15 Dec 2011
Rowers warm up in the heats - Rowing World Cup III
This is day one at the final Rowing World Cup for 2006 on the famous Rotsee. Known for fair conditions and flat water, barely a breath of wind shook the Rotsee’s grown foliage. Today’s heats presented new crews like the arrival of Canada’s lightweights and a new mixture of United States crews as well as a remixed Italian view and a continually re-tweaked German look.
Lightweight Women's Single Scull (LW1x) – Heats
Opening the first of three heats local favourite, Fabiane Albrecht of Switzerland came through from outside of qualification to push into second, behind the leader Sonia Boubeta of Spain. Boubeta comes back to international rowing after competing as a junior in the 1990s. With two boats qualifying, Boubeta and Albrecht advance directly to the semifinal.
Recording the fastest qualifying time, Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland stayed ahead of Italy’s Erika Bello to qualify. Weisshaupt has been rowing on the international scene solidly for a decade now and comes to Lucerne on the back of a Rowing World Cup bronze medal.
Comfortably leading the final heat, current World Champion and 2004 Olympic medallist (LW2x) Marit van Eupen goes on to the semifinal. Van Eupen finished second last week at the Henley Royal Regatta. Also going to the semifinal is Michaela Taupe of Austria.
Lightweight Men’s Single Scull (LM1x) – Heats
A first place finish only gave direct advancement to the semifinal and early on in each of the four heats that first place had already been well established. Under-23 Champion Zac Purchase of Great Britain returns from injury for his first international race of the season and did it in great form by winning heat one. Heat two went to two-time Olympian Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans of Spain in virtually an identical finishing time as Purchase.
Two capsizes in heat three turned the race into a non-race. Both having problems early on in the event, Japan’s Takehiro Kubo had problems that dumped him into the Rotsee. This is Kubo’s tenth year of international competition. Also testing the waters of the Rotsee Iraq’s Muayied Ali did not finish the race after capsizing. The challenge for Ali just to get to the start line is an accomplishment in itself. Coming from Bagdad, Ali’s training conditions involve the hazards of being in a war zone and for him and his team of three athletes to leave the country involved putting their lives at risk. Both crews have been given the Ok to race again.
At the front of the field Great Britain’s Tim Male had no pressure on him, down to a virtual paddle to cross the line in first.
But crews had to wait until heat four for the fastest qualifying time, albeit only just. Canada’s Douglas Vandor got out at the start and remained in the lead forcing Slovenia’s Bine Pislar to return for the repechage.
Lightweight Men’s Eight (LM8+) – Heats
An impressive eight boats entered in this event meant two heats with first place only going directly to the final. Often underrepresented, the lightweight eight enters the international programme for the first time this season and in heat one two crews pushed it to a photo finish. All crews left the line with almost equal speeds with Denmark taking a slight lead. Germany pushed back and both crews then spent the rest of the race going neck-and-neck. No one could pick the winner at the end. Germany rowed away. Denmark waited. Denmark had qualified for the final.
Reigning World Champions, Italy, overtook a fast starting Dutch crew to take the lead and remain there. The Italian crew has half of the same members of last year’s winning crew and also includes five-time World Champion, Franco Sancassani.
Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Heats
Anything can happen – even when the water is flat – as Spain’s number one crew demonstrated in the first of two heats. Leading from the start, with just 400 metres left to row Spain one caught a crab that forced them to the back of the field and handed the only qualifying spot to Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez and Juan Manuel Florido Pellon of Spain’s number two crew.
There’s no doubt that Ole Rueckbrodt and Felix Otto of Germany are the crew to beat. The current yellow jersey holders have won two-for-two this season and today they dominated heat two performing little more than a paddle pace in the finishing 200 metres. Otto and Rueckbrodt go directly to the final.
Women’s Single Scull (W1x) – Heats
First, second and third from last year’s World Rowing Championships – Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and Michelle Guerette of the United States – did a repeat performance by winning each of the three heats to qualify for the semifinal. This is how they did it.
In heat one Knapkova started off in the lead and did just enough to remain ahead of Sweden’s Frida Svensson who, in turn, was doing just enough to stave off Italy’s Gabriella Bascelli. With two boats qualifying for the semi, Svensson and Knapkova move directly to the next stage.
Karsten had no competition in heat two. Not even Germany’s Olympic Champion from the quad, Peggy Waleska, could make a dent in Karsten’s cloak of speed. Karsten already had a commanding three-second lead with just a quarter of the race gone. Paddling it home, Karsten crossed the finish line on an easy 25 stroke rate. Waleska also qualifies.
Guerette comes to her second international race of the season and warmed up by pushing through from the back of the field in heat three, first passing Xiuyun Zhang of China. Zhang returns to international rowing after suffering a heart attack in her lead up to racing the single at the Athens Olympics. Then Guerette passed Australia and finally Julia Levina of Russia. Levina also qualifies from second.
