Top lightweights race for gold at Munich World Cup

A flurry of tight races meant that medal orders were not known until the very last stroke; the lightweight women’s single was especially close. Three boats crossed the line together with Switzerland’s Pamela Weisshaupt, 33, winning her first gold medal since becoming a World Champion in 2009.

Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) – Final
There is no doubt that Michael Taupe-Traer of Austria was the favourite coming into this final Taupe-Traer is the current World Cup leader with wins at World Rowing Cup I and II this season. But it was Leonie Pless of Germany1 who had the early lead. The lead didn’t last long as Evi Geentjens of Belgium took over the lead. As Taupe-Traer started to move she got her boat into second, just ahead of Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland with Geentjens still leading.

Taupe-Traer and Weisshaupt then really piled on the pressure and Geentjens stuck with them. Taupe-Traer hit 41 strokes per minute with Weisshaupt on 39. In an incredibly tight photo finish Weisshaupt had finished first, Geentjens had got the better of Taupe-Traer to take second, Taupe-Traer just managed to get hold of third. Only 27/100^th of a second separated the top three boats.

Results: SUI, BEL, AUT1, GER1, ARG, GBR

B-Final
This morning in the semifinal Kristina Knejp Christensson of Sweden2 rowed a very aggressive race, leading for most of the race. Christensson was overtaken towards the end so found herself in the B-final. Christensson made the most of it and led through the body of the race with Alice McNamara of Australia following in second. McNamara raced in the lightweight double last year but failed to make the Olympic boat this year. In the final sprint Daniela Reimer of Germany2 picked up the pace and came through from fourth to first (or seventh overall at this regatta). Christensson, like this morning, ran out of steam in the final sprint. Full credit to Amina Rouba of Algeria who came through in third.

Results: GER2, AUS, ALG, SWE, HUN, (ESP did not start)

Lightweight men’s single sculls (LM1x) – Final
Hungary’s Peter Galambos jumped out to an early lead with Pietro Ruta of Italy sticking tightly to the Hungarian. So tightly in fact that winner of the first World Rowing Cup, Ruta managed to get in front. Ruta then began to move away from Galambos who finished second to Ruta in Belgrade. But the crowd was most interested in Jonathan Koch of Germany who had got himself into the bronze medal spot.

As the finish line came into view Hungary and Italy went head-to-head, both hitting a 40 stroke rate. Koch, meanwhile, had to try and hold of Guillaume Raineau of France2. He did it. Koch earns the bronze medal with Ruta again getting the better of Galambos to win gold.

Results: ITA, HUN, GER1, FRA2, FRA1, AUS

B-Final
Florian Berg of Austria only just missed out on the A-final earlier today and, after finishing second at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup, it showed how tough the competition was in Munich. Berg showed his talent by leading from start to finish. Germany’s number two boat, Daniel Lawitzke came through from third to take second with Mexico’s ever-improving Juan Jimenez Regules coming through in third.

Results: AUT, GER2, MEX, SLO1, POL, SUI1

Lightweight men’s pair (LM2-) – Final
After this morning’s semifinals it was not surprising to see Paul Mattick and Adam Freeman-Pask of Great Britain setting the early pace. Mattick and Freeman-Pask won one of the semifinals with Germany winning the second. But it was Australia’s Yannic Corinth and Lasse Antczak who were in second through the body of the race. Had the German’s done too much this morning?

Coming into the line Mattick and Freeman-Pask secured the gold medal position and an awesome sprint by the Netherlands2, Arnoud Greidanus and Joris Pijs, earned them silver. Foot and Tunevitsch held on to third.

Results: GBR, NED2, AUS, DEN, GER1, GER2

B-final
Alexander Chernikov and Christian Rabel of Austria led the way in this B-final. Using a 36 stroke rate through the body of the race, Chernikov and Rabel easily held off Switzerland with Hong Kong in third. But then Switzerland’s Silvan Zehnder and Michael Schmid did a big push in the third 500 and completely closed the gap on Austria. These two crews fought it out to the line, stroke rates getting into the low 40s. Switzerland took the lead in the last 100m and they held it to the end.

Results: SUI, AUT, MEX, HKG, JPN, BEL

Lightweight women’s quadruple sculls (LW4x) – Final
In the preliminary race yesterday Poland had the best showing crossing the finish line with a three second margin over Denmark. Today Poland again led the way leaving Denmark and Italy to hold a very tight battle for second. The Poles remained in first looking comfortable at the finish line. Denmark raced last weekend at Germany’s Ratzeburg Regatta where they won. This must have given them confidence as Denmark, rating 39, managed to push ahead of Italy to get silver.

Results: POL, DEN, ITA

Lightweight men’s quadruple sculls (LM4x) – Final
Denmark’s entry had a great warm-up to today’s final by finishing first in yesterday’s preliminary race. Today, however, it was Germany leading the way. Germany chose not to race in the preliminary race yesterday, choosing to be a surprise today.

Clemens Huebler, Robby Gerhardt, Dominik Vent and Michael Wieler of Germany remained ahead through the body of the race using a solid 35 stroke rate.

Coming into the final sprint it was Austria that was really pushing the Germans hard. Where was Denmark? A 41 stroke rate pace over Germany’s 40 had given Austria the lead and the gold medal. Dominik Sigl, Alexander Rath, Oliver Komaromy and Joschka Hellmeier of Austria looked very happy on the medals podium. Germany took silver just a third of a second behind Austria with Denmark earning the bronze.

Results: AUT, GER, DEN, NED