First Finals Begin at World Rowing Cup I

Jarun Lake once again provided beautiful racing conditions on day two of the World Rowing Cup I. The short racing session began with minor finals in the men’s single sculls and concluded with the first medal races of the regatta, the lightweight women’s and lightweight men’s single sculls.

First rankings awarded in men’s single sculls

The first two races of the day were the Finals D and C of the men’s single sculls. Spain’s Jordi Jofre Senciales claimed 19th place overall when he won the Final D. A few minutes later, it was a win in the Final C for Brazil’s Olympian, Lucas Verthein Ferreira, after he narrowly missed qualification for the A/B Semifinals yesterday.

Tight margins determine progression 

In the first repechage of the day, the men’s pair, Hungary missed out on a place in the A-Final by just 0.27 seconds. Croatia’s Loncaric brothers took the win and the second qualifying place went to Lorenz Lindorfer and Bruno Bachmair of Austria.

Five fours race for four places

It was the race not to lose in the repechage of the men’s four as five crews raced for just five places in tomorrow’s medal final. It was Hong Kong China that unfortunately missed out and their World Rowing Cup campaign is over this time.

Men’s single scullers secure final places

After three rounds of racing, our line-up for tomorrow’s Final A in the men’s single sculls is now confirmed! Germany’s Oliver Zeidler took the win in the first semifinal, clocking 6:58.40 while Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen finished in 6:58.66 in the second semifinal – we’re in for an epic battle in the final tomorrow. Local favourite Damir Martin unfortunately missed out on this occasion, but we look forward to seeing him race again later this season.

1-2 for Switzerland

In the repechage of the lightweight women’ double sculls, Switzerland took places 1 and 2, meaning the Rol cousins will go head-to-head in tomorrow’s Final A. Chile and Argentina took the other two qualifying places.

India sprints to final in LM2x

India’s Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh are reigning Asian Champions in this boat class and looked impressive in their repechage as they took the second qualifying place for tomorrow’s Final A, finishing just narrowly behind Spain’s Caetano Horta Pombo and Manel Balastegui. Spain had already qualified their second boat in the first repechage, with Austria taking the final qualification spot.

First medals awarded

The racing session concluded with the first two medal races of World Rowing Cup I with the lightweight women’s single sculls up first. All five scullers had contested a preliminary race yesterday so had an idea of relative speed, but would it pan out the same? Dutch sculler Tosca Kettler was first to the 500m marker but in the second quarter of the race, came under pressure from Czech sculler, Kristyna Neuhortova, who took the lead by 1,000m and then established a clear water advantage. Meanwhile, Croatia’s Dora Dragicevic was sitting in third position, and was boosted by the support from the home crowds as she approached the finish. However, the positions remained unchanged and the first gold went to the Czech Republic.

Results: CZE, NED, CRO, THA, HKG

Epic sprint secures gold for Slovenia

Hungary’s Peter Galambos led the race off the start and established a position narrowly ahead of Switzerland’s Andri Struzina. By 750m, Struzina had taken the lead – it was very close for third place between Austria’s  Paul Ruttmann and Slovenia’s Rajko Hrvat. In the second half of the race, Hrvat, who took bronze in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing Championships, really started to make his move and work his way through the field. Eventually, Hrvat broke through Struzina and there was an epic sprint to the finish between the two scullers. Hrvat managed to hold Struzina off and took gold by just 0.36 seconds. Galambos took the bronze. This is definitely a boat class to watch unfold this season!

Results: SLO, SUI, HUN, HKG, AUT2, SVK

Tomorrow’s action

There’s lots more to come tomorrow, including 12 medal finals. Racing will begin at 09:30 CEST.