No security for World Champion rowers at the Rowing World Cup Semifinals

First the reigning World Champions in the men’s double, France were beaten then the same fate struck the top lightweight women’s crew from China. Then China’s lightweight men’s four fell to a faster Italian crew.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Semifinals

There’s been no dominating crew in this event for the last couple of years. Romania had bids on it for the 2004 Olympics. New Zealand took over in 2005 and last year Jane Rumball and Darcy Marquardt of Canada took the title. Yesterday Rumball and Marquardt took a loss. Marquardt commented their loss was due to a number of things, “My own feeling is that we went off the line and we didn't have the gas that we normally do. We just didn't have any fuel to respond to the other crew. As our coach Carsten (Hassing) said today, you learn so much more from races you don't win…. Now we have to race every race as if it was the final.”

Racing as though it was a final Marquardt and Rumball took the lead at the start with Australia4, Kim Crow and Sarah Cook in hot pursuit. Apart from yesterday’s races, Crow and Cook also raced in the middle of their country’s eight earlier today. It didn’t seem to be affecting their boat speed as they remained overlapping with Canada. Meanwhile USA3 and Australia2 were going neck-and-neck. In the final sprint Rumball and Marquardt held on to first, Crow and Cook were just behind in second and Robyn Selby Smith and Natalie Bale of Australia2 pushed past the United States to take the last qualifying spot.

Bale, “At the end we didn’t know we’d finished third. This makes all of the difference.”
Marquardt, “This is going to be a very exciting final.”

United States women’s coach Tom Terhaar has divided his World Champion eight into pairs for this regatta and today two of them races at the head of semifinal two. Not to make it a solid stars and stripes in the lead Natasha Howard and Alison Knowles of Great Britain got in on the action sneaking in between USA One with Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson in the lead and USA Two made up of Susan Francia and Caroline Lind. As Cooke and Mickelson maintained a steady 35 strokes per minute, Howard and Knowles – from last year’s British eight – tried to hang on. But they didn’t quite have enough in the second half. Coming into the last 1500m Francia and Lind overtook the Brits to take second. The two United States crews and Great Britain all advance to the final. Surprisingly in the unqualifying positions, the number one crews from China, Australia and Germany failed to make the top three and will have to return for the B Final.

Mickelson, “We tried to make the third 500 special and to keep up our speed. Tomorrow all of us in the final can communicate, we all speak English!”

Howard, “We expected Australia to be a bit quicker. We are having a great season and anything is possible.”

Knowles, “Now that we’re in the final a medal would be great. The times are close and anything can happen.”

Men’s pair (M2-) – Semifinals

France’s Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot were pleasantly surprised when they won their heat yesterday. The duo just came together in the pair this season but know each other from rowing last year for the French eight. Cadot, 23, began international rowing in 2001 while Peron, 27, is a former lightweight rower. Today the Cadot and Peron must have again be surprised when they found themselves leading over Olympic silver medallists, Niksa and Sinisa Skelin of Croatia. Also in the mix the Czech Republic’s Jakub Makovicka and Jan Schindler kept their boat overlapping with the leaders. Makovicka and Schindler raced together to ninth last year and look to be stepping up in their second year as a duo.

Meanwhile at the front of the field Peron and Cadot had upped their rating to 42 strokes per minute holding off the Skelin challenge (on 39 strokes per minute). The French prevailed and advance to the final with the fastest qualifying time. Croatia take second and the Czech Republic finish third.

Peron, “We started at the front as all the others were in a line together behind us we had a tough fight to stay in front.”

Sinisa, “The French were the crew to beat. We can win the event, we know we can go faster, but we’ve come here just to do our best.”

Canada came out of the start the quickest in the second semifinal. Both Canadians, Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams, raced at the 2004 Olympics, Frandsen in the eight and Williams in the four. Since then Williams has spent some time at Oxford University in Great Britain, winning the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race twice. Back with the Canadians, Williams found himself up against fellow Oxford rower Colin Smith. Rowing in the Great Britain pair with Matt Langridge, the smaller Smith was aiming to keep up with Williams. But both crews also had to keep an eye out for Germany1 of Andreas Penkner and Jochen Urban.

