Close clashes in Hamburg B-finals

As the day turned into evening, athletes returned to the Allermoehe regatta course and under cloudy skies with scattered sun the course again was flat for the first half of the race,  with bumpy tail winds and some wind gusts in the second half of the race. 

Women’s Pair (W2-) – B-final

A three boat race saw two Chinese crews battle with each other. China has completely mixed up the line ups from the ones that raced at last month’s World Cup and China's first boat is now Meiling Sun and Li Li. Together Sun and Li made sure to earn their number one boat status and despite strong challenges by China'0s second entry, Sun and Li remained in the lead. The Czech Republic was off the pace at the back of the field. China's first boat, rating slightly higher, crossed the line in first.

Results: CHN1, CHN2, CZE
 

Men’s Pair (M2-) – B-final

This boat turned into a four boat race when Serbia pulled out after rowing 400m. They signalled to the umpires that they were alright and rowed off into the cool down area. Norway made a real race of it and earned a World Cup point for their country when they finished first, or seventh overall. Truls Albert and Hans-Gunnar Grepperud Eikeland led from start to finish with an open water lead through the middle of the race. A late race sprint by Brazil brought them close to the Norwegians, but not close enough to overtake.

Results: NOR, BRA, ARG2, CHI
 

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – B-final

Shimin Yan is a name better known in lightweight rowing for China. Today she raced in the open double with partner Wenyi Huang. After a slow start Yan and Huang found themselves fighting to move up through the field. By the half way point they were in fourth with Switzerland in the lead. Then a big push by China in the third 500 closed the gap between the Swiss and Chinese. Yan and Huang then went for broke. Switzerland had no answer. China, rating 38 crossed the line first.

Results: CHN, SUI, DEN, BLR2, FIN, NOR

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – B-final

Russia’s Artem Kosov and Dmitry Khmylnin rowed in the hunched over style reminiscent of yesteryear. But it worked for them and they led this race from start to finish, and quite convincingly too. They earn a World Cup point for their country and finish this regatta seventh overall.

Results: RUS, BEL, UZB

Men’s Four (M4-) – B-final

Germany’s second crew wanted to show that they were a crew for their country’s selectors to watch. The took the lead and never let go. This left a huge battle to go on between Poland’s first boat and Poland’s second entry. The two Polish crews were neck-and-neck for the entire race until Poland’s second boat pushed ahead, rating 40 strokes per minute as the first Polish boat rated 39 coming into the line. The Polish selectors will have something to think about now.

Results: GER2, POL2, POL1, MEX, CHN2

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – B-final

Sweden found themselves sandwiched between two Austrian crews that must have been wanting to prove something to the selectors. Despite leading for the majority of the race, Sweden was outsprinted to the line by Austria's first entry made up of Sara Karlsson and Michaela Taupe-Traer. Karlsson has formerly raced for Sweden but now lives in Austria and she has teamed up with Austria’s top lightweight sculler.

Results: AUT1, SWE, AUT2, MEX, CHN2, POL2

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – B-final

The first half of the race saw an incredibly tight battle between five boats. The second half of the race really sorted out the wheat from the chaff. Jonathan Winter and Brian De Regt of the United States moved away from the rest of the field taking Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway with them. In the closest race of the day Norway won by just 2/100^th of a second over the United States.

Results: NOR, USA1, MEX, AUT1, AUT2, RUS

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – B-final

As strong wind gusts whipped across the course, especially in the last 300m, water sprayed off the boats. Poland looked the cleanest with the least spray. The Poles earn one World Cup point for their country and a seventh place overall. South Africa, who were very unlucky to miss out on the A-final when they raced earlier today, finished a close second.

Results: POL, RSA, GER2, CHI, RUS, BRA

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – B-final

It was a surprise to see the very experienced Julia Levina of Russia in a B-final. Maybe her best is yet to come this season. But Levina still raced a useful race coming in second. Ahead of Levina was 22-year-old Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania who led from start to finish. Vistartaite is the 2010 under-23 champion and she is a name to look for in the future in senior rowing. Vistartaite’s finishing time was a very good 7:34.

Results: LTU, RUS, EST, BEL, AZE2, RSA

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – B-final

Former Bulgarian Junior World Champion, Aleksandar Aleksandrov now rows for Azerbaijan and has done for the last couple of years. Today he earned one World Cup point for his new country by finishing first in the B-final. Aleksandrov tussled with Brazil and Poland for much of the race but managed to outsprint both of them.

Results: AZE, POL, MEX, BRA, CHI, SUI