Sunny, calm and flat at Rowing World Cup

A day of 12 hours of racing due to such a large number of entries saw the surprise loss by Canadian World Champions, Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball in the women’s pair as well as hot racing in the men’s double.

Lightweight Women Single Sculls (LW1x) – Heats

These athletes were at the course at 6 hrs this morning to officially weigh in and, after checking in at 58kg or less, their goal was to finish in the top two positions of the three heats to guarantee a direct path to the semifinal. In heat one the very experienced Michaela Taupe of Austria led the way on her home course. Taupe has been racing internationally since 1991 and in that time has been able to race once, in Vienna, in front of her home crowd. Now she moves on to the semifinal along with Ireland’s Orla Duddy who needed to pull out a fast sprint to stay ahead of Turkey in the closing 500m of the race.

Great Britain’s Sophie Hosking’s talent is not unknown. She finished second last year at the Under 23 Championships and has already had one appearance at the senior level. Today Hosking led over the much more experienced Daniela Reimer of Germany. This left former World Cup medallist, Daniela Nachazelova of the Czech Republic, to challenge for a qualifying spot. Nachazelova was unsuccessful. Hosking and Reimer go to the semifinal while Nachazelova will return for this afternoon’s repechage.

Germany’s number one sculler Laura Tasch left the starting blocks just behind a fast starting Ismaray Marrero of Cuba. Marrero, thought, failed to hold the pace, Tasch took the lead and never looked back. With Marrero struggling to find a pace Great Britain’s Andrea Dennis slipped into second. But Marrero had not given up. In the final sprint Marrero got ahead of Dennis and will go to the semifinal with Tasch.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Heats

A large 24-boat field meant four heats with only first place going directly to the semifinal. For heat one Illias Pappas of Greece made no bones about his goal. Taking the lead at the start, Pappas, 25, never looked back and moves on to the semifinal.

Heat two featured the experienced Takahiro Suda of Japan. Suda has spent most of his international career racing in the Olympic boat class double with Japan’s best, Daisaku Takeda, and today, footing it solo, Suda led the entire 2000m way at an easy 29 strokes per minute, leaving Italy’s Gardino Pellolio to return for the repechage.

Moving into the senior ranks 22-year-old Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands overtook a fast-starting Alisdair Leighton-Crawford of Great Britain to take the lead and remain clearly there with no other boat getting close enough to challenge. Schouten moves to the semifinal with the second fastest qualifying time.

The final heat recorded the fastest qualifying time when Germany’s Jonathan Koch and Lubos Podstupka of Slovakia went head to head at the front of the field. Koch, 21, got his first taste of senior competition last year when he finished 9th at the World Rowing Championships. Meanwhile Podstupka is in his 16th year of international competition which has seen him race in a plethora of boats. Koch and Podstupka sprinted to the end with experience winning out over youth. Podstupka moves to the semifinal with the fastest time of 7:13.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Heats

Often this non-Olympic boat class is undersubscribed, but not today at Linz/Ottensheim. Three heats with a field of 13 boats meant the top three crews in each race would go directly to the semifinal. The Netherlands sorted themselves out in heat one as the leaders with Paul Drewes in stroke and Roeland Lievens in bow. This left Italy’s Luigi Scalia and the very experienced Franco Sancassani, 33 (with six World Champion titles), to slot into second. The order remained the same with Canada pushing through from the back of the field to take the final qualifying spot in a fierce final sprint.

The four boats in heat two all wanted to be first. Germany, Denmark, Greece and Italy’s third boat started the race in battle and continued it for the entire race. The final sprint was going to be the decider. Four boats fighting for three positions. Who would prevail? All it took was one faltering stroke in the last 40 metres by Germany and the decision was made. Nicola Moriconi and Fabrizio Gabriele of Italy take first and Greece and Denmark also advance to the semifinal.

