Heat and heats at the World Rowing Cup III in Sabaudia, Italy

Lightweight men’s single sculls (LM1x) – Heats

With the withdrawal of the Ugandan sculler after the draw, but before the start of racing, there were just two heats in the lightweight men’s single sculls. Only the top sculler from each progressed straight to the final. Reigning European Champion Peter Galambos of Hungary commanded the field of the first heat, establishing a clear lead in the first half of the course. However, Rjako Hrvat of Slovenia went up to 40 strokes per minute, desperately trying to close the gap and took the lead at the 1500m marker. In the second heat, it was Italy’s Martino Goretti who stamped his authority on home water, comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack including fellow-Italian Niels Torre. Goretti brought it down to 32 strokes per minute in the closing stages as he was well ahead of Norway’s Ask Jarl Tjoem, who sat in second.

Semifinal Qualifiers: SLO, ITA2

 Men’s pair (M2-) – Heats

It was looking good for Great Britain 1 at 1000m in the first heat, with Italy 1 charging to close the gap in the third quarter of the race. With two spots through to the final, things looked pretty set in the final stages with Great Britain1 and Italy comfortably in front of the rest of the field. Italy 1 rowed through to take the lead in the last few meters, with Great Britain 1 taking the second qualifying place. The Sinkovic brothers were unsurprisingly leading the way in the second heat with clear water ahead of Great Britain2. The Croatian duo were up at 39 strokes per minute in the last few hundred metres of the race despite having almost four lengths of clear water. Great Britain 2 took the second qualifying place.

Qualifiers: ITA1, GBR1, CRO, GBR2

Women’s double sculls (W2x) – Heats

The first heat was an internal test for Tokyo seats between the two Italian doubles. But both were being overhauled by Germany 1, and the single qualification place to the A-Final looked fairly set. Italy 2 took second place, with Italy 1 in third. The strong combination from the Netherlands led the second heat through the halfway marker, stepping away from the field with every single stroke. Switzerland sat in second, and Poland in third. It was the Dutch who crossed the line first to take the qualifying spot.

Qualifiers: GER1, NED

 Men’s double sculls (M2x) – Heats

Switzerland led the pack in the first heat, hoping to improve on their fifth-place finish at the second World Cup. The Netherlands were in second place but not appearing to pose any threat to Switzerland. In heat two, it was a fast middle thousand, assisted by a slight tail wind. Poland crossed the 1000m timing point first with a close race between the young doubles from Great Britain and Italy 1 for second place. Poland maintained significant clear water all the way to the line, but it was a great race for second.

Qualifiers: SUI, POL

Men’s four (M4-) Heats

 The very experienced crew from Poland, who are reigning world champions, were being tracked by Great Britain 2 every single stroke of heat one. Italy 2 sat behind them, but still in contention, and Switzerland also maintaining overlap. It was all to play for with just one crew to qualify directly for the final. Great Britain was underrating Poland in the closing stages but producing similar boat speed. However, Poland managed to hold on to the qualifying place. With a fresh line-up for this regatta, Italy 1 led heat two from the start in the second heat. The Netherlands and Great Britain 1 kept the pressure on throughout the race, but it was Italy 1 who took the single qualifying place with Great Britain in second and the Netherlands in third.

Qualifiers: POL, ITA1  

Women’s single sculls (W1x) Heats

It was all very close in the early stages of heat one with Pia Greiten of Germany crossing the 500m marker first, but only just ahead of Maike Diekmann of Namibia, who qualified for the Tokyo Games at the African Qualification Regatta. The positions were unchanged moving into the third quarter of the race with a fight for the third qualifying place. A huge final charge from Audrey Feutrie of France took her into second place, almost catching Greiten. Diekmann took the final qualification place. In heat two, Great Britain 2 and Netherlands 1 were matching each other stroke for stroke at the halfway marker with Sophie Souwer of the Netherlands about half a length ahead. There was a large gap back to the third place qualifier from Norway. In the third and final heat, it was very tight at the front of the race with Lola Anderson of Great Britain marginally leading Diana Dymchenko of Ukraine. Dymchenko took the lead in the closing stages of the race with Anderson taking second place and Lovisa Claesson of Sweden in third.

Semifinal Qualifiers: GER, FRA, NAM, NED1, GBR2, NOR, UKR, GBR1, SWE

Men’s single sculls (M1x) Heats

The men’s single sculls had the biggest entry of the competition with 22 scullers racing. Heat one provided plenty of local interest with the young Gennaro di Mauro leading the way, ahead of the well-known Polish Sculler Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk. Di Mauro continued to dominate with comfortable clear water to take the single qualifying place directly to the semifinal. Sverri Nielsen of Denmark looked very comfortable in the second heat, leading the field with several lengths of clear water at 1000m, and was able to lower his rating in the final stages of the race. There was a good contest going on behind him, suggesting we might expect exciting rounds of racing later in the competition. Norway’s Kjetil Borch led the way in heat three, ahead of Croatia’s Damir Martin. The fourth heat featured the man that everyone is talking about, Oliver Zeidler of Germany, and he did not disappoint. However, fellow-German sculler Stephan Riemekasten gave Zeidler a run for his money and kept him under pressure in the middle part of the race. At 31 strokes per minute and the highest boat speed, Zeidler cruised across the line first to take the one qualifying place.

Semifinal Qualifiers: ITA2, DEN, NOR1, GER1

Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) Heats

 With 11 entries and some of the top countries, we were expecting great racing in this boat class. Netherlands 1 led the first heat to 1000m where Italy 1 took the lead. In the third quarter of the race, Italy started to hammer down the course and move away from the Netherlands. There was a reasonable gap back to third place. The home nation continued to extend their lead towards the line, opening up clear water. Germany led the second heat from the start and looked comfortable to qualify directly for the final with clear water ahead of the fast-moving crew from Poland.

Qualifiers: ITA1, GER

Racing resumes later today with the Repechages.