Lucerne BearingPoint Rowing World Cup Heats Continue

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Karsten took a slight lead at the start of heat one and was content to sit a fraction ahead of young Frida Svensson of Sweden. Doing just enough to get the qualifying spot, Karsten crossed the finish line rating an easy 26 strokes per minute. She will go directly to the final with all other boats returning for the repechage.

If Sophie Balmary of France can keep consistent she may be the only one able to get close to Karsten. Balmary comfortably won heat two despite having four-time Olympic gold medallist Kathrin Boron of Germany in one lane over. Boron looked like she put the effort in but it was not enough and she will now be in the unusual position of racing a repechage.

Single sculler Mahe Drysdale from New Zealand

Men's Single Scull – Heats

Eton World Cup winner Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic made easy work of heat two crossing the line at a comfortable 25 strokes per minute. He will be joined in the semi-final by Munich winner and the winner of heat three, Marcel Hacker of Germany, also rating 25 at the finish.

The final heat saw a bit tussling going on with Cuba's Yoennis Hernandez leading the first half of the race only to run out of steam and get overtaken first by Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands and then Olympic and World Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. Tufte prevailed at the line and moves directly to the semi-final.

Women's Pair – Heats

The two heat format meant first place would only go directly to the final and New Zealand's Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh were taking no chances in heat one. Coles and Haigh come into this event as favourites after winning in Munich but a close race against Denmark at the Holland Beker meant that the New Zealanders were overly wary. Keeping their rating high the Kiwis crossed the line a comfortable 13 seconds ahead of Denmark.

In heat two Belarus's Tamara Samakhvalava and Natallia Helakh had a tight race with an aggressive German crew. But Belarus's strong first 1,000 metres gave them enough of a lead that Germany couldn't catch them. Samakhvalava and Helakh move on to the final.

They won at Munich and dominated heat one today. Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater of New Zealand are on a roll. After taking an early lead Twaddle and Bridgewater, like their female counterparts, moved further and further away from Great Britain's Kieran West and Josh West who sat in second position. As the top three boats advancing to the semi-final West and West also move on and the Czech Republic from third.

Canada and Croatia went head-to-head in heat two but by the half-way point Sinisa and Niksa Skelin of Croatia had pushed ahead of Barney Williams and Scott Frandsen of Canada. This order didn't change and both boats crossed the finish line doing a comfortable 26 strokes per minute. Behind them Lithuania also qualify for the semi-final.

Italy's Luca Agamennoni and Dario Lari come directly to Lucerne following a win at the Mediterranean Games last weekend and today they worked their way though the heat three field to find lead in the final 500 metres. This left Germany's Tobias Kuehne and Jan Herzog to settle for second. Also qualifying after finishing in third position was Greece.

Women's Double Sculls – Heats

Eton and Munich winners Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova of Bulgaria continued on their winning ways by leading from start to finish in the first of two heats. Rating a strong 33 strokes per minute at the finish the Bulgarians left Germany and Great Britain in their wake. Bulgaria move on to the final and all other crews will have to come back for the repechage.

Olympic Champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell are back in the double after dabbling in the single at Munich. Using long, powerful strokes the twins had no competition in heat two and will move directly to the final to meet the Bulgarians for the first time on Sunday.

Men's Double Sculls – Heats

Result times were all over the place in the six heats as a gusty head wind picked up and fell. This made comparisons from one race to the next difficult. The fastest time, by a long way, was recorded in heat one when Dmitro Prokopenko and Volodimir Pavlovskij of Ukraine took the lead and stayed well clear of Russia in second. Ukraine finished an impressive third at Munich and in this 26 boat field they could be an emerging new talent. Both Ukraine and Russia move on to the semi-final.

Munich Rowing World Cup winners Christian Schreiber and Rene Burmeister had to race their fellow countrymen, lightweights Joerg Lehnigk and Manuel Brehmer and the two German crews easily qualified. Lehnigk and Brehmer will race again as lightweights at the World Rowing Championships but they are enjoying not having to make weight at Lucerne.

Brothers Ivo and Martin Yanakiev of Bulgaria started off the season well but seem to be slipping back, finishing fifth at Munich. Today they raced in heat three and managed to work their way through to second behind Einaras Siaudvytis and Sigitas Klerauskas of Lithuania. Both boats advance directly to the semi-final.

It was no surprise to see Luka Spik and Iztok Cop leading heat four. The 2000 Olympic Champions and 2004 silver medallists from Slovenia raced at Munich in the quad and won. Today they put themselves in a good position for another gold medal by winning comfortably over Poland's Marcin Brzezinski and Michal Sloma who will also move on to the semi-final.

The difficulty of racing was evident in heat four with third placed Great Britain's stroke Alex Gregory suffering an asthma attack and needing medical help.

Heat five turned into a procession with Belgium's Stijn Smulders and Christophe Raes leading from start to finish and Hungary's Gabor Bencsik and Tibor Petoe slipping into second feeling no need to challenge Belgium and under no threat from Russia in third. Belgium and Hungary move on to the semi-final.

Italy's number one crew of Luca Ghezzi and 21-year-old Frederico Gattinoni finished second in Munich and led the final heat over Olympic finalists Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Adamsen of Norway. Both of these crews move on to the semi-final.

Men's Four – Heats

Great Britain has been dominating all season and in the opening 500 metres of the first race it looked to be the same again. But with the top three boats qualifying for the semi-final, Great Britain felt that had plenty of room to relax. This allowed a tight race behind Great Britain between New Zealand, Slovenia and the Czech Republic to move closer to the Brits. In the process New Zealand managed to briefly sneak ahead of Great Britain with 600 metres left to row. At the line Great Britain, rating 35, came back into first, New Zealand qualify from second and Slovenia held off the Czech Republic to finish third.

