Finalists narrowed down at World Champs

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Semi-final

The 159th race of the 2006 World Rowing Championships went Australia’s way when Tim Smith (4th in the LM4- at the 2005 World Rowing Championships) and Olympian (Athens LM2x) Cameron Wurf took off in the lead of the first of two semi-finals. Great Britain’s Chris Bartley and Richard Chambers followed closely behind. Bartley and Chambers were a late addition to the British squad after proving themselves by winning gold at both the Rowing World Cup and at the Under 23 Championships. Behind the two leaders Russia’s Mikhail Belikov and Sergey Bukreev were holding the leaders pace. Belikov and Bukreev are in their first season together but two-time Olympian, Bukreev brings to the boat a wealth of experience. The Russian’s kept ahead of Japan to hold onto third with the order not changed for the rest of the race.

Australia, Great Britain and Russia will make up half of the boats in the final.

The second semi-final featured Germany’s Felix Otto and Ole Rueckbrodt. The duo have medalled at every international race they’ve been in since 2003 and both say they have the Beijing Olympics in their sights, hoping to get into the lightweight four. Otto and Rueckbrodt took to the lead with Spain’s Juan Manuel Florido Pellon and Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez in hot pursuit. Florido and Gonzalez both have Olympic experience and both are in their second decade of international rowing. Their expertise came through as the Spaniard’s pushed ahead of Germany.

Meanwhile, winding up from the back of the field, Italy’s Andrea Caianiello and the very experienced (nine international medals) Salvatore Di Somma were trying to come back from a bad start. It took until the final 500 for the Italians to get into a qualifying spot. In the closing sprint Spain held off Germany who will qualify from second and Italy will also go on to the final.

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

In a lineup full of accomplished rowers, Greece’s Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou got off the line first. This crew is a mixture of experience and new talent; three-time Olympian Biskitzi has teamed up with this year’s under 23 lightweight single champion, Tsiavou. Together they held onto the lead, but not for long. First Dongxiang Xu and Shimin Yan pushed past, then Canada’s Mara Jones and Tracy Cameron.

Xu and Yan held a steady 34 to hold the lead, a definite change from their style earlier in the season when high rating for the full 2000 metres seemed to be the name of the game. Jones and Cameron, coming to the double from last year’s World Champion lightweight quad, did their best to chase down the Chinese. Yan, who turned 20 yesterday, has the advantage of having won the lightweight single on this course at last year’s Eton Rowing World Cup. Xu, 23, comes from the same province as Yan and is this year’s yellow jersey holder from the World Cup series.

China crosses the line in first, followed by Canada and in a three way dash for the line, Greece only just holds off Poland and Germany to take the final qualifying spot.

Australia’s Amber Halliday used to hold the World Best Time. She gained this in her heat at the Athens Olympics before missing out on a medal and disappearing off the international rowing scene. Earlier this season China (Xu and Yan) bettered Halliday’s time and created a new World Best Time. Halliday is back with new partner Marguerite Houston and has her sights set on Beijing to right her Athens misfortunes. In semi-final two the Australians watched Finland’s Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen take off at the head of the field. Sten and Nieminen finished third last year and in their third year together are aiming for Beijing. Looking smooth and together, Sten and Nieminen remained ahead of Australia with Jane Hall and Helen Casey of Great Britain (who qualified through the repechage) sprinting down the outside. Going through the 1500 metre mark there was very little between these three crews and despite all of them being in qualifying positions, they all sprinted, nervously aware of what last year’s silver medallists the United States and World Cup medallist, Ireland may do.

At the line Australia had taken over in the best sprint to take first, Finland holds on to second and Great Britain take the third qualifying spot to move on to Sunday’s final.

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

Especially clean finishes and high rating gave the Czech Republic the lead at the start of the first of three semi-finals which meant a top two position was needed to gain a spot in the final. But the margin was miniscule going through the middle of the race with the top five crews only two seconds apart. This is when the very gaunt looking Elia Luini of Italy and partner Marcello Miani took advantage of their controlled start to push ahead. France’s Fabrice Moreau and Frederic Dufour also showed that a steady start would pay dividends later in the race.

Italy and France had expended their energy correctly and move on to the final.

The second semi-final opened with Vasileios Polymeros and Dimitrios Mougios of Greece getting out in front first. Polymeros and Mougios settled at a 37 stroke rate which was proving to be effective. This position, however, did not last long for the Greeks as Germany’s Joerg Lehnigk and Manuel Brehmer pushed into the lead. But margins between boats continued to be incredibly tight. Canada, rowing with the rigger-behind-them style boat was well in contention and Australia fully in the picture.

