European Champ B Finals continue the speed trend

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – B Final

The Czech duo of Jiri Kopac and Miroslav Vrastil only just missed out on making the A Final by a fraction of a second so they had every intention of clocking a good time in today’s B Final. And their time was good. Kopac and Vrastil went two seconds faster than yesterday and must feel satisfied with their seventh place overall. Behind the Czech’s throughout this race was Turkey. Turkey raced in the same semifinal as the Czech’s and they were only 0.08 of a second behind Kopac and Vrastil. It is likely both the Czechs and Turkey would have fared well in the A Final.

Results: CZE, TUR, AUT, POR, GRE, HUN

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – B Final

Nedelcho Vasilev of Bulgaria was just a smidgen outside of making the A Final when he raced yesterday in the semifinals. Today, Vasilev took off very quickly but was soon overtaken by the experienced Panagiotis Magdanis of Greece – a former under-23 World Champion. Magdanis held the lead through to the end despite weighty challenges being dished out by Milos Stanojevic of Serbia.

Results: GRE, SRB, SLO, HUN, BUL, TUR

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – B Final

Helen Olsen of Denmark had a great semifinal race yesterday but just missed out, by 0.10 of a second, on making the A Final. Olsen comes out of her country’s lightweight double sculls to race the single and after a close battle with Anna Ioannou of Cyprus, Olsen got into the lead and held it to the end. Ioannou held her pace, but had just a bit less push that Olsen.

Results: DEN, CYP, ITA, SUI, CZE, RUS

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B Final

It was disappointing for the local supporters when Iva Obradovic and Ivana Filipovic of Serbia missed out on making the final through yesterday’s repechage. Obradovic and Filipovic, however, gave the crowds a fine display of rowing in this B Final. Both Filipovic and Obradovic have been student-athletes at United States universities, but have still found time to join the Serbian rowing team.

To find the lead, the Serbs had to overtake two boats. They did this with relative ease by the half way mark and then held it to the end.

Results: SRB, CZE, ITA, FRA, RUS

 

Men’s Pair (M2-) – B Final

A very close semifinal yesterday saw Valentin Onfroy and Laurent Cadot of France just miss out on a qualifying spot. Onfroy and Cadot are a new pair combination for France as their top pair (Chardin and Mortelette) who medalled at the 2012 Olympics have been slotted into the eight. Onfroy and Cadot had big shoes to fill. The French came out in the middle of the field before pulling into second by the middle of the race. Once Onfroy and Cadot had the momentum they held it to the next marker, now in first place. Poland followed extremely closely, but had to opt for second.

Results: FRA, POL, RUS, SLO, GRE, CZE

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – B Final

The Greek duo of Keleftherios Konsolas and Spyridon Giannaros had high expectations coming into this regatta after winning at the World Rowing Cup in Sydney earlier this year. They got through to yesterday’s semifinal, but missed out on advancing to the A Final – such is the high standard here. Konsolas and Giannaros made the best of their B Final race leading from start to finish. Poland pressed them hard in a race that was very tight among the top five crews. The Greeks kept their cool and held first in a time nine seconds faster than their semifinal time.

Results: GRE, POL, GBR, CZE, HUN, AUT

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – B Final

The new Romanian line up of Ionela-Livia Lehaci and Andreea Asoltanei are ones to look out for. Lehaci has just come out of the junior level while Asoltanei has had under-23 success. Today they got the better of a lot of experienced scullers to win this B Final. Belarus cross the line in second after coming through from a rather shaky first 1000m. Belarus included Alena Kryvasheyenka who was the silver medallist last year in the lightweight single at the under-23 championships.

Results: ROU, BLR, SUI, DEN, CZE, RUS

 

Men’s Four (M4-) -B Final

For the last two European Championships Romania has scored a medal. Being in the B Final removes that option, but the Romanians still raced their best at the head of the field. Going with Romania was the Czech Republic who went stroke-for-stroke with them through the middle of the race. This was a step up for the Czechs who raced Romania in the semifinal and finished a few seconds down.

