Striding towards the final at World Champs

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Heats

A very healthy and competitive turnout of 11 nations lined up in the women’s eight. They were divided into two heats with the top boat only from each heat getting to go directly to the final on Sunday. The World and Olympic Champions, the United States looked absolutely supreme in Heat One. This is the flagship boat of the US team with a winning streak in all major regattas going back to 2006. By the 1000m mark the United States had a full boat length lead over Great Britain in second. This American team spend the season leading up to the World Championships competing amongst each other to get into the eight making for a very competitive environment. The US crossed the finish line at a rather comfortable looking 35 stroke rate.

Heat Two featured the two crews that have the capacity to challenge the United States – Canada and Romania. At the start Canada was the leading boat with 54 year old coxswain, Lesley Thompson-Willie in control. Russia followed, but at the race progressed, Canada pushed further away from Russia and the rest of the field. This order remained the same to the line with Canada able to push away and cross the line in an identical time as the United States in Heat One – 6:20.96.

Qualifiers: USA, CAN

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Quarterfinals

The top three boats in each of these quarterfinals would earn a spot in the semifinals and in Quarterfinal One the current European Champion, Pedro Fraga of Portugal had the leading edge. But coming through the second 500, Olympian Marcello Miani of Italy got his nose in front. Miani, who is in his twelfth year of international competition, moved away from the rest of the field and was able to cruise at a 27 stroke rate pace at the end.

Quarterfinal Two opened with two-time Under-23 Champion Andrew Campbell of the United States in the lead. Campbell dominated his heat. But then catastrophe. Campbell’s oar hit a marker buoy just before the 500m mark and he fell into the water. This left China’s Jingbin Zhao to take the lead and hold it to the end with Great Britain’s Zak Lee-Green holding the pace. It took Campbell less than five minutes to climb back into the boat and finish the race to move onto the C/D semifinal.

Germany and Russia shot out at the start of Quarterfinal Three and both these boats challenged each other through the middle of the race. Then Tufanyuk of Russia ran out of steam as Ireland and Denmark picked up the pace and moved into qualifying spots. Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan then went after leader, Lars Hartig of Germany. Hartig wanted to finish first and took his stroke rate to 41 to cross the line just ahead of O’Donovan who was rating 31. Hartig recorded the fastest qualifying time of all of the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal Four had winner of the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Michael Schmid of Switzerland in the lead. But Lukas Babac of Slovakia was pacing Schmid and was right up there with the leader. Then coming through the third 500, Perry Ward of Australia took up the pace and moved on the leaders. In the final sprint Schmid had the edge to finish first, Ward was second and a very tight closing sprint saw Babac get to the line before France.

Qualifiers: ITA, POR, HUN, CHN, GBR, JPN, GER, IRL, DEN, SUI, AUS, SVK

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Quarterfinals

After breaking the World Best Time in the heats earlier this week, it looked as if Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou of France were unbeatable. But with 500m rowed it was Denmark in the lead of Quarterfinal One. The goal here was to be in the top three boats to make it through to the semifinals and by the 700m mark Delayre and Azou had the lead. But Henrik Stephansen and Jens Nielsen of Denmark were not giving up and they got back into the lead. The smoother, more relaxed style of the French was paying off and Delayre and Azou began to move out ahead of Denmark.  The real race was now going on for third between the United states and China. In just 0.13 of a second, the United States made the semifinals over China.

New Zealand must have decided to get out fast and hold on in Quarterfinal Two. But by the middle of the race the leading Kiwis had been overtaken by Simon Schuerch and Mario Gyr of Switzerland. The Swiss double medalled last year at the World Rowing Championships and they are in line to do it again this year. Once in the lead Schuerch and Gyr held it to the end with Great Britain coming through in second. Switzerland and Great Britain went fourth and fifth respectively at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne last month and the order remained consistent today. Switzerland recorded the fastest qualifying time of the four quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal Three had Italy’s Andrea Micheletti and Pietro Ruta in the lead with the reigning World Champions, Norway, and the Vetesnik brothers from the Czech Republic challenging hard. Coming through the middle of the race only half a second separated these three crews and it took the second half of the race for Micheletti and Ruta to shake off the Vetesnik’s and get a small edge over Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway. A nice 37 stroke rate closing push by Italy gave them the first place at the end with Norway and the Czechs also qualifying.

