Second chance rowing at the junior worlds

On day two of racing at the 2006 World Rowing Junior Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, rowers got another chance for advancement to the next round. Under calm, virtually flat water conditions with smatterings of rain.

By the end of the day Germany, with an entry in all of the 13 events, had advanced all 13 crews to the next round. Read on for a summary of the day’s racing.

Junior Women’s Four (JW4-)

Germany took off like a rocket in the first of two repechages and were still rating a high 43 stroke rate well into the first 500 metres. This gave them the lead over the lower-rating Italians, but Germany’s advantage was far from domination. Italy retained a handy overlap and then proceeded to chip away at the Germans, seat by seat. Stroked by Camilla Espana, current reigning champion and in her third year of junior competition, the Italians soaked up Germany and took a handy boat length lead. At the line Italy remained in first and Germany qualifies for the final from second.

Repechage two opened with Romania in the lead. This didn’t last with New Zealand finding their pace and taking over at the front with Australia chasing hard. It seams a common phenomenon lately to see New Zealand and Australia racing each other at the head of the field and today they pressed each other hard. At the line New Zealand and Australia had earned the two qualifying spots.

Junior Men’s Coxed Four (JM4+)

Carting the 50kg coxswain Patrick Vickers down the course became a bit much for the British in repechage one as they lost their first half lead to the low-rating Ukrainians. Sitting in the middle of Ukraine’s boat was 200cm tall Ivan Balandin who has been joined this year in the boat by younger brother Mykola. Continuing on the low-rating ways Ukraine moved further away from the United States and Poland who were now carrying out a full-on battle for the second qualifying position. At the line Ukraine take first with Poland pulling out a 42 stroke rate sprint to take second.

A fast 44 stroke rate start by Italy was not enough to shake off the reigning champions, Germany. By the first 500 metre mark, Germany had found the lead. The tenacious Italians held on and going through the middle of the race both boats were unrelenting. Germany has a new line-up for 2006 while Italy retain Francesco Fossi and Massimiliano Landi from last year’s silver medal crew. Outclassing the rest of the field, Germany and Italy move on to the final.

Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x)

Yesterday in the heats Lithuania’s Donata Vistartaite suffered a boat-stopping crab near the finish. Today Vistartaite made no mistakes getting out to a solid enough lead that enabled her to drop her stroke rate down to a comparatively comfortable pace. This left Belgium’s Clara Francois to shake off the Czech Republic and earn the second qualifying spot.

At the head of the field in repechage two Latvia’s Ilze Leoke and Frida Schneider of Norway paced each other. Both Leoke and Schneider are debuting this year at the international level and their head-to-head battle moved them well clear of the rest of the field and into easy qualification.

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x)

Contesting four repechages it was up to these single athletes to finish in the top two for their last chance at advancement to the semifinal. In the opening repechage Russia’s Dmitry Khmylnin and Sigmund Verstraete of France spent the race keeping a close eye on each other. Both are racing for the first internationally and their leading tussle was enough to draw them clean away from the rest of the field. Khmylnin and Verstraete move to the semifinal.

Predrag Lackov of Serbia & Montenegro turned this race into a procession by overwhelming his competitors at the start leaving Peter Legeny of Slovakia and Eduardo Linares of Peru to fight it out for the remaining qualifying spot. Legeny got the upper hand and continues to the semifinal with Lackov.

Hans Gruhne of Germany got to contest repechage three after suffering rigger problems in the heat that forced him from finishing the race. The judge's ruling meant that he had to race the full 2000 metre course at the end of yesterday’s racing. Today Gruhne made easy work of his repechage by leading from start to finish and with enough of a lead that he was able to cruise the finish at a 26 stroke rate. Gruhne won the double last year and his move to the single is definitely a wise one. Gruhne also records the fastest qualifying time. Sweden’s Pontus Gustavsson also qualifies, placing second.

The fourth repechage was also a procession when Christain Nollnielson of Denmark came back from a slow start to take first and hold a high 38 stroke rate for the majority of the race. Latvia’s Janis Mikolajuks earns the final qualifying spot.

Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-)

A handy lead by Poland’s Kinga Mikolajczyk and Marta Liniewska left Portugal and South Africa to go head to head for second and third – both still qualifying spots. Portugal’s Cristina Silva and Liuba Germanova rowed the more consistent race and earn second at the line. South Africa qualifies from third.

Junior Men’s Pair (JM2-)

All five boats came out of the start together in repechage one with Adam Kapa and Jan Lankas of the Czech Republic earning a slight leading edge. With only two qualifying spots Kapa and Lankas knew they had to keep the pressure on. But despite holding a 41 stroke rate for the majority of the course, the Czechs were soon overhauled by Jérémie Doucet and Vincent Cavard of France. Doucet comes to the pair from a sixth place finish last year in the eight and he’s joined by international newcomer Cavard. It all came down to stamina. France takes first, the Czechs in second, both qualify.

South Africa took the early lead in repechage two but were unable to hold their starting pace leaving New Zealand and Italy to take the head of the field. New Zealand’s Brad Ross and Josh Payne are in their first year of international competition but know each other well both having rowed together at the same high school. Italy’s Marco Novelli and Andrea Corti are also newcomers but have the legacy of a 2005 Italian silver medal to live up to. Coming into the final sprint Ross and Payne had broken away from Novelli and Corti and were able to row a comfortable 31 stroke rate to take first. Italy qualify from second.

Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x)

Switzerland’s Tamara Urech and Katja Hauser grabbed the bull by the horns in the first of two repechages but they couldn’t quite break away from the persistent of Croatians, Greeks and Slovakians. With three qualifying positions available these crews could not afford to relax. Urech and Hauser remained in the lead but only just. Greece tried to close the gap and Croatia still were very much on the pace coming into the final sprint. Slovakia dropped off the pace and Switzerland, Greece and Croatia move on to the semifinal.

The second repechage saw Poland’s Marta Betlejewska and Kamila Socko take a handy lead within the first 500 metres and row a very consistent 32 stroke rate race maintaining the lead. The duo are in their second year together and will be hoping to improve on their 2005 ninth place. Behind the Poles, Canada’s Lauren Hutchins and Sarah Graham held onto second opening up clear water back to the United States duo of three time junior Lori Gordon and famed Concept2 daughter Emily Dreissigacker. Poland, Canada and the United States advance to the semifinal.

Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x)

In one of the best subscribed events of these championships, the double presented a high quality of racing right through the three repechage races. Opening the proceedings, Israel’s Daniel Friedman and Vladimir Polomartchouk took a small lead over Serbia & Montenegro who, in turn, had their work cut out for them by Georgia in third. Israel continued to increase their leading margin comfortably crossing the line in first. With just one more qualifying position for the taking, Portugal, Serbia & Montenegro and Georgia all sprinted. Serbia & Montenegro managed to hold on to second.

Repechage two saw South Africa’s Dominic Kester and Kieron Wright row a very mature and consistent race to take out the top spot. Kester is in his second year of international competition and has already taken a huge jump up this year from his D Final finish in 2005. Vying for second Switzerland and Latvia remained within a bow ball of each other for the entire race. A slightly better sprint by Switzerland gave them the qualifying spot and advancement to the semifinal along with South Africa.

A display of fine rowing greeted the finish line grandstand supporters from repechage three. Estonia’s Martin Neerot and Siim Lutoskin crossed the line easily in the lead still retaining a 38 stroke rate. The duo come to the double after racing in their country’s quad in 2005. They were followed by Japan’s Hiromi Tanaka and Takahito Hashimoto who had shaken off Tunisia to earn the second position and a spot in the semifinal.

Junior Men’s Four (JM4-)

Hungary wanted this race and they wanted it bad. Taking an early lead over Belarus, Hungary completely out-rated the rest of the field. The much lower-rating Swiss and Czech Republic however still managed to hold on and coming through the third 500 metres both Switzerland and the Czechs had overtaken Hungary. Hungary attacked back taking their rating to a 44 and cross the line in first. The Czech Republic and Switzerland qualify from second and third respectively.

Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x)

A fast start and a solid second 500 gave France enough of a margin over nearest rival Belarus that they looked comfortable coming into the finish in first place. The French crew retain Pauline Charles and Charlotte Gautherot who finished sixth last year in this event and with the fastest qualifying time they have put themselves in a solid position for tomorrow’s semifinal. Belarus and the Netherlands battled each other for the full 2000 metres, much to the crowd’s delight, perhaps unnecessarily as both qualify for the semifinal.

In repechage two Russia took themselves into the lead and built up enough of a margin that they could settle comfortably into a 33 stroke rate. This left Italy and Ukraine to go head to head for the entire race, taking it in turn to control second place. At the line Russia qualifies for the semifinal from first with Italy and Ukraine also qualifying from second and third respectively.

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x)

Twenty-six countries started off in this event. Through yesterday’s heats some moved directly to the semifinal. Today the remainder got a second chance. Opening the first of three repechages the Netherlands took the lead ahead of Austria and managed to extend it as they charged down the 2000-metre Bosbaan course. The high rating Austrians held on to second well out of harm's way from the Norwegians in third. The Dutch and Austrians move on to the semifinal.

Repechage two opened with a brand new Italian line-up in the lead. This didn’t last long. They were soon overhauled by France who retain one member of last year’s quad, Rene Lemaitre. The French held on to this spot moving out to a boat's length lead over Italy. Both boats qualify comfortably for the semifinal.

Keep an eye out for Greece in the semifinal as the team head for tomorrow’s race with the fastest repechage qualifying time. Stroked by 16-year-old Konstantinos Sakellariou, the Greeks paced Serbia & Montenegro for the first half of the race before reeling them in and taking the lead. Holding on to the lead, Greece moves on to the semifinal with Serbia & Montenegro earning a spot from second.

Junior Men’s Eight (JM8+)

Ukraine went out hard but didn’t have the stamina to back it up leaving the Netherlands to take over at the head of the field. The less smooth Lithuania used raw power to slip into second and remain within attacking distance of the Dutch. At the back of the field Denmark suddenly awoke to pull out a second 1000 charge which accelerated them past Ukraine, past the Czech Republic and into the third qualifying position. The Netherlands, Lithuania and Denmark advance to the semifinal.

Junior Women’s Eight (JW8+) – Thursday Final

Priority women’s boat for the United States, the eight, showed that they were the best by pushing past Russia and Romania to take the lead. The American bright yellow boat managed to pull out to a full boat length lead by the finish. Behind them, in what could well resemble a senior level final, Romania took second and Germany third.

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