Erg versus water, that is the question

Today at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, world record holder on the erg, Henrik Stephansen raced on the water.

Coming from Denmark, Stephansen is part of a rowing programme that does not always have the luxury of rowing on the water. It is often too cold and sometimes too rough. So Danish Rowing has adapted by training indoors. Earlier this year lightweight athlete Stephansen went under six minutes over 2000m on the indoor rowing machine. His time of 5:58.5 set a World Record that was previously thought unachievable.

Stephansen is just 21 years old, well under the age that athletes peak as rowers and his most recent World Record comes from breaking his own World Record – twice. The Henrik tactic is to start with a very high stroke rate, in the high 40s, settle in the high 30s for the body of the piece, and finish high, reaching upwards of 49 strokes per minute.

But can Stephansen equate his indoor rowing prowess to the water? Today Stephansen raced in the repechage of the lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x). With partner, Steffen Jensen, the duo came from behind to finish first and qualify for the semifinal. The answer appears to be ‘yes’.

Also qualifying for the semifinal was Serbia (Nemanja Nesic and Milos Stanojevic), Portugal (Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes) and South Africa (Andrew Polasek and James Thompson). Poland’s two-time Olympic Champion in this event, Robert Sycz, with new partner Mariusz Stanczuk missed out and will race in the C-final.

World Best Time holder in the men’s quadruple sculls (M4x), Daniel Noonan of Australia has a new crew this year. He is joined by Olympic Champion (from the men’s double), David Crawshay with Nick Hudson and Jarred Bidwell making up the bow pair. They led the only repechage in this event ahead of the United States and Estonia. These are the three countries that will go to the semifinal. Great Britain’s young quad has come along in leaps and bounds this season, but with two athletes now withdrawn for medical reasons, the crew has had to pull out.

It is not common to see Germany racing in the repechage of the women’s quadruple sculls (W4x), but after a dismal showing in the heats two days ago, Germany had to return to give it another go. This German crew only came together a couple of weeks ago after a coaching decision to bring their Olympic medalling crew in the double of Christiane Huth and Annekatrin Thiele into the quad. The boat has not jelled so well, but they come together in finer form today to win the one repechage. Four crews qualified for the final so joining Germany will be Great Britain, Italy and Russia.

Six boats got through to the semifinal of the lightweight women’s double (LW2x) from the two repechages. The Netherlands are the current Olympic Champions in this event but have had to start from scratch with both of their Olympic gold medallist rowers in retirement. Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head have taken up the mantle and today they had the fastest qualifying time. Sigmond and Head will go to the semifinal along with Cuba, Denmark, Hungary, the United States and Sweden.

France has had mixed results in recent years in the lightweight men’s four (LM4-). They were the World Champions in 2005 and the Olympic Champions in 2000, but have been up and down since then. Today they raced in the repechage recording the fastest qualifying time of the two repechages. This earns Franck Solforosi, Fabrice Moreau, Vincent Faucheux and Guillaume Raineau a spot in the semifinal. Joining them will be the United States, Switzerland and Canada.

The repechages in the men’s and women’s eight always attracts a lot of interest. The women featured strong eights nations like the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and Canada. Canada did not like their poor showing in the heats and did a quick change by putting Peggy DeVos into stroke. Canada got off to a slow start but managed to get past Poland and Belarus and into the fourth qualifying spot. Germany and the Netherlands led the way with Great Britain also qualifying for Sunday’s final.

The crowd and Polish commentator were ecstatic. Poland had just won the repechage of the men’s eight. Poland had to work their way up through the field after not getting away the fastest. They overtook the United States, Australia and Italy to find the lead in an almost even-splitted race. At the line the Polish crew showed their joy, while the Italians breathed a sigh of relief having held on to the only other qualifying spot. Poland and Italy are in the final.