Treasures amongst lightweight men’s single sculls

This event is always well-subscribed and thus four repechages had to be raced today. The results showed the diversity of rowing from around the globe with the two fastest times going to an African and a Middle Eastern. The Middle East is not known as a rowing stronghold, but Mohsen Shadi Naghadeh may be changing that. Naghadeh is from Iran. He is exceptional, not only in his own country, but in the world of rowing.

Nadhadeh burst onto the scene two years ago, winning an under-23 medal after just a few months of rowing. The Iranian then took gold this year at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Now at the senior level, he’s footing it with the best. Naghadeh advanced today to the semifinal with a time of 7:34 in head wind conditions.

The fastest qualifing time was another hidden gem. Lawrence Ndlovu of South Africa (time: 7:33) has been plugging away in his country’s lightweight four since the new millennium. Ndlovu, from Johannesburg, does not come from a privileged background, and his rise in rowing is nothing short of inspirational. His change to the single scull is doing no harm and he goes to the semifinal as a strong A-finals contender.

Ndlovu finished ahead of Chile’s former lightweight pair silver medallist, Chile’s Felipe Leal Atero, adding another continent to the singles semifinal. The diversity extended across another continent with Japan’s most successful rower, and father of five, Daisaku Takeda winning his repechage ahead of under-23 medallist, Ailson Silva of Brazil. Traditional European rowing nations made up the final spots, Fabrizio Gabriele of Italy, Great Britain’s Adam Freeman-Pask and former World Champion in the lightweight double, Tamas Varga of Hungary.

A whole group of lightweight men – 40 of them in fact – plus five even lighter coxswains, raced in the repechage of the lightweight men’s eight and two more boats qualified for Sunday’s final. France finished first with Japan again showing the surge lately in their rowing, finished second.

The lightweight women’s single had two repechages with the top three boats going to the semifinal. Unlike the men’s equivalent, the more traditional rowing nations featured. The United States’ Meghan Sarbanis scored the fastest qualifying time, although it was a reasonably modest 8:30. The more experienced Juliane Rasmussen of Denmark scored the first place in the other repechage.

The women’s four is no longer an Olympic event and this has often seen it used as a development boat and thus attracts nations that more commonly boat eights, thus have a depth of rowing talent in their country. In Poznan the winning crew, the Netherlands, are doubling up and also rowing in their country’s eight. The Dutch won this Race For Lanes that will decide the lane order in Saturday’s final.

Like the women’s four, the men’s coxed pair is no longer an Olympic event. But the racing was anything but slow. The top three boats finished within a second of each other. France had the winner’s edge.