Results: ROU, CZE, ESP, CRO, FRA, SRB

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – B Final

This race started off with Russia in the lead but finished with a result similar to yesterday’s repechage. Yesterday Italy finished ahead of Russia and Denmark and today Italy pushed through to be in front in the second half of the race. The crew of Bertolasi, Patelli, Schiavone and Palma is a new line up from the boat that raced to sixth overall at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Expect some more speed through this season from Italy.

Results: ITA, RUS, DEN

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – B Final

Coming through from yesterday’s repechages Switzerland, on paper, looked to be the crew to beat, but it was France that shot out at a very fast clip. France still had the lead through the middle of the race as the field began to tighten. Even the Netherlands, who crabbed early in the race, had closed on the leaders.

Then the Czech Republic did a push that got them into the lead and that is where they stayed until the end of the race.

Results: CZE, LTU, FRA, ITA, SUI, NED

 

 

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – B Final

Serbia’s Marko Marjanovic and Aleksandar Filipovic were very unlucky to miss out on the A Final from yesterday’s semifinal but they made sure that they had a good race in today’s B Final. Serbia stuck with the bunch coming out in the first 500m and then started to move away from rest of the field along with David Aregger and Roman Roeoesli of Switzerland.

As the final sprint came into view the Serbs had the leading edge. Switzerland fought back and got to the finish line just a fraction ahead of Serbia.

Results: SUI, SRB, CZE, ESP, DEN, ROU

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – B Final

Lenka Antosova of the Czech Republic has been on the national team now for eight years and she’s still only 22 years old. Antosova used to double up with her sister but she’s now with Anna Zabova and together they led the field. The Czechs only just missed out on qualifying for the A Final in yesterday’s repechage. Today they recorded a seventh-place overall for their country with a very easy win.

Results:  CZE, ITA, AUT, IRL

 

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – B Final

Last year at the European Rowing Championships the Czech Republic got the silver. This year it seems that the standard has stepped up leaving the Czechs to race in the B Final. Humpolec, Hajek, Zadak and Vikora of the Czech Republic led from start to finish. with relative ease. A huge finish by Austria brought them into second at the end.

Results: CZE, AUT, RUS, ITA, UKR

Women’s Eight (W8+) – B Final

When eights race down the course it is always an impressive sight. Russia was very impressive in setting the opening pace, but it wasn’t long before Belarus pushed into the lead and then moved clear away from the rest of the field. Belarus, racing their own race out in front, recorded a very good time of 6:15.

Results: BLR, RUS, ITA

 

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B Final

Martin Sinkovic of Croatia is the best known name in this race, but not for being a single sculler. Sinkovic is part of Croatia’s famous men’s quadruple sculls – the current World Champions. Sinkovic and his crew use the single as a training tool and he looked very comfortable today as he move through early leader Dani Fridman of Israel to take the lead. Sinkovic crossed the line in a time of 6:50 which was a big leap up on his rather pedestrian semifinal result yesterday.

Results:  CRO, BUL, ISR, ITA, SRB, FIN

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – B Final

Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin had the best result of this group following yesterday’s semifinal and she came out at the start just behind Ukraine. By the middle of the race Nataliya Dovgodko of Ukraine still had the lead with Lithuania’s Lina Saltyte moving up. With 800m left to row Saltyte did a piece that propelled her into the lead and made the rest of the rowers look like they were standing still.

Working off her momentum Saltyte then moved clear away from the field to record an impressive time of 7:33.

Results: LTU, SUI, UKR, SWE, DEN, LAT

Men’s Eight (M8+) – B Final

After finishing third at last year’s European Championships the Dutch probably didn’t expect to be in the B Final today, but a very tight repechage yesterday saw the Netherlands get pipped by Belarus. Today, however, the Dutch made the most of their race and led from start to finish with enough push to move away from Ukraine who was lodged in second. At the line the Netherlands must take satisfaction in their well executed race.

Results:  NED, UKR, ESP, CZE, ITA