Under 23s open in Belarus
 |
 | Text size  
|
|
Men’s Double Sculls (BM2x) - Heats Four heats in this boat class and six boats in each meant a first place finish would be needed to qualify directly for the semifinal. Lining up in Heat One were New Zealand’s Manson brothers Karl and Robert. Robert won the under-23 World Championship title with Joseph Sullivan in Racice last year. He is now forming a new crew with younger brother Karl who raced internationally for the last time at junior level in 2008. New Zealand jumped out of the starting blocks in first, followed by Egypt, Romania and Ukraine. By the half-way mark, Egypt was losing ground, unable to maintain their challenge to New Zealand, and Ukraine had moved up, closing in on New Zealand. Anton Zayets of Ukraine raced in the quad last year at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and won silver, while his partner Dmytro Mykhay, two years Zayets’ junior, is new to the World Rowing stage. But Romania were also looking to prove their form, and in the second 1000m it was a game of cat and mouse between Romania and Ukraine, swapping between second and third. At the line, New Zealand claimed the only qualifying spot. Ukraine and Romania will go to the repechage, from second and third respectively. In Heat Two, Lithuania’s Saulius Ritter and Rolandas Mascinskas made a brave effort to own the lead from the start. But Latvia would challenge them down the line and finish first just a fraction ahead to claim the only qualifying spot. Latvians Lauris Sire and Dairis Adamaitis were part of the junior men’s quadruple sculls that won bronze at the 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships. Lithuania, followed by Hungary, Spain, Uruguay and Croatia, will have a second chance to qualify for the semifinals in the repechage races tomorrow.
The qualifiers in Heat 4, Slovenia, decided they would not race in the repechage tomorrow. Several years of experience at senior and under-23 level came in handy to reach their goal. Ziga Pirih and Andraz Krek led from the start and increased the gap separating them from the rest of the field, making their qualifying spot untouchable. Austria finished in second, five seconds behind. Women’s Four (BW4-) - Heats Eight crews and two heats meant the first crew to cross the finish line would go directly to the A Final while the remaining crews would need to race in tomorrow’s repechage. In Heat One, Australia were the stronger crew. Peta White and Jessica Molsher-Jones became junior World Champions in 2009 in the same boat class and are joined here in Brest by two athletes new to the World Rowing scene: Mary Connelly and Renee Chatterton. Germany were the closest challengers, but remained unsuccessful in their bid to overhaul the crew from down under. Germany, Great Britain and Belarus will meet again in tomorrow’s repechage. Only one member of the USA women’s four racing in Heat Two, Michaela Strand, had ever rowed in a World Rowing regatta, but that was already four years ago at the 2006 World Rowing Junior Championships. The new crew dominated the race, finishing with an open water lead ahead of the field. The Netherlands, Italy and Ukraine will have a second try at qualifying for the A Final tomorrow in the repechage.
Nine crews, two heats. Four crews would have a chance to qualify directly for the A Final if they managed to finish in the top two positions of their race. Most of Germany’s crew are just coming out of the junior ranks and this is the first under-23 World Championship for them all. Canada has more experience at the under-23 level, with three of their crew, including the cox, having already raced at least once at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. These were the two crews who would take the top two spots in Heat One. But qualifying was not that straightforward. Ukraine took the lead first, with Croatia on their heels. As the race wore on these two crews lost stamina while Germany and Canada were steadily moving up the field. Germany crossed the line in first and Canada in second. In Heat Two, Italy’s coxed four mostly consisted of rowers who have international experience in their nation’s senior eight. Racing in Brest in the coxed four must likely be further training for the eight. The Italians owned the lead from the start and kept it until the line. It seemed New Zealand would be the second qualifier, as they were going neck and neck with Italy throughout, but in the final sprint, Great Britain surprised the Kiwis and finished a fraction to of a second ahead to take the second and final qualifying spot. New Zealand will have to race in the repechage, as will Belarus who finished in fourth.
The next round of racing for the 17 crews lining up in the heats of the lightweight women’s single sculls would either be the semifinal or the repechage. A semifinal qualification required finishing in the top two. Atsumi Fukumoto from Japan has been training for these championships at senior level, by competing at the Rowing World Cup in Munich and Lucerne. This experience must have been great training for her, as she managed to calmly overtake an early lead by Canada and hold on to first until the line. Although New Zealand’s Leah Stanley rowed in fourth for half the race, a strong second half allowed her to qualify from second. This is her first World Rowing regatta, and it will be interesting to see how she handles the semifinal.
