am happy with the medal. This is a good starting point for the season.”

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

What has Alan Campbell of Great Britain been doing over winter? Whatever it was it looks to be paying dividends now. Campbell, known for his fast starts, did exactly that today with Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic following in second. But there was very little between the top five boats with only Marcel Hacker of Germany a little off the pace. Campbell continued to hold his own at the front of the field ahead of Synek as Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway tried to hold off Sweden for third.

Even splitting through the middle of the race, Campbell remained ahead of last year’s silver medallist, Synek. It looked like Synek would have to do something very special to catch the determined Campbell. The many British supporters in the crowd were making noise. Campbell, Synek and Tufte charged for the line. Campbell wins World Cup gold for the second time in his career. Campbell had given it his all and looked a bit worse for wear coming in to collect his medal. Synek earns another silver and Tufte takes bronze.

Alan Campbell (GBR1) – Gold
“I had a really good race. I put it all together. It was probably one of the best races I´ve ever had.”

Ondrej Synek (CZE) – Silver
“I am happy and unhappy at the same time. I´m happy with the second place and unhappy because it could have been better. The weather is not how I like it but I got a good line. Now I hope to win the race in Lucerne.”

Olaf Tufte (NOR) – Bronze
“I am happy with being in the top three. But it was not a good race for me, I didn´t find my pace, I can do better races than this. So I am going back home to do more training.”

Women’s Pair (W2-)

This event has really opened up. There are no crews dominating and results have moved around over the last couple of years. With World Champions Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus not looking their best so far at this regatta, it was anyone’s guess who would be standing on the winners podium less than eight minutes from now.

China’s You Wu and Yulan Gao got out to an early lead and looked to be stamping their dominance on this race. Gao finished sixth in this event last year and she has a new partner this year in Wu. Together they remained at the head of the field with Germany’s 2007 European Champions Lenka Wech and Maren Derlien sitting in second. Eleanor Logan and Caroline Lind of the United States sat a good distance back in third. The race had turned into a procession with no one attacking.

At the line China had won very comfortably. Germany take second very comfortably over the United States in third.

Lenka Wech, Maren Derlin (GER) – Silver
“This was great and we are very happy about second place. Of course you always want to win a race, but the Chinese were expected to come first after their strong performance so far. We were very self-confident that we could come second and we did. For us this was very important since it was our aim to test our international standard and the result is fantastic. After this regatta, we will sit down with our coach and decide then what we will do next, since there will probably still be quite a lot of testing between the pair and the eight, but we’ll be back in the pair for Lucerne and Poznan – maybe trying a double start then also.” (Maren Derlien, stroke).

Eleanor Logan, Caroline Lind (U.S.A.) – Bronze
“This was a solid race. It was good to race in this head wind and we learned new things about ourselves. We are happy about winning a medal. It has not been decided though if we will stay in the pair, our selection process is still continuing.” (Caroline Lind, stroke)

Men’s Pair (M2-)

In the absence of the Australians and New Zealanders (number one and two in the world) the men’s pair was wide open here at Munich. Croatia had been showing the way through the heats and semis with the new Swiss combination also creating waves amongst the pair rowers. Italy’s new duo also looked to be a wise choice and the grand old man of rowing, Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic was showing that his talents extend beyond sculling.

Jumping out at the start were Croatia’s Skelin brothers and Italy’s Raffaello Leonardo with Giuseppe De Vita. But the entire field remained tightly bunched. Going through the half-way point only Denmark had slipped off the pace as Florian Stofer and Stefan Sax moved ahead of the Italians to inch into second.

With just 500m left to race Croatia remained in the lead followed very closely by Switzerland and virtually nothing separated Italy, the Czech Republic and France. At 1900m these three crews were absolutely equal, Sax and Stofer had closed on the Skelins. Who would win? Croatia just held on to take gold, Switzerland earn silver and France are bronze medallists. At the line Sax and Stofer looked the happiest. They are hoping to qualify for Beijing next month and this has given them well-deserved confidence.

Niksa Skelin (CRO) – Gold
“The conditions were very tough but the course was quite fair. Before the finish line we were just looking to the Swiss team to make sure to not let them pass us. We managed to control them and we had a good finish.”

Florian Stofer (SUI) – Silver
“We just wanted to row and concentrate on our one race and it went well. Our goal was to get on the podium. As we are not qualified for the Olympics yet we totally concentrate on Poznan and are not going to row in Lucerne.”

Erwan Peron (FRA1) – Bronze
“We are happy with the result. Because of the Olympics we didn´t specifically concentrate on the World Cup. There will be more strong competitors like the ones from New Zealand and Australia. So I hope we can still make a progress for the Olympics.”

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

There must be a wave of confidence engulfing Chinese women’s sculling. Today they took first and second in the women’s double, a situation not seen since the days of German rowing domination. In the lead from the start were the reigning World Champions, Qin Li and Liang Tian. Behind them Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth of Germany were trying to hold the pace. But as the Germans began to fade, China’s number two crew, Bin Tang and Ziwei Jin moved through. The Germans could not react. China takes gold and silver and Germany earn bronze.

Annekatrin Thiele, Christiane Huth (GER) – Bronze
“Great – this was a successful start into the international season. We won the national selection and we showed now that we are up there internationally also. With this result we are very optimistic for the upcoming races. We will work on consolidating the good things and know what we will still need to work on.” (Christiane Huth)

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

Germany’s Clemens Wenzel and Falko Nolte have been churning out impressive results through the heats and semifinals. Today they continued in this vein by leading the final ahead of Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain with Australia’s Scott Brennan and David Crawshay back in third. A powerful second 1000 by the Brits allowed them to get their nose ahead of Germany and it was all on to the line. Great Britain did a piece at the 1700 metre mark which gave them an edge. Germany reacted back, but perhaps a bit too late. Wells and Rowbotham take gold, Wenzel and Nolte earn silver and Crawshay and Brennan are bronze medallists.

Matthew Wells, Stephen Rowbotham (GBR) – Gold
"We were surprised how quickly they came up at the end, but we got it all covered.” (Stephen Rowbotham)

Clemens Wenzel, Falko Nolte (GER) – Silver
“Of course gold would have been better, but we are quite happy with the silver medal also.” (Clemens Wenzel)

Scott Brennan, David Crawshay (AUS) – Bronze
“We pieced it together quite well and had a reasonably good race.” (David Crawshay)