24 Jan 2012
Poland takes a breath after semifinals
The 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland now have all finalists decided with the conclusion of today’s semifinal racing and the best was saved for last. The men’s quad has seen hot racing all season and this afternoon on the Malta Lake regatta course was no exception. Olympic Champions in the men’s quad Poland faced their nemesis, Croatia and managed to get a slight confidence boost. Poland’s Olympic medallists in the lightweight men’s four also shook off some early season demons to qualify for the Final in fine form.
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LW2x) – Semifinal
Great Britain may have won the last two Rowing World Cups, but Germany came into this Semifinal One with different ideas. Denmark got out to a blistering start but unable to maintain it, they were soon overtaken by Great Britain’s Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking and the Germans (Anja Noske and Marie-Louise Draeger). This then began a tête-à-tête between the British and the Germans. Matching each other through the middle of the race, neither crew was willing to relent. Coming into the final sprint Goodsell and Hosking had a small edge. But the crowd was going wild for Poland. Magdalena Kemnitz and Agnieszka Renc of Poland had overtaken Denmark and moved into a qualifying position.
In the charge for the line the German vs. Great Britain battle continued. Germany took their rating to 35 then 37. At the line the Germans had earned the psychological advantage with a first place finish. Great Britain and Poland took second and third respectively.
Greece are looking good. Olympian Alexandra Tsiavou has a new partner, Christina Giazitzidou, and together they have been improving throughout this season. Today they led Semifinal Two from start to finish. As Cuba faded in the second half of the race, Canada and Australia moved through to get into qualifying positions. Neck-and-neck with each other, Canada and Australia closed on Greece. But the Greeks were in control. Despite a close finish, it was clear who had the best race. Greece, Canada and Australia are in the final on Sunday.
Qualifiers: GER, GBR, POL, GRE, CAN, AUS
Anja Noske, Marie-Louise Draeger (GER) – Semi A/B One – 1st
“This was a much better race for us than the others so far. Our aim was to stay with the British in the first 500, as we knew this would be our only chance to fight them down. And our aim today was to win and to give the British a shake-up so they will have some respect for us. For the final everything is open, I guess. In the lightweight races everything is possible and the final has always rules of its own. Our intention is to win a medal though. Today it was a great feeling to finally be ahead of the British.” Marie-Louise Draeger
Christina Giazitzidou, Alexandra Tsiavou (GRE) – Semi A/B Two – 1st
“We are very happy with our race, especially as we are a new crew. We really look forward to the final” Alexandra Tsiavou
Lindsay Jennerich, Sheryl Preston (CAN) – Semi A/B 2 – 2nd
“It was a challenging race. We worked excellently through the 3rd 500. We did what we had to do and know the final will be very tight”. Lindsay Jennerich
Bronwen Watson, Alice McNamara (AUS) – Semi A/B 2 – 3rd
“We are quite happy with our race and it’s going to be a tight final. We were surprised by the wind conditions that are changing all the time.” Alice McNamara
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LM2x) – Semifinal
Semifinal One featured one 2008 Olympic combination. Storm Uru and Peter Taylor of New Zealand raced in the B-final and have come back this year to put things right. The duo looked to be making easy work of this semi, racing an evenly paced race. But Germany’s Christian Hochbruck and Lars Hartig did not want to make it too easy for the New Zealanders. Neither did Great Britain. Great Britain are the Olympic Champions in this event but have two new rowers in the boat this year, Rob Williams and Paul Mattick.
A big push at the finish with a 40 stroke rate pace gave Germany the edge over Great Britain at the end, with Williams and Mattick looking satisfied to qualify from third.
The second Semifinal recorded much faster finishing times when three boats raced each other relentlessly for the entire 2000m. France’s Jeremie Azou and Frederic Dufour held the edge for much of the race, but Italy had more to give in the second half of the race and managed to push ahead. Italy’s Marcello Miani and Elia Luini raced together at the Beijing Olympics but just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. They are in their fourth season together. Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester of Canada also raced at the Olympics, but illness cut their racing short. They joined together again earlier this year.
