World Cup Narrows Down to Finalists

Frida Svensson of Sweden

Women's Single Scull (W1x) – Repechage

All of the hard work was done early on in the race as repechage one was led home by Sweden's 23 year old Olympian Frida Svensson. Svensson judged her race perfectly letting Bulgaria's Anet-Jacqueline Buschmann take a flying start and then rowing through her as the half-way point came into view. Following Svensson was a very slow starting Kristiana Rode of Latvia who has been plugging away on the international scene since her junior days in 1997. Coming into the final sprint Buschmann had run out of steam and Rode was able to push through to second. Both Rode and Svensson move on to the final.

The second repechage opened with one-time Olympian Anna-Marie De Zwager of Canada putting four-time Olympic gold medallist, Kathrin Boron of Germany in her place. Boron fought back and although she gained the lead De Zwager stuck doggedly by Boron's side. It was only in the final 500 metres that Boron moved ahead and De Zwager settled comfortably into a clear second. Both boats crossed the finish line at a calm 30 strokes per minute displaying rather contrasting styles of rowing – Boron very upright at the finish with her hands wide and De Zwager swinging her body right back at the release of the stroke. Boron and De Zwager move on to the final.

Czech single sculler Ondrej Synek

Men's Single Scull (M1x) – Semifinal

Switzerland's André Vonarburg treated this like a final. He knew he had tough competition coming from Eton winner Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Munich second place finisher Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. He also knew he had a shot at a top three qualifying position.

Not surprisingly Synek had the fastest start followed by Ukraine, but Vonarburg was right there and through the middle of the race he held second over Drysdale with 22year-old Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands still very much on the pace. Coming into the final sprint Synek was just in the lead with nothing between Drysdale, Vonarburg and Hamburger. The sprint was on. Vonarburg boosted by finish line crowd support did a push, Drysdale brought his rating up, Hamburger let his 203 cm frame drive him forward. A photo finish at the line had Synek first, Drysdale second and Hamburger sneaking through to third. Hamburger's third place time of 6.46 gives him a new national record for the Netherlands – replacing the 1994 record of 6.47.03.

An exhausted Vonarburg gasped for air before saluting the crowd.

There must be something about Scandinavians and bells. With both Norway's Olaf Tufte and Sweden's Lassi Karonen racing in the second semi the bells were ringing. But out in front was Munich winner Marcel Hacker of Germany executing a very consistent race plan – take the lead and hold off Tufte. Athlete extraordinaire Tufte has been dabbling in kayaking lately as he works his way towards the World Rowing Championships and today he moved closer to Hacker holding second for the entire race.

As the bells rang and the finish line came into view Hacker still had the lead, rating an easy 34 with Tufte looking remarkably comfortable at 37. Karonen followed and put another Swedish boat into the finals. 

Women's Pair (W2-) – Repechage

Two repechages demanded a top two position for progression to the final and in rep number one it was Great Britain's Katie Greves and Carla Ashford that set the pace. Behind them Denmark's Majbrit Nielsen and Fie Udby battled with Russia for the second qualifying spot. The battle continued throughout the race with Denmark and Russia swapping and re-swapping. The final sprint was the decider. Udby and Nielsen along with Great Britain advance to tomorrows final.

Repechage two was nothing more than a procession as three badly matched crews decided the order inside the first 400 metres of the race. Germany's Christina Gerking and Johanna Roenfeldt took the lead, France slipped into second and Great Britain's number two crew remained in third and well outside of qualifying contention.

Men's pair crew from New Zealand: Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater

Men's Pair (M2-) – Semifinal

Over the winter New Zealand's George Bridgewater dabbled in the world of indoor rowing and finished second. It must have helped his rowing as, along with partner Nathan Twaddle, they finished first at Munich last month. Today they met Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams of Canada. The Commonwealth led the way with Italy and Greece tussling for the final qualifying spot.

An early advantage by Frandsen and Williams was lost as Bridgewater and Twaddle, using consistency and confidence, moved past. A final sprint was not necessary as New Zealand remained in the lead with Canada remaining ahead of Italy who had worn down Greece to take the qualifying spot.

Tobias Kuehne and Jan Herzog of Germany took off at a cracking pace in the second semi leaving Olympic silver medallists, Croatia to play catch up. With a strong third 500 the Croatians did exactly that. But Germany held on despite being well clear of Great Britain's West and West in third. No challenge came to these three crews and it came down to pride with Croatia and Germany keeping each other honest at the front.