In the closing 250m ratings rose. Great Britain hit 39 strokes per minute with Canada a couple of beats lower. Germany hovered around 37. The higher rating Brits propelled them in front of Canada. Smith and Langridge advance to the final from first. Frandsen and Williams takes second and Penkner and Urban qualify from third.

Frandsen, “We had a much better race than yesterday. We were more relaxed.” Williams, “Yesterday we were surprised by the line up, today we were confident. We are fit.”

Langridge, “We’ve only been rowing together for four weeks. Canada went out harder than we expected.”

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Semifinals

China and the United States, the two countries that will be challenging each other at the top of the Olympic medal table next year. Today they went head-to-head in the women’s double. Li Qin and Liang Tian of China had the faster start with Jennifer Kaido and Ala Piotrowski fighting back. Kaido and Piotrowski rowed together in the quad last year while Tian and Qin rowed together last season to eighth at the World Rowing Championships. By the close of the race China looked comfortable enough in the lead not to have to truly sprint, while the United States got their rating up to 40 in an attempt to hold off a late sprint by Italy and Romania. China takes first, the United States second and Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy qualify from third.

Sancassani, “It wasn’t an easy race but that’s normal. We have rowed together for three years now.”

The best of German women’s sculling all ended up in semifinal two in what looked like a selection trial. Germany2 of Christiane Huth and Stephanie Schiller grabbed the bull by the horns and took an early lead. Huth and Schiller raced to third last year in their country’s quad with 20 year old Schiller the new stroke of the boat. Behind them it was Germany1 that had to try and play catch up. Britta Oppelt and Susanne Schmidt finished with silver last year in the double and had earned their position as Germany1. At the head of the field the two German boat stayed ahead of the rest of the field with Germany3 back in third. As the final 500m came into view Hungary’s Aliz Konya and Lidia Veroci picked up the pace and the rating and sprinted for the line their rating hitting 39 strokes per minute. Germany3 couldn’t hold them off. Huth and Schiller finish first, Oppelt and Schmidt take second and Veroci and Konya earn a spot in the final.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semifinals

It is not often that you see a reigning World Champion crew get beaten in the semifinal but Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain pulled it off in the first of two semifinals. Starting out in third, Wells and Rowbotham came back to overtake World Champions Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy of France by the half way point. Macquet and Hardy tried to fight back but Wells and Rowbotham had built up some confidence. Meanwhile the small, one million strong, nation of Estonia had their number two crew of Igor Kuzmin and Allar Raja holding closely on to third.

Coming into the final sprint France desperately tried to fight back but the big British boys used their upper body strength to remain just ahead. Great Britain, France and Estonia2 all move on to the final – some happier than others.

Hardy, “This was a very tough race. We knew the UK would be really good, but today our third 500 wasn’t that good. Tomorrow it will be better.”

Raja, “One of my dreams is that two Estonian doubles have medals tomorrow.”

Australia must be happy to have the return of Scott Brennan. Out of post-2004 Olympic retirement, Brennan has teamed up in the double with David Crawshay and yesterday in the heats they proved they had the speed. In the first half of the race Australia had a slim lead but all six boats were very much in striking distance. Going through the third 500m Estonia1 of Jueri Jaanson and Tonu Endrekson piled on the pressure to move up on Australia with Robert Sens and Rene Bertram of Germany One following suit. The sprint would be hot. Bertram and Sens were the hottest. At the line Betram and Germany’s number two single sculler, Sens had done it, taking first. Australia take second and Jaanson and Endrekson qualify from third.

Sens, “The boats which are in the final are as expected.”

Endrekson, “We need a very high average speed as we are not very good at the finish.”

