Bahain fast and Balmary back at French Champs

Bahain is last year’s bronze medallist from the men’s double sculls and racing at the French Championships in singles, Bahain finished just ahead of his doubles partner, Cedric Berrest who was one second down. This is the fourth consecutive title for Bahain as France’s top single sculler and he commented after his race that he had moments of concern as he has had to take time off to pursue some career objectives but he added, “I have high expectations of the international season.”

Matthew Androdias, 20, finished third just four seconds behind Bahain. This third place is likely to bode well for Androdias in upcoming national team selection. Androdias spent last season swapping between the double, quad and single.

The women’s single has been an open slate ever since the retirement from elite rowing of Sophie Balmary in 2008. This year Marion Rialet came out on top by a healthy eight-second margin. Rialet comes from under-23 success with a bronze medal in 2009. Second and third went to Helene Lefebvre and Pauline Bugnard respectively.
Meanwhile the women’s pair saw the return of Balmary, 31, who took time out after the birth of her child. Balmary chose to team up with Roxane Gabriel and their second-place finish was five seconds down on Marie Le Nepvou and Stephanie Dechand who raced together for some of last season in the pair.

The men’s pair included last year’s World Champion four split into two boats. Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette made up one combination with Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Julien Despres in the other. Chardin and Mortelette got the better of their teammates, finishing less than two seconds ahead. Last year the opposite occurred at these championships with Macquet and Despres outracing Chardin and Mortelette. Former World Champion from the double, Adrien Hardy, raced with Sebastien Lente and finished third.

Jean-Christophe Bette and Fabien Tillet have held the World Championship title in the lightweight men’s pair for the last two years and they were clear favourites at the French Championships. But the duo did not pull off a win locally. Instead Vincent Faucheux and Guillaume Raineau were the winners. This is the second year in a row that Faucheux and Raineau have dealt a blow to Bette and Tillet.

“Fabien and Jean-Christophe have big status,” said Faucheux who missed out on last year’s World Championship team, “but we managed to ignore that today.”

In the lightweight men’s single Jeremie Azou finished at the head of the field and commented that his preparation both mentally and physically was better this year. Frederic Dufour was second and Azou’s 2010 lightweight double partner Remi Di Girolamo came in third.

The women’s equivalent was won by Coralie Simon who was a clear five seconds ahead of her nearest rival, Elise Maurin. This bodes well for Simon, 23, who won this event in 2009 but did not make her country’s top women’s lightweight boat, the double, last year. Maurin instead was in the 2010 double.