Rowing World Cup III

B Finals of the international events opened with Greece leading the way in the lightweight women’s single. Maria Sakellaridou continued to stay near the front but lost out in the final sprint when Denmark’s Kirsten Jepsen came from behind to win by outrating everyone and recording a seventh overall position. Laura Ralston tried to hold Jepsen’s sprint and finished second.

In the lightweight men’s single Slovenia’s Bine Pislar followed the same tactic as Jepsen and came through from the back of the field to finish first over Remi Di Girolamo of France. The lightweight men’s eight had Switzerland and the Netherlands number three crew battle it out for pride. The smoother-looking Swiss got the upper hand to finish first.

Coming back from Olympic gold in 2000 French athlete turned coach turned athlete teamed up with Pierre-Etienne Pollez to finish first in the B Final of the lightweight men’s pair. Greece took second.

Women’s Four (W4-) – A Final

With two boats contesting this event, Germany got out to an impressive lead over Denmark and never looked back as Germany’s high performance manager, Michael Mueller watched intently from the grandstand. Perhaps potential selection for the eight was at stake? With stroke of the Athens eight Lenka Wech back from a break, this crew has the talent.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – A Final

Coming into this event there’s no doubt that current World Champion Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands was the favourite. Veteran of two Olympic Games in the double, van Eupen’s partner retired after Athens leaving van Eupen to go solo.

Making easy work of the race van Eupen demonstrated her experience to the rest of the field by opening up a clear water lead and doing just enough to maintain it, looking in full control at an easy 31 rating at the end. This left Switzerland’s number two boat, Pamela Weisshaupt to push through from the back of the field to find the silver medal position. But making a big impression, Italy’s Erika Bello will be attracting much attention. Bello retired after the 1996 Olympics and this comeback marks her first international medal since the Nations Cup in 1994. Bello takes bronze.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – A Final

A silver medal at last year’s World Rowing Championships, a gold medal at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships, a gold medal today at the third Rowing World Cup. Twenty-year-old Zac Purchase of Great Britain is a rising star. Will the British have to look past their men’s four and look to the little guy from Cheltenham?

Leading from the word go, Purchase had a comfortable margin over Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans of Spain and Douglas Vandor of Canada. Racing his own race at the front of the field, Purchase’s finishing margin of five seconds left a gaping hole back to Vandor in second. Guimerans held on for third.

Lightweight Men’s Eight (LM8+) – A Final

World Champions Italy are back on form for another year. Boating a mixture of youth and experience, the Italians got off to a fast start, rating 44 strokes, but surprisingly, they were not in the lead. Instead, eight Danish lightweights (and coxswain Frederik Baerentsen) had that position. Settling into a 38 stroke rate pushed Italy through to the front. Denmark hung in there with the breath of nine Poles bearing down on them. At the line Italy had the gold, Denmark finish with silver and Poland take bronze.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – A Final

In every race that Germany’s Felix Otto has been in at the international level, he has won a medal. Otto’s partner Ole Rueckbrodt can claim the same. Today they continued in that vein by winning gold in the men’s pair. Last year’s Under 23 winners from the lightweight four, both Rueckbrodt and Otto have plans to get into this Olympic class boat. But on the way they don’t mind picking up a few medals.

To reach the podium the Germans kept ahead of Spain’s number two crew of Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez and Juan Manuel Florido Pellon who kept within snapping range of the German leaders. Completing the medal line-up, a full-on sprint by Damien Margat and Vincent Faucheux of France gave them the bronze and denied Germany’s number two crew of that medal by overtaking in the last 30 metres of the race.

Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls (LW4x) – A Final

Two boats, no competition. Germany led from start to finish over Spain and walk away with a gold around their neck. The medal podium was once again awash in red, yellow and black.

Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls (LM4x) – A Final

Italy has the World Best Time in this event. The Italians are the current World Champions. Italian lightweights know how to make a quad go. Today they took on two German crews and came out on top using a lower stroke rate and a commanding stroke length. As German selectors looked on, Germany’s number two crew rowed the better race to finish just two seconds down on the Italians and with open water back to Germany One in third.