Semifinal shake-ups at Rowing World Cup

The men’s four set the stage with surprise results by the two Australian boats as well as a near upset over the current World Champions, Great Britain.

MEN’S FOUR (M4-) – Semifinals

Race 109 of the second stage of the Rowing World Cup and the first semifinal of the Olympic events was an absolute knockout with the World Champions, Great Britain being chased right to the finish line. New Zealand started off with a flyer before being reined in by Great Britain through the middle of the race. Then a big piece by the new United States line-up through the 1200m mark propelled them into second. The USA then began to close on the British. Stroked by Olympic medallist, Josh Inman, who returns to international rowing after a year’s break, the American upped their rating to a 41 stroke rate sprint.

Great Britain had to do something, and fast. Holding a strong 38 stroke rate, the British only just remained in the lead as the Czech Republic, rating 44, charged down the outside. Great Britain, United States and Czech Republic go to the final.

What is happening with the Australians? In semifinal two, two Australian boats raced, Australia One being the Olympic and 2009 silver medallists, Australia Two being the young upstarts. In the lead right from the first stroke was Australia Two. Lockwood, Loch, Purnell, and Dunkley-Smith remained in the lead over New Zealand with Australia One at the back end of the field. Coming into the second half of the race Australia One realised that they had better do something and do it now. Australia One began to move through the field, overtaking the New Zealanders and going after Australia Two.

Australia Two held their cool as Australia One closed the gap. New Zealand was also closing and Germany was giving their all to get into the finals. At the line Australia Two had recorded the fastest qualifying time, Australia One qualify from second and New Zealand boxes out the Germans from the final by finishing third. This result must be a selector’s shock for both Australia, who will have to rethink their number one crew and Germany who entered three boats in this event and none of them made the final.

MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (M1x) – Semifinals

Germany’s Marcel Hacker looks to be a more mature rower this year. After spending the majority of his career in the single, he joined a team boat, the quad, for 2009. Hacker’s now back in the single and today in semifinal one he raced a very controlled 2000m. Hacker came out of the start at a reasonably sedate pace with Croatia in the lead. He then pulled through, along with Olympic Champion, Olaf Tufte of Norway, into the front. Hacker then did a third 500m push to get ahead of Tufte with Lassi Karonen (SWE) up with the leaders’ pace. Coming into the last 200m Hacker looked comfortable and in control at a 30 stroke rate, Tufte powered along at 33 and Karonen sprinted down the outside at 34 strokes per minute. This is the finishing order and the three qualifiers for tomorrow’s final.

Winner of the first stage of the Rowing World Cup, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic has been looking impressive in all of his races this season. Today Synek raced in the second semifinal. Great Britain’s Alan Campbell did his usual fast start before settling into a very steady and consistent middle 1000m. Synek looked to do just enough to push into the lead with Canada’s sole entry at this regatta, Malcolm Howard coming through into third.

Howard comes to the single from his country’s Olympic Champion eight and is improving with every international outing in his single. Cruising with a long 28 stroke rate, Synek stayed ahead of a late, and short, sprint by Campbell to finish first. Campbell qualifies for tomorrow’s final from second and Howard finishes third to also qualify for the final.

WOMEN’S PAIR (W2-) – Semifinals

The first semifinal looked like a flurry of red and yellow with half of the field made up of Chinese boats. But it was the distinctive black and white of New Zealand that was leading the way. Juliette Haigh is back from a year off and has worked her way into the top New Zealand pair with Rebecca Scown. Haigh and Scown got the lead right at the start with China’s number one boat, twins Tong and Meng Li, following closely behind.

Rowing an even-split race, Haigh and Scown remained in control over the Li twins with Great Britain Three (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning) sitting solidly in third. New Zealand kept their rating at a high 36 coming into the final sprint with the Lis doing all that they could, also at 36, to try and close the gap. Nothing changed at the finish line. New Zealand, China One and Great Britain Three will meet again in tomorrow’s final.

The Romanians had two entries in this race and had what it took to qualify for the final. By the middle of the race Romania One, Camelia Lupascu and Eniko Mironcic, had found the lead over the fast-starting Australians. Germany (Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig) and Romania Two (Adelina Cojocariu and Nicoleta Albu) were right on their tails. The Romanians will also race in their country’s eight which means if they are successful in this race, they will race in two finals tomorrow.