In one of the biggest entry lists, the lightweight men’s single sculls featured 24 nations. These athletes were divided into four heats with the top boat only advancing directly to the semifinals on Saturday. Peter Chambers of Great Britain opened the proceedings in Heat One and it was not surprising to see him lead from start to finish. Chambers has already shown his boat speed earlier this season when he raced at the Rowing World Cup making it to the A-final. By the half-way point it looked like the rest of the field had let Chambers take that one qualifying spot. Chambers is at his second under 23 championships, but the first time in the single and there’s little doubt he will be a force throughout this regatta. Heat two saw a tough battle between last year’s silver medallist Ailson Silva from Brazil and Christian Hochbruck of Germany. Like Chambers, Silva has raced in the Rowing World Cup this season and earned a bronze medal at the Rowing World Cup I in Bled. But it was Hochbruck who had the lead for most of the race. In the second half Silva pressed Hochbruck hard. Hard enough that in the final sprint Hochbruck looked like he’d decided to give it away. Silva advances to the semifinal. Nineteen-year-old Hannes Obreno of Belgium is at his first under-23 regatta and he showed his form in heat three by overtaking Switzerland then leading for the rest of the race. Obreno beat the United States to the line to go directly into Saturday’s semifinal. The reigning under-23 champion, Mohsen Shadi Naghadeh of Iran showed that he is not slowing down and in heat four Naghadeh got into the lead after a bit of a shaky start. At the finish line Naghadeh had qualified for the semifinal and recorded the fastest qualifying time. Naghadeh looks to be the sculler to beat in his third year competing at the under 23 championships.
The four heats of the lightweight men’s pair required crews to finish in the top two if they wanted a direct track to the semifinal. It was an easy win for Michael Stichauner and Alexander Chernikov of Austria in heat one. The duo was already over three seconds ahead of their nearest competition, Hungary’s Peter Bartfai and Peter Vermes with just 500m raced. Stichauner and Chernikov held on to this margin for the rest of the race and they will take the easy path to the semifinal. Hungary will also advance directly. At the start of Heat Two there was practically nothing separating the top four boats. France’s Charles Breschet and Edouard Jonville had the edge with Russia, the Netherlands and Germany all on top of each other and right behind. This remained the dominant situation through the body of the race with Vincent and Tycho Muda of the Netherlands putting up the biggest challenge on France. The Muda twins then did a huge push in the third 500m and got their nose just ahead of France. The French did not answer with Russia slipping back and Germany going right out of the picture. The Muda twins and the French are in the semifinals. Italy are the reigning under-23 champions, but they have a new combination this year. Marcello Nicoletti and Matteo Pinca have taken over from their very accomplished predecessors, Andrea Caianiello and Armando Dell’Aquila and in Heat Three Nicoletti and Pinca led from start to finish. This left Christian Klein and Michael Kerrigan of the United States to slip into a comfortable second place position. None of the rest of the field put these two leading crews under any kind of pressure and Italy and the United States advance to the semifinals to be raced on Saturday. For the first half of Heat Four there was absolutely nothing between the three leading crews. Moldova, Hong Kong China and Ireland moved through their first 120 strokes practically together. Moldova had a tiny edge at the start but then Peter Hanily and Anthony English of Ireland got their bow just ahead with Chiu Mang Tang and Ki Cheong Kwan of Hong Kong China mirroring Ireland. As Moldova began to slip back, Ireland really found their pace and by the finish line Hanily and English had an open water lead. Ireland qualifies from first and Hong Kong China from second. Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls (BLW4x) – Heats In its second year as an under-23 event, the lightweight women’s quad attracted seven nations divided into two heats. The goal in these two races was to finish first for a direct path to Saturday’s final and in Heat One Italy decided the race was theirs. Giulia Pollina, Sabrina Noseda, Eleonora Trivella and Deborah Battagin of Italy moved into a huge open-water lead and continued to enlarge it through to the finish line. The Italians looked to have completely outclassed their competition. Italy goes directly to the final. Heat Two couldn’t have been more different. Despite this race only having three boats, it turned into one of the closest and most unexpected of this morning’s racing. At the start last year’s silver medallists the United States had a slight lead over Japan with the reigning under-23 champions Germany in third. The US, stroked by Kimberly Hopewell, managed to hold on to the lead through the middle of the race with Germany and Japan neck-and-neck. Then Japan did a huge piece in the third 500m and got themselves level with the United States. Germany also attacked. Coming into the final sprint all three crews were on top of each other when Devery Karz in the bow of the US boat caught a huge boat-stopping crab. Germany attacked. Japan held on. Germany managed to cross the line just ahead of Japan to qualify directly with Japan in second and the United States limping across the line in third.