With 1500 metres rowed Australia’s Sam Beltz and Tom Gibson earned the lead. Beltz and Gibson both come from Tasmania, Australia’s island that has bred many lightweight champion rowers and the duo look to be adding to this history. At the line Australia had held on to first, Germany sprinted through to second to also qualify. Canada and Greece will have to contest the B Final.

Denmark’s race plan must have been to get out in the lead, stay efficient and hold off any challengers until the finish. In the third semi-final Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark took off out of the starting holders hands in the lead and settled from 38 down to 34 strokes per minute. This is a change from Rasmussen and Quist’s style at Rowing World Cup races earlier in the season when they would burst out in front and keep their rating high through the entire race, one time being overtaken. A tweaking of their race plan must have led to this more controlled style that would give them enough energy if needed at the end.

Meanwhile two-time Olympic Champions Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz of Poland held a close battle with Great Britain for the second qualifying spot. Poland, rating higher than the Danes stuttered through the middle of the race giving Great Britain the edge. The final sprint, however, went the Poles’ way as they caught up and overtook Great Britain in the final three strokes. Denmark were still well in front. Denmark and Poland advance to the final.

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

An appalling start by the Irish announced the commentator as France and the United States got away first. The Irish come to the World Rowing Championships with high expectations as winners of last year’s silver medal and yellow jersey holders from this year’s Rowing World Cup series, but they have been struggling at this regatta to get off the line quickly. Back to defend their World Champion title, Fabien Tilliet, Jean-Christophe Bette, Jeremy Pouge and Franck Solforosi of France remained in the lead while Great Britain moved up the ranks and the United States dropped back.

Margins remained tight in the last 500 metres. Stroke rates moved up. Fastest qualifiers Germany tried to get back from their fifth place start. At the line France takes first, Great Britain second and Ireland stays ahead of Germany to take the third qualifying spot.

China showed that they had the goods earlier in the week and took off at the head of semi-final two. They come to this regatta with a World Cup fifth and sixth place finish, but there has been some further tweaking to the line up and it seemed to be working a charm.

Canada, stroked by the experienced Iain Brambell and father to be, soon got the better of China by moving into first. China, rating a couple of beats lower, held on with Australia and Italy still clambering for that third spot. A better sprint by China gave them the lead at the end with Canada qualifying from second and Australia dropping Italy, who had run out of steam, completely takes the remaining spot in the final.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Semi-final

Poland showed their World Champion class in the first semi-final by moving out to the lead at the start and establishing a relatively easy 32 stroke rate pace for the body of the race and left the remainder of the field to fight for second and third. First Australia grabbed hold of second, then Italy, stroked by Sydney Olympic Champion Simone Raineri, pushed through to second, before Ukraine sprinted through to take this spot. The whole time Poland, with 21 year old champion Konrad Wasielweski, sitting in bow, remained comfortably in front lifting their rating to 35 to keep their nose in front at the end.

A solid sprint by Ukraine rating 42 pulled them into second, Italy held on to third while an unlucky Australia miss out despite their 45 stroke rate charge.

Russia’s three seat Alexey Svirin is an impressive individual. He’s over two metres tall, he weighs in at over 100 kg, when not rowing he’s a builder and he has an Olympic gold medal. Today, with his crew, Svirin was in the lead of semi-final two earning enough of a lead that they could keep an eye on the tussle for second. Germany, the Czech Republic and Estonia were all there. Only about 60 strokes were left to race and a near on dead heat existed between these three crews. Who had the best sprint? Germany didn’t. Estonia, rowing a style that looked almost a mirror image of Russia’s upright style, did. At the line the fight for second had hauled in the Russians.

Estonia qualify from first with the fastest time overall, Russia hold on to second and the remaining spot goes to the Czech Republic.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Semi-final

Semi-final one had the all familiar sight of the United States in the lead. The crew, stroked by Beau Hoopman, one of the survivors from the gold medal Olympic boat, already had their nose in front within the first 20 strokes and continued to move away. The quip from the commentator’s car was this US crew did not look as tidy as their 2005 World Champion boat. Would they pay for it later in the race?

The United States continued to lead with the only challenges coming from Germany and Italy. Coming into the final sprint the United States still looked like winners. Germany then let loose, their stroke rate rising to 39 with Italy following suit. Hoopman reacted, their stroke rate rising to 42. At the line there was nothing in it. A photo finish gave it to the US with 1/100th of a second over Germany. Italy held on to third to also qualify.

Australia followed the US style in semi-final two. Getting into the lead over a quick starting China, Australia settled into a very comfortable 35 stroke rate pace as Canada tried to reel them in. Then Poland gave it a shot and finally, to the delight of the crowd, Great Britain. Four boats were easily in the running for three spots. Australia held on to first, Great Britain, rating 42, took second, Poland, rating 43 squeezed ahead of Canada (at 45) to take third.