Repechages cut short at World Rowing Championships

Of the 29 races scheduled, 17 were completed before the International Rowing Federation (FISA) Fairness Committee decided that developing cross-winds could make the conditions, across the six lane course, unfair for the competitors. The 17 events raced heralded some lively competition as athletes fought to move on to the next round of racing.

Men’s Coxed Four (M4+) – Race for Lanes

Great Britain got the day humming by coming through from the back of the field to take the lead in a tight, four-way battle. The British crew are part of the very strong squad that include a top four, pair and eight. Today the Brits showed the depth of their squad by coming through from behind to overtake the United States and hold off Canada. With just six entries in this event, the race for lanes give the crews a chance to blow off the cobwebs and test their 2000 metre speed before Sunday’s final.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Repechages

One boat would drop off, three would advance through to the final. Serbia’s Milos Tomic and Luka Djordjevic took the lead at the start and never looked back. Tomic brings with him the experience of Olympic racing at Athens, while Djordjevic, 21, has been racing at the international level ever since he was a junior. Holding a steady 34 stroke rate, the Serbians remained in the lead keeping just ahead of Guatemala’s Oscar Maeda Gudiel and Juan Guevara Gonzalez. Maeda and Guevara have been rowing together since 2002 and spend much of their time training in Spain (Banyoles). Today the Guatemalans set themselves up for one of their best results to date by making it through to the final. Denmark also qualifies for the final with their third place finish.

Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls (LW4x) – Repechages

It was a surprise to see reigning World Champions Canada trailing the field, but in an event that set a new World Best Time in the heats, competition was going to be tough. Out in front Denmark’s Juliane Rasmussen, Katrin Olsen, Sine Christiansen and Kirsten Jepsen led the way. This Danish quad has spent the season racing in the open quad, their best result being a fourth place finish at the second stage of the Rowing World Cup. This racing must have served its purpose as the Danes stayed in the lead moving well away from Germany in second.

Four spots in the final were up for grabs and with the United States challenging Germany and Canada trying to hold on to the pace, a sprint to the finish was necessary. The order did not change. Denmark, Germany, the United States and Canada advance to the final.

Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls (LM4x) – Race for lanes

The Olympic class lightweight double is predominantly the priority boat. The quad often acts as a feeder into the double. The goal of all countries in this event is to beat the formidable Italians. Italy has owned the lightweight quad since the 1990s with only a couple of stutters for the gold. Today they raced for lanes in preparation for Sunday’s final. Today France decided to give it their all. Taking the lead at the start France tried to hold off the Italians. But a stronger second half gave Italy the lead. Stroked by under 23 medallist, 20-year-old Daniele Danesin, with the impressive Daniele Gilardoni in two seat (five straight World Champion titles and six in total), Italy remained in the lead.

The large number of entries in this event required four repechages and indicates a trend towards countries bringing together their potential Olympic combinations much earlier than in the past. These crews are likely to be the ones that aim to qualify for Beijing 2008 when they race at next year’s qualifying regatta – the World Rowing Championships in Munich.

After overtaking current World Champions, Marie-Louise Draeger and Daniela Reimer of Germany, Ireland took the lead. Sinead Jennings of Ireland has been aiming for the Olympics ever since she left triathlon racing behind and jumped into a rowing boat. Jennings, with her former partner, missed out on qualifying for Athens and now rowing with Niamh Ni Cheilleachair they appear to be clicking as a team. The Germans appeared to let the Irish go and under no threat from Italy (in third position), Ireland and Germany comfortably move on to the semifinal.

Canada opened their 2006 international season with a bang. Stroke Tracy Cameron won the single at the first Rowing World Cup and then returned with partner Mara Jones to race the double at the final Rowing World Cup, winning there. In the heats on Monday the duo could only manage third, coach Laryssa Biesenthal saying, "They rowed as if they were in two singles.” Today Cameron and Jones rowed together to lead repechage two over Great Britain’s Jane Hall and Helen Casey. Hall began racing internationally 15 years ago and has come back to competition after a three-year break. No challenge came from Japan in third and Canada and Great Britain move on to the semifinal.

Last year’s bronze medallists Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland led repechage three. Sten and Nieminen came together in 2004 with the aim of Athens Olympics qualification. They missed out on qualifying by just one spot and ever since then they have had their sights firmly set on Beijing. Today they move on to the semifinal with a comfortable lead and an easy 30 stroke rate pace. Spain’s Lourdes Guillen Cruz and Sonia Boubeta take second to qualify for the semifinal with France, in third, doing nothing to challenge this position.

