23 Jan 2012
Heats continue and French show synchronicity at World Champs
The first round of racing, the heats, continued at the 2010 World Rowing Championships on Lake Karapiro, New Zealand with the French men’s double sculls demonstrating perfect synchronicity to win their race. Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France got cleanly through the first round of racing and will be a crew to watch in the semifinals of the double. The British women’s double will also be a crew to watch after absolutely dominating their race.
In ever improving conditions, rowers from around the world enjoyed tail wind conditions although the water still had a level of bounce. Close racing remained a common feature of the day as boats fought to get to the next round of racing.
Women’s Pair (W2-) – heats
Two heats with the top two boats going directly through to the finals was the formula for the women in the pair. This boat is known for its technical difficulty as each pair must be absolutely in sync to make the boat go straight. Lake Karapiro welcomed World Champions, Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro of the United States back together. Francia and Cafaro, who raced in heat one, have spent this season in a variety of combinations but coach, Tom Terhaar must have decided that the Francia-Cafaro combo is the way to go.
With that, Francia and Cafaro got out ahead of Germany’s Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig and worked to a solid lead through the middle of the race. This left Hartmann and Sinnig to hold off the very talented Camelia Lupascu and Nicoleta Albu of Romania. Lupascu and Albu, one of the top crews coming into this regatta, never really found their rhythm and Germany was able to shake them off and then go after the Americans. At the line the USA had held off Germany. Both boats qualify for the final.
Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand are in their first season together, but, despite this, they burst onto the international scene in June taking two wins from two Rowing World Cup regattas. Today they raced in heat two and led from start to finish.
But it was not all plain sailing for Haigh and Scown. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain held on tightly to the New Zealanders through the body of the race. Haigh and Scown kept their stroke rate high and the pressure on. Then, coming into the final sprint, Australia joined in the challenge for the lead. They had, however, left their push too late. New Zealand and Great Britain are the two qualifying boats.
Lightweight Women’s Single Scull (LW1x) – heats
Two heats lined up in this event with the top two boats able to earn a spot in the final. This event often attracts scullers that have not made it into the Olympic event for lightweights, the lightweight women’s double sculls, and in heat one, Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany was one of these. Draeger commented that she needed a ‘mental break’ from the double so is enjoying her time here in the single.
Draeger led from start to finish with Sara Karlsson of Sweden pushing past Canada to earn the second qualifying spot. Karlsson has been training this season in Austria as she works on her PhD in mathematics, so the single has turned out to be the most suitable boat. Draeger and Karlsson will race again in the final.
Newcomer to the international scene, Louise Ayling of New Zealand made heads turn locally when she led heat two from start to finish. Ayling must have been loving the home course advantage and the support of the crowd as she held off challenges from Switzerland and then Italy down the 2000m course. Italy’s Laura Milani nearly caught Ayling at the line, but ended up crossing in second. Ayling and Milani advance to the final.
Lightweight Men’s Single Scull (LM1x) – heats
This event had scullers from 14 countries divided into three heats with the top three boats from each heat advancing to the semifinals. New Zealand’s Duncan Grant is the reigning World Champion but he has not been dominating this season. Instead Peter Galambos of Hungary has become the one to beat. Grant raced in heat two with Galambos seeded into heat three.
Duncan Grant then lined up in heat two and made easy work of his race to the extent that he did not have to sprint the end. Peter Chambers of Great Britain came through in second and Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands qualified from third.
But it was Peter Galambos who scored the fastest qualifying time in heat three. Galambos, 24, has spent the majority of his rowing career in the lightweight double and moving into the single this season appears to be fortuitous as he won both Rowing World Cups that he entered. Galambos led Lukas Babac of Slovakia who challenged hard before buttoning off in the close of the race. Galambos and Babac qualify along with Daniel Urevick-Ackelsberg of the United States. Babac, who is also racing in the open men’s single, was in his second race of the morning, only one hour apart.
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – heats
The men’s double sculls had 15 nations competing and these were spread across three heats with the top three from each heat advancing directly to the semifinals. This event has seen very tight racing all season with the French, Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain, looking to be the favourites after winning the final Rowing World Cup plus the European Championships in September.
Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman have regularly medalled this season and together they took off in the lead of heat two to stamp a bit of dominance on their race. It turned out that no one was really ready to challenge Wells and Batemen who kept their cool and did just enough to hold off a late charge by Glenn Ochal and Warren Anderson of the United States. These two crews qualify for the semifinals along with Petr Vitasek and David Jirka of the Czech Republic in third.
The crowd had to wait until heat three to see the fastest qualifying time and also to see it done by the local crew of Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan of New Zealand. Cohen and Sullivan totally raced their own race and in the process moved out to an open water lead. The New Zealand duo rated 36 to 37 through the body of the race and their finishing time of 6.10 is just seven second outside of the World Best Time. Behind Cohen and Sullivan, Estonia (Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo) and China (Hang Liu and Zhiqiang Shi) also qualified for the semifinals from second and third respectively.
Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – heats
The women’s double sculls had two heats with the top boat only from each heat going directly to the final. There is no doubt that coming into these World Rowing Championships Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins are the favourites and were seeded into heat two. Grainger and Watkins have not lost a doubles race this season and they are considered to be the flagship boat for the British women.
It was last year’s World Champions, Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska of Poland that got the ball rolling in heat one. Fularczyk and Michalska have had to battle with injury this season that kept them out of the boat until the end of June and away from racing until September’s European Championships. The duo finished second at the European Champs and they could not hide their relief and satisfaction at this event.
Today Poland pushed past Australia and the United States to take first at the line. Fularczyk and Michalska recorded the fastest qualifying time and move on directly to the final.
Grainger and Watkins then featured in heat two and they shot out of the start at an incredible pace to take a boat length lead with just 40 strokes rowed. Their closest challengers, Germany, looked like they had made a decision to give the race away and Watkins and Grainger were able to romp away under virtually no pressure. Coming into the finish the British rated in the low 20s turning their race into what looked like a training row. Watkins and Grainger go directly to the final.