Men’s four (M4-) – Semifinals

In semifinal one Great Britain may never have lost a race since they came together two years ago, but the Netherlands gave it a good go, enough to earn them the lead at the half way point. Geert Cirkel, Matthijs Vellenga, Jan-Willem Gabriels and Gijs Vermeulen finished third last year and are very used to challenging the Brits. Great Britain found enough to come back into the lead and secure their unbroken record. A relaxed looking Netherlands finish second and in a battle between Germany2 and Slovenia, Slovenia prevailed with one bad stroke by Germany just before the finish line enough to give Slovenia the qualifying spot.

Vermeulen, “We have just finished university so we could train very hard and we had a deal before the race and everything went as we planned.”

Pirih, bow for Slovenia, “It would really be an accomplishment if we won a medal tomorrow.”

The first half of the second semifinal had France in the lead with Ireland and the Czech Republic right on their tails. This French line-up is the same as their 2006 sixth-placed four and another season together looks to be doing them well. Holding on to the psychological advantage of first the Czech Republic challenged and rechallenged for the lead. Coming into the final sprint France got to 42 strokes per minute. Four crews crossed the line together. The photo finish showed France in first, the Czech Republic in second and Germany1 in third.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Semifinals

Dongxiang Xu and Shimin Yan of China may be the reigning World Champions and they may be holders of the World Best Time, but today Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron gave them no respect. Jennerich comes directly from successful under 23 rowing while Cameron finished fourth last year in this event and owns a World Champion title from the quad. Together they took the lead leaving Xu and Yan to battle it out with their number three crew of Haixia Chen and Hua Yu.

Canada had enough of a lead to feel confident while China1 and China3 took the second spot to a photo finish. Xu and Yan finish in second with Chen and Yu qualifying from third.

It might only be by a nose but the fastest qualifying time came in the second semifinal under the speed of Denmark’s Katrin Olsen and Juliane Rasmussen. Olsen and Rasmussen did it the hard way. Starting at the back of the field, the Danes first had to overtake Spain, then Denmark2. Still with just 500m left to row Olsen and Rasmussen were only in fourth. A massive sprint propelled Denmark to the front denying of former race leader, Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany from finishing first. Germany take second and Greece’s Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou qualify from third.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals

Reigning World Champions Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark demonstrated why they are reigning World Champions. Leading for the entire race all the rest of the field could do was race amongst each other. Italy got hold of second before Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary grabbed the spot with Daisaku Takeda and Kazushige Ura slipping into third. Italy tried to come back, but didn’t have the sprint to do it. Currently second in the world, Italy will have to return for the B Final. Denmark, Hungary and Japan advance to the A Final.

Rasmussen, “We had a very good start but it was very close up to the 500m as everyone wants to go as fast as possible at that stage. But in the second 500m someone has to pay for the effort and we got to take the lead. We didn’t have to sprint, so tomorrow more is possible.”

Zac Purchase is now 21-years-old but he rows with winners' experience. Teamed up with Mark Hunter for Great Britain they have come through the heats with confidence. But at the start of this second semifinal it was France in the lead. In wholesome lightweight racing at the half-way point the top five boats remained overlapping. The race would have to go to a sprint. Great Britain felt confident enough to stay at 36 with Canada’s Matt Jensen and Douglas Vandor hitting 43 strokes per minute while Vasileios Polymeros and Dimitrios Mougios of Greece managed 40. Great Britain take first, Greece second and Canada qualify from third.

Hunter, “It is our first three races. Everytime we go out is a new building block and there is much more to come from us as a pair.”

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Semifinals

The first semifinal was the faster of the two races. Denmark opened the pace before handing it to World Champions China who tried to retain it as long as possible. But with just 500m left to row there were still four boats very much in contention for the top spot. The final sprint gave Italy1 first, China second and the Netherlands third. Another World Champion crew had fallen.

The second semifinal also took the race to a photo finish with the margins even closer than semifinal one and, again, a surprise holder of the first place spot. France started out with the lead and held it for half the race before Great Britain took over. Poland and the USA attacked and five boats crossed the line together. Great Britain had finished first. Italy2 gives the Italians another spot in the final and the United States finish third by a hair.

