Day Two Daily Digest – Storms clear to allow finalists to be confirmed

Temperatures on Day Two of the 2022 World Rowing Cup I were significantly lower than yesterday but unfortunately a storm caused a pause in racing this morning. Semifinals eventually got underway as crews looked to secure their places in tomorrow’s medal races.

Great Britain qualify three men’s pairs

Great Britain impressed in the men’s pairs as they secured three of the six places for tomorrow’s A-final. Great Britain2 comprising Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George comfortably won Semifinal 1 ahead of Spain, with Great Britain3 taking third place. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal, the home crew of Martin Makovic and Milos Vasic took the top position for Serbia with Netherlands1 and Great Britain1 also qualifying for tomorrow’s A-final.

Croatia and Netherlands set pace in men’s double sculls

 Whilst Croatia’s Martin and Valent Sinkovic led the first semifinal of the men’s double sculls, and Poland took second place, a late surge from Matt Haywood and George Bourne of Great Britain secured them the third qualifying space, pipping the Netherlands by just 0.10 seconds. The Netherlands made up for it in the second semifinal with Guillaume Krommenhoek and Guus Mollee winning ahead of Spain and Lithuania.

Three Dutch men’s fours to fight for medals

 The Netherlands1 took charge of the first semifinal initially but then Great Britain worked their way through into the lead. Netherlands1 finished in second place and Netherlands3 took the third qualifying place. Soon after, China2 threw their arms in the air to celebrate winning the second semifinal. Behind them, the Netherlands qualified a third boat for tomorrow’s medal race and Poland took the all-important third spot. 

Two places for China in Women’s Single Sculls medal final

 Serbian’s Olympic sculler Jovana Arsic led the first half of Semifinal 1 of the women’s single scull, but Great Britain’s Hannah Scott and China’s Shiyu Lu kept the pressure on the whole way, and it was never possible to discount the experienced Dutch sculler Lisa Scheenaard. In the second half of the race, Arsic just couldn’t match the speed of Lu and Scott who moved into the top two places, but she did manage to hold off the challenge from Scheenaard. Fellow Dutch Sculler Karolien Florijn led the second semifinal from the start with Yunxia Chen securing the second slot in the final for China. Lenka Antosova of the Czech Republic took the third qualifying place.

GB’s Graeme Thomas moves from fourth to first in Men’s Single Sculls

 Oliver Zeidler of Germany and Melvin Twellaar of the Netherlands looked extremely comfortable in the lead of the first semifinal of the men’s single sculls and were able to wind down towards the line. The young British Sculler Callum Dixon took the third qualifying place. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal Graeme Thomas was determined to secure another place in the final for Great Britain, and despite being in fourth place at 500m, worked his way through the pack overtaking Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev and Slovenia’s Filip-Matej Pfeifer, who took the second and third qualifying places respectively.

Czech Republic and Switzerland ones to watch in Lightweight Men’s Doubles

 In the lightweight men’s double sculls, Austria2 led the first semifinal off the start, but soon dropped back and Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil of the Czech Republic took position at the front of the pack, crossing the line ahead of Ukraine and Poland. Switzerland held off a challenge from Spain in the second semifinal with Belgium taking the third qualifying place.