Finishing in the Top Six - the Final BearingPoint Rowing World Cup

The women's double World Best time nearly falls in one of the tightest finishes of the day. Great Britain makes it three in a row in the men's four. Germany's women finally win a medal in the eight. It was another fine day of racing at the Rotsee for the final BearingPoint Rowing World Cup for 2005.

Women's Single Scull (W1x)

Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus looks really good rating 29 – 30 strokes per minute. Six foot tall long strokes with crisp catches gave spectators a picture of demonstrable rowing. From the lead Olympic gold medallist Karsten was put under no pressure and felt confident to rate in the high 20s through the body of the race.

Karsten's sculling superiority left France's Sophie Balmary to follow along in second and Frida Swensson way back in third. Nothing changed in a pedestrian example of racing but it is worth noting that throughout the race, sitting in fourth, four-time Olympic Champion Kathrin Boron of Germany could do nothing to get into the medals.

Men's Single Scull (M1x)

Out in front at the start New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale looked across in surprise. "I knew I had got out to a good start," said Drysdale after the race. "I thought 'now maybe I have a chance to break a couple of them.'"

Behind Drysdale a very tight race was going on between Germany's Marcel Hacker, Olaf Tufte of Norway and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic. In single sculling one stroke can make a huge difference and with only two and a half seconds separating these top four boats it was still anyone's game for who could hold the pressure and sprint the best.

Synek had the goods. Taking his rating to 41 Synek moved past Drysdale and tried to hold off Tufte at 42 strokes per minute. Drysdale held on with his remaining energy. Synek wins his second World Cup of the season with Drysdale taking another silver and Tufte finally finding the 2005 medals podium after overtaking Hacker to win bronze.

After the race Olympic Champion Tufte said Athens had taken a lot out of him. "Rowing isn't very big in Norway, but suddenly everyone wants a piece of me. Between the Olympics and the end of the year I didn't get one day off." Tufte has also recently taken over the family farm and has been battling with allergy problems. 

Women's Pair (W2-)

New Zealand's Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh turned the race into a parade by getting out to a solid lead over Belarusian'sTamara Samakhvalava and partner, Olympic bronze medallist Natallia Helakh. Great Britain sat back in third. The order didn't change. The only thing that changed was the ever widening gap between the crews. Coles and Haigh remained well in the lead using negative splitting while Samakhvalava and Helakh used an even split plan to remain in second.

At the finish Coles and Haigh earned the yellow jersey for two World Cup wins, Belarus take second and Great Britain win bronze.

New Zealand now leaves Europe to do their final preparation for the World Rowing Championships from their home country with the European crews left to contemplate how they are going to close the gap.

Men's Pair (M2-)

Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater from New Zealand stepped into a European party and upset the status quo by winning last month at Munich. Who would challenge them today?

"We got a good start," said Twaddle after the race, "although not intentionally." The New Zealanders had worked their way to a solid lead over Germany by the half way point and waited for an attack by Croatia's Niksa and Sinisa Skelin.

Croatia did not have a good start. Working their way up from the back of the field, the Skelins had to pass all five boats if they were to take gold.

By the third 500 metres Croatia had worked their way past four boats and just the black colour of New Zealand remained. The Croatian pace continued but New Zealand's hefty margin was too much.

"We were waiting for the other boats to come back," said Twaddle, "but they didn't."

New Zealand now move on to the World Rowing Championships as favourites and ready to face South Africa. Croatia, in second, will be working on their starts and Luca Agamennini and Dario Lari of Italy in third will be looking for a bit more speed.

Women's Double Scull (W2x)

When you're at the top it's even harder to stay there. Self expectations mount, the expectations of others rise, all other crews know your style and they are all out to bring you down. Olympic Champions, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand haven't lost a race in the double since 2001.

They come back to this event after racing against each other in singles and in today's final they confronted Eton and Munich winners Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova of Bulgaria for the first time. New Zealand got out to a good start and gained an edge over Great Britain's Elise Laverick and Debbie Flood as well as the Bulgarians. New Zealand still had the advantage at the half way point but Bulgaria was making gains.

Coming into the final sprint New Zealand held a three second advantage when the single sculler in Neykova let rip. Stroke by stroke the Bulgarians reeled the Evers-Swindells in. A photo finish at the line clarified the close result.

Bulgaria make it three for three for the 2005 World Cup season with New Zealand winning silver and Great Britain taking bronze. In one of the most competitive races of the day Bulgaria and New Zealand had pushed the edge, finishing less than three seconds outside the World Best Time.

