Sub six minutes for Croatia at World Champs

Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers proved this in the first race of the day when they scored the first ever sub six minute time in the men’s double sculls. Interviewed earlier in the week the brothers said they do a lot of technique drills in bad water. That certainly paid off today.

New World Best Times were also set in the lightweight men’s four by Denmark and the women’s double sculls by Australia.

Men’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Semifinals

Croatia’s Martin and Valent Sinkovic took off out of the start with a 51 stroke rate in Semifinal One. The Sinkovic brothers have not lost a race all season and it looked like this record would continue today. Through the middle of the race it was only Germany’s Hans Gruhne and Stephan Krueger that could match Croatia’s pace. This saw Croatia and Germany move away from the rest of the field with a battle going on behind them between Great Britain and Bulgaria. 

At the front of the field it looked like Gruhne and Krueger would be able to push in front, but then Martin and Valent Sinkovic proved to have a blitzing closing sprint and they become the first double to go under six minutes. The new World Best Time is 5:59.72.

Italy’s Romano Battisti and Francesco Fossi gave it their all in the first 1000 of Semifinal Two. This gave the 2013 medallists the lead. But chasing hard and making this an incredibly tight race was Australia, Lithuania and New Zealand. All of these crews had showed through the earlier rounds of racing that they had what took to make the final. One crew would miss out. Showing their greater stamina, Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter of Lithuania then pushed in front. Lithuania are also 2013 medallists and have showed consistent performance through this season.

In the final sprint the stroke rates went into the high 30s. At the line New Zealand had missed out. Lithuania, Italy and Australia had made the final.

Qualifiers: CRO, GER, BUL, LTU, ITA, AUS

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Semifinals               

The new 2014 Australian double of Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey looked in control in Semifinal One. The duo started out by winning the first World Rowing Cup of the season and they have been in the finals ever since. Going through the middle of the race Kehoe and Aldersey had pushed away from the World Champions, Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite of Lithuania. The Lithuanians looked like they were struggling in this water while the Australians handled it well.

New Zealand’s Fiona Bourke and Zoe Stevenson were also struggling a little and in fifth position they were trying to make their boat go straight. Bourke and Stevenson worked it out and worked their way into a qualifying spot. Powering home at the head of the field Kehoe and Aldersey crossed the line in first and recorded an new World Best Time. The Kehoe and Aldersey time is 6:37.31. Lithuania in second looked like the water was really challenging them as their stroke rate never really increased.

What would the crews of Semifinal Two be able to do? Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj had a very good start and by the middle of the race they had a very nice lead over Weiwei Zhu and Yuwei Wang of China who had now moved into second over the United States.

Poland looked like they were not satisfied with just leading and they moved away from the rest of the field, powering home to take an easy win. Their time of 6:37.91 would have broken the former World Best Time that was set in 2002 by New Zealand. Behind the Poles, China qualified from second with the United States crew of Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek holding off Germany to qualify from third.

Qualifiers: AUS, LTU, NZL, POL, CHN, USA

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Semifinals

All season this boat class has seen the rivalry between New Zealand and Denmark intensify. Denmark are the reigning World Champions but New Zealand have beaten them twice this season. They faced off in Semifinal One. New Zealand has had to bring sculler Alistair Bond into the boat due to an injury suffered by James Lassche. But at the start it was Great Britain that came flying out at a 57 stroke rate. After the early British lead, Denmark got to the 1000m mark first with the British, China and New Zealand on the pace.

Coming through to the final sprint the stroke rates began to rise and with Denmark in the lead, London Olympic silver medallists, Great Britain, rating 42, was giving it their all to get ahead. New Zealand held on as China dropped back. Crossing the line Denmark’s Kasper Winther, Jacob Larsen, Jacob Barsoe and Morten Joergensen set a new World Best Time. The Danes broke a time set way back in 1999, also by Denmark. The new time is 5:43.16. What a day on the Bosbaan regatta course.

France has been sitting just on the edge of the medals this season and they made the most of Semifinal Two by getting out in front at the start. But they were up against the Dutch who are known to have a very good closing sprint. There was a lot of racing to go and at the 1000m mark France still had a small lead over Australia who was now in second. Coming into the final sprint the crowd in the fanzone had put down their drinks and were cheering loudly. The Netherlands, in fourth place were not far off the third qualifying spot currently held by Germany.

As France powered home at a 40 stroke rate, the Dutch gave it their all to get ahead of Germany. five metres from the line the Dutch were outside of qualifying. Two metres from the line they still were outside of qualifying. On the final stroke the Netherlands had qualified for the A-final. Australia, in second, was also on their way to the final.

Qualifiers: DEN, GBR, NZL, FRA, AUS, NED

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals

Lithuania’s top single sculler, Mindaugas Griskonis was the early leader of Semifinal One leaving World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic to play catch up. By the 800m mark Synek had closed on Griskonis and these two scullers matched each other for the next 200m. Then Synek, who also has two Olympic silver medals, moved ahead and demonstrated the style that has held him at the forefront of this boat class for so long. Griskonis remained in second with Aleksandar Aleksandrov of Azerbaijan following in third. The order did not change and these three leading crews were not challenged allowing Synek to drop his stroke rate to 27 in the close of the race.

Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez had a very nice start in Semifinal Two and led over his more experienced counterparts – Germany’s Marcel Hacker and Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. Fournier still had the lead at the half way point and was showing that he could handle these bumpy tail-wind conditions. These three fabulous scullers formed a virtual line at the head of the field with just 500m left to row.

Then Hacker did a kick that earned him the lead and showing that rough water wasn’t an issue, Hacker, in his 20th year of international competition, kept his stroke rate high and held the lead to the finish. Both Drysdale and Fournier dropped their stroke rate having done all of their hard work earlier in the race.

Qualifiers: CZE, LTU, AZE, GER, NZL, CUB

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals

New Zealand’s Emma Twigg has not lost a race this season and she continued in this vein today in Semifinal One. Twigg, using a 33 stroke rate pace, kept her boat ahead of last year’s fourth place finisher, Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. Coming through the 1000m mark Twigg had earned a rather comfortable lead with the real battle going on between Lobnig and Sanita Puspure of Ireland. Lobnig proved to be handling the water conditions with more confidence and coming into the finish this race had turned into a procession. Twigg did not need to sprint the finish. Lobnig and Puspure kept an eye on out for the United States and both of them successfully held off Genevra Stone of the United States.

Semifinal Two opened with Jingli Duan of China in the lead. Duan has already medalled twice this season at the World Rowing Cups and she had the edge over the very experienced Julia Levina of Russia as well as the World Champion Kim Crow of Australia. At the half way point, Duan was still in the lead with Crow having to play second fiddle to Duan who has spent most of her competitive rowing career in the double.

As the final sprint came into view Duan had a very nice lead with Crow holding on to second and Levina coming through in third. A big sprint was not needed. This is a very nice result for 41-year-old Levina who has not made a World Championship final since 2010.

Qualifiers: NZL, AUT, IRL, CHN, AUS, RUS