Lightweight singles finals at Plovdiv World Rowing Cup

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Final

During yesterday’s test race, China’s Wenyi Huang finished just a fraction ahead of Alena Furman of Belarus. Today they raced for the medals. At the start Furman had a very, very slight edge over Huang. Furman is the 2018 European Champion in this boat class while Huang took bronze at the Rio Olympics in the lightweight double sculls. That was the last time Huang raced internationally.

Furman then got a very small edge over Huang with these two boats moving clean away from the rest of the field. Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga Alanis was in third but did not look within striking distance of second or third. Furman continued to lead the field and did a sprint finish at 34 strokes per minute to finish way ahead of Huang. Huang held on to second with Lechuga winning her first World Cup medal, taking the bronze.

Results: BLR, CHN1, MEX, AUT, BUL, MDA

Alena Furman, Belarus, Gold
“That was a perfect race for me. It felt smooth and it felt comfortable. Today the water was friendly to me. I’ll now go to a training camp in Belarus and prepare for the European Championships.”

Wenyi Huang, People’s Republic of China, Silver
“I expected to get gold today. But I just came back after two years of retirement, and these were my first races back. I think I needed more rest between yesterday and today’s races.
I think I’ll just get better and better as the season progresses, and I hope to have a even better result next time. Not sure if I’ll stay in the single, it’s possible I’ll be back in the double.”

Kenia Lechuga Alanis, Mexico, Bronze
“The race was tough – the wind went back and forth of being in my favour and then coming from the left. But I am very happy with the result. The next race I will be at is the PanAmerican Games in July.”

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Final

Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary 1 raced in yesterday’s heats and less than a second separated their times. Luka Radonic of Croatia, Lazar Penev of Bulgaria and Peter Galambos of Hungary 1 faced each other today to go after the medals. Galambos is by far the most experienced with international racing going back to 2005. Galambos got out the quickest and got over a boat length lead with just 500m rowed. Radonic sat in second, just a fraction ahead of Poland 2 (Milosz Jankowski).

By the 1000m mark Galambos was rating 33 and had built up an open water lead. Radonic held on to second with Jankowski a boat length back. Radonic has loads of experience with a bunch of World Cup medals. But Jankowski was holding firmly onto Radonic turning this race into a huge battle for silver. In the final sprint Jankowski overtook Radonic to grab the silver spot. Galambos held on to the gold.

Results: HUN1, POL2, CRO, SLO, ESP, BUL

Peter Galambos, Hungary, Gold
“Everything went according to plan today. The whole regatta has gone to plan. I was feeling great even in the heats, so I knew today would probably go well. I got the lead from the start and kept.”

Milosz Jankowski, Poland, Silver
“My plan was to win a medal today. I know that Galambos is very fast off he start. I knew that if I could see him at 500m I could stay with him, and then I had a great finish. I’ll be back in the double for Lucerne.”

Luka Radonic, Croatia, Bronze
“Once again I want to give credits to my coach, Kresmir Petrovic, and my employer Vladimir Krizek for loving me and making it possible for me to continue rowing. I miss my idol Lucas Babc in this event, but on the other hand if he was here, I wouldn’t be able to talk here for this 3rd place.”

B-final

Lane changes meant a delay in the start of this race as weather conditions altered. The fastest in this race from yesterday’s repechage was Portugal’s Dinis Costa. Japan’s Yuta Arai was the first to show. Arai raced last year in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Arai continued to lead through the middle of the race. Then Costa did a push and found the lead with 1250m gone. Hungary 2 of Bence Tamas also got the better of Arai, but Arai fought back. Costa crossed in first with an open water lead.

Results: POR, JPN, HUN2, MDA