22 Sep 2022
Daily Digest: Heating up in Racice
It was heating up both on and off the water for day 5 of the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the crews were treated to excellent racing conditions at the Labe Arena. Meanwhile, the spectators were treated to exciting racing with the pace picking up as we moved into semifinal action.
Lightweight women kick off semifinals
The lightweight women’s single sculls was the first boat class to contest A/B semifinals with the top three in each hoping to secure a place in the A final. The first semifinal saw a win for recent European Champion, Ionela Cozmiuc of Romania, finishing ahead of Martine Veldhuis of the Netherlands, who took bronze at the Europeans. South Africa’s Kirsten McCann took the third qualifying place. The third medalist from the European Championships, Greece’s Zoe Fitsiou took second place in semifinal 2 today, she was beaten to the line by New Zealand’s Jackie Kiddle with Italy’s Stefania Buttignon taking the third qualifying place.
All Three European medalists qualify for LM1x final
There was more success for the medalists from the European Championships in the lightweight men’s single sculls as they all secured places in the final which will take place tomorrow. In semifinal 1, Switzerland’s Andri Struzina, who took bronze at the Europeans, was the fastest sculler with Uruguay’s Bruno Cetraro Berriolo and Slovenia’s Rajko Hrvat also securing qualifying places. The fastest time across the two semifinals was clocked by Greece’s Antonios Papakonstantinou, who is reigning European Champion. European silver medalist, Gabriel Soares, of Italy took the second qualifying places with France’s Baptiste Savaete also securing a place int he final.
Tight times across women’s pair semifinals
Romania’s Ioana Vrinceanu and Denisa Tilvescu recently became European Champions in the women’s pair having raced in the eight in Tokyo last year. They clocked the fastest time in semifinal 1, a time of 7:11.04. The Netherlands took the second qualifying place and Croatia’s Jurkovic sisters came third. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal, it was the reigning World Champions and Olympic Champions in this boat class, Grace Prendergast and Kerri Williams that were fastest – but only 0.02 seconds faster than Romania! The USA and Great Britain took the remaining two qualifying places in that race. We’re looking forward to what could be an epic final on Saturday!
GB looking to reverse Europeans result in men’s pair
Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan of Romania took gold at the recent European Rowing Championships, beating Great Britain’s Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George. In the first semifinal here in Racice, Great Britain had the lead at 500m but Romania came back in the second quarter and took the lead. The Brits increased the speed in the second half and took the win, but only by 0.37 seconds, GB’s time being 6:28.57. New Zealanders Matt Macdonald and Tom Mackintosh, Olympic champions from the eight last year, took the third qualifying place. In the second semifinal, Spain’s winning time was a couple of seconds slower, they finished in 6:30.84. Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez are the same pair that raced at the 2019 World Championships, when they finished fifth. Australia and Serbia secured the remaining two qualifying places for what could be an epic final on Saturday!
Olympic Champions miss out on final
In an incredible turn of events, Italy’s Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini, who became Olympic Champions in the lightweight women’s double scull just last year, have missed out on a place in the final. They were in a race to the line with Switzerland’s Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol and the Swiss duo got the better of them by just 0.22 seconds. The USA and France had taken the first two qualifying places. In the race before, Great Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig had clocked the fastest time of the twelve semifinalists, finishing in 6:58.57 with Ireland and Greece also qualifying in that race. Dimitra Elni Kontou, in the Greek boat is the youngest competitor at these championships and will celebrate her birthday here in the Czech Republic tomorrow.
McCarthy and O’Donovan hoping to retain World title
There was delight for the locals in the first semifinal when the Czech double of Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil sculled to a convincing win, clocking 6:26.94. Italy and France secured the two other qualifying places for the finals. Semifinal 2 saw an interesting battle between Ireland and Switzerland. Similar to their tactic at the European Championships, the Swiss duo of Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland went out hard and were leading for more than the first half of the race. Reigning World Champions and Olympic Champions Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan then came back though and put the Irish boat into the lead, less than half a second separating them with 500m to go. The Irish boat finished in 6:24.41, meaning they go into the final with the fastest time.
British make statement in women’s four
The British women’s four has had an incredible successful season already, winning two World Rowing Cup golds (and setting a new World Rowing Cup Best Time) and also gold at the European Championships. They now clearly have their mind set on becoming World Champions. They led from the start in the first semifinal and crossed the line ahead of last year’s Olympic bronze medal winning crew from Ireland, with China taking the third qualifying place. Great Britain’s winning time of 6:38.89 was significantly faster than the winning time in the second semifinal where the Netherlands clocked 6:44.10. The Dutch four had led from the start with Romania and Australia taking the second and third qualifying places respectively.
Close times across men’s four semifinals
The European bronze medalists, Romania got out of the start fastest in the first semifinal, but they were soon overhauled by the Dutch crew that finished ahead of them at the Europeans. It was a battle all the way to the finish with the Netherlands eventually crossing the line just 0.1 seconds ahead in a time of 6:02.96. In the second semifinal, we saw a classic battle in this boat class – between Great Britain and Australia. The Australian four was quickest off the start, but then the British came through and gradually opened up a lead. Great Britain’s time was 6:02.21 putting them just 0.75 seconds quicker than the Dutch. We’re all set for an incredible final on Saturday!
China clocks fastest time in women’s quad
Semifinal1 of the women’s quadruple scull saw the return of the Olympic Champions and reigning World Champions, China. The strong, experienced comfortably led their race from the start with well-earned qualification places also going to Ukraine and Switzerland. Whilst China looked impressive in the first semifinal, they’ll need to watch out for Great Britain who led throughout semifinal 2 to secure a comfortable win with a time just under a second slower. Behind Great Britain, Australia and the Netherlands also secured places for Saturday’s final.
Italy hold off British challenge
The last boat class of the session was the men’s quadruple sculls and there was no less excitement than the previous races. In semifinal1, the gold medalists from the European Championships led from the start, but they were kept honest all the way by Great Britain. The British crew, which has been steadily improving throughout this season crossed the line just 0.41 seconds behind. Estonia took the third qualifying place. The second semifinal saw the silver medalists from the Europeans, Poland, led from the start. Romania and the Netherlands took the remaining two qualifying places for the final.
Semifinals C/D
The afternoon racing session today will include semifinals C/D with crews looking to secure places in the C final and race for places 13-17.
Racing kicks off tomorrow, 23 September, at 10:15 CET. You can find the full programme on worldrowing.com
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