Scott Frandsen and Barney Williams from Canada race in the pair

Women's Double Scull (W2x) – Repechage

The top two boats would move on to the final. Norway had withdrawn, Canada, Poland and Germany remained. Poland's Agnieszka Tomczak and Aneta Belka took an early lead before Magdalena Schmude with Peggy Waleska of Germany gained control with Canada off the pace. Coming home an easy 28 strokes per minute Germany wasn't pushed and Poland qualify from finishing second.

By the first 500 metre mark the race to be in the top two positions was all but over in the second repechage. Great Britain's Debbie Flood and Elise Laverick were in first with Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy without a real challenger in second. Both boats move on to the final.

Men's Double Scull (M2x) – Semifinal

A top two finish was necessary and three crews had the goods. Finishing first at Munich, Germany's Christian Schreiber and Rene Burmeister must have had the psychological advantage. But Munich bronze medallists, Ukraine's Dmytro Prokopenko and Volodymyr Pavlovskyy had the underdog willpower. And Bulgaria's Martin and Ivo Yanakiev are not to be ignored.

Ukraine and Germany led the way hoping to shake off Bulgaria. It seemed to be working as the two leaders opened up a gap. But Bulgaria's consistent pace appeared to be paying off and through the third 500 the Yanakiev's closed the gap. In the final sprit Bulgaria continued to make gains rating a couple of notches above Ukraine and Germany's 37 strokes per minute. Ukraine was lucky. Germany and Ukraine move on to the final.

The discussion at the start line of semi-final two was all about who would get the second qualifying spot as crews looked across to Slovenia. Iztok Cop and Luka Spik hold the World Best time. They also won gold at Sydney and silver at Athens. Cop is a national champion cross country skier, they are both professional athletes and both have been Slovenia's athlete of the year.

Spik and Cop took off and Norway's Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Adamsen slipped into second. Slovenia held a comfortable leading margin and Norway did just enough to stave off Hungary including a solid sprint to the sound of ringing bells from the grandstand. Norway and Slovenia will meet again in the final.

When Federico Gattinoni of Italy was winning the single as a junior (2002) his counterpart in Italy two, Alessio Sartori had already been to two Olympic Games and had a gold medal from one. Today the two Italian boats met in the third semi-final.

It was Russia's Denis Kleshnev and Nikita Morgatchev that led the field with a dominating start. Russia still had the lead coming into the final 500 metres, but Gattinoni with partner Luca Ghezzi and closed the gap on the leaders and in the process passed Sartori and partner Simone Raineri as well as Belgium. Continuing to sprint the young Italians overtook Russia and became Italy's new leading double. Russia qualified from second. 

British men's four Twiggs-Hodge, Partridge, Reed and Williams

Men's Coxless Four (M4-) – Semifinal

By the time Denmark woke up from their slow start, leaders of semi-final one Great Britain was already ahead by over six seconds. The only crew even close to the Brits was the Dutch. As the crews moved into the second 500 the Netherlands closed in on Great Britain, but it looked like the close came more from the British slowing their pace.

Meanwhile Denmark had begun to warm up. Retaining a steady pace they were closing in on the two leaders. In the final sprint all three crews popped their rating up into the high 30s crossing the line in the three qualifying spots.

Steve Williams of Great Britain's four said after racing, "It's important that we won. We did some things well and there are some thngs we can improve on."

Six lanes, six crews, six evenly matched boats. The second semi-final formed almost a line as no one relented in the chase for a top three finish. Canada's Cameron Baerg, Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge and Kyle Hamilton led the way, but only just from Germany and Italy with New Zealand, Ireland and the Czech Republic all in a threatening position. The sprint was going to be the decider and all crews still had a chance. Who had the best finish?

At the line less than three seconds separated the six boats with Canada holding onto first the Czech Republic pulling off an awesome sprint to push through to second and Italy holding on to take third.

After the race Canada's Light commented that they were looking forward to meeting Great Britain in the final. "We're not going to make it easy for them (Great Britain) to win," Light said in Rowing Canada's press release. "We are gaining confidence in each other and improving as a crew with each race." 

Women's Lightweight Double Scull (LW2x) Semifinal

Germany's Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger had to face the power of Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska of Poland in the first semi-final. Occupying the two centre lanes Germany and Poland went head to head taking turns at getting their nose in front, neither relenting. Behind them Germany Two and Ireland gave it their all to hold on to the pace.

Poland had a slight advantage coming into the final sprint but it looked like both German crews had been working harder on their final sprints. Reimer and Draeger grabbed the lead, Kemnitz and Mokronowska held onto second and Germany Two overtook Ireland to finish in the third qualifying spot.