The final repechage remained uninspiring with again two boats taking the lead and no one challenging their position. In this case it was Greece in the lead featuring three-time Olympian Chrysi Biskitzi with partner Alexandra Tsiavou. The Greeks, bundled up against the coolish weather, remained ahead of Sweden’s identical twins, Lena and Sara Karlsson and both boats move on to the semifinal.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Repechages

Three repechages with the top two from each advancing to the semifinal was the formula and inevitably racing turned into a procession following a first half sort-out. Cuba’s Yunior Perez and international newcomer Eyder Batista led the way. After overtaking Turkey, Cody Lowry and Daniel Urevick-Ackelsberg of the United States, in their debut international season, got into the second qualifying spot and held off a late challenge from Ireland to earn a semifinal position with a 36 stroke rate sprint along with Cuba (38 strokes per minute at the end).

Matt Jensen and Douglas Vandor of Canada come out of last year’s bronze medal quad and today in the double they controlled repechage two from the front. This left the very talented twins, Jan and Ondrej Vetesnik of the Czech Republic. The Vetesniks warmed up for these World Championships by earning a bronze at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships adding to their 2005 under 23 gold medal. Canada and the Czech Republic remained well ahead of any challenge and qualify for the semifinal.

The switch from the lightweight pair to the double is starting to pay dividends for Miguel Cerda Silva and Felipe Leal Atero of Chile. Cerda and Leal led repechage three building up a handy boat length over Russia within the first 500 metres and maintaining that lead throughout the race. Russia’s Vladimir Varfolomeev and Denis Moiseev held easily on to second rating a steady 32 stroke rate down the course. Chile and Russia advance to the semifinal.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Repechages

Four repechages with the instructions being to finish in the top two if you want to advance led to some of the closer racing of the day. Repechage one saw Canada advance another crew when they led from start to finish. Stroked by Iain Brambell who reemerges from post-Athens retirement, the Canadians watched as Russia and Poland fought it out for second. The superior stamina of Poland gave them the valuable second qualifying spot, while Russia simply ran out of steam.

After racing Brambell said: "Any time in the lightweight races, it doesn’t really matter if you are in the double or the four, you have to win every race. Setting yourself up for the semi final is the key thing. After not doing that in the heat, we obviously had to go out and race a better race in the rep. That meant being able to have a more established stronger start. That was probably lacking a little bit in our heat, which meant we had to sprint like crazy in the final 500. So it shows we have a good kick, but we have to put it all together. I think today we got closer to that."

Egypt shot into the limelight when they won a Rowing World Cup medal earlier this season. Today they contested repechage two and at the start had full control of the lead. Egypt was still in front at the half way point but their speed was beginning to falter. Great Britain, meanwhile, moved into a devastating piece going through the third 500 to take the lead. The Netherlands sprinted after the Dutch. Great Britain reacted with a 39 stroke rate. It was enough to hold the Dutch off, but left Egypt out of qualification. Great Britain and the Netherlands advance to the semifinal.

After racing Paul Maddick of Great Britain commented on their racing: "I think (in the heats) we were just over-anxious, not with the idea that this is the worlds and we just went out to race and everyone was trying to do their own thing and not working together. So today was significantly better – much more coordinated and controlled. It wasn’t our best race, but it was a big step up from last time…. Three of those crews got to the A final in Lucerne so it was a bit of a re-run of our Lucerne semi and I think today we raced better…much more controlled."

Repechage three turned into a close battle between the two leading crews – Italy and the United States. Italy finished with bronze last year and from that crew stroke Bruno Mascarenhas and bow Lorenzo Bertini remain. They are joined by six-time World Champion Leonardo Pettinari and two-time Olympian Catello Amarante. The new United States line up led over the Italians at the start but by the half way point had been overtaken by Italy. Belgium in third did not have the energy to challenge. Italy and the United States advance to the semifinal. Ireland come to these World Champs as winners of the Rowing World Cup series, but a fast Chinese crew beat them in the heats forcing the Irish to contest the repechage today. Ireland did just that in repechage four by taking to the front of the field and leaving South Africa to play at chasing. Ireland developed enough of a margin over South Africa to settle into a 34 stroke rate rhythm to cross the line first. South Africa, stroked by Tony Paladin, is the same line-up that won the B Final at last year’s World Championships and in the final sprint they got their rating up to 39 to stay ahead of Austria. Ireland and South Africa advance to the semifinal.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Repechages

Russia conducted a tight battle with reigning World Champions Great Britain in the heat but were piped in the final metres forcing them to contest the repechage today. Russia’s superiority over the rest of the field was obvious as they led from start to finish already gaining a clear water lead by the first 500 metres. The Unites States took up chase with China following closely. This remained the order until the final sprint. Russia held everyone off to finish first. China and Germany overtook the United States to take second and third respectively. The United States also qualify for the final by holding on to fourth.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Repechages

Three boats would qualify and Germany had the best spot at the start of the race. Behind them a very close battle went on between the rest of the field. Egypt held the edge early on but then ran out of steam. Romania and Belarus then took over in the two remaining qualifying spots with Belarus pulling out the better sprint. Germany qualifies from first, Belarus from second and Romania takes third.