The three heats in this event required crews to finish in the top three if they wanted a direct path to the semifinals on Saturday. It was Ireland that jumped off the line first with Germany moving with them. This remained the situation through the first half of the race with Greece and France also very much on the pace. With just 500m left to row Germany had managed to take a small lead over Ireland and France and Greece were right there challenging the leading two boats. It would take a sprint from all crews to decide the top three boats. Germany, led by stroke Konstantin Steinhuebel charged. Ireland went with them, Greece hung in there and had just enough of a margin to beat France to the line. Recording the three fastest qualifying times, Germany, Ireland and Greece move on to the semifinal. Italy won last year but have three new members in the boat this year and they raced in Heat Two. Going off with an aggressive start, Italy got into the lead and never looked back. Switzerland, in second, tried their best to hold on, but they didn’t have the same power and instead had the Czech Republic and Denmark to contend with. Four boats were fighting for three spots. Coming into the final sprint Italy looked comfortable. Switzerland tried to close in on the Italians while Denmark and the Czech Republic went head-to-head. Out-sprinting the Czechs, Denmark earns the third qualifying spot. Great Britain earned bronze last year and in Brest they showed that their new line-up is just as fast as last year’s, by leading Heat Three from start to finish. The British, however, did not have an easy time of it. At the start both Canada and the Netherlands stuck with the British. But Great Britain had just a tad more boat speed. Coming into the final sprint Great Britain, stroked by Carl Delaney, remained ahead of Canada as the Netherlands dropped back. Then Great Britain turned on a huge sprint. Canada and the Netherlands did not react. Great Britain, Canada and the Netherlands go to the semifinal. Women’s Single Sculls (BW1x) – Heats This event attracted three heats with the top two from each heat earning a direct path to the semifinals on Saturday. Poland’s Natalia Madaj led the way in Heat One with an incredibly fast start that saw her take more than a length out of the entire field in the first 40 strokes. Could anyone catch the flying Pole? Through the middle of the race the only boat that managed to get even a little bit close to Madaj was Lindsay Meyer of the United States. Olympian from the quad, Meyer looked strong and powerful and looked to be closing on Madaj. Coming into the final sprint, Meyer managed to close the gap on Madaj, but Madaj’s early work had given her enough of the lead that all Meyer could do was get her boat in close contact. Madaj and Meyer advance to the semifinals. Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania could be the boat to beat. Vistartaite raced in heat two and absolutely dominated the race from start to finish. No one could get even close to her. Belarus’s Tatsiana Kukhta gave it a bit of a shot from second, but there was no denying Vistartaite’s enormous 11-second lead at the finish. Vistartaite and Kukhta qualify for the semifinal with Vistartaite’s time of 7:37 being the fastest qualifying time. Last year’s silver medallist, Kaisa Pajusalu of Estonia had the leading spot in Heat Three with a solid margin going into the middle of the race. But that all changed in the third 500m when Tale Gjoertz of Norway put in a huge piece and managed to get her nose in front of Pajusalu’s. Pajusalu tried to hold on but Gjoertz had timed her race perfectly and finished in first. Both Gjoertz and Pajusalu qualify for the semifinals. Men’s Single Sculls (BM1x) – Heats With 21 countries lining up in four heats, all would try to come first in their heat to earn a direct path to the semifinals on Saturday. Germany has remained very strong in this event over the years and it was no different this year with Karl Schulze of Germany leading heat one. Italy’s Daniele Zona gave it a good shot to keep up with Schulze, but by the half-way point Schulze was comfortably out in front. Zona had no reply and Schulze becomes the sculler to move directly to the semifinal. The lead got shared practically through the entire field in Heat Two which opened with five crews moving in a tight bunch and ended in a photo finish for first. At the start Switzerland held a small margin. Dirk Uittenbogaard of the Netherlands then took over in front with Georgi Bozhilov (BUL) and Janez Zupan (SLO) moving with Uittenbogaard. A huge third 500m push by Bozhilov propelled him into the lead. Could he hold it to the end? These three crews all charged. Bozhilov then looked like he ran out of gas. Zupan and Uittenbogaard went at it to the line, stroke for stroke. Just a couple of metres before the line Zupan got his nose in front and earned the sole qualifying spot. Heat Three was rather more pedestrian than the previous heat with Russia’s Maxim