15 Dec 2011
Quarter-finals trialed at Munich World Cup
FISA’s Executive Director Matt Smith commented on the new progression system. “Today FISA experimented with quarter finals to help make sure the right crews reach the final. This means that all crews (in events with 25 or more entries) have to row all four rounds to reach the finals. In the past, the winners of the heats got to skip a round while all the rest fought it out in the repechages before reaching the finals or semifinals. Today’s quarter finals were very exciting and, in many cases, very, very close. Perhaps this will lead to closer and less predictable finals when all crews are equally fatigued from all four rounds which could be a great new development for the sport.”
The first of four repechages meant scullers needed to finish in the top two for semifinal advancement. Sweden’s Frida Svensson led repechage one from start to finish ahead of a field which included this year’s Indoor Rowing Championships winner Rika Geyser of South Africa as well as 2005 World Rowing Under-23 Champion Iva Obradovic of Serbia & Montenegro. But breaking into second place and putting Svensson’s lead under threat was the long layback stroking Liang Tian of China. Tian is in her first year as a single sculler and, together with Svensson, will advance to the semi.
Poland’s Julia Michalska finished second last year as an under-23 single sculler and today she led repechage two as a senior. But Germany’s Christiane Huth did not let Michalska out of her sights and at the finish a mere ¼ of a second separated the two scullers. Huth was lucky: a 38-rating Majda Jerman of Slovenia got her within a tenth of a second of qualifying. Michalska and Huth move on to the semifinal.
Repechage three had Julia Levina of Russia take command of the race leaving Nuria Dominguez Asensio of Spain to chase her pace. The order remained the same despite a concerted push by Italy. Russia and Spain advance to the semifinal.
Russia again featured in repechage four with the experienced three-time Olympian, Irina Fedotova leading from start to finish never allowing China’s Liping Wu to get within striking distance. Fedotova and Wu qualify for the semifinal.
Four quarter finals required a top three finish for advancement to the semifinals. In the first quarter final Germany’s Marcel Hacker used a fast start to get an early lead leaving a battle of the Dutch to go on behind him. Under-23 Champion Sjoerd Hamburger got the better start leaving Dirk Lippits to contend with Italy’s Alessio Sartori before going after Hamburger. At the line Hacker remained in first with the two Dutch scullers advancing and in the process boxing out Olympic Champion Sartori.
Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic showed the style that made him a world cup winner last year by leading quarter final two. This left Lassi Karonen to hold up his Swedish side and keep a wary eye out for Gabor Bencsik of Hungary. The order remained the same and these three crews will race tomorrow in the semifinals.
Alan Campbell of Great Britain has made huge strides since he moved from his country’s quad and into the single. Today he proved his worth by winning quarter final three over Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. Meanwhile Tufte had to contend with the taller and younger half of Slovenia’s World Champion double Luka Spik. But the slow-starting Norwegian managed to push through to second with Spik qualifying from third.
Bulgaria vs. Bulgaria, brother vs. brother, Yanakiev vs. Yanakiev used up two of the six lanes in quarter final four. But it was Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland and Tim Maeyens of Belgium that held the early lead. Vonarburg remained in the lead while Yanakiev senior, Ivo, pushed through to second allowing Maeyens to take the final qualifying spot.
Women’s Pair (W2-) – Repechages
The excitement in the women’s pair has certainly stepped up a level with the arrival of so many Australian, German and Chinese crews, many of them racing in their third race of the day, having also raced in the women's eight. Maybe the excitement was a bit too much for top Australian boat of Emily Martin and Sarah Heard when they took on two of their team mates leading the entire third repechage. That is until a boat flipping crab 100 metres from the finish left them in the chilly Munich waters. This didn’t deter Australia Three and Australia Four from qualifying along with Germany’s fourth boat of Lenka Wech and Wilma Dressel.
Back in repechage one a slow starting Canada Two of international newcomer Heather Mandoli and Romina Stefancic took until the third 500 to find their pace and qualify ahead of Olympic Champion Rodica Florea and Olympian Simona Strimbeschi of Romania. In third Kim Crow and Sarah Cook of Australia Two also advance to the semifinal. Three races must have been too much for eights winners Great Britain who finished at the back of the field.
Canada made it a double-header by also winning repechage two. Olympian Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball took the lead at the beginning and never looked back. Denmark put in a solid push at the end to keep second with United States Two finishing in third.
The fourth repechage was all about Germany with half of the entries wearing the red, yellow and black. Germany Two of Christina Gerking and Elke Hipler, and stroke pair of the eight, finished first with Germany One, in second and the top US crew finishing third.
Men’s Pair – Quarter Finals
They gave Croatia a run for their money this morning and this afternoon in the first of four quarter finals China’s Yongquiang Zhang and Xiangdang Wang showed their worth by not only winning the race but advancing to the semifinal with the fastest time. Only two boats qualified from each race and behind China, Slovenia grabbed this spot.
Greece and the Netherlands went at it in quarter final two. Ioannis Christou and Nikos Pagounis of Greece have been coming along nicely since finishing fifth last year at the World Rowing Championships. But today Olaf van Andel and Mitchel Steenman of the Netherlands had a better closing sprint. Both crews advance to the semifinal.
Germany’s Philipp Stueer and Bernd Heidicker spent quarter final three working their way away from Spain to a point where they didn’t feel the need to push hard in through the close of the race. Both crews race tomorrow in the semis.
The Czech Republic and Serbia & Montenegro made it a two boat battle in quarter final four with the lead