Fast times at French champs

Jean-Baptiste Macquet is a World Champion and World Best Time holder in the men’s double sculls. Swapping from sculling to sweep rowing, Macquet raced with Julien Despres in the men’s pair at the national championships. Despres is a regular sweep rower and over the past years he has raced internationally almost exclusively in the men’s four, winning bronze in that event at the 2008 Olympic Games. On Sunday, the Macquet-Despres duo convincingly won ahead of pair combinations Mortelette-Chardin and Hardy-Lenté in a time of 6:31.17, grabbing national gold. All of these rowers will be racing at the first leg of the 2010 Rowing World Cup in Bled, Slovenia, but the boats they will be in are not yet clear. National Team Director Jean-Raymond Peltier would like to test the Macquet-Despres pair combination in Slovenia, but the pair would like to go in a four with Mortelette-Chardin which, they believe, would have World Champion potential.

In the men’s single sculls, Julien Bahain won his third national championship title ahead of Cedric Berrest, scoring an impressive time of 6:52.16. France’s top two single scullers Bahain and Berrest began racing together internationally in the men’s double sculls in 2009, replacing the former double of Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy. They had previously been part of the men’s quadruple sculls that won bronze in Beijing. In Poznan last year, the duo won world silver behind Germany. It is in full form that Bahain headed to the national championships, after going through what he describes in the French federation’s press release as a “complicated winter season marked by poor performances at ergometer trials.” At the Rowing World Cup in Bled, Bahain will be racing in the men’s single and the decision regarding the rest of the season will be based on his results there.

In the men’s lightweight single, 21-year-old Jérémie Azou won his first ever national championship gold, winning in a time of 7:01.42. Last year, Azou won his first World Championship medal in an Olympic boat class: silver in the lightweight men’s double sculls with partner Frédéric Dufour. Dufour also raced in the lightweight single at the French national championships, but was considerably slowed down by a painful shoulder injury that prevented him from finishing beyond sixth place.

In the lightweight men’s pair, 2009 World Champions Jean-Christophe Bette and Fabien Tilliet finished second behind Guillaume Raineau and Vincent Faucheux, who rowed internationally in the lightweight men’s four in 2009. They scored a time of 6:30.77 on Lac de l’Ubly. Their partners in the lightweight four, Fabrice Moreau and Franck Solforosi, did not race in the lightweight pair, as Solforosi was suffering from tendinitis in his left wrist.

Not as well known on the international scene, France’s international female crew in the women’s pair, Stephanie Dechand and Marie Le Nepvou, are under the impression that they have generally improved over the past year. Together they won their second national title.

In the lightweight women’s single sculls, Elise Maurin and Coralie Simon, who competed internationally in the lightweight double last year, finished first and second respectively at the national championships. Maurin recorded a time of 7:55.66.

For complete results, click here.

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