Following this morning’s heats four events came back to race the remaining repechages of the first Rowing World Cup at Linz/Ottensheim, Austria.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Repechages

France led the first of two repechages but had just a small margin over Russia and China2. As Russia began to fade China attacked. With 500m left to row Chine took the lead from France. France held on. Both China and France advance to the final.

The second repechage recorded the fastest time of the two races when Germany’s new, young line-up moved from the back of the field and into first by getting faster and faster as the race progressed. Romania had a tough challenge from Canada but managed to stay in front and earn the final qualifying spot.

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Repechages

They may have had more races than anyone else at this regatta having doubled up with the women’s pair. They may have looked a little weary and only managed to get their rating up to 34 strokes per minute, but it didn’t stop the Australians from winning the first of two repechages. Behind them China worked their way up from the back of the field to take second and challenge the Australians. But Australia did just enough to hold them off. Australia and China move to the final.

Germany didn’t look too good in this morning’s heats, but this afternoon they grabbed the lead in the second repechage and held off Great Britain for the entire race. Both boats move on to the final.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Repechages

Up until now China’s women have been the best in the eight. The women finished fourth at the 2004 Olympics and fourth last year. Today the men showed they had stepped up a level leading the first of two repechages – and for the entire race. Behind China, Germany (not their top, World Champion crew who are not racing here), battled with the Netherlands. The Dutch had the better sprint and China and the Netherlands move on to the final.

Belarus may have finished 13th last year but it didn’t stop them from grabbing the lead today in repechage two and letting last year’s silver medallists, Italy struggle at the back. Coxed by 49 year old Piotr Piatrynich the Belarusians must have been training well over the winter and moving on to the final they look to have good speed. Great Britain also qualify after remaining in second for the entire race.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Semifinals

Poland may not feel like they are at their best just yet, but they managed to lead the first semifinal and also record the fastest qualifying time in the process. Recipients of the 2006 World Rowing Male Crew of the Year, the Poles have been together as this line up since 2005 and have every intention of going after gold at Beijing. Behind Poland, France, Germany1 and Australia all remained within striking distance of a qualifying spot. The young German crew did the best finishing second with France keeping ahead of Australia to take the third place and a spot in the final.

The second semifinal had Germany2 in the lead ahead of Italy’s new line up which includes the return of Sydney 2000 gold medallist Rossano Galtarossa. Galtarossa also won bronze in the double at Athens but hasn’t competed internationally since that race. Now in three seat for Italy, his crew held on to second to qualify for the final. Romania kept in front of Great Britain to earn the last spot in the final.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals

This event is almost getting a little uneventful. Ekaterina Karsten continues to win with, what appears to be, little effort. Although today Karsten had to get up to a 31 stroke rate to ensure second place, Sophie Balmary of France did not get too close. Meanwhile a bit more of a race was going on for third. South Africa’s Rika Geyser held it for half the race before Michelle Guerette of the United States took it off her. Karsten, Balmary and Guerette move on to the final.

The only newish blood into the top ranks of the women’s single scene is the return of Xiuyun Zhang of China. Zhang sat behind Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic giving her a reasonable run for her money to finish second. Poland’s Julia Michalska also qualifies but was under no pressure in her third place spot.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

Alan Campbell of Great Britain won the World Cup series last year and was the toast of Britain, hailed as finally being a top single sculler for the country. Today he raced at the front of the first semifinal securing himself a middle lane for tomorrow’s final. Behind him Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands challenged Campbell, well ahead of China and Slovenia2. With just two boats advancing Campbell and Hamburger move on to the final.

Campbell, “Hamburger really wanted it today. I had to give everything to keep him away.”

In the second of three semis a newly-shaved Marcel Hacker of Germany got out to a fast start. But the increasingly confident Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic soon overtook him and stayed in the lead for the rest of the race. Synek and Hacker go on to the final.

Slovenia’s Iztok Cop is very comfortable in the single even when he is racing against his friend Olaf Tufte of Norway. Together the two of them led the field after shaking off an early fast start by Switzerland. Cop and Tufte make up the remaining two boats in the final.