All the hard work was done early on in each of the four heats so that none of the leaders had to sprint at the finish to secure the only spot that would take them directly to the semifinal. In heat one Great Britain’s Alan Campbell did just enough to hold off Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands. Campbell crossed the finish line rating a comparatively easy 29 strokes per minute.
Four boats were in heat two with last week’s Henley Royal Regatta winner, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, in control at the front. Despite only one boat qualifying, Dirk Lippits of the Netherlands, Romania’s Daniel Frateanu and Tim Maeyens of Belgium took it to the line with less than a second separating these three crews. The repechage will be hot.
Olaf Tufte of Norway raced most of the first half but barely had to break a sweat in the second, crossing the line at an easy 25 strokes per minute. Tufte’s training partner, Lassi Karonen of Sweden followed a similar line in heat four, winning comfortably over Germany.
Women’s Pair (W2-) – Heats
Warming up the racing heat, Annemarieke van Rumpt and Annemiek de Haan of the Netherlands put the pressure on the United States (Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson), right to the line. With only one qualifying spot available for a direct track to the final both boats had to give it their all. The Netherlands, keeping long through the water, got the edge over the higher rating, shorter strokes of the United States who got their rating up to 40 strokes per minute. The Dutch move on to the final.
Winners of the last Rowing World Cup, Nicole Zimmermann and Elke Hipler of Germany led from the start of heat two with an opening piece that gave them an open water margin over the reigning World Champions Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh of New Zealand. Coles and Haigh will return for the repechage.
Men’s pair (M2-) – Heats
A number of the big players are absent but the current World Champions Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater of New Zealand are here and today, seeded in the middle lane of heat one they led from start to finish. With only the top spot qualifying Germany gave it a good push at the end but were too far back to catch Twaddle and Bridgewater (rating 30 strokes per minute).
But the faster time of the two heats went to last week’s Henley winners Colin Smith and Tom James of Great Britain. The Smith-James combination is a new look as earlier in the season they competed against each other in the Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Race.
Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Heats
Yuliya Bichyk and Volha Berazniova of Belarus shot out of the start, but still it was not enough to get ahead of current World and Olympic Champions, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand. The New Zealanders powered ahead and took control. This left the Belarusians to fight off a sprint finish by the United States. The sprint was to no avail as only one boat would qualify for the final and the New Zealanders had that spot.
Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain won at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich and looked to be the crew to beat in heat two. But today they met the Italians for the first time. Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani won the World Rowing Under 23 Championships last year and continue to improve together. Better stamina of the British gave them the qualifying spot at the finish.
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Heats
Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Olympic Champion Adrien Hardy of France won last month at the Poznan Rowing World Cup and they continued in this mode today by staying ahead of Allar Raja and Igor Kuzmin of Estonia. This is an impressive result for Kuzmin and Raja who, in their first season together, finished seventh at the Munich Rowing World Cup. Both boats looked long, smooth and comfortable as they crossed the line in the two qualifying spots.
Winners of last year’s World Rowing Championships Iztok Cop and Luka Spik of Slovenia looked in control over last year’s silver medallists Luka Ghezzi and Federico Gattinoni of Italy. Both boats move onto the semifinal. Coming off a win over Cop and Spik at last weekend’s Henley Royal Regatta, Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain have attained a bonus confidence boost. Wells and Rowbotham led over Olympic finalists Morten Adamsen and Nils-Torolv Simonsen of Norway. Both boats go on to the semifinal.
Germany and Hungary held a race of their own in heat four and, despite both crews being easily in qualifying positions, they raced for practice and pride. Both crews miss the repechage and get to go directly to the semifinal.
Men’s Four (M4-) – Heats
Slovenia has certainly come into their own this season. With only the top position qualifying for the final they continued onwards in their medal winning ways by finishing first in the first of four heats looking comfortable on a 31 stroke rate. This relegated the newly-designed Italian men’s four into second and into the repechage.
Bronze medallists from Poznan, New Zealand must have been working on their starts. They got into an early lead over Egypt and then held off Germany to finish with an open water lead and a spot in the semifinal.
Current yellow jersey holders and reigning World Champions Great Britain controlled heat three. Due to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta last weekend, the British withdrew because of stroke Andy Hodge’s poor health. But Hodge is back in fine form and France, in second, could not make a dent in the Brits secure lead. Rating 33 strokes per minute, the British made it look easy.
The Netherlands are itching to meet the British. They went to Henley to race them but didn’t get the chance. Today the Dutch moved one step closer to their goal by winning heat four, but two seconds down on Great Britain’s qualifying time.
Canada’s Tracy Cameron sent out a warning when she won the single at the first Rowing World Cup. Now teamed up with Mara Jones they had such a commanding lead with less than 50 strokes rowed in heat one that the rest of the race was merely academic for them. But with two boats qualifying the real race was going on for second. Switzerland began in that spot but seemed to run out of juice allowing a very slow starting Ireland to grab the qualifying spot.
