Tight racing at Marina Bay

Crews came to Marina Bay today with the aim to qualify for tomorrow's A-finals. To do so, they would have to finish in the top three during the Semifinals, the remainder would compete in the B-finals. In sunny and warm conditions (low 30°C) Marina Bay Reservoir saw tight racing and photo finishes having to judge between third and fourth finishers to determine who would make it to the A-final.

Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) – Semifinals

The first Semifinal of the Junior Women’s Single Sculls would be close, very close. Only the top three boats would make it through to the A-final. Who would miss out by a fraction of a second? At the half-way mark, reigning Junior World Champion Judith Sievers of Germany, nicknamed “The Hulk” since she competed at the CRASH B World Indoor Championships in Boston, was not leading. She had qualified for the Semifinal directly from her heat on Sunday and had a day off from racing yesterday. Cuba’s Ainee Hernandez Delgado was also a direct qualifier. But it was China’s Ting Cao, winner of her repechage yesterday, who had a slight advantage with 500m to go, though only one second separated the majority of the field. Only Ireland’s Denise Walsh seemed to lag behind. Qualifying for the A-final would all be about racing to the line hard. Then Sievers made her move. Moving up the field gradually but resolutely, she moved past Croatia, then China, and took the lead, but only just. A solid fight started between Latvia’s Elza Gulbe and Cuba’s Ainee Hernandez Delgado for third. Who would miss out? Less than one second separated the top four boats at the line. Cuba misses out by a whisker, while Germany, China and Latvia will meet again in the A-final tomorrow.

The reigning Junior World Champion in the Junior Women’s Double Sculls, Noemie Kober of France, would be the owner of Semifinal Two. Leading from the start, her top position remained unchallenged throughout. The second and third A-final qualifiers were also clear early on, with Ukraine’s Nataliia Kovalova (winner of her repechage yesterday) in second, and Annick Taselaar of the Netherlands in third. Clear water separated the top boats from Turkey in fifth and Spain in sixth, while Kristyna Fleissnerova of the Czech Republic did all she could to keep up with the pace of the top three boats. The pace was too intense, however, and despite having qualified directly for this Semifinal from her heat two days ago, Fleissnerova will miss out on the A-final. France, Ukraine and the Netherlands join Germany, China and Latvia to complete the A-final line-up.

Judith Sievers (GER) – Winner of Semifinal A/B1
"I didn't know I won – it was so close! I knew that China was strong from last year's World Champs and also Cuba, but over 1000m you cannot say. I now look forward to the A final!"

Noemie Kober (FRA) – Winner of Semifinal A/B2
"Ukraine and the Netherlands started very fast but around 500m I put in some hard strokes and once I was ahead I controlled it. I did some hard strokes at the end again to make sure, you never know what can happen. (I hit a buoy in Racice – now I clean my grips very carefully before the start!) Tomorrow's gonna be a tough race!" 

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Semifinals

Felix Bach of Germany, standing 199cm and two-time Junior World Champion in this boat class, is one of the rowing stars in Singapore. After winning his heat two days ago and qualifying directly for his Semifinal, Bach had acknowledged that when competing over 2000m his race usually starts at 1000m, so it was unsurprising to see him further behind in the first half of Semifinal One. At 250m, it was Ukraine leading, with Germany in second, and by 500m, Bach had fallen behind in third, with Ukraine and Romania ahead. But Bach had energy in store. With just a quarter of the race left, Germany charged up the ranks, while Ukraine’s Iurii Ivanov began to lose power. The rest of the field were unable to challenge the top three boats, and Bach was untouchable in first, so the question was more who would finish second and third. Ukraine, seeing that his qualification was certain, and seemingly having no more power to spare, slowed down, allowing Romania’s Ioan Prundeanu to move ahead, content to finish in third. Germany, Romania and Ukraine will meet again in the A-final.

In Semifinal Two, bronze medal winner in the Men’s Double Sculls at the 2010 World Rowing U23 Championships, Rolandas Mascinskas of Lithuania lined up in lane three. He was able to rest from racing yesterday as he had qualified directly from his heat. This rest must have been beneficial, as he seemed in top form again today, leading from the start. It also seemed clear from the start who would make it to tomorrow’s A-final with Lithuania: China’s Yueqi Zeng, who won his repechage yesterday, and Brazil’s Tiago Braga, who also won his repechage yesterday. But Zeng seemed discontent to only qualify; he seemed to also want to have a psychological advantage. With the fastest split time for the second 500m, Zeng moved past Brazil to move up as close as possible to the leader. Lithuania, China and Brazil crossed the finish line in that order.

Felix Bach (GER) – Winner of Semifinal A/B1
"A specially hard race today. It's the last one before the final and I wanted to test my opponents, see what they can do at points of the course. I will sleep well tonight and look forward to the final tomorrow."

