Day Two Daily Digest : Finalists confirmed after intense racing

Athletes were treated to glorious racing conditions again on the Rotsee as semifinals and repechages got underway at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland today. With places for medal races up for grabs, racing was intense and margins were tight. In some cases, the difference between qualifying for the A-final or not came down to less than a second.

Lightweight single sculls finalists confirmed

The lightweight single scullers will be the first to race for medals, with their finals scheduled for this afternoon. Their semifinals took place mid-morning with scullers racing for top three places to get into the medal race. Great Britain’s Imogen Grant posted the fastest time across the two semifinals in the lightweight women’s single sculls, a time of 7:38.78 so will be the favourite to take gold this afternoon. Whilst a full compliment of scullers started in the first semifinal of the lightweight men’s single sculls, medical withdrawals meant only four scullers remained in the second, and it was a race to not be last. After Paul O’Donovan crossed the line first, it was the two Uruguayans that took the remaining two places with Algeria’s Sid Ali Boudina missing out on qualification.

Intense racing for men’s pair

In the first semifinal, four boats crossed the line within two seconds with only the top three to progress to the A-final. Australia1, Serbia and Great Britain2 qualified with Romania missing out by 0.74 seconds. The second semifinal was equally as exciting and, whilst Spain had a fast start, Great Britain1 worked their way through the pack in the second half of the race, and took the top position. Brits Wynne-Griffith and George will be looking to reverse the result from last weekend’s Henley Royal Regatta where New Zealanders Macdonald and Mackintosh beat them by 1/3 of a length.

Sinkovic brothers with clear water

Although they weren’t the quickest through the heats, Martin and Valent Sinkovic crossed the line with a clear water margin ahead of the remaining boats in semifinal1 of the men’s double sculls. Lithuania2 and Great Britain took the remaining two qualifying places. In the second semifinal, Australia took the win whilst an impressive scull from Serbians Aleksandar Filipovic and Aleksandar Bedik enabled them to work through from fifth place at 500m to finish second. Spain had the fastest start but had slipped into third place by the line.

Poland’s men’s four miss out

There was a big surprise in the first repechage of the men’s four when Poland failed to qualify . The crew has been in the final for both World Rowing Cups so far this season but will have to settle for the B final in Lucerne. Italy was impressive as they qualified a boat from both of the repechages so will have two sots in tomorrow’s medal race. Their crews are both relatively young and picked up medals at both the World and European Rowing U23 Championships last year.

Gmelin sets standard in singles

Local favourite Jeanine Gmelin led the second semifinal of the women’s single sculls from the start to qualify with the fastest time (7:28.73). This compared to Tara Rigney’s winning time of 7:30.73 in semifinal1. Gmelin took silver in Poznan, and will be hoping to go one better tomorrow. Meanwhile,  in semifinal2, Diana Dymchenko, representing Azerbaijan, worked her way through the field to take second place and France’s Emma Lunatti finished third.

GB’s Graeme Thomas to go for gold

Great Britain’s Graeme Thomas, who finished fourth in the men’s double at last year’s Olympic Games and is racing in the single scull this season, posted the fastest time across the two semifinals today. Thomas picked up bronze at World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade and, following some medical withdrawals ahead of the draw here in Lucerne, he is among the favourites for tomorrow’s final. Thomas clocked 6:48.73 whilst Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev won the second semifinal in 6:51.28.

Olympic Champions pushed to line

Reigning Olympic Champions in the lightweight women’s double sculls, Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini from Italy almost missed out on qualifying for the medal race as they were put under serious pressure by Canada. Great Britain’s Maddie Arlett and Emily Craig had a comfortable win in a time of 6:51.57 with China taking second place in the second semifinal. Shortly before, last year’s Olympic silver medallists from France, Laura Tarantola and Claire Bove won the first semifinal in 6:54.00 with Poland taking places 2 and 3 to qualify both of their boats for the medal final.

Poland’s Olympic scullers win men’s quad semi in style

The men’s quadruple sculls from Poland contains the athletes from their double sculls and two of their quad from last year’s Olympic Games. They won semifinal1 in style, with clear water ahead of the rest of the crews and clocking a time of 5:38.79. The line-up is changed slightly from the previous two World Rowing Cups and includes Miroslaw Zietarski and Fabian Baranski, who won silver in the double sculls on both occasions. Meanwhile, in semifinal2, Romania won with a time of 5:37.21. The times suggest we should expect an exciting final tomorrow!

Italy and Canada take final places for men’s eight

The Italian crew, which is stacked with talent, took a the win in the repechage of the men’s eight to secure a place in tomorrow’s medal final. The race was then on for the second qualifying place which Canada secured finishing just over a second ahead of the Netherlands.