Zhemaldinov setting the pace at the head of the field. Just behind Zhemaldinov, Latvia’s Kristaps Cirulis and Brendan McEwan of the United States banded with each other. Despite McEwan moving into second in the third 500m, Cirulis proved to have the more powerful sprint to the line. But this did not change Zhemaldinov’s first place, and qualifying finish. Aleksandar Aleksandrov has all sorts of junior medals to his name for Bulgaria, but today he raced in heat four under the banner of his new country, Azerbaijan. Aleksandrov took off in second behind Stergios Papachristos of Greece. Storming out of the blocks, Papachristos reached the first 500m mark just a margin ahead of Aleksandrov. The Greek then held his slender lead through the middle of the race before Aleksandrov decided enough was enough and took over in the lead. Coming into the final sprint Papachristos had managed to hold on to Aleksandrov and both boats were sprinting for the line. Papachristos continued to attack. Aleksandrov was just holding on. Aleksandrov got to the finish line first despite the Greek’s continued attacks. Aleksandrov qualifies for the semifinal with the fastest qualifying time and the only boat to go under seven minutes of the four heats. Women’s Pair (BW2-) – Heats Finishing off the morning’s racing programme, the women’s pair featured two heats with the top two boats in each head going directly to the final on Saturday afternoon. Nicoleta Albu and Adelina Cojocariu of Romania are the reigning under-23 champions and they lined up in Heat One, albeit much to the dismay of the four other countries. Cojocariu and Albu then went on to show their World Champion form by setting the pace at the start and leading from the beginning stroke to the end. After overtaking Ukraine, Bulgaria’s Kristina Boncheva and Luiza-Mariya Rusinova slipped into second. But unlike the Romanians, Bulgaria had to fight right to the line to preserve their second place spot with Germany throwing down a huge ending sprint. The Germans, however, had left it a little late. Romania and Bulgaria become the two qualifying crews. Romania’s World Champion status may be under threat. A much faster qualifying time was recorded in Heat Two by Ashley Kroll and Felice Mueller. Kroll and Mueller are the United States’ new combination and they definitely have the boat speed. With just a quarter of the race rowed, Kroll and Mueller already had more than a boat length’s lead and by the half-way point they had moved away to a huge open-water margin. Kroll and Mueller cross the line in 7:22, more than 17 seconds ahead of the South African qualifiers (Claire-Louise Bode and Kate Christowitz) in second. The United States and South Africa move on to the finals.
As racing was suspended after the third heat and the schedule had to be reviewed for the next day, team managers of the participants in the fourth and last heat were asked whether they would agree to race the heat at 19.30 so as to have all heats in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls on the same day. Italy jumped out at the start and took an early lead which they kept until after the half-way point. But Spain also wanted the last qualifying spot for the semifinal and attacked and overtook Italy. From that moment onwards, Italy lost its steam and gave up the fight, finishing last behind the Czech Republic in second, Belgium in third and Ukraine in fourth. The World Rowing team values feedback. |
|
The 2010 World Rowing Under 23 Championships got under way today in Brest, Belarus. Opening with heats in 20 of the 21 events, under-23 athletes raced in hot and humid conditions. Temperatures were in the high twenties, moving into the low thirties through the day making hydration an important element in the racing regime. But times were reasonably quick as the rowers enjoyed flat water and light tail wind conditions on the custom-built rowing regatta course. 
Germany’s Eric Johannesen and Sebastian Peter became under-23 World Champions in the men’s quad in 2008 and have since demonstrated their competitiveness at senior level by winning bronze at the Rowing World Cup in Munich last month. But it was Italy who took the lead at the start and stayed in front of the field for the first 1000m. At the half-way point, the Italian lead was marginal however as Germany had already begun to make their move. At the line, Johannesen and Peter finished a convincing three seconds ahead of Italy and will go directly to the semifinal.
Men’s Coxed Four (BM4+) - Heats
Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (BLW1x) - Heats
Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (BLM1x) – Heats
Lightweight Men’s Pair (BLM2-) – Heats
Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls (BLM4x) – Heats
Men’s Pair (BM2-) – Heats
Women’s Double Sculls (BW2x) – Heats
Men’s Four (BM4-) – Heats
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (BLW2x) – heats
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (BLM2x) – heats      |  |