Germany has again rearranged themselves. Marie-Louise Draeger is back with Berit Carow, but, surprisingly they could not, or did not want to, hold off the new Greek combination of Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou. Coming into the finish Greece held first, Germany second with a valiant sprint by Sweden (rating 39) not enough to get them into the qualifying position.
The post-Olympic return of Australia’s Amber Halliday has seen her pair up with Marguerite Houston and to positive effects. They got ahead of Great Britain’s Jane Hall and Helen Casey but couldn’t hold them off. Going stroke for stroke these two crews spent the entire race together. At the line both crews rated 35 with Australia just ahead. Australia and Great Britain move on to the semifinal.
Renee Hykel and Julia Nichols of the United States, last year’s silver medallist, showed up once this season to ill effect – finishing in the C Final. Today they went head to head with last year’s bronze medallists, Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland. This propelled both crews to a huge lead over the rest of the field with the US taking the dead of the field at the end, while Finland chose to button off. Both boats go to the semifinal.
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Heats
Four heats, 21 boats, 42 athletes all weighing close to 70 kilograms and just the winning earning a direct path to the semifinal. It was no surprise to see Italy’s Marcello Miani and Elia Luini in the lead, but it was rather surprising to see that Japan’s Diasaku Takeda and Takahiro Suda weren’t giving them more of a run for their money in heat one. Italy advance to the semifinal.
Current World Champions, Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungry made their 2006 debut by racing at the Henley Royal Regatta in the open men’s double. They now continue towards their World Champion goal by leading heat two over Slovakia and rating a solid 32 strokes per minute at the end.
A tussle between Germany and Great Britain got them ahead of the rest of the field but with only one qualifying spot, both boats had to keep their pedal on the gas. Great Britain, however, started to run out. Joerg Lehnigk and Manuel Brehmer of Germany go directly to the semifinal.
Denmark’s Mads Rasumssen and Rasmus Quist won convincingly at the last Rowing World Cup and today they left nothing to chance racing only themselves at the head of the field. This left Canada, in their first international race this season, to be way, way back in second. Denmark kept the pressure on until the end, rating 36 at the finish, and recording the fastest qualifying time.
Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Heats
Heat one of three heats opened with yellow jersey holders Ireland overtaking Great Britain to inch ahead. But their lead was slight as last month’s fifth-place finishers Great Britain refused to give them an inch. Behind them the race for third and the other qualifying spot was going on between all three remaining boats. First Poland had it, then the Netherlands and finally a better second half by South Africa put them through to the semifinal. Ireland held on to first with Great Britain just behind in second.
Reigning World Champions France make their 2006 international debut today after missing the last World Cup due to illness and they demonstrated that their pace is still very much with them. Leading from the start behind them a fading Canada succumbed first to Italy and then to Greece. At the finish, France, rating 37, stayed ahead of a sprinting Greece and a steady Italy. All three crews move on to the semifinal.
Egypt impressed at the second Rowing World Cup when they finished third and today they showed it was no fluke by coming off the best in a tight tussle with Belgium and Germany. With all three boats in qualifying position by the last 400 metres, Belgium chose to button off leaving Germany and Egypt to sprint it out to the end. All three boats advance to the semifinal.
Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Heats
Great Britain made it look like a training row in heat one of two heats leaving the new United States line up to fend off Denmark’s lightweight crew. But with only the first crew qualifying directly for the final Great Britain had it sewn up.
In the second heat Germany had to push past Russia to secure the qualifying spot and finish up the race at an easy 26 stroke rate paddle with Russia presenting no threat after the 1000 metre mark.
It was not surprising to see yellow jersey holders Romania at the head of heat one, but it was surprising to see how far back the Netherlands were. Last weekend the Dutch finished second behind the United States, but today they were off the pace and behind Great Britain. Were they choosing not to push it? Romania only move directly to the final.
The United States warmed up their 2006 international season by winning at Henley. With a slightly different line up here today, they lead from the start of heat two finishing comfortably ahead of Germany. The US advance to the final with the fastest qualifying time (so far).
Men’s Eight (M8+) – Heats
The rearrangement of Germany seems to have added that vital x-factor as they took over from Russia at the head of the field and raced through to win. Despite only first place qualifying directly for the final, the three remaining crews, Poland, Great Britain and Russia raced it to the end. Poland got the upper edge but will still have to return for the repechage.
Reordered and restructured, the Italian crew snuck ahead of Romania and Switzerland to push into first. This left all three remaining crews to try for second and with Switzerland's priority boat wanting to show the local crowds and selectors what they can do, the race was anything but over. At the finish Italy qualify and a very happy Switzerland finish second but return for the repechage.