Stepping out of winter training - Munich World Cup heats

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x)

At the start bow of each boat sits in a “clog” that drops down below the water surface when the race begins. The shorter boats used by these lightweight women meant the starter had trouble fitting the singles into the right position. Once this was sorted out heat one of three took off. The first three boats would advance to the semifinal.

With three-time World Champion Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands now competing in the lightweight double a hole has opened up for a new lightweight to fill. Will it be the Austrian Michaela Taupe-Traer. Taupe-Traer has the distinction of competing internationally for a long time – she is in her 17th year. Today Taupe-Traer went head to head with the young Weronika Deresz of Poland as Carola Tamboloni of Italy held on to the leaders’ pace. A 32 stroke rate piece by Deresz earned her the lead but Taupe-Traer fought back. At the line Taupe-Traer was the quickest. Deresz and Tamboloni also earn a semifinal spot.

Heat two featured two British entries taking up lane one and two. But it was Laura Tibitanzl of Germany, the 23 year old who has already had five seasons at the international level, who took ownership of the leading position. By the half-way point Tibitanzl was more than four seconds ahead of Mathilde Pauls in second who was battling it out with her fellow British teammate, Andrea Dennis. With no change in positions, at the line going through to the semifinal is Tibitanzl, Pauls and Dennis.

As head wind conditions continued, the third heat recorded the slowest time. After a fast start by Norway’s Hilde Gudem, Hua Yu of China took the lead. Yu has the experience of racing at the Sydney Olympics in the lightweight double and she has been in and out of this boat ever since. Last year she raced to bronze in the lightweight women’s quad. As Gudem drifted back, Denmark’s Helene Olsen moved up to take on the Norwegian. But it was purely academic. Yu, Gudem and Olsen will advance to the semifinal.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x)

World Champion Duncan Grant of New Zealand led heat one of three heats. As in the previous race a top three finish was required for a trip directly to the semifinal. Grant was unlucky to be injured in February this year which meant he missed out on a chance to trial for New Zealand’s lightweight double which is aiming for Olympic qualification. But he made the best of his boat speed here today easily leading Austria’s Sebastian Sageder who was having a tough battle with Tianfeng Dong of China. Sageder and Dong fought it out for the entire race leaving the rest of the field behind. Grant, Sageder and Dong all earn a spot in the semi.

The Netherlands is proving to have a powerful bunch of lightweight men and in heat two the Netherlands’ second boat Frederik Heijbrock took over the lead from the fast-starting Takahiro Suda of Japan. Coming into his own in the second half of the race, Franco Sancassani of Italy began to move on Heijbrock. Sancassani has won many medals in non-Olympic lightweight events over the past decade and using his experience Sancassani was happy to let Heijbrock finish first with Sancassani in second and Austria’s Florian Berg back in third.

Last year’s bronze medallist Jaap Schouten led the final heat from start to finish. With only four boats in the race and a wide mix of talent, Schouten looked to be in a race of his own. A fifth entry, Algeria’s Chaouki Dries arrived late due to delayed flights and will race a time trial then move on to the repechages. Slotting into second and third with open water between both of them, Pierre-Etienne Pollez of France and Christian Rabel of Austria will join Schouten in the semifinal.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

A large field of 26 boats divided down into six heats with the top three or four boats earning a spot in the quarterfinals was the formula for these women. With seeding in place the top scullers were sprinkled evenly throughout the six heats with heat one containing last year’s bronze medallist Michelle Guerette of the United States. Guerette hopes to make history later this year in Beijing by being the first medal in this event for the USA in 20 years.

Challenging Guerette hard was one of Italy’s most accomplished female rowers, Gabriella Bascelli. Formerly from South Africa, Bascelli has been a regular on the Italian team since 1999. Behind the two leaders was newcomer Annick De Decker of Belgium and Rika Geyser of South Africa. Geyser hopes to qualify for Beijing and will be aiming to prove her worth at this regatta. At the line Guerette shook off Bascelli to take first with Belgium and South Africa taking third and fourth respectively.

Last year’s under-23 winner Emma Twigg of New Zealand led heat two with France’s single regular Sophie Balmary hot on her tail. Both Twigg and Balmary qualified for Beijing last year with a sixth and seventh place finish respectively and, again, Twigg had the upper hand. Behind Twigg and Balmary Sanne Beukers of the Netherlands and Great Britain’s Kristina Stiller were conducting a close battle through the middle of the race before Beukers managed to get away. Twigg, Balmary, Beukers and Stiller will be in the quarterfinal.

Germany number two, Stephanie Schiller led heat three over last year’s silver medallist, Rumyana Neykova. But the very experienced Bulgarian soon had the lead with Schiller settling into second. The order remained the same with Spain’s 2004 Olympic finalist, Nuria Dominguez Asensio qualifying for the quarterfinal from third. Dominguez missed out on qualifying for Beijing last year and will be hoping to try again in June.