These three crews continued to sprint through to the line, France hitting 42 strokes per minute. The finishing order was Italy, France then Canada.
Qualifiers: NZL, GER, GBR, ITA, FRA, CAN
Storm Uru, Peter Taylor (NZL) – Semi A/B One – 1st
“After our results this season we expected this and wanted to win. We kept to our race plan and strategy and it all work out. Now we’ll step it up again in the final.“ Peter Taylor
Christian Hochbruck, Lars Hartig (GER) – Semi A/B One – 2nd
“We wanted to start this race offensively as this is our strength and that worked out. We were one length ahead at the beginning. Then the New Zealanders, who are the strongest went past, then also the British but we managed to catch the British in the final sprint. We didn’t expect that it would all go so well. We wanted to get to the final, but didn’t expect to do it being so close to the New Zealanders.” Christian Hochbruck
Rob Williams, Paul Mattick (GBR) – Semi A/B One – 3rd
“It was good enough to get through. It was very cross-windy in the middle and at the end of the race, but we have made it to start line of the final which is great. We’ll see what we can do there.” Rob Williams
Marcello Miani, Elia Luini (ITA) – Semi A/B Two – 1st
“We controlled the race. The finish of our stroke was very powerful, which enabled us to cope with the wind. We were just taking the boat with us. For the final I want to do a beautiful race, a fantastic race but I’ll only know my place when I will cross the line.” Elia Luini
Jeremie Azou, Frederic Dufour (FRA) – Semi A/B Two – 2nd
“It’s very hard to row as there are lots of waves. We feel good”. Frederic Dufour
Douglas Vandor, Cameron Sylvester (CAN) – Semi A/B Two – 3rd
“We feel good, we made the final. It’s windy but it’s the same for everybody, you just have to make the best of it. We are really excited about the final” Douglas Vandor
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S FOUR (LM4-) – Semifinal
This event began with 20 countries. Today 12 boats remained. Shortly there would be six remaining. Both semifinals were close. Both brought joy and heartache. Semifinal One opened with Canada in the lead. The Canadians, however, could not maintain it as the entire field bore down on them through the middle of the race. Baring down the best was Poland. The Poles were Olympic medalists last year and this year started off the season rather slow and sedately. Today they performed the perfect negative-splitting race, their speed increasing as the race progressed.
In an incredibly unusual performance, four other crews followed suit. As the boats got faster and faster through the second half of the race, Poland was just holding on to first. With Canada slipping back, five crews charged for the line. Five crews had given it all that they had. Five crews had forced a photo finish to decide the final three qualifying spots. Just 2 seconds separated them. Poland, France and Italy had done it. Japan and the Czech Republic just missed out.
Semifinal Two recorded the fastest comparative race of the day when Germany tried to set the nearly unbeatable Danes right. The outcome? Read on.
Germany had a small edge over Denmark for the majority of the race, but there was very little in it with the United States also pushing these leading crews hard. Then coming through from a very mediocre start was the Netherlands. Stroked by Tycho Muda, the Dutch had come out of the starting blocks last and had a bit of speed to make up. The sprint to the line looked like a flurry of oars, tunnel vision for the athletes and hard on the eyes of the finishing umpires. Denmark and Germany had finished in a tie. The Netherlands got the better of the United States to finish third.