After the race British coach Jurgen Grobler commented that he instructed his crew to work on technique and harmony rather than going flat out. "I think they did it quite well today and had the discipline to do it," said Grobler.

All eyes were on arrival of Canada in heat two. The crew, made up of members of the silver medal Athens four and the World Champion eight, started off strong but were soon overtaken by the Netherlands. Like Canada, the Netherlands have chosen to put their strongest rowers into the four rather than the eight and the two crews seemed reasonably well-matched. Denmark and Ireland were also on the pace. In the sprint finish with Canada rating 38 strokes per minute, the Netherlands stayed just in front. Canada qualify from second and Denmark just held off Ireland to take the third qualifying spot.

Italy took the lead in heat three with Poland keeping them honest over the 2,000 metre Rotsee course. Coming into the final sprint a consistent 35 strokes per minute rating developed with Italy remaining in first and Poland and Germany also qualifying from second and third respectively.

Lightweight Women's Double Sculls – Heats

Four heats and a top two position needed for advancement was the formula in this event. In heat one Poland's Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska had a battle with Canada's number two crew of Melanie Kok and Sheryl Preston. Kok spends most of the year rowing sweep at university in the United States, but has partnered up well with Preston and together they held onto the Polish to qualify just one second behind in second place.

China's number two crew left their number one crew in the dust in heat two. Meanwhile sandwiched in-between the two Chinese crews, Germany Two managed to push through to take second. China Two of Haixia Chen and Meiyun Tan put up a gutsy performance to finish first.

Heat three had Germany and Canada's number one crews going head to head. Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany missed Munich due to injury and in their first race back on the international circuit they must have been quite surprised to have newcomers Elizabeth Urbach and Tracy Cameron of Canada right on their tail. At the line Germany won back the lead and move onto the semi-final with Canada.

Finland's new rowing sensations Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen won at Munich and continue on their winning track by leading the final heat. Behind them Niamh Ni Cheilleacher and Heather Boyle of Ireland held on closely to the Finns while trying to stay ahead of Great Britain. At the line Sten and Nieminen had gained a couple of lengths in first and Ireland also qualify by finishing second.

Lightweight Men's Double Sculls – Heats

The top end of this field has diminished with the withdrawal of Japan and Greece, Poland not racing and Germany rowing heavyweight, leaving a normally extremely competitive event a little lacking.

This left Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary to dominate heat one, leading from start to finish and moving further and further away from the rest of the field. Hirling and Varga advance directly to the final. Surprisingly Munich winners, Italy sat at the back of the field finishing in fourth.

Olympic finallists Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist followed Hungary's race plan leading from beginning to end in heat two and easily qualifying over the long laid-back stroking Canadians.

Lightweight Men's Four – Heats

A tight start remained tight with only a couple of seconds in it as all five boats crossed the half-way point in heat one. Great Britain had the early small lead but as Ireland came into their own the Brits began to falter. Coming into the final sprint Ireland was just in first with Great Britain trying to hold off a fast sprinting Poland 1. With Poland rating 37 and Great Britain up to 41 strokes per minute both boats will qualify for the semi-final.

Germany put on a solid show in heat two taking a small lead over the Netherlands and managing to maintain it with the Dutch trying to shake off Poland's number two crew. Poland, in a comfortable third, were happy to qualify from this spot. Germany, the Netherlands and Poland move on to the semi-final.

More jostling for position went on in the third heat when Russia, Spain and Denmark all vied for first place. As Denmark began to slip back, Spain was improving and by the finish line the sprinting Spaniards had the lead over Russia with Denmark content with third and the final qualifying spot.

Women's Quadruple Sculls – Heats

There was very little challenging going on in heat one when Russia took a two second lead at the start putting them into the one qualifying spot that gave them a direct path to the final. Stroked by three-time Olympian Irina Fedotova, the Russians were not threatened by Henley winners Ukraine. Russia move on to the final.

Munich winners Great Britain had a revitalised Germany hot on their heels in heat two. So hot in fact were the Germans that they managed to take the lead with 500 metres left to row. But Great Britain had a superior final push and took the qualifying spot rating 35 strokes per minute over Germany's 32.

Men's Quadruple Sculls – Heats

Two heats with the top crews moving directly to the final had the Czech Republic, featuring the great single sculler Vaclav Chalupa, lead in heat one. But Great Britain, who finished behind the Czech Republic in Munich, was working on closing the gap. At the line the Czech's retained the lead and leave Great Britain to face the repechage.

As the rain started to pelt down, heat two battled down the course with Estonia and Germany going head to head in the lead. Olympic silver medallist from the single, Jueri Jaanson featured in the bow for Estonia while Germany had the return of Robert Sens in stroke seat. With 500 metres left to row Germany had the lead. But the heavy rain must have shaken them. In the final sprint Estonia got in front and take the qualifying spot.

Men's Eight – Heats

As the rain continued the morning of heats racing came to a close with Italy leading the way in heat one. Italy surprised everyone when they won at Munich and they look on track to do the same here with the fastest qualifying time. Croatia put up a good fight but will have to return for the repechage.

Germany followed Italy's lead in heat two by getting out in front of Poland and slowly wearing them down. Despite getting close to Germany in the final at Henley last week, today Great Britain were well back in third. Just Germany will advance directly to the final.