23 Jan 2012
Second chance for Under 23 Rowers
No wind and temperatures in the high 20s made of great racing conditions and racing was brutal as competitors did all that they could to keep their advancement chances alive.
Five boats lined up, but one would miss out on progression to the next round. The women’s four opened today’s racing featuring a line-up of hot rowing nations. At the head of the field Canada, stroking 41, got ahead of Russia and set the pace.
Canada’s high performance manager Alan Roaf describe the team as still young: “Thirteen of the 17 rowers here will still be under 23 next year. Another race (in the repechage) will be helpful for our crews to gain valuable experience at this level,” said Roaf in Rowing Canada’s press release.
Obviously the extra race served the Canadians well. They remained in the lead for the entire race with Poland pushing through to second after a 36 stroke rate piece at the 1500 metre mark. Belarus and Russia also qualify for the final from third and fourth place respectively.
Men’s Coxed Four (BM4+)
In the final sprint Australia, rating just a notch below the US, stayed ahead. Both boats move on to the final.
Repechage two featured Great Britain and Italy at the head of the field pushing each other down the 2000 metre Bloso Sportscentrum regatta course. Italy come to this championship as silver medal holders, but this is a new line-up trying their luck under the skills of 13-year-old coxswain Rosario Aita, debuting at his first international event.
Great Britain, rowing a very consistent middle 1000, retained the lead with the guidance of stroke Tom Wilkinson who finished fifth in this event last year. Great Britain and Italy advance to the final.
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (BLW1x)
Repechage two featured last year’s bronze medallist Stephanie Wagner of Germany. Wagner got off the line well, but not as good as Turkey’s Neylan Ozturk. But Ozturk’s flying start was soon lost to Wagner’s experience. Ozturk, however, held on pushing Wagner for the remainder of the race. Meanwhile Man Ka Lee of Hong Kong and Ireland’s Orla Hayes were going head to head to get the final qualifying spot. A massive sprint by Hayes caught Lee off guard. Wagner, Ozturk and Hayes move on to the semifinal.
Two repechages demanded a top two finish for these athletes who, on top of all the challenges of racing, had to weigh-in this morning at 72 kg or less. In repechage one Lukas Babac of Slovakia blew the rest of the field apart by taking a flying start and getting out to an open-water lead. But it was not to last. Denmark’s Sophus Johannesen took chase and through the middle of the race moved closer and closer to Babac. Babac is last year’s silver medallist and also has one Olympic Games under his belt, but he seemed content to rate in the high 20s and let the flying Dane sprint past him to take first. Both Johannesen and Babac advance to the semifinal.
The very upright style of Mario Gyr of Switzerland served him well. Taking an early lead in repechage two over Italy, Gyr continued to extend it. Meanwhile Svein Ringstad of Norway was coming back from a very slow start and working his way through the field. Pushing hard Ringstad started to close in on Gyr. But the Norwegian ran out of race course. Gyr and Ringstad move on to the semifinal. This is a big step up for Ringstad who finished 17th last year in this event.
One repechage and a top three finish was required for advancement to the semifinal and it was Matthias Gnos and Silvan Zehnder of Switzerland who got off the line first. But, to the crowd’s delight, Belgium’s Ruben De Gendt and Olivier Ek had pushed through to the lead. Today is Belgium’s national day and De Gendt and Ek must have been feeling good.
Meanwhile Gnos and Zehnder were under attack. Hungary had worked through a very strong second 500 piece and Germany’s Stephan Meissner and Martin Schroeder were getting faster as the race went on. Belgium retained first and Germany and Switzerland qualify from second and third respectively.
The first of two repechages was all about rowing powerhouses Australia and Germany. With two qualifying spots up for grabs these two crews were firmly in position, but pride the will to win must have taken over as both crews carried out a head to head battle, neither relenting. Germany held the opening advantage and retained a slight lead, but the margin was slight. Both crews sprinted for the line with the slightly higher-rating Australians pulling off the win. Australia and Germany advance to the final with Australia hoping to improve on their 2005 fifth place finish.
It’s unusual to seen an Italian lightweight quad in a repechage, but after being beaten by the United States in the heat yesterday the defending champions were back today to race in repechage two. This time they made no mistakes. Leading from the start Italy held off a solid challenge from France and managed to underrate them in the final sprint to finish first. Both boats qualify for the final.
Two repechages and a top three finish required for advancement to the semifinal was the formula. In repechage one Russia’s Oxana Demchenkova had the early edge. Sophie Dunsing, 18, of Germany, however, had other ideas. Pushing into the lead Dunsing retained her pace. Katalin Szabo of Hungary was also putting in a solid performance. Szabo has solid international experience with four years of junior competition, but she is yet to medal. Today she put herself one step closer by chasing after Dunsing.
At the line Germany and Hungary had the top two spots and Russia held on to qualify from third.
Ligita Kaviere of Latvia and Kateryna Tarasenko of Ukraine held their own battle at the head of the second repechage. Kaviere has been competing internationally since 2001 and six-foot tall Tarasenko knows two years of junior international competition. Comfortably at the head of the field these two athletes kept an eye out for Sandra Wolfsberger of Austria. Tarasenko took line honours by overtaking Kaviere in the last three strokes. Wolfsberger also qualifies after pushing past Japan to finish third.
Meindert Klem of the Netherlands found himself in a very tough heat yesterday but showed today that he had the pace to advance by leading the first of two repechages. Right behind Klem, Hannes De Reu of Belgium was holding tightly on to second. Klem, 18, who comes straight to the under 23s from junior racing, will be looking at holding the mantel of his predecessor Sjoerd Hamburger who won this event last year. Today Klem held off De Reu who, in turn, held off Greece, to take the two qualifying spots.
Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania headed up repechage two as the most experienced athlete in this race. He finished fourth last year in this event and has been racing at the senior Rowing World Cup level this season. Today his experience showed as he kept just enough ahead of Mathias Raymond of Monaco. Raymond is one of the few rowers from the small Monaco nation of just 32,000 people and today he made his nation proud by advancing to the semifinal along with Griskonis.
Hanna Haura and Hanna Nakhayeva of Belarus warmed up for these championships by racing at the Rowing World Cup earlier this season. Today they took the lead in the first of two repechages and held off a strong challenge from Kerstin Hartmann and Katrin Reinert of Germany. Hartmann and Reinert have been sticking together ever since winning silver at last year’s junior championships. But they couldn’t catch the Belarusian’s. Both boats advance to the final.
Repechage two featured a two way battle between the United States and the Netherlands. Reina Sikkemo and Jacobine Veenhoven of the Netherlands had a small early lead but this was soon lost to Stesha Carle and Ellen Tomek of the United States. Carle comes to this event as a 2005 under 23 champion from the four and with newcomer Tomek they kept their rating steady and the Dutch in check. Sikkema and Veenhoven threw out a final challenge, but Carle and Tomek easily countered it. Both boats move comfortably on to the final.
…more coming soon.