B Finals at the Rowing World Cup

The men’s single sculls opened the day with a C Final featuring former World Cup medallist Lassi Karonen. Karonen stayed ahead of Norway’s Nils Simonsen to finish first.

By the support of the crowd you would have thought this was China’s race. Sitting in the middle of the pack of the B Final was Liang Zhang of China and his supporters were vocal. But it was Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg who had the lead. This left a very tight race between Olympic gold medallist (M2x) Luka Spik of Slovenia and Olympic finalist Santiago Fernandez of Argentina. Vonarburg remained ahead with Fernandez taking second.

Sophie Hosking of Great Britain made a solid impression coming through the heats of the lightweight women’s single sculls. Hosking won a bronze at the World Rowing Championships last year in the lightweight quad and now in the absence of that event she is competing in the single. Today, in the B Final, Hosking got into the lead by the 500m mark and held off a late push by Cuba’s Yaima Velazquez.

At the head of the field in the B Final of the lightweight men’s single sculls was Arnaud Pornin of France. Pornin, who can pull an impressive 6:07 on the indoor rowing machine, raced last year in the lightweight four at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Today he had a close race with Rolandas Kazlauskas of Hong Kong. Pornin had the better sprint to win the race.

The lightweight men’s pair B Final swapped and changed between leaders. First Spain had it then Italy2 took over before Athanasios Liolios Evangelos Tsourtsoulas of Greece, working their way up from the very back of the field, showed the better sprint. This left Italy2, which featured six-times World Champion in the lightweight quad and eight, Franco Sancassani, in second. Meanwhile unlucky France caught a boat-flipping crab 50m before the finish and did not make it to the line.

Frida Svensson of Sweden finished third last year at the World Rowing Championships, but today she found herself in the B Final of the women’s single sculls. Svensson showed her talent though by leading from start to finish and looking comfortable and relaxed as she crossed the finish line with a clear water lead over the young Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic.

With the large number of entries in the women’s pair from China, the United States and Australia it was not surprising to see these boats well in the mix. Giving it their best was United States3 of Lindsay Shoop and Anna Goodale. Shoop and Goodale held the lead and managed to keep a boat length between them and the rest of the pack. In the final sprint China’s Yage Zhang and Cuiping Yang got their stroke rate to 41 to hold off the Australian charge. China, in a photo finish with Australia, earn second.

The men’s pair B Final Dawid Paczes and Lukasz Kardas of Poland took the lead and by the half-way point had a boat length lead over the rest of the field who were packed very tightly. In the final sprint, Slovenia gave it their best shot to come back in Poland, rating 41 strokes per minute, but Poland did enough to hold them off. Paczes and Kardas finish first. Surprisingly last year’s winners of the coxed pair, Serbia, sat at the back of the field well off the pace.

Romania has not been featuring very strongly at this regatta and today Eniko Barabas and Roxana Cogianu of Romania competed in the B Final of the women’s double sculls. Cogianu comes from the under-23 squad having won gold last year in the quad and Barabas is usually part of her country’s eight. Together they fought off usual lightweights, Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland. Meanwhile Peggy Waleska and Olympic Champion Manuela Lutze had to settle for third.

The men’s double sculls B Final opened with Greece in the lead. Greece held on to this position but lost it in the final sprint when Poland’s Michal Sloma and Marcin Brzezinski charged for the line. China followed but Poland got there first despite a lower stroke rate. Poland finished fourth last year and are likely to be pushing into the A Final at future Rowing World Cups.

Very little separated Germany2, Ireland and Greece in the opening half of the men’s four B Final. Very little separated them with just 500m left to row. Even less separated them in the closing metres of the race. Who would have the best sprint? Germany rated 40, Greece sat on 39 and Ireland hit 38. Ireland prevailed taking first position and earning a Rowing World Cup point for their country.

The lightweight women’s double sculls B Final featured a very strong line-up with a number of former medallists and no clear leader. Spain had the edge at the start before Helen Casey, 33, and Hester Goodsell, 22, of Great Britain took over. Poland pushed hard but Casey and Goodsell had established just enough of a lead that they could keep an eye on the field. As Great Britain works on choosing their best combination for this event, they may have found it in these two rowers.

The very competitive lightweight men’s double sculls B Final featured last year’s silver medallists, Elia Luini and Marcello Miani of Italy as well as last year’s bronze medallists, Fabrice Moreau and Frederic Dufour of France. On top of that the Vetesnik twins of the Czech Republic – 2005 winners of the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. All six crews left the line together and even by the half-way point there was little between them with Italy just in front. A huge final sprint by the Austrians accelerated them into second at the line with Italy taking first.

Denmark took off at the front of the field of the lightweight men’s four B Final with Germany1 in hot pursuit. Very little separated these two boats as Poland also held the pace. Surprisingly last year’s silver medallists, France, sat at the back of the field tussling with 2006 bronze medallists, Ireland. Meanwhile, at the head, Germany, Denmark and Poland were going for a photo finish. Poland got up to 45 strokes per minute with Denmark around 37. But it was Germany that had the edge finishing a fraction ahead of Denmark.

The three boats making up the women’s quadruple sculls B Final turned into a procession after Canada broke away from Russia with Brazil way back. Russia is diluted at the moment with Irina Fedotova taking a short break and today regular to the quad, Larisa Merk, was moved by their coach from stroke to three seat. Canada made the most of it finishing first.

The men’s quadruple sculls B Final featured the newly established Australian line up and with every race they look to be improving. Australia started off reasonably sluggish in the heats but today they had the B Final lead by the half-way point and put in a huge effort to hold off the big guys of the Great Britain crew. Less than half a second separated Australia and Great Britain at the finish, with the Australians prevailing.

In the B Final of the women’s eight China’s second crew came back from a slow start to overtake first Russia and then hold a full-on battle with Germany2. Using a much higher rating, 43 strokes per minute heading into the line, China got their bow ahead of Germany to take first.

All five boats wanted first in the B Final of the men’s eight and after 500m of rowing there was only one and a half seconds separating them. Germany had the edge with last year’s silver medallists, Italy right on their pace. Coming into the final sprint it was hard to pick who would do it. Switzerland charged, Germany fought back, Italy had a small edge. Italy stayed just in front with Germany taking second.