B Finals at Lucerne's Rowing World Cup

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – B Final

Is Xiuyun Zhang of China back? Olympic medallist from 1996, Zhang missed Sydney and then Athens due to health problems. Today she led the B Final from start to finish coming home in a comfortable fashion ahead of Slovenia’s Majda Jerman with her long, lay-back rowing style. Brooke Pratley of Australia came next in a distant third.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B Final

Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands gained a point for his country by getting out to a fast start and opening up clear water between himself and fellow countryman and sculling rival Dirk Lippits. The 203 cm tall Hamburger then cruised the last 500 metres unconcerned about the closing sprint by Belgium’s Time Maeyens that took him past Lippits and into second.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B Final

A solid performance by Baz Moffat in her debut international season and partner, Under 23 medallist, Jessica-Jane Eddie of Great Britain took them to the lead against Netherlands Two. A second half comeback from the Netherlands moved them closer to the British, but Moffat and Eddie had enough control to remain in front.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – B Final

An impressive fifth place finish last year at the World Rowing Championships for Nikos Pagounis and Ioannis Christou of Greece made them a crew to be watched. Today the duo worked their way up from the back of the field to take the lead in the final sprint over Martin Veit and Jan Dehoust of Germany. Meanwhile the final sprint went awry for the Czech Republic when a gate opened and they flipped before the finish. Greece earn a point for their country and a seventh place overall.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – B Final

The United States duo of Brett Sickler and Susan Francia finished eighth at the first Rowing World Cup and today they stepped up a notch with a win in the B Final – seventh overall. Sickler and Francia did this by leading from the start and holding a boat length margin to keep Hungary, in second, at bay. Rating a relaxed looking 35 strokes per minute coming through the last 200 metres, the United States earns a World Cup point.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – B Final

Norway’s Morten Adamsen and Nils-Torolv Simonsen have been sticking together as a combination ever since finishing in the final of the Athens Olympics. Today they battled the B Final against Michal Sloma and Marcin Brzezinski of Poland and last year’s silver medallists, Luca Ghezzi and Federico Gattinoni of Italy. Sloma and Brzezinski stayed in touch throughout the race with the Norwegians while the Italians ran out of juice and slipped back in the field. This gave a sprinting Belgian duo the chance to come through to third behind Norway and Poland.

Men’s Four (M4-) – B Final

Three French boats lined up. Two will make up an eight at this year’s World Rowing Championships. One will be the four. Today France One, stroked by Dorian Mortelette battled with Ireland at the head of the field with France Two, stroked by Laurent Cadot, doing their best to hold the pace. A charge for the line gave France One the edge. Will this be the crew for Eton?

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

The Germans might be looking at another reshuffle. Current World Champion Marie-Louise Draeger with new partner Berit Carow racing the B Final is not the result that they are after. But they made sure of being in the lead and remaining there over Elena Lyakisheva and Anna Yuchenko of Russia. With two years until the Beijing Olympics, however, the Germans will be looking to find the perfect combination to defend their Olympic title.

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

This is the 2006 debut regatta for the Canadian lightweight men under the guidance of new coach Bent Jensen. Today Matt Jensen and Daniel Parsons raced the B Final after a very intense semifinal denied them of an A Final position. After overtaking Japan, Jensen and Parsons settled into the lead and with a stronger second half managed to push away from the entire field. This left a full on fight with the remaining five crews and the five close beeps at the line indicated just a couple of seconds between them all. Slovakia take second behind Canada.

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

In true lightweight style this race was all about closeness and intensity. All six crews were still overlapping with half of the race gone. All boats were still overlapping with three quarters of the race gone. In the final sprint Great Britain and Belgium went for broke. Both got their rating above 40, Great Britain got the top (and seventh overall) spot at the line. Belgium comes in second and Canada third.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – B Final

Russia looked comfortable as they came into the final straight rating 35. They had led for the entire race maintaining clear water after an initial challenge from Egypt.