Rolandas Mascinskas (LTU) – Winner of Semifinal A/B2
"I wanted to win this Semifinal so I put in some hard strokes at the end. The race was not too hard: I started hard and then watched what the others would do. I feel good for tomorrow!" 

Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-) – Semifinals

Several medallists from the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships which were held last weekend in the Czech Republic, lined up at the start of Semifinal One. New Zealand are Junior World Champions in the Women’s Four, Great Britain are Junior World Champions in the Women’s Eight, while Italy won silver in the Women’s Double. Would these be the top crews in this race? Surprisingly, at the 500m mark, it was Romania’s Ana Gigica and Madalina Buzdugan in the lead, with Italy and Bulgaria following. The field was quite spread out, however, with nearly three seconds between the top three boats. It would not stay spread out for much longer, however. Italy and Great Britain began to make their move. Elena Coletti and Giada Colombo upped their stroke rate, moving up and past Romania. Gigica and Buzdugan had nothing in them to respond to the Italian attack, having already spent a lot of power since the start. Great Britain, back in fourth, began to sneak up on Bulgaria, in third. The battle between Great Britain and Bulgaria would last until the line. Going neck and neck, both crews wanted to race in tomorrow’s A-final, and wanted to badly. Who would make it? At the line, Italy finished a boat length ahead of the field, Romania came in second, and it was a photo finish for third. Great Britain made it, by 15 hundredths of a second.

Semifinal Two was quite spread out from the start and became even more so throughout the race. At the line, nearly 24 seconds would separate the first from the last finishers. Perhaps the speed of Greece and Australia was just too much for the rest of the field. Both crews had qualified directly from their heats and a day’s rest did nothing to lessen their stamina. Greece’s Eleni Diamanti and Lydia Ntalamagka took the lead first, but Australia had enough power in reserve to sprint in the final 250m and take over Greece. Hungary’s Szimona Uglik and Hella Kiss also qualify from third, three boat lengths behind Greece.

Giada Colombo (stroke, ITA) – Winner of Semifinal A/B1
"It was a good race, better than yesterday. It was hard but we did our best to go to the A-final, when we will also give everything we have."

Emma Basher (bow, AUS) – Winner of Semifinal A/B2
"We knew Greece was going to step out fast, the plan was to stay in the bubbles and we knew that we would get them at the end."

Olympia Aldersey (stroke, AUS) – Winner of Semifinal A/B2
"At the end, we went to half strokes to go faster. It's our secret weapon." 

Junior Men’s Pair (JM2-) – Semifinals

Semifinal One would be a race between Greece and Great Britain. Greece’s Michalis Nastopoulos and Apostolos Lampridis are the reigning Junior World Champions in this boat class, while Great Britain won silver in the Junior Men’s Four a week ago. Greece wanted to prove their Champion status, and Great Britain’s Ed Nainby-Luxmoore and Caspar Jopling wanted to do just as well, chasing the Greeks down the course. A hard battle for the third qualification spot started too between Croatia and Turkey and would end in a dramatic photo finish. Turkey won their repechage yesterday and today were as determined as ever to row their best. Qualification would be tight and only the crew that fought hardest would make it. Moving up from fourth, Turkey’s Onat Kzakli and Ogeday Girisken closed the gap with Croatia until the line, coming level. At the line it was impossible to tell who had won. A photo finish judged it was Turkey. Greece finished first and Great Britain second.

Australia were the leaders in Semifinal Two, but their lead became increasingly small as the finish line approached. The other crews were racing hard and did not let the heat and humidity take any of their determination away to qualify for the final. Bulgaria raced in the Czech Republic and finished fifth last weekend in this boat class. They were expecting no less for Singapore. Following Australia in second, the heat put on by Serbia, in third, and Slovenia, in fourth, in the second half of the race would be too much for them to manage. Slovenia moved up the ranks from fourth, having enough energy to take over both Serbia in third and Bulgaria in second. The battle was on for third between Bulgaria and Serbia. In the last 100m, Bulgaria was still leading, but Serbia would have none of it and put on a massive sprint. At the line, Serbia had made it by less than half a second. Australia, Slovenia and Serbia will be racing the A-Final tomorrow.

Michalis Nastopoulos (bow, GRE) – Winner of Semifinal A/B1
"It was a more difficult race than yesterday and the wind pushed us out of our lane. We are waiting for tomorrow and hopefully it will be better. We're going for a medal…"

Matthew Cochran (bow, AUS) – Winner of Semifinal A/B2
"It was a very challenging race, also with the wind, but we didn't capitalise on our position in the middle. We went for training yesterday and felt much better in the boat."