What will Synek do?

But this season has not been kind for Synek. Today Synek raced in the repechage of the men’s single. What would he do?

Synek took over as top sculler in his country when he beat Vaclav Chalupa at trials in 2005. Coming from the double Synek admitted that he wanted to be totally responsible for himself. But he also confessed that he found the pressure intense. After the elation of an Olympic medal Synek has come back down to earth with a thump. He has won no medals this season.

Finishing second to Alan Campbell (GBR) in the heat two days ago, Synek put things right today by doing enough through the middle of his repechage (rep 3) to ensure that he did not have to sprint at the end. Synek has kept his hopes alive of moving on to the A-final and thus getting a chance at his first medal this season. But first Synek will have to get through Thursday’s semifinal.

The well-represented men’s single had three other repechages with Olympians Lassi Karonen (SWE) and Ioannis Christou (GRE) also advancing.  Cuba’s rising star, Angel Fournier Rodriguez set the fastest qualifying time and continued on his ascent in rowing which began during the heats when he led Drysdale for the majority of the race. The remainder of qualifiers are Warren Anderson (USA), Ariel Suarez (ARG), Mindaugas Griskonis (LTU) and Mathias Rocher (GER).

It is not often that the United States has to race in a repechage of the men’s four. It is even less frequent that they do not make it through. The men’s sweep programme in the US has recently had a changing of the guard with coach Mike Teti moving on and Tim McLaren coming in. This is McLaren’s first season in the role of head coach and he is working with a mixture of new blood and some seasoned athletes. The more seasoned are in the four who will race in the C-final after today’s repechage. Ahead of the United States, Belarus, Croatia and Spain go to the semifinal. They will be joined by 2009 under-23 Champions New Zealand who finished ahead of semifinal qualifiers, Greece and France in Repechage Two.

The men’s and women’s pair repechages each added three boats to the semifinals. This gave Vaclav Chalupa and Jakub Makovicka of the Czech Republic another race. The duo are also competing in the coxed pair and they did not extend themselves too much today knowing that they have a lot more racing to come. Poland and Cuba also advance in the men’s pair. New crews from France, Belarus and Croatia are the qualifiers for the semifinal in the women’s pair.

Two very deserved winners took out the two repechages in the women’s single. Iva Obradovic of Serbia clocked the same time as Sweden’s Frida Svensson . Obradovic and Svensson both raced in the B-final at the Olympic Games last year, but both have the potential to step up to the A-final. Svensson is on the shorter side of the single sculling range, but she is known for her gutsy performances and has the support of Norway’s best, Olaf Tufte giving her pointers. Svensson and Obradovic advance to the semifinal on Thursday along with Kaisa Pajusalu (EST), Annick De Decker (BEL), Agata Gramatyka (POL) and Juliane Domscheit (GER).

The men’s double sculls had two repechages adding six more boats to the semifinal. This added former top single sculler, Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland to the semifinal mix. Vonarburg has teamed up with last year’s pair rower, Florian Stofer to row the double and they appear to be progressing well with more time in the boat. Belgium, Poland, Ukraine, Serbia and Cuba also qualify for the semifinal.

The women’s double had just one repechage with four rowers vying for three spots. Lithuania missed out. Ukraine, Denmark and Belaraus go to the semifinal.