Heat four was led by China’s most experienced woman rower, Xiuyun Zhang. Zhang stayed ahead of Julia Michalska of Poland with the race turning into a procession as Chile’s entry, Soraya Jadue Arriaza back in third. All three of these athletes have already qualified for the Beijing Olympics, Jadue doing it through the South American qualification regatta. All three will move on to the quarterfinals to be raced on Friday.

There’s no doubting the skill and professionalism of three-time consecutive World Champion, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. Karsten held a solid pace for the first half of the race to earn the lead. But all credit to the gutsy effort by Serbia’s Iva Obradovic, who did her best to stick with the Belarusian. The second half of the race was less interesting with Karsten easily cruising home in first. Obradovic takes second and Germany’s Sophie Dunsing becomes the third quarterfinal qualifier and the second German through.

The sixth and final heat recorded the fastest time with Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic sending out a message to her competitors. Knapkova has been consistently medalling in this event since 2005 but last year found herself back in fourth. Knapkova is known for a willingness to experiment to gain a top result and as this regatta progresses it will be interesting to see how her winter training has paid off. Behind Knapkova Sweden’s Frida Svensson slipped into second with no challenge coming from Ulla Varvio of Finland in third. All three scullers go to the quarterfinal.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

A massive nine heats with athletes from 37 nations lined up with the top athlete in each race earning the opportunity to go directly to the semifinal. In heat one junior champion Aleksandar Aleksandrov of Bulgaria took off with a blistering start. The 18-year-old missed out on Olympic qualification by just one position last year and is back to try again. Aleksandrov then ran out of steam and the star of the movie, The Perfect Stroke, Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands pulled into the lead. Through the middle of the race Hamburger was well in control of the top spot but coming into the close of the race Charles Cousins of Great Britain let loose. Cousins, however, had left his sprint too late. Hamburger moves to the semifinal.

Out of the double due to his partner Luka Spik being injured, Iztok Cop of Slovenia must be relishing his chance to race in the single again. He did it in heat two by leading from start to finish using his signature strong finish style. Cop moves on to the semifinal, denying fellow Slovenian, Gregor Novak of the spot.

A more controlled Alan Campbell of Great Britain led heat three. Campbell has in the past trained with World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand who will head to Europe in time for the second World Cup. Today Campbell rowed a matured race fully in control. However, in the closing metres both Poland and France went after the one semifinal spot. Campbell seemed unperturbed and stayed just enough ahead to earn the semifinal position.

Lassi Karonen qualified for Beijing last year by finishing sixth and in heat four he gave an indication to the other competitors of the strength of his winter training. Leading from the start Karonen stayed easily ahead of Liang Zhang of China. Zhang qualified for Beijing just two weeks ago when he won the single at the Asian Qualification Regatta. But Zhang will have to race in the repechage tomorrow. Karonen moves on to the semifinal with the fastest qualifying time and a clear message to his competitors.

Finishing fourth at the Athens Olympics has hung over Santiago Fernandez of Argentina. What will the Argentinean be able to do this year? In heat five Fernandez took to lead with Leonid Gulov of Estonia in hot pursuit. Gulov challenged Fernandez and took the lead as Fernandez began to fade. Then the slow starting Ralph Kreibich of Austria tried to make up for lost time. Gulov held Kreibich off and earned the semifinal spot.

Norway’s Olaf Tufte spends much of the winter training in South Africa and Portugal. He is known for his long, slow rows and often he starts the season off slowly. Today, in heat six, he pushed through Slovenia to earn the lead in a race that presented Tufte with little competition. Tufte will find his first real race in the semifinal tomorrow.

Andre Vonarburg has been Switzerland’s top single sculler ever since the departure of Xeno Mueller and he has been plugging away hovering on the edge of the A Final since 2002. Vonarburg has already qualified for the Beijing Olympics, his third, and today he made another step towards the ultimate rowing event by winning heat seven here at Munich. Poland’s Arnold Sobczak put up a strong challenge in the first half of the race, but Vonarburg kept the Pole at bay. Vonarburg moves on to the semifinal.

Germany’s Marcel Hacker has spent much of his rowing years training on this regatta course and despite finishing outside of the medals here last year at the World Rowing Championships, Hacker was still the biggest hit amongst the fans. In heat eight Hacker did another 2000m race down the 1972 Olympic course with little competition from the rest of the field. Hacker heads to the semifinal with the second fastest qualifying time.

It was no surprise to see last year’s silver medallist, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic out in the lead of heat nine. France gave it its best to push Synek, but the Czech was comfortable. Synek moves on to tomorrow’s semifinal.