Fiercely contested semifinals and repechages took place on the Olympic Regatta course in Munich this morning as crews looked to secure places in the further rounds of racing including the first medal finals which will be raced tomorrow.

Olympic Champions dominate women’s double sculls

The women’s double sculls were the first to race in semifinals. The Dutch duo of Roos De Jong and Laila Youssifou had a comfortable win in heat one with Lithuania and Great Britain taking the remaining two qualifying places. In the second semifinal, the Irish double had to withdraw as Sanita Puspure is unable to row for medical reasons. The win in this race went to the reigning Olympic champions Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis, who finished over ten seconds ahead of Italy, and with the fastest time overall. Speaking after the race, Simona said:

“It was a good race, the wind wasn’t like yesterday, it was better today. We are happy with this result but we are waiting for the final because it will be a lot different. We hope to make a good race too.”

Women’s eight – update

With Sanita Puspure unable to row, the Irish women’s eight also had to be withdrawn. This meant that the repechage of the women’s eight today was cancelled. Lanes for the final have now been drawn based on the results of the heats. The final will take place on Sunday.

Redemption for Foester

After missing out on qualifying directly for the semifinals from the heats, Germany’s Alexandra Foester had a strong performance in the repechage today, leading the race from the start and crossing the line comfortably ahead of Slovenia’s Nina Kostanjsek. Foester still wasn’t fully happy:

“Slightly better than yesterday, but also not that good. I’m struggling with the conditions. It was a bit better, but it’s going to be hard tomorrow (in the semifinal).”

Benjamin Pritchard, PR1 Men’s Single Sculls, Great Britain, 2022 European Rowing Championships, Munich, Germany / Maren Derlien/MyRowingPhoto.com

Pritchard dominates PR1 M1x

It was a dominating performance for Great Britain’s Benjamin Pritchard in the repechage of the PR1 men’s single sculls. With four scullers racing for the remaining three places, it was Poland’s Michael Breczko that unfortunately missed out on a place in the A final. The PR1 M1x final will be the first medal race of the regatta tomorrow.

First finals completed

The first two finals of the regatta took place today, the C-Final of the men’s pair and the men’s quad. The men’s pair race was one of the closest of the day with just over one second separating the three boats, Switzerland took the win. In the quad, Norway got the better of Sweden.

GB posts fastest time in men’s pair semifinals

Although Lithuania’s Stankunas brothers had the fastest first quarter in semifinal 1 of the men’s pair Romania’s Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan came through eventually to take a comfortable win. Serbia and Lithuania took the other two qualifying places. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal, Great Britain’s Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George were held to account by Spain’s Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez in the early stages, but the Brits eventually came through and crossed the line first. With Spain taking the second qualifying place, Italy was third.

“It was good. The wind’s a bit of a challenge that we haven’t really faced in the racing so far this season. We’re dealing with that pretty well, and I’m pretty happy we were able to control the race basically from start to finish.” Tom George, Men’s Pair.

Men’s Quad semis complete the day’s programme

Great Britain recovered from a large crab in the first semifinal of the men’s quad to take the third of three qualifying places. In an incredibly close finish, Poland crossed the line first, ahead of Romania with the Netherlands just missing out. Italy took the win in the second semifinal with France and Estonia taking the second places through to the medal race. It was a surprise to see the Czech Republic missing out on qualification.

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Reflections from day one at the 2022 European Rowing Championships

Daily Digest: Crews secure places for medal races at 2022 European Rowing Championships

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