Daily Digest: 2023 World Rowing Cup I kicks off!

The first on-water event of the 2023 classic rowing season began in glorious conditions on Jarun Lake in Zagreb, Croatia today with heats and preliminary races.

Spanish women’s pair take first win of the regatta

Racing began with a preliminary race in the women’s pair. With just three entries, it was all to play for. The pair from Spain of Aina Cid and Esther Briz Zamorano has lots of experience, but is new combination. They led from the start to win by over four seconds, but the other two crews are also strong, and the Jurkovic sisters may be able to take some benefit from the home supporters in Sunday’s final.

Watch out for South Africa’s women’s double scull

The duo of Paige Badenhorst and Katherine Williams led to the 500m marker, but then appeared to come off the gas, perhaps having tested their speed, and crossed the line in third position. Meanwhile, Switzerland1, Fabienne Schweizer and Lisa Loetscher worked their way through the field to win the heat by over five seconds ahead of Austria’s Lobnig sisters, Katharina and Magdalena. All boats progress through to Sunday’s final where anything could happen!

Sinkovic brothers set the standard

All eyes were on Martin and Valent in this boat class, and they didn’t disappoint. Their time, in heat one, of 6:23.96 was the fastest across the two heats. However, their big rivals from last year, Aleix Garcia Pujolor and Rodrigo Condeo Romero of Spain, won heat two in 6:26.59. Can they go any faster in the final? Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers are looking for a big milestone victory in their careers and will be hoping the home supporters turn up to cheer them to victory.

Young Swiss four stamps authority

Ukraine perhaps came in as the favourites in the men’s four, with the full crew returning unchanged from last season. They won heat one comfortably over India, with a time of 6:10.56. However, Switzerland went even quicker in the second heat. The young Swiss crew, which has three members of their men’s quad from last season posted 6:02.08, with South Africa just a few seconds behind them. With the winners of each heat progressing directly to the final, the remaining five crews will race the repechage tomorrow with just one crew to miss out on a place in the final.

Tight qualifying times in women’s single sculls

We’re all set for exciting racing in the women’s singles sculls. In heat one, 19-year old Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland led off the start, and was still leading with less then 500m to go when Spain’s Virginia Diaz Rivas came through to win by just over a second in a time of 7:37.09. Meanwhile, in the second heat, Serbia’s Jovana Arsic led the whole race and crossed the line first in 7:39.68. Bulgaria’s Desislava Angelova took the second qualifying place direct to Sunday’s final with the rest of the scullers needing to race the repechage tomorrow.

Return of familiar names in men’s single sculls

The men’s single sculls is the biggest boat class of the regatta, and six heats were required. For medical reasons, Slovenia1, Filip-Matej Pfeifer was withdrawn prior to racing starting, which resulted in a slight re-draw to balance the heats. The reigning World Champion in this boat class, Oliver Zeidler, was in action in the first heat, and clocked an impressive 7:07.31. It was great to see Danish sculler Sverri Nielsen back in action in the third heat, he clocked 7:08.59. Nielsen’s time was narrowly beaten by Croatia’s Olympic bronze medallist, Damir Martin in heat four when he achieved 7:07.54. The fifth heat was an exciting battle as we saw Kristian Vasilev work his way through the field. The experienced Bulgarian sculler who has an international career spanning over a decade clocked 7:01.82 which puts him a strong position for further rounds of racing. The sixth and final heat was won by Serbia’s Nikolaj Pimenov in 7:06.86. Quarterfinals in this boat class will take place later today and it looks like we’re set for an epic final on Sunday.

Rol cousins to go head to head in Repechage

Switzerland has two boats in the lightweight women’s double sculls, who will both have to contest the repechage before looking to Sunday’s final. The Spanish double of Natalia Miguel Gomez and Rocio Lao Sanchez took victory in the first heat. Their time of 7:05.24 beat Switzerland2 (Eline Rol and Olivia Nacht) by just over a second. Shortly later, the second heat was won by the strong Austrian boat of Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler in 7:04.41 while Switerland1 (Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol) finished in second. With two crews confirmed in the final, the rest will take part in tomorrow’s repechage.

The afternoon session of racing included the quarterfinals of the men’s single sculls. The winning times of the first three quarterfinals were very close. Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev had a similar strategy to his heat, and worked his way through the field to take the win in quarterfinal 1, posting a time of 6:57.99. In quarterfinal 2, despite easing off in the final stages of the race, Serbia’s Nikolaj Pimenov clocked the fastest qualifying time of all of the quarterfinals, 6:56.01. Reigning World Champion Oliver Zeidler dominated the third quarterfinal and was also able to wind right down before the finish, crossing the line in 6:57.32, 1.46 seconds ahead of local favourite, Damir Martin. In the fourth quarterfinal, Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen was on great form again, and wasn’t challenged. He finished in 7:03.75, over four seconds ahead of Bulgaria’s Emil Neykov.