Germany’s Moritz Moos and Jason Osborne got a slight leading edge over Canada in Quarterfinal Four. Then the Dutch (Tycho and Vincent Muda) really found their rhythm, got into second and closed on Moos and Osborne with South Africa taking chase. The South Africans (James Thompson and John Smith) decided to shake up the competition and push into the lead. Thompson and Smith took gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the lightweight men’s four and they are a new combination in this lightweight double boat class. The Dutch, German, South African duel saw these three crews push away from the rest of the field. It then looked like a gentlemen’s agreement had been struck as the leaders did not really sprint the finish.

Qualifiers: FRA, DEN, USA, SUI, GBR, AUT, ITA, NOR, CZE, GER, RSA, NED

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Quarterfinals

The top three boats would get to advance to the semifinals through these quarterfinals and Aleksandar Aleksandrov of Azerbaijan set the pace in Quarterfinal One. Aleksandrov raced successfully in the double earlier this season and is also an Olympian in the single. By the middle of the race Aleksandrov had a small edge over Olympian Julien Bahain of Canada. Bahain continued to keep Aleksandrov honest. Bringing their boats home, Aleksandrov continued to lead over Bahain with Switzerland’s Barnabe Delarze earning the third qualifying spot.

Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania dominated his heat earlier in the week and today he led the way over Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand in Quarterfinal Two. By the middle of the race Drysdale, who will become a father for the first time in October, had caught up to Griskonis and using his trademark power, he pushed ahead. Meanwhile Italy’s Francesco Cardaioli had slotted into third. In the close of the race the order was set and none of the leaders chose to sprint to the end.

Making an early showing in Quarterfinal Three was local hero Roel Braas of the Netherlands. Braas is the face of many of the World Rowing Championship banners plastered around Amsterdam. Braas still had the lead going through the middle of the race with Marcel Hacker of Germany moving up to match Braas. Hacker and Braas then paced each other side by side, neither scullers looking too concerned about pushing away from each other. Then Olympic medallist Hacker started to move away from Braas to earn a psychological edge. Coming into the finish the order had been well sorted with Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus securely in the third and final qualifying spot.

Last year’s silver medallist Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba had the leading edge at the start of Quarterfinal Four with a very fast start. This put Fournier ahead of reigning World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic who followed in second. This order remained the same coming into the final sprint. The question was what could Olaf Tufte of Norway do in the last 500m to get into a qualifying spot? Tufte was sitting in fourth behind Hannes Obreno of Belgium. Coming into the line Synek did just enough to get ahead of Fournier with Obreno holding off a big sprint by Tufte. Synek, in first, had recorded the fastest qualifying time of all quarterfinals.

Qualifiers: AZE, CAN, SUI, NZL, LTU, ITA, GER, NED, BLR, CZE, CUB, BEL

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Quarterfinals

Aiming for a top three spot was the goal of these scullers. In Quarterfinal One it was no surprise to see 2014 World Cup winner, Emma Twigg of New Zealand in the lead. But Twigg was being chased hard by Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and China’s Jingli Duan. Going through the middle of the race these three scullers had broken away from the rest of the field and it looked like they were content with the order with no real pressure being put on leader Twigg. Twigg, looking long through the water then moved away from Duan. There were no fireworks in the closing stages as these scullers accepted their positions with Twigg sculling at a relaxed 26 stroke rate and still recording the fastest qualifying time of all of the quarterfinals.

Last year’s fourth-place finisher, Magdalena Lobnig of Austria led the way in Quarterfinal Two. But then Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark showed that she was serious about her post-Olympic comeback as she moved into the lead. Erichsen, who medalled at the London 2012 Olympic Games, maintained just a small edge over Lobnig before Lobnig decided to push back into the lead which she held until the end. Lisa Scheenaard of the Netherlands qualified back in third.

At 41 years old, Julia Levina of Russia is one of the older scullers at these World Rowing Championships. She raced in Quarterfinal Three in second behind Sanita Puspure of Ireland. By the middle of the race these two scullers had moved away from the rest of the field. They must have been very much aware of each other as they rowed practically side by side in the second half of the race. Meanwhile Lithuania’s Lina Saltyte established herself in the third qualifying spot with no other crew looking close enough to challenge the leaders. A push in the final sprint by Levina put her into first place coming into the line.

World Champion Kim Crow of Australia looked to make easy work of Quarterfinal Four. So much so that by the middle of the race the Olympic medallist had an open water lead. With that Crow relaxed and did just enough to hold off Great Britain’s Victoria Thornley and Genevra Stone of the United States who were racing practically level. A push in the final sprint by Stone moved her into second with Thornley qualifying from third.

Qualifiers: NZL, CHN, CZE, AUT, DEN, NED, RUS, IRL, LTU, AUS, USA, GBR