In heat three, with Serbia dropping off the pace early in the race, you may think that the three leaders may settle for qualification. But this was far from the case. Great Britain, Italy1 and Spain all seemed to have the same race plan – race as hard as they could up to the 1000m mark. Matt Beechey and Daniel Harte of Great Britain then pulled in front with Italy slotting into second and Spain content with third. These three boats move directly to the semifinal.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Heats

She’s two-time defending World Champion. She’s FISA female Athlete of the Year. She has 13 World and Olympic medals. She’s Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and she had no trouble winning the first of six heats. Karsten was able to settle after taking the lead into an easy 26 stroke rate pace to comfortably lead the field. Switzerland slipped into second, Cuba third and Lithuania fourth to all move on to the quarter-finals.

China’s most accomplished female rower, Xiuyun Zhang, is back. Following health problems that kept her out of the Athens Olympics, Zhang appears to be back on form and she led former World Rowing Championship medallist (2005) Michelle Guerette of the United States. Neither boat was pushed and they carry on to the quarter-finals along with Germany3 and Portugal.

France’s Sophie Balmary moves to the quarter-final with the fastest qualifying time following her easy win in heat three. Balmary is a regular finalist but is often on the edge of the medals and today she retained an open water lead over Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic in second with Poland and Hungary also qualifying.

Germany’s four-time Olympic gold medallist Kathrin Boron is her nation’s top female single sculler and after taking 2006 off from international competition, she’s back. But in heat four her comeback campaign did not go completely to plan when Russia’s Julia Levina managed to take the lead by the middle of the race and hold it. Boron takes second with Serbia and Norway taking the final two qualifying spots. After the finish Boron appeared philosophical about her finish stating she was glad to be back after illness.

Number two in the world in women’s single sculling, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic was handed a strong challenge by South Africa’s Rika Geyser but used the second half of the race to secure an easy first position with Geyser looking satisfied in second and Nuria Dominguez of Spain taking third to qualify for the quarter-final in the sixth and last heat of the women’s single.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Heats

With the wind moving to an inconsistent slight head-cross situation for the 37 entries in the men’s single the question was would anyone go below the magical seven minute mark. Reigning Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway got close by winning heat one in 7:00.31. This put only Tufte through to the semifinal as a first place was necessary to advance. After the race Tufte commented that he still had a lot of racing to do and acknowledged that there was a lot of fast people out there.

Belgium’s top single sculler, and regular international finalist (including at the 2004 Olympics), Tim Maeyens stayed well ahead of his country’s number two boat to win the second heat. The third heat saw an opening tussle between Slovenia’s Luka Spik, normally seen in the double, and Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands, always seen in the single. Hamburger soon got the upper hand and a disappointed Spik will have to return for the repechage with Hamburger going directly to the semifinal.

Liang Zhang, 20, of China was not going to let Great Britain’s Alan Campbell have it all his own way in heat four. This is Zhang’s first international outing, while Campbell comes into 2007 having won the World Cup series last year. Zhang worked hard the whole way while Campbell did just enough to hold on to first and qualify for the semifinal. The question is what will Zhang be able to do in his repechage?

After the race Campbell commented, “I was a bit nervous as this is my first race of the season. But it’s good to be back.”

After pushing away from Ireland’s Sean Jacob, Lassi Karonen made easy work of heat five to finish well ahead of the rest of the field and move on to the semifinal. Karonen is a regular finalist but last year had to contend with winning the B Final at the World Rowing Championships.

In heat six the best of the Czech Republic, Ondrej Synek was faced with an unusual surprise when Paul Rosenquist of Sweden decided to go for it. Rosenquist only took up rowing as a 27-year-old and last year made the Swedish national team for the first time in the double. Pushing Synek indicates his potential. But Synek did enough to hold off the Swede and Rosenquist will have to return for the repechage.

Germany’s Marcel Hacker made easy work of heat seven with France’s Pierre-Jean Peltier trying his best. Peltier is the son of former French medallist, now coach of the men’s double, Jean-Raymond Peltier. But Hacker outclassed the field and moves on to the semifinal. After the finish Hacker said he was not happy with his race. Were there unknown obstructions in the water?

Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg followed a Hacker-style race in heat eight by leading from the start, but still had to contend with a last 500m push from Cuba. Vonarburg moves to the semifinal.

The final, and ninth, heat went to former single World Champion in the single from 12 years ago, Iztok Cop, Cop is now better known for his success in the double with Spik but he has always maintained his single sculling abilities with regular racing. Cop held off Athens Olympics fourth-place finisher Santiago Fernandez of Argentina who will have to return for the repechage.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Heats

Six heats lined up with the last boat from each heat dropping off and the rest returning for the quarter-final. Both Australia and the United States have broken their priority boat, the eight, down to compete multiple times in this event with China and Germany also entering multiple entries. Heat one saw a close start with Germany taking an early lead. By half way Robyn Selby Smith and Natalie Bale of Australia had pushed through to the lead. But China2 (Tong Li and Yanfeng Yan) kept the pressure on. Australia finish first, China second and Germany and Belarus also qualify.

Some very excited British parents could not keep in their seats with Natasha Howard and Alison Knowles of Great Britain leading heat two. Australia’s top seeded pair, Sonia Mills and Phoebe Stanley, held the pace but let Howard and Knowles have first. Germany and France also move on to the quarter-final.

The American top-seeded boat was up next in heat three and Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson showed why they are top by winning out easily over Australia3 in second. China and Chile tussled with each other with China finishing third and Chile qualifying in fourth.

Surprisingly Romania never really fired in heat four. Instead it was Caroline Lind and Susan Francia of the United States leading the way with Germany’s fourth crew holding onto second. Last year’s World Champion in the lightweight single, Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands showed that she is making a confident transition to the heavyweight and also sweep category. Van Eupen pulled through to third with partner Laura Posthuma. Nethlerlands2 also qualified.

This could be a crew to watch. In heat five China’s number one crew of Yage Zhang and Cuiping Yang led the way over Denmark. Yang is one of China’s top rowers and last year she was part of the eight that finished fourth at the World Rowing Championships. Yang was also in the Athens Olympic eight. Meanwhile, partner Zhang, 22, is an international newcomer. China qualify from first with Denmark and Russia taking up two more spots in the quarter-final.

Perhaps the upset of the morning. In heat six reigning World Champions Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball of Canada battled a close race with Australia’s number four crew of Kim Crow and Sarah Cook. Marquardt and Rumball had a slight lead for the first half, but the superior endurance of Crow and Cook must have paid off as Canada, despite their higher rating, could not hold on to the Australians. Australia, Canada and United States in third move on to the quarter-final. Crow and Cook record the fastest qualifying time.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Heats

Bursting onto the pairs scene, Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot of France must be a crew to watch in this event. Peron and Cadot led heat one of three heats and with the top two boats from each heat qualifying for the semifinal the duo made it clear what they wanted. This is Peron and Cadot’s first season together in the pair with Peron coming from his country’s eight. Also pairing up for the first season together Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams of Canada held on to the second qualifying spot.

An unusually quiet Williams said after the race, “I was surprised that so many boats came with us. We’re expecting a tough race in the semifinal.” Peron commented that he thought the semifinal would be tougher and he was pleasantly surprised at their result today.

Great Britain looked long, strong and confident in the second heat. Colin Smith and Matthew Langridge are a new combination this season and they got themselves into a comfortable first position leaving Poland to fight it out with China for the remaining qualifying spot. Poland got the upper hand and Great Britain and Poland’s Dawid Paczes and Lukasz Kardas taking second.

They are back together. Brothers Niksa and Sinisa Skelin of Croatia didn’t manage to row much together last season due to Niksa sustaining an injury. And they are back strong. Heat three had the
Skelins in the lead after pushing past the Czech Republic and Germany’s top pair, Andreas Penkner and Jochen Urban, to take the lead. Penkner and Urban also qualify.