Men's Double Scull (M2x)

Spik and Cop. It's becoming a partnership like Pinsent and Cracknell or like Ginn and Tomkins. These two Slovenians are going to go down in rowing history. They won gold at Sydney, bronze at Athens and in between they dabbled in quads, singles and for Cop, cross country skiing with success in all. Coming through from the semifinal Luka Spik and Iztok Cop was the partnership to beat.

As in former races Slovenia took the early lead, leaving Munich winners Christian Schreiber and Rene Burmeister of Germany to try and catch up. With half the race gone Cop and Spik had an open water lead with Schreiber and Burmeister sitting in second and 21-year-old Federico Gattinoni and partner Luca Ghezzi of Italy in third.

The style of doing a strong heave at the finish continued to work well for Spik and Cop as they crossed the line ahead in first with Germany following in second and Italy comfortably in third.

Back in fifth Dmytro Prokopenko and Volodymyr Pavlovskyy of Ukraine will have to try again at the Gifu World Rowing Championships for a medal while Cop and Spik are looking at going for two golds in Gifu – the double and the quad.

Men's Coxless Four (M4-)

The expectations on Great Britain have increased. They have not lost a race all season and often their winning margin has been impressive. Today they faced an ever improving Canada as well as a talented Dutch crew and a solid Danish contingent.

But, as has become customary, the Brits had the lead with only a quarter of the race rowed. The margin was not as impressive as in other finals this season and as the Czech Republic slipped back the Netherlands started to come into their own. The Dutch were only half a boat length down on the British as they went through the half way point. Rating a solid 34 strokes per minute the Dutch looked to be getting more out of each drive than the British at a 38.

Meanwhile Denmark decided they'd had enough of sitting at the back of the field and started to pick up the pace. From their outside lane they had just 500 metres to try and make it into the medals. In one of the most effective sprints of the day Denmark charged for the line. But a calm Great Britain had the edge and remained in first with the Netherlands holding onto second. Denmark gained a well deserved medal in third.

After the race Great Britain's stroke commented that despite their slim winning margin he felt confident as command caller Steve Williams in bow had kept his voice calm throughout the race.

Women's Lightweight Double Scull (LW2x)

Coming into this final World Cup, Canada and China were the unknown elements. After the preliminary races it was evident that they were both a force to be reckoned with. But Germany's Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger had the statistics behind them and at the start Germany took the lead.

Beside Germany China's boat contained two-time World Champion Meiyun Tan with partner, 18-year-old Haixia Chen in her second international season, sitting in bow. China, following a Romanian style of rowing, had found the lead by the half-way point as Germany slipped back to third resulting from a strong middle 1,000 executed by Poland's Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska.

As the final sprint began Reimer and Draeger found a second wind, but Tan and Chen had too much of an advantage. China finish first and Germany drive through to silver while Poland wins bronze.

Men's Lightweight Double Scull (LM2x)

The big screen caught it well. As the six boats moved away from the start a look of pure aggressive power was captured in the close-up. The strongest aggression was displayed by Denmark's Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist. They led the field by an oh-so-small margin from Matthew Jensen and Liam Parsons of Canada and Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary. 

The Danish lead increased ever so slightly through the middle of the race with stroke Quist maintaining a solid 36 strokes per minute.

Meanwhile working their way through to second over Canada, Hirling and Varga were looking powerful and purposeful. The Hungarian duo have been together since 2003 and in that time have chipped away at their times, slowly getting faster. Today was their day. Pouring on the sprint, Varga brought the rating up to 41 strokes per minute with Denmark trying to match it.

At the line the Hungarians had the edge. Hirling and Varga win gold, Denmark add silver to their collection and Canada win bronze.

"We were a lot more aggressive today," Parsons told Rowing Canada after the race. "Mike (Spracklen, men's coach) told us to forget about all the little things and just attack, so that's what we did."

Surprisingly back in fourth Munich winners Italy had a sub-average race. Stefano Basalini and Leonardo Pettinari looked hunched and down in their work and off the pace.

Men's Lightweight Four (LM4-)

The only medal for Ireland came in this event and it was very well deserved. Timmy Harnedy, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin have been consistent throughout the season and today they led the field out from the start.

But as in all good races the gap between boats was nail-bitingly slim. At the half-way point less than two seconds separated the top five boats. Who or what was going to give? 

