Finalists confirmed at European Rowing Championships

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semifinals
Yesterday in the heats Italy’s Olympic silver medallists, Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti scored the fastest qualifying time. They raced in Semifinal One today. Early in the race the six boats were all relatively equal with Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter of Lithuania having a slight lead. Sartori and Battisti then pushed ahead. Mascinskas and Ritter finished sixth at the London Olympic Games and through the middle of the race they were keeping up quite successfully with the Italians. Meanwhile a very close battle was going on between Serbia, the Czech Republic, France and Estonia. This was going to be a huge fight to the line as only the top three would get to go to the final.

At the line the Italians had finished first, one second ahead of Lithuania. Serbia’s Marko Marjanovic and Aleksandar Filipovic won the duel against the rest of the field to be the third place finishers and the qualifiers for tomorrow’s A-final.  

There was a lot of interest in Croatia in Semifinal Two. Martin and Valent Sinkovic come from the men’s quadruple sculls that won Olympic silver in London. The Sinkovic brothers have done very little racing in the double internationally, but part of their training for the quad is based around the double. Croatia was the fastest out of the start but at the first 500m marker it was Konrad Wasielwski and Wiktor Chabel of Poland in the lead. Wasielwski is part of Poland’s very successful quad that took gold at the Beijing Olympics and he kept his double at the front of the field until the half-way mark.

Croatia, however, was challenging the Poles hard and remained within a metre of them throughout the middle of the race. These two crews moved clear away from the rest of the field. The Sinkovics then did a big piece that not only got them ahead of Poland, but also enabled them to build up a small lead. Wasielwski and Chabel were then under threat from Olympic seventh place finishers, Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch of Norway. In an incredibly tight finish Croatia held on to first, Norway pushed through to second and Poland just held on to third over a very fast, high-rating finish by Ukraine.
Qualifiers: ITA, LTU, SRB, CRO, NOR, POL

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals
In yesterday’s heats Greece showed very good boat speed but at the start of Semifinal One Panagiotis Magdanis and Spyridon Giannaros of Greece were at the very back of the field. Despite their place at the back of the field, margins between the crews were very close – just one and a half seconds over the entire field. This meant that by the half-way point the Greeks had moved into third with Portugal’s Petro Fraga and Nuno Mendes in the lead.

Fraga and Mendes are two-time Olympians and they finished fifth in London in this event. Coached by former Dutch national rower, Mark Emke, Fraga and Mendes remained in the lead, building up a handy margin over Magdanis and Giannaros who had moved through into second. Magdanis finished eighth in this event at the London Olympics and he is partnered in Varese with the reigning under-23 champion in the lightweight men’s single sculls, Giannaros. At the line Fraga and Mendes had held on to first with Greece in second and Austria’s Paul and Bernhard Sieber taking third. Fraga and Mendes recorded the fastest time of the two semifinals.

After the first 200m Great Britain’s Chris Boddy and Michael Mottram had a slight lead in Semifinal Two. Boddy and Mottram had to qualify for this semifinal by racing in the repechage yesterday, thus they have had an extra race compared to most of their competition. Ukraine’s Stanislav Kovalov and Igor Khmara then got their boat into the lead and by the middle of the race Kovalov and Khmara had a very small lead over France’s Thomas Baroukh and Fabrice Moreau who were now in second.

This was turning into a very tight race and going into the second half only two and a half seconds separated the top five crews. Only Poland was off the pace. Coming into the final sprint Ukraine remained in the lead. All boats were sprinting and perhaps the fastest sprint was coming from Poland. It was going to be a six-boat fight to the line. It was going to be a photo finish.

Described by the finish line commentator as a ‘sensational finish’ Great Britain had laid everything on the line and taken first. Ukraine had held on to second and France just held off Poland to take the third and final qualifying spot.
Qualifiers: POR, GRE, AUT, GBR, UKR, FRA

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Semifinals
Slovenia had a very good race yesterday when they won their heat and recorded the fastest qualifying time for today’s semifinals. They raced in Semifinal One and at the start of the race the Slovenians were just behind London Olympic fourth-place finishers, Estonia. As a nation Estonia’s population is small and their rowing numbers reflect this. Their quad is their top flagship boat and they come to Varese as the favourites to win this event.

Going through the middle of the race Estonia had built up a very handy four-second lead over Slovenia in second. The Slovenian crew includes 2012 world junior silver medallist from the men’s single sculls Jernej Markovc as well as the 2011 European Championship quad of Jan Spik, Matej Rojec and Gasper Fistravec.