Coming through the 1500m mark the two Romanian crews and Germany were totally on top of each other. These three boats all sprinted, with Romania One trying desperately to outdo their number two crew and Germany going to a whopping 44 stroke rate. At the finish Romania Two had done it. Germany finishes second and Romania One will cause some talk by finishing third.

MEN’S PAIR (M2-) – Semifinals

After not making the A-final last month in Bled, Nikola Stojic and Marko Marjanovic of Serbia decided to make things right. Despite being drawn in semifinal one with the reigning World Champions, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray (NZL), the Serbians got out in front at the start. Stojic and Marjanovic still had the lead at the half-way point, but it was only slight over Bond and Murray. This leaders battle took Serbia and New Zealand clear away from the rest of the field.

Then Marjanovic and Stojic started to lose a bit of steam. New Zealand got in front and never looked back. Coming into the final 200m of the Munich regatta course, Bond and Murray, rating 33, looked far more relaxed than they had in yesterday’s heats. New Zealand and Serbia are in the final. Meanwhile a full-on fight was going on between Germany, Australia and Romania for the remaining qualifying spot. Romania’s Ionut Minea and Marius Luchian did it.

What will Great Britain’s Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge be doing tonight? Ever since New Zealand took over in 2009 as the top crew in this event, Reed and Hodge have been working on how win. Perhaps Reed and Hodge, who won today’s second semifinal, will be looking at their finishing time and comparing it to the New Zealanders’. Both crews finished in almost identical times, but the British had the faster start.

In semifinal two Reed and Hodge got out first at the start and by the half-way point they had a huge seven-second open-water lead. This remained through into the final sprint. But a last dash by Shaun Keeling and Ramon Di Clemente of South Africa closed the gap. To the sounds of vuvuzelas Di Clemente and Keeling shortened their stroke, rated 40, and crossed the line to qualify for the final from second. Great Britain earned a further spot in the final with Cameron Nichol and Tom Burton taking third.

MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (M2x) – Semifinals

In one of the biggest upsets of the day, China pulled through to win semifinal one. Hang Liu and Zhiqiang Shi of China raised their arms in the air as they crossed the line inches before Switzerland, the United States and Slovenia. Coming into this race Andre Vonarburg and Florian Stofer of Switzerland were looking good following their win in yesterday’s heat. At the start Vonarburg and Stofer had the lead with Slovenian brothers Jan and Luka Spik right with them. The Swiss-Slovenian battle continued through the majority of the race. Coming into the final 500m of the race China and the United States (Warren Anderson and Glenn Ochal), who had been hanging just a fraction back, charged.

A four-boat photo finish gave the three top spots to China, Switzerland and the United States.

Despite the excitement of semifinal one, semifinal two recorded the fastest qualifying time although the finish was much more spread out. Winners of the first Rowing World Cup, Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman (GBR), got their nose ahead of last year’s World silver medallists, France’s Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain. These two boats moved away from the rest of the field opening up an ever increasing gap.

A piece through the third 500m gave Wells and Bateman the edge over Berrest and Bahain with both boats satisfied with a 35 and 34 stroke rate respectively coming into the finish. Meanwhile German fill-ins (due to injury in their number one crew), Eric Johannesen and Sebastian Peter, managed to keep ahead of Norway to qualify, very happily, from third.

WOMEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (W1x) – Semifinals

Australia’s Kim Crow thought she was coming to Europe to row in a double, but when her doubles partner got injured she ended up as Australia’s second single. Crow raced in semifinal two in an outside lane with the great Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch of Belarus in the middle lane. Karsten took a small lead at the start with Crow and Emma Twigg of New Zealand right with her. Coming through the third 500m Crow felt a break and moved away from Twigg to confront Karsten.

Crow was in the lead. The finish came closer. The seasoned Karsten lifted her stroke rate just on beat, from 31 to 32 and moved again into the lead to finish first. Crow, in second qualifies for the final and Julia Levina of Russia came through to take third from a slowing Twigg.

Another surprise played out in semifinal two when China’s Jingli Duan showed her speed. Duan come out in a very slow start on leader Sally Kehoe of Australia, and the Czech Republic’s Mirka Knapkova was right there with Kehoe. Through the third 500m, Knapkova, who comes back after an illness that kept her away from Bled, did a strong piece that propelled her into the lead as Duan, 21, began to move up. Duan is in her first year of international competition and last month in Bled she raced in her country’s double.