Munich winners Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland have been on a roll and in semi-final two they aimed at continuing their dominance. But they had not yet met Meiyun Tan and Haixia Chen of China's second crew. By the half way point Chen and Tan had worked their way through to the lead with Sten and Niemnen holding onto China and Canada's Elizabeth Urbach and Tracy Cameron fighting with China One for third.

China, Finland and Canada move on to the final.

 

The new Italian double with Basalini and Pettinari

Men's Lightweight Double Scull (LM2x) – Repechage

 

Happiest crew of the day must go to twins Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik of the Czech Republic. The 21-year-olds led repechage one in a well-executed race that saw the Vetesnik's take an early lead and edge their way to a small advantage. But as is common in lightweight rowing, racing remained tight with Slovakia's Maros Sloboda and Lubos Podstupka and Great Britain making sure that the Czechs didn't have it all their own way.

With two boats qualifying for the final the closing metres of the race came down to a three boat sprint. The Czech Republic held on to first and Slovakia just made it through to second.

Canada's Matthew Jensen and Liam Parsons led the second repechage followed closely by Russia. Back just a bit Munich winners, Italy, stroked by six-time World Champion Leonardo Pettinari, tried to work their way up to a qualifying spot. By the second half of the race Jensen and Parsons still held the lead with Italy managing to overtake Russia and make it through to the final.

Men's Lightweight Four (LM4-) – Semifinal

The luck hasn't been completely with the Irish today but it seemed to return briefly in the first semifinal. Stroked by Paul Griffin, Ireland got off to a good solid start over Denmark and did everything to retain it. This left the Netherlands, Great Britain and Spain and Denmark to work out who would get the remaining two spots.

As the charge for the line came into view Ireland held the pressure rating a high 39 strokes per minute with Spain hanging in there at a 40 and the Netherlands executing a more effective 37. These three crews move on to the final.

In the second semifinal the finish was closer and the pace was quicker with Russia establishing themselves as early leaders. But Germany's more consistent splits soon brought them through to the lead as the last 500 metres came into view. The sprint was on with five boats all in range of the three top spots. Germany, at 38 strokes per minute, retained first. Poland's number one crew under the command of Milosz Bernatajtys in stroke, pushed through to second. Russia used their work done earlier in the race to scrape through to third.

The women's quad from Belarus: Nakhayeva, Bazyleuskaya, Helakh, Berazniova

Women's Quad Scull (W4x) – Repechage

Henley winners Ukraine got their boat in front of Belarus and did just enough to keep the lead. Belarus held on to a solid pace, but from their position in the second qualifying spot, the Belarusians were under little threat from Italy in third. The crews did not need to sprint and held their energy for tomorrow's final.

Germany look to be improving with every race and today they led the second repechage over the Czech Republic with their mixture of youth and experience making up the boat. The order did not change and both Germany and the Czechs move on to the final.

Men's Quad Scull (M4x) – Repechage

Four boats were in the mix chasing two qualifying positions in the first repechage. Brazil, France, Ukraine and Great Britain formed a line across the lake. Even with half the race rowed, the line remained with only two seconds separating these crews. This margin decreased coming into the final 500 metres. All four boats were going to have to sprint. France and Brazil, however, had run out of gas. Great Britain and Ukraine move on to the final.

Repechage two was a bit more spread out with Germany and Russia establishing their dominance at the head of the field. Belarus, featuring indoor rowing champion Pavel Shurmei in three seat, did all that they could to hold on and despite pulling out an impressive sprint, Germany and Russia had enough of a lead to retain the top two spots. This sees the return of Olympic Champions Russia who so far have had a reasonably unimpressive 2005 season.

Women's Eight (W8+) – Saturday Final

After bursting onto the scene in Eton and taking gold, China barely featured today, way off the pace. Instead Romania look to be the crew to beat – again. Even though Romania is boating a relatively young crew, they managed to keep ahead of the Netherlands that features six of their bronze medal Olympic eight.

Romania and the Netherlands crossed the line in position one and two and will meet again tomorrow.

Men's Eights (M8+) – Repechage

The finishing tower had to bring out the finish line photos to determine this one. Six boats were aiming for four spots and five boats were very much on the pace. Poland had the edge with Great Britain and the Netherlands giving them very little breathing space.

Coming into the final sprint Poland still had the lead as all crews started to charge. At the line, position two to five was separated by only one second. Croatia was unlucky. Poland, the Netherlands, Great Britain and France advance to tomorrow's final.