Qualifiers: POL, FRA, ITA, DEN, GER, NED
Lukasz Pawlowski, Lukasz Siemion, Milosz Bernatajtys, Pawel Randa (POL) – Semi A/B One, 1st
“This is my first start in an Olympic boat class at a real World Championship event and I’m only in this four since Lucerne and this is a dream come true for me. We’ll fight for a medal on Sunday. It will be great – the heart is bigger when you race in your own country.” Lukasz Siemion
Salvatore Di Somma, Catello Amarante, Luca Motta, Giorgio Tuccinardi (ITA) – Semi A/B One, 3rd
“Our start wasn’t good and the others got away straight away. It was quite exciting at the end to have four crews within two seconds. I’m happy it ended like this. Of course the aim for the final will always be to win.” Giorgio Tuccinardi
Christian Pedersen, Jens Vilhelmsen, Kasper Winther, Morten Joergensen (DEN) – Semi A/B Two – 1st equal with GER
“It was a weird race. With the side wind our boat was not aligned at the start. Our start is normally strong but not today. We took a bad start and had to catch up. We are not at all used to this but just raced our race and as we could feel the Germans, we gave a last push.” Jens Vilhelmsen
Matthias Schoemann-Finck, Jost Schoemann-Finck, Jochen Kuehner, Martin Kuehner (GER) – Semi A/B One 2nd (same time as 1st)
„It will be a tight and exciting race on Sunday with Denmark and us both racing in lane three, considering we clocked the same time (laughs). We could also suggest a re-row… Just kidding, but this definitely was an exciting race and really fun too. We knew the Spanish would start fast and wanted to stay with them. Also our intention was to have a lead on the Danish because we know they are especially strong at the finish. And it both worked. It’ll be a hot fight on Sunday, but we are really looking forward to it. And we still have some reserves which we will make sure to use.“ Jost Schoemann-Finck
Vincent Muda, Roeland LIevens, Timothee Heijbrock, Tycho Muda (NED) – Semi A/B Two – 2nd
“It was hard but good. Coming from the pair to the four is so fast and I like it more and more. Spain did start very fast and I sometimes had difficulties to keep my concentration. We managed to come back in the field and in the final sprint take over USA to get into the final.” Vincent Muda
MEN’S QUADRUPLE SCULLS (M4X) – Semifinal
There is no doubt this race is going to be a fabulous Final. After the two semifinals, only three seconds separate the entire six boat qualifiers. Not one bad stroke will be allowed to be taken. The Polish – Croatian showdown took place in Semifinal One. But it looked like it would be a non-event with Croatia starting out relatively slowly. Poland, stroked by today’s profiled athlete, Adam Korol had meanwhile settled into a steady 33 stroke rate pace at the head of the field. Ukraine, who had done so well in the heats, held on. Then, with half the race rowed, the under-23 champions, the Croatians began to work their way up through the field. With 500m left to row four boats had a very good shot at the three qualifying spots – Poland, Croatia, Ukraine and Australia. The flying Australians had denied Ukraine of a position in the final. Poland, Australia and Croatia will race in Sunday’s Final.
After winning the final Rowing World Cup last month, Germany went back into training with a huge confidence boost. Today they continued to look confident. The Germans got out into the lead in Semifinal Two and managed to inch away to a slight lead. This lead was enough to give them the confidence and ability to watch the rest of the field. They were prepared for any moves.
Russia made the first move but soon slipped back. Italy then pushed through followed closely by France. Germany remained in front. All six crews charged for the line. Germany, Italy and France charged the fastest. They are in the final.
Qualifiers: POL, AUS, CRO, GER, ITA, FRA
Adrien Hardy, Jonathan Coeffic, Jean-Baptiste Macquet, Pierre-Jean Peltier (FRA) – Semi A/B Two – 3rd
“There was a lot more pressure. It was hard, we move on thanks to our physical condition but we cannot repeat this pace in the final, it wouldn’t be sufficient. We will put all counters back to zero for this final and see.” Adrien Hardy
Tim Grohmann, Karsten Brodowski, Marcel Hacker, Tim Bartels (GER) – Semi A/B 2, 1st
"We are happy with our race. It was a definite improvement to our heat, where we had a few problems. It's good now to have won the heat and the semi. We were quite nervous today, even though we know we are a good crew. We know who's in the Final, but we won't subordinate ourselves and will row as hard as we can." Karsten Brodowski
"This was a great team effort. It will be a tough race on Sunday, but we hope we'll be in there racing for the medals." Marcel Hacker