Sprinting to the line Estonia held on to first with Slovenia now feeling the heat because of a very tight fight going on between Poland and Italy. With home crowd support, Italy poured on the pressure and moved away from Poland. Italy qualified for the final by finishing in third while Estonia and Slovenia qualified by taking first and second respectively.

The second semifinal opened with the Czech Republic showing the way and being followed extremely closely by Ukraine. By the 600m point Ukraine had pushed into the lead. Ukraine is being stroked by Ivan Dovgodko who raced at the London Olympic Games in the quad, finishing ninth overall. Sitting behind him were three members of the 2011 under-23 World Champion quad.

The Czech Republic pushed back and regained the lead through the middle of the race but coming into the final sprint, with 500m left to row, the field had tightened up and only a couple of seconds separated the top four boats. Charging for the line Great Britain took their stroke rate to 39 and higher. Russia charged as well, Ukraine gave it their all and the Czech Republic tried to hold on. At the line Ukraine had finished first, the Czechs second and Russia third. These boats will get to race in tomorrow’s final.
Qualifiers: EST, SLO, ITA, UKR, CZE, RUS

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals
A very fast start by Damir Martin of Croatia got the action going in Semifinal One. Martin comes to Varese after finishing with a silver medal at the London Olympics in the men’s quadruple sculls. At the first 500m mark Martin had a slight lead over Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania. Griskonis is the reigning European Champion in this event and also a London Olympian. Coming through the middle of the race Griskonis had pushed into the lead with Martin holding on tightly in second. These two scullers, in their battle to be first, had moved away from the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, behind Griskonis and Martin the Hungarian world silver medallist and world university champion in the lightweight men’s single sculls, Peter Galambos, was fighting with Andraz Krek of Slovenia with Michal Plocek of the Czech Republic then moving up on the action. Coming into the line Griskonis and Martin had held on to first and second respectively with Galambos earning the third spot and thus qualifying for the final.

Bulgaria’s Georgi Bozhilov had a stormer of a start in Semifinal Two. A risky move, but could he hold it? Bozhilov tried to qualify for the London Olympics earlier this season and just missed out. He has decided to finish the season with the European Rowing Championships. Bozhilov continued to have the lead at the half-way point with Belgium’s Olympic Best Time holder, Tim Maeyens moving up into second. This left Great Britain and Switzerland fighting it out for third.

As the final sprint came into view Mayens had pushed ahead of Bozhilov and taken first with Great Britain’s Graeme Thomas pulling out a huge push that got him within striking distance of Bozhilov. Maeyens got to the finish line first, recording the fastest qualifying time of the two semifinals. Bozhilov held on to second and Thomas, in a very well-timed race, finished third. These are the three crews that had qualified for tomorrow’s final.
Qualifiers: LTU, CRO, HUN, BEL, BUL, GBR

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals
All the boats got away together at the start of Semifinal One with Luiza-Mariya Rusinova of Bulgaria reaching the first 500m marker first. Rusinova raced at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships this year where she finished ninth. By the middle of the race Estonia’s Kaisa Pajsalu had got ahead of Rusinova and into the lead. Just behind Rusinova was Tale Gjoertz of Norway. Pajsalu, Rusinova and Gjoertz made up the top three boats challenging each other and in the process moving cleanly away from the rest of the field.

As the final sprint came into view Pajusalu, Rusinova and Gjoertz remained comfortably in the three qualifying positions and it would take a major disaster for this to change before the line. No major issues occurred except for Gjoertz getting the better of Rusinova to swap the second and third place getters. Pajsalu, Gjoertz and Rusinova had become the three qualifying athletes for tomorrow’s final.

As the breeze switched to a slight head wind, Semifinal Two got going. Germany’s 20-year-old world under-23 champion Julia Lier had the early lead with 39-year-old Julia Levina of Russia in second. As athletes moved through the middle of the race, Lier looked to have run out of steam and Olympian Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania moved up to the front with Levina holding on to second.

Using 29 strokes per minute Vistartaite remained in the lead and looked like she could take it up if necessary. Iva Obradovic of Serbia had moved up into second and within striking distance of Vistartaite. At the line Vistartaite, who finished eighth at the London Olympics, finished in first place with Obradovic getting the better of Levina. These were the qualifiers for the final schedule for tomorrow, Sunday.
Qualifiers: EST, NOR, BUL, LTU, SRB, RUS