High standards as World Champions race B Finals - Rowing World Cup II

Weather conditions started with cooler conditions and winds turning to a slight choppy tail wind.

Women’s Single Scull (W1x) – B Final

Leading the B Final from Cuba was 37-year old Maira Gonzalez Borroto. Borroto has had an on-and-off international rowing career. She first raced in 1997 and also went to the 2000 Olympics in the quad. Today Borroto stayed ahead of Ireland’s Caroline Ryan in her first international season. Ryan’s second place finish shows big improvement on last month when she had a C Final finish in Munich. Coming in at third Ukraine’s Nataliya Guba moves into the single after being a 2004 Olympic finallist in the double.

Men’s Single Scull (M1x) – B Final

Yoennis Hernandez Arruez made it two in a row for Cuba. Two-time Olympian Arruez has spent most of his career in the double and quad and today he secured seventh overall at the second Rowing World Cup for 2006. But to get to that position, first Arruez had to push past Alex Gregory of Great Britain and Austria. A late sprint by Hungary’s, on-again-off-again doubles rower, Gabor Bencsik gave him the second spot with Gregory as Great Britain’s number two sculler, coming through in third.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B Final

China’s yellow and red dominated this race taking up half of the entries and at the start their number one crew of Chengxi Yu and Yanan Zhang led the way. Surprisingly, back in fourth, current World Champions, Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh seem to be struggling with the pace since they arrived in Europe a week ago. Yu and Zhang continued to lead but a push from Denmark’s Majbrit Nielsen and Fie Graugaard had no Chinese reply. Coles and Haigh then upped their stroke rate and went for the lead. Nielsen and Graugaard held them off, rating one beat higher. At the finish Denmark took first, New Zealand second, and China 1 came home in third.

Men’s pair (M2-) – B Final

The reshuffle of the German men’s sweep squad had seen their pairs performing the best at Poznan. Today in the B Final their number three crew of Philipp Naruhn and Florian Eichner overtook a fast start by Egypt’s El Bakry Yehia and Mohamed Gomaa and Ireland to take the lead. Naruhn and Eichner come to senior competition after finishing fourth in the Under-23 eight last year and they look to be making strides at the senior level. But charging through from the back Slovenia’s Gregor Novak and Bostjan Bozic were making a huge impression. Novak has been on the international scene for over a decade and Bozic has eight years of international experience. They are part of Slovenia’s small, but long-lived, rowing squad. At the line Germany held on to first, Slovenia sprinted through to second and Egypt finished third.

Women’s double (W2x) – B Final

Current Junior World Champions in this event, Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova of the Czech Republic got off to a very bad start. Last in fact. This must have fired them up. By the half-way point Antosova and Varekova had passed the entire field and found the lead. But, also coming from the back of the field, Hungary’s Aliz Konya and Lidia Veroci were demonstrating an awesome second half. The two crews took it to a photo finish on the line, the Czech Republic just in first, Hungary in second and China on the pace as well in third.

Men’s double sculls (M2x) – B Final

Coming out of Estonia’s 2005 bronze medal quad and into the double (where is Jueri Jaanson?), Tonu Endrekson and Andrei Jaemsae held a three way battle with China’s Hui Su and Yonghui Cui and Olympians Nils Simonsen and Morten Adamsen of Norway right there. Each boat had a shot at the lead. None of them could hold it. It was going to come down to the final sprint. Estonia sat on 37, Norway went to 39, China answered with a short-stroked 40. Estonia pulled it off with China in second and Norway in third.

Men’s Four (M4-) – B Final

Germany hold the World Best Time in this event. Bernd Heidicker and Philipp Stueer are two of those time holders and today they raced in the B Final. This is a reflection of the struggle Germany has had recently to find form in the four. It looked like they were back on pace when they finished second last month at Munich. But the squad was rehashed and this new line-up has not gelled. But in the B Final they did lead the whole way and held off a strong challenge by Australia. Australia’s challenge came in the form of a stroke rate that rose from 38 to 40 to 42. But Germany on 38-39 held them off. Ireland’s number two crew finished third.
 
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – B Final

Germany’s current World Champion featured in the lead of this B Final. Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger raced apart at Munich but have come back together for this second Rowing World Cup. Today they got out ahead of Jing Liu and Lihong Chen of China and never looked back. China tried to challenge and rechallenge but the German’s were in control. Germany finish seventh overall, with China next and followed by Hester Goodsell and Jennifer Goldsack of Great Britain’s number two crew.

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

Under-23 Champions from 2005 twins Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik of the Czech Republic are showing their form at the senior level by leading the B Final today at the second Rowing World Cup. This left Oleksandr Serdiuk and Valerii Chykyrynda of Ukraine to hold off China’s Jun Xie and Youxiang Liang. Hold-off successful, Serdiuk and Chykyrynda then went after the Czech’s. They got within striking distance but not close enough. The order remained the Vetesnik brothers first, Ukraine second and China third.

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

A flotilla of red and white greeted the predominantly Polish crowd in this 116th race of the second Rowing World Cup. Half of the fleet were from Poland and with Austria’s red and white mixed in there, Ukraine and Portugal looked a tad out of place. Leading for the majority of the race, Austria move from the team that, with just one change, rowed to fourth in the lightweight quad at last year’s World Rowing Championships.

To the crowd’s delight, behind Austria, Poland came home in second and third position.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – B Final

A two boat race ended in Ukraine earning a World Cup point by beating out the Czech Republic for the top spot. These crews, no doubt, will now head for the grandstand to watch the A Final of their event.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – B Final

The very upright Chinese style with a quick-hands-away finish had to pass Denmark and Ukraine to find the lead. Denmark ruled the race for the majority of the proceedings, but the high rating China came through at the end. Ukraine finish in third.

Women’s Eight (W8+) – B Final

Two Ukraine entries including their under-23 boat, and New Zealand lined up for the B Final. Ukraine’s top boat retained a consistent 35 – 36 stroke rate through the body of the race to finish ahead of the New Zealanders.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – B Final

Sitting in three seat of Egypt’s eight was three-time Olympian in the single Aly Aly Ibrahim. His experience must have kicked in today as the Egyptians took on Estonia’s entry. An Estonian eight is a remarkable accomplishment for a country of just 1.3 million and this eight burst onto the scene at last year’s Under-23 Championships. Today they tussled with Egypt with Great Britain’s number two crew in close range. A solid sprint by Egypt gave them the top spot at the line with Estonia finishing second and Great Britain in third. This British crew will now regroup and remix and is likely to become an under-23 four and a senior coxed four.