Two Barcelona Olympic medallists in B Final

Iztok Cop (SLO) and Vaclav Chalupa (CZE) both medalled 17 years ago at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Meanwhile, Rianne Sigmond of the Netherlands was competing at her first international regatta racing in the lightweight women’s double. Perfect flat conditions with no wind and mild temperatures welcomed the rowers back to Estany Lake for this third day of racing.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – B Final

One day Egypt is going to surprise everyone. They are going to start fast and keep going and finish fast. But generally the Egyptians start to fade after leading early on. Egypt went out fast but the United States had already caught them going through the first 500m mark and strode away from the field. David Banks and Charles Cole of the United States are in their first season together. Banks comes from the Beijing Olympic four and Cole won the eight at last year’s under-23 championships.

The Americans held a steady 37 stroke rate and remained in the lead with the Czech Republic’s Jakub Makovicka and Vaclav Chalupa moving through the field and into second by the finish line. Chalupa raced on this course 17 years ago in the final of the men’s single at the Barcelona Olympics. Seventeen years ago, Chalupa took silver. At that time Cole was just six years old. The United States finish first and seventh overall, the Czech Republic are second and Belarus finish third.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – B Final

Fie Graugaard-Udby and Lea Jakobsen of Denmark tried to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in 2007 in the pair. They didn’t make it and ended up last season at the World Rowing Championships in the four. This year they have swapped to the double and in their first international regatta in this event they led the B Final from start to finish.

By the halfway point, Graugaard-Udby and Jakobsen had a handy lead over the Netherlands in second. Nienke Kingma and Femke Dekker of the Netherlands pushed the finish, forcing the Danes to a 38 stroke rate. Denmark held on to first and the Netherlands take second and Denmark’s second crew are third.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – B Final

Opening at the head of the field were Ahmed Khamis and Mostafa El Bestawy of Egypt. Usually the Egyptians fade going into the second 500m but Khamis and el Bestawy bucked that trend and still had the lead at the halfway point. They were still in first with just 500m of the race left. Then everything changed. The two Italian entries picked up speed. So did Cuba and Poland. Khamis and El Bestawy had nothing left to react.

At the line, the experienced Simone Raineri (veteran of three Olympic Games) with partner Matteo Stefanini of Italy had moved through to first. Italy2 of Luca Ghezzi and Romano Battisti was half a second behind in second and Cuba took third. The Egyptians had slipped back to fifth.  

Men’s Four (M4-) – B Final

Yesterday the two French crews held a close and exhausting battle in the repechage, exhausting enough that the stroke of France1 was suffering at the end. France1 made it through to the Final, while France2 missed out and thus raced in this B Final. France2 – Jonathan Mathis, Benjamin Rondeau, Frederic Doucet, Julien Despres – must have recovered their energy last night as they led today’s race from start to finish. Italy gave the French a good run for their money but had nothing left for the final sprint. France remained in first with Poland pushing ahead of Italy to earn second.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B Final

There was nothing shoddy about this B Final line-up. Beijing Olympic finalist Lassi Karonen of Sweden was there. He is recovering from knee surgery two months ago and slowly building up for the coming season. Beijing Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic was there. He was unlucky in yesterday’s semifinal when he had a boat problem. Slovenia’s most medalled athlete Iztok Cop was there. Cop raced to bronze in the men’s pair on this very course 17 years ago at the Barcelona Olympics. In recent years Cop has been more involved in the double but often starts the season off rowing the single.

Cop took an early lead but was soon overtaken by Synek who then held the lead for the remainder of the race. Cop held on to second rating a couple of beats lower than Synek and carrying out a much less aggressive race. Synek upped his rating to 35 in the closing sprint of the race and finished a full boat length ahead of Cop. Russia and the United States tussled for third with Warren Anderson (Beijing Olympic spare) prevailing at the end. Synek finishes first, Cop second and Anderson is third.

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

Earlier this season the Dutch Rowing Federation hunted down Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head from different rowing clubs and put them together in the lightweight double. They have been rowing for just three years and this is their first international race. Sigmond and Head came out of the starting blocks in second behind Weronika Deresz and Ilona Mokronowska of Poland, but by the 750m the Dutch had pushed ahead of Poland.

Sigmond and Head used long strokes and a low stroke rate to remain in the lead and move away from Poland who looked like they didn’t have the power to react. The United States followed in third. Poland then found a second wind and closed on the Dutch, but Sigmond and Head held them off. The Netherlands finish first, Poland second and the United States third.

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

Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands has been very successful in the lightweight single over the last couple of years, but this year he has decided to team up with Paul Drewes in the double. Schouten and Drewes took off in the lead ahead of Cuba with the United States in third. By the halfway point Cuba had slipped back and Greece was the big improver.

The Netherlands remained in the lead and coming into the final sprint they had a full boat length over the United States in second. But then Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes of Portugal opened up a mighty sprint from the back of the field. Greece went with them. At the line the Netherlands had held on to first, the Portuguese took second just pushing Ilias Pappas and Dimitrios Mougios of Greece into third.

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

France has a strong and large bunch of lightweights currently on their national team and today their four contested the B Final after just missing out on the A Final through the repechage yesterday. Today they led the race from start to finish shaking off a strong challenge for three-quarters of the race by Switzerland. This Swiss boat is a long-term project. This is the boat they hope to qualify for the London Olympics after only one boat qualified for the country at Beijing.

France remained in first and Switzerland held on to second with Poland a good length back in third.