Every stroke important for lightweight singles

The lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls narrowed its way down to the final six boats that will race in Sunday’s A-final.

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (LW1x) – Semifinals

Two hours ago these rowers had their weight recorded as they needed to be 59kg or less to row in this event. At the start line of Semifinal One, two of these rowers know each other’s racing style well. Austria’s Michaela Taupe-Traer and Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland have been racing each other for years. But sneaking into this family affair was Meghan Sarbanis of the United States. Sarbanis, 32, last made the national team in 2003 but she has been plugging away domestically for years, predicting that she puts about 12,000km of cycling, rowing and running in a year.

Sarbanis led the way through the middle of the race before Weisshaupt pushed past, under-rating her competitors, but still able to take the lead. Taupe-Traer held on to take third just ahead of a tremendous sprint by Sweden.

Most rowers aim to get out in front early in the race and hold everyone off, but Mirna Rajle Brodanac of Croatia is happy to come through from behind. Today, in Semifinal Two this strategy did not work. Finishing fourth is the “what if” position and means missing out on the A-final. Racing the better race was Denmark’s Juliane Rasmussen of Denmark. Rasmussen managed to get off the line in the middle of the bunch and then hold an even pace through the middle of the race. This gave her the energy to sprint the finish at a 34 stroke rate pace and take second.

Ahead of Rasmussen, Italy’s Laura Milani got into first with a third-500m push and did just enough to hold on at the end. Belgium’s Evi Geentjens qualifies from third.

Qualifiers: SUI, AUT, USA, ITA, DEN, BEL

Pamela Weisshaupt (SUI) – Semi A/B One – 1st
“There’s still room for improvement and it didn’t all go as planned. But, all in all it’s been a good day. One more race to go and it’s great to be in the final. It was also real good to hear the cow bell of the Swiss fans.” Pamela Weisshaupt

Meghan Sarbanis (USA) – Semi A/B One – 2nd
“The headwind was just to my advantage it seems, since I’m pretty strong. I had a strong race from start to finish and my power-20 at the 1000 worked well. I’m really thrilled about the result and being in the final here in my first year back in the team after a long time away and couldn’t have dreamed for more.”

Laura Milani (ITA)  – Semi A/B Two – 1st
“I only thought about my race.  Especially with the wind, you never know what will happen.  I never have to look at the other girls, I just think about myself.  I was surprised when the race was already over.”

Juliane Rasmussen (DEN) – Semi A/B Two – 2nd
“I knew it would be tough and that I would need to be at my very best.  I took a good start and had a good feeling throughout the race.  The final will be even tougher but as we say, the semifinal you have to do, the final you have to enjoy”. Juliane Rasmussen

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (LM1x) – Semifinals

Semifinal One featured two World Champions from the lightweight men’s double – Tamas Varga of Hungary and Denmark’s Mads Rasmussen. It also featured two medallists from this year’s under-23 championships, Iran’s gold medallist Mohsen Shadi Naghadeh and silver medallist  Ailson Silva of Brazil. But at the start it was Jaap Schouten of the Netherlands. Schouten, however, must have gone out too hard and by the half-way point he was being swallowed up by Varga, Rasmussen and then Shadi Naghadeh.

Coming into the final sprint of the race, Varga, Rasmussen and Shadi Naghadeh looked like comfortable qualifiers. Silva had other ideas. Pulling out a huge sprint the Brazilian took his rating to 39. Iran was in trouble. Rasmussen crossed the line first, Varga followed and two boats waited for the photo finish decision. Silva had done it.

New Zealand’s reigning World Champion Duncan Grant found himself in an unusual position. Grant came into this regatta having won all of his Rowing World Cup races this season. Today, however, Greece’s Vasileios Polymeros and Daisaku Takeda of Japan upset this record. Polymeros won this event in 2005 before going back into the double. Takeda comes out of his country’s double to race the single. What could Grant do?

For the first 500m of the race five boats formed a virtual line. Then Polymeros began to pull away with Grant in hot pursuit. A push through the 1,250m mark brought Takeda up on Grant. All three boats sprinted for the line. Meanwhile, back in fourth South Africa did not have enough for a final huge sprint. Greece, Japan and New Zealand go to the final from first, second and third respectively.

Qualifiers: DEN, HUN, BRA, GRE, JPN, NZL

Mads Rasmussen (DEN) – Semi A/B One – 1st
“I felt great all day and throughout the race. I was counting much more on the Dutch and was quite surprised that it was the Hungarian who I was fighting with. I’m very happy to be in the final now. Before these championships I was hoping for a medal but I’m pretty confident now that if I have a good day on Sunday I could actually win.” Mads Rasmussen

Daisaku Takeda (JPN) – Semi A/B Two – 2nd
“I’m happy, I’m in the final. You can see that I raced with a smile! I had a better race than in the heats but I need to learn to race more steadily”.