No lagging in World Rowing Champ B Finals

B Finals

Austria’s Michaela Taupe set herself up to be seventh in the world by sprinting through at the finish of the lightweight women’s single. Taupe had to overtake a fast starting Coralie Ribeil of France and Thailand to earn her spot with a 36 – 37 stroke rate sprint. This is Taupe’s best World Championship finish in her 15 year international career.

Edgar Nanne of Guatemala looked to be biding his time in the first half of the lightweight men’s single doing a piece through the half-way point to try and catch Ukraine’s Oleksandr Serdiuk who maintained a 43 stroke rate for the first quarter of the race. But it was the experience of former World Champion, the Czech Republic’s Michal Vabrousek that pulled through to second. Serdiuk holds on to seventh in the world, a step back from his 2004 bronze medal.

Going for seventh in the world in the women’s single Gabriella Bascelli of Italy took off at the head of the field. Bascelli’s biggest success was a bronze in 2002 in the double. Now in the single Bascelli’s dream is to row a double with her younger sister. An impressive 40 stroke rate sprint by Slovenia’s Majda Jerman, however, saw no reply coming from Bascelli. Jerman, at her first senior World Championships, takes first, Bascelli finishes second.

The orange brigade took delight to see Sjoerd Hamburger of the Netherlands in the lead at the start of the men’s single. But Holland Beker winner Lassi Karonen of Sweden had other ideas. Karonen was unlucky not to make the A Final following a very successful 2006 season and he was going to give it his all in the B Final. Karonen’s 41 stroke rate sprint gave him first and seventh in the world, one spot improvement on last year. Hamburger held on to second (one spot down on last year) in a flurry for the line that included Switzerland and Argentina.

The newly formed Chinese combination of Fei Yu and Yan Yang challenged the more established Romanians, Rodica Florea and Ioana Papuc (under 23 gold medallists and junior medallists) in the women’s pair. By the second half Florea and Papuc had pulled through to the lead maintaining a steady 37 stroke rate. Coming into the final sprint China attacked with a 43 stroke rate, but it had no impact on the Romanians. Florea and Papuc finish first, China second and Australia’s pair third. Romania and Australia will meet again in their country’s eight tomorrow.

An early charge by Serbia soon fell away in the men’s pair as South Africa’s Ramon Di Clemente and Don Cech took control. But, in a race full of drama, United States bow man Dan Beery stopped rowing, lay down in the boat, the end of his race. Then Serbian World Cup winners, Goran Jagar and Nikola Stojic then took the pressure right off to paddle home. South Africa finish seventh in the world with Italy in second. This is the first time Di Clemente and Cech have not made the A Final since 1999.

The women’s double was all about the Czech Republic. Nineteen-year-olds Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova of the Czech Republic have junior (2005) and under 23 (2006) gold medals and will definitely be a force for the future. Antosova and Varekova kept a steady 35 to remain in the lead holding off a late charge from China and the flying Hungarians.

A bad stroke in the semi-final lost Robert Sens and Rene Bertram of Germany a place in the final. Today in the B Final of the men’s double Sens and Bertram made no mistakes by leading from start to finish. Croatia tried to hold on but the Germans were too powerful. Germany finish seventh in the world, Croatia, with a 42 stroke rate finish.

A very tight semi-final race pushed Canada into the B Final of the men’s four. Today they led the B Final keeping a wary eye on World Cup medallists New Zealand. But it turned out that the ever improving Irish were the biggest threat. Alan Martin, stroke for Ireland, pushed the rating to 45 to cross the line in first over Canada and New Zealand.