Ireland still had the lead and in the final sprint Germany held on to second with Poland taking the final medal spot in third.

Women's Quad Scull (W4x)

Check out this Russian crew. Sitting in stroke seat is three-time Olympian Irina Fedotova who won Olympic bronze in 2000. Sitting behind her Larisa Merk finished fourth in the quad at Athens along with two seat Oksana Dorodnova who also raced at the Sydney Olympics. Then in bow Olga Samulenkova is the least experienced but still an Olympian from the Athens double.

But Russia was up against Eton and Munich winners, Great Britain who have prioritised this boat. Great Britain however, was missing Rebecca Romero who is sitting out this regatta due to a back injury. Annie Vernon filled in.

Russia got out to a small early lead over Henley winners Ukraine with Great Britain holding the pace. By the 1,000 metre mark the order hadn't changed but the margins had. Russia's lead was greater. Then Great Britain made a move and pushed past a fading Ukraine to take second. The Brits then sprinted after Russia. Russia held them off. At the line Russia had broken Great Britain's World Cup winning streak, the British had picked up silver and Ukraine take bronze over Germany.  

Men's Quad Scull (M4x)

This was definitely going to be a Czech Republic vs Estonia battle. Both crews had won their heat on Friday, both crews had a wealth of experience. Estonia had five-time Olympian Jueri Jaanson, the Czech Republic had five-time Olympian Vaclav Chalupa. But it was Olympic Champions Russia that took the lead at the start.

This didn't last long. Soon the Czech Republic had pushed through to first, followed closely by Estonia.

At the head of the field the Czech Republic and Estonia then held a race of their own, all but ignoring the other boats. Coming into the final sprint the Czechs retained a slight edge. But the race isn't over until the final beep. Estonia popped their rating up to 41, while the Czech Republic was at 38. Only three strokes remained in the race when Estonia got their bow in front taking gold and leaving the Czech Republic with silver.

An awesome closing sprint brought Great Britain into the final medal spot. To get there the Brits had to push from the back of the field with only 500 metres of water to do it in.

Women's Eight (W8+)

Romania is back. Usually they leave it until the Olympics to start winning but today this young crew took a World Cup gold medal home after leading the race from start to finish.

Behind them Germany was desperate for a medal and desperate to prove themselves. They had finished a disappointing fifth in front of their home crowd at Munich and their expectations were high. Germany started off strong holding onto second behind Romania with the Netherlands in third. As the final sprint came into view Romania and the Dutch were rating 36 with Germany two beats lower. This was enough for Romania to hold onto first and for the Dutch to push past Germany to take second. Germany still secured a medal in third.

Men's Eights (M8+)

It was one all. Germany had won at Eton, Italy came first at Munich. Who would win at Lucerne?

A fired up Germany took off in the lead with Italy sticking close by their side and Poland back a bit in third. By the half-way point Germany still had the edge with Italy looking like they were putting more aggression into each stroke. Coming into the last 500 metres Germany was a couple of seats up on the Italians and the sprint was on.

Italy raised their stroke rate to 40, Germany held on at 39. Italy answered with 41, Germany went to 40. Germany retained the edge and finish the regatta as World Cup yellow jersey holders.

FISA's president Denis Oswald flew back from his duties as an International Olympic Committee member from their conference in Singapore to present the medals to Germany, Italy and Poland in third.

WORLD CUP EVENTS B FINALS

Slipping in before the beginning of the A-finals two of the most competitive events of the final  BearingPoint Rowing World Cup raced the B-final.

The men's single race for position seven through to 12 featured Swiss star and two-time Olympian Andre Vonarburg. Yesterday Vonarburg had just missed out on making the final by a smidgen. Today he was well down at the start with Ukraine sandwiched between a South American contingent of Cuba and two Argentineans at the head of the field.

Surprisingly the leader was Ariel Suarez ahead of his Olympic countryman Santiago Fernandez of Argentina, but the gap was closing. Coming into the final sprint Suarez still held the lead with Fernandez and Vonarburg charging. With only four buoys left to row Vonarburg had done it. Fernandez finished second with Suarez slipping back to third.

A smile spread across Vonarburg's face and it remained there as he rowed back past the appreciative crowd.

The men's four then raced their B-final. Germany began in the lead followed very closely by New Zealand. Then Ireland found their legs and shot from fifth into the lead. In the final sprint Ireland retained the lead and guaranteed their trip to the World Rowing Championships with New Zealand holding second and Germany keeping ahead of Switzerland to finish third.