As the final sprint came into view, Frida Svensson of Sweden decided to give it her all and out of nowhere sprinted down the side. Knapkova tried to hold on with Kehoe and Duan both under threat. Four boats crossed the line together. All four boats waited for the photo finish results. Duan, Kehoe and Knapkova had qualified, in that order, for tomorrow’s final.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LM2x) – Semifinals

They may barely be out of under-23 rowing status, but Linus Lichtschlag and Lars Hartig continued to make waves today when they took on the World Champions, New Zealand, and beat them in semifinal one. Hartig, 19, however, is no novice. Last year he finished fourth at the World Rowing Championships in this event and Lichtschlag, 21, first raced internationally as a junior four years ago.

For the entire 2000m race, Germany and New Zealand’s Peter Taylor and Storm Uru played cat and mouse. Taylor and Uru had the lead early on before Lichtschlag and Hartig snuck in front. These two crews moved away from the rest of the field and coming into the final sprint their 35 – 36 stroke rate pace was almost identical. Germany finished first, New Zealand second and China’s Tiexin Wang and Jie Sun came through ahead of their country’s number two boat to take out the final qualifying spot.

Olympic Champions, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain, are at their first international regatta since their 2008 Olympic gold and they raced in the centre lane of semifinal two. Purchase and Hunter used a fast start to gain a handy lead by the first 500m mark. This left Jonathan Winter and Brian De Regt of the United States to slip into second. Winter and De Regt finished first in the B-final at last month’s Rowing World Cup and if they could maintain this second position they would be one step up, on their way to the A-final.

Meanwhile, behind the USA, Mexico’s Gerardo Sanchez Duran and Alan Eber Armenta Vega had a close race going on with Poland and Slovenia. With Great Britain rating 32 and comfortably in front coming into the finish, USA, Mexico and Slovenia sprinted. Slovenia was not quite close enough to catch up. Great Britain, the United States and Mexico advance to tomorrow’s final.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S FOUR (LM4-) – Semifinals

Semifinal one saw last month’s silver medallists, Great Britain, row a controlled and steady race from the front. Stroked by Chris Bartley, Great Britain got the edge over the Czech Republic, which included the Vetesnik twins in the bow of the boat, and Austria sat back in third. This order did not change through the body of the race with China and South Africa going head to head just behind the leading boats.

As the last 200m came into view, South Africa upped their stroke rate to the low 40s and charged. Great Britain looked in control at a 34 stroke rate and Austria held on for dear life with a 41 stroke rate. Great Britain crossed the line in first, the Czech Republic remained in second and a very, very happy Austria had just managed to hold off the South Africans to earn the final qualifying position.

In semifinal two, a flying start by the Japanese gave them the lead at the start, but could they maintain this speed for the full 2000m, especially over last month’s winners, Denmark? By the half-way point Japan was still in front with Denmark, Australia and Serbia following closely. Then Japan started to lose pace. Denmark, who must have been waiting for their time, moved into the lead with Australia following closely.

Coming into the closing stages of the race Denmark looked in beautiful synchronicity at a 37 stroke rate with Serbia (at 38) and Australia (at 39) giving it their all. Denmark, Serbia and Australia make it to the final.

MEN’S QUADRUPLE SCULLS (M4x) – Semifinals

After a slight delay due to a yellow card given to the United States, semifinal one got away. With Croatia and Poland taking up the two centre lanes, all of the other countries must have thought that only third place was up for grabs. But anything can happen as appears to have been the theme today. At the start the United States had the lead but there was very little between the entire field. Then Germany pushed into the front. Germany was very unlucky yesterday when a boat stopping crab meant they limped home in their heat. But a second chance repechage got them through to today’s semifinal.

Germany then gave it their all to hold the lead with Croatia and Poland going neck-and-neck, stroke for stroke just behind them. With the final sprint in view Croatia rated the highest at 40 strokes per minute, Germany held on at 37 and Poland got to 35 then 36. Germany had done it taking first. Croatia qualify for the final from second and Poland earn a spot from finishing third.

The last semifinal of the day and race 120 was the second semifinal of the men’s quadruple sculls. Great Britain and Australia took out the two centre lanes and it looked like they would be the crews to set the pace. But at the start it was Russia in the lead with Olympic Champion from 2004, Sergey Fedorovtsev, in bow. Great Britain held on to Russia’s lead and making their move in the third 500m, Great Britain earned a slight margin.

Russia was not giving in and moved with the British crew. Then Australia, who had a reasonably slow start started to come back. The Australians, stroked by Karsten Forsterling, took their stroke rate to 40 and charged for the line. So did China who had been pacing the Australians. Great Britain, Russia and Australia make it to the final.