2012 World Rowing season under way at Belgrade World Cup

Today’s heats saw rowers enjoying practically no wind initially, turning to tail wind conditions as the day advanced. New line-ups were unveiled as coaches aim to get their perfect Olympic combination together. For the crews who have not yet qualified for the Olympic Games the regatta also acted as the perfect way to test boat speed ahead of the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta later this month.

A couple of upsets occurred when dominating World Champions, Greece found themselves racing behind China in the lightweight women’s double sculls. German World Champions in the women’s quadruple sculls also found themselves out of the lead when they were beaten in their heat by Ukraine.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Heats
This event attracted 15 entries divided between three heats with the top three boats from each heat advancing to the semi-finals.

France got the ball rolling in heat one with Stany Delayre moving into the lead by the half-way point. Delayre raced to a fifth-place finish in this event last year and has been present on the senior international scene since 2009. Meanwhile, Svein Urban Ringstad of NOR3 held on to second but with huge challenges from the rest of the field through the third 500m. In the final sprint Delayre held on to first, Ringstad qualified from second and Spyridon Giannaros of Greece came through in third.

Adding to the qualified boat list was FRA1, Jeremie Azou leading the way in heat two. Azou is the reigning under-23 champion in this event and is aiming for senior national team selection this season. Slovakia’s Richard Vanco and Michael Mottram of Great Britain held a private tussle for second place. Mottram prevailed and will also go to the semifinal along with Vanco.

The third heat presented the fastest qualifying time by a full seven seconds. Peter Galambos of Hungary led from start to finish. Despite being under no pressure from the rest of field Galambos pushed his boat to a 7:00 time. Behind Galambos Portugal held on to second before running out of steam and leaving second place to the handy sprinter, Pietro Ruta of Italy. In the final sprint Ruta went after Galambos but was unable to catch him. Martin Slavik of the Czech Republic became the final qualifier from finishing a distance back in third. Unfortunately for Austria’s Alexander Rath, he broke an oar and did not get to compete but has been allowed to proceed to the repechage.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Heats
Close times for the leaders in the three heats of the women’s pair showed that this event is shaping up to be an intense final. The top two boats in each heat qualifed directly for the semi-finals, four of the boats recordeding times within two seconds of each other. But the big feature of this event was the return of Olympic Champions, Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania to rowing. Andrunache practically owns the pair having won it at the last three Olympic Games, with Susanu being part of the last two.

Racing in heat one, Susanu and Andrunache failed to amaze. The Romanian duo sat at the back part of the race, only coming through to third at the end. Instead it was the United States who showed their strength. Erin Cafaro and Eleanor Logan of the United States were in front right from the start and held off a very impressive race by Glaudia Belderbos and Chantal Achterberg of the Netherlands who were in second. These two boats now move directly to the semifinals.

The highest ranking crew in this event, last year’s world silver medallists, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain raced in heat two and did it in fine style. Glover and Stanning were clear leaders from start to finish and no crew even attempted to challenge their 31 stroke rate pace. ROU2, Adelina Cojocariu and Irina Dorneanu, came through in second to qualify for the semifinal.

The United States got a second crew through to the semi-final with Caroline Lind and Taylor Ritzel controlling heat three. Following the Americans, and holding off Olympic silver medallist, were Carline Bouw and Annemiek de Haan of the Netherlands. Bouw and de Haan’s second place finish over China is quite an upset as China were fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Wu and Gao of China will now need to qualify through the repechage if they want to challenge for medals.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Heats
This event had four heats with only the first boat from each heat moving directly to the semi-finals. This led to very solid racing with the four qualifiers all finishing within two seconds of each other. Heats opened with the very accomplished Gkountoulas brothers from Greece out in front. Nikolas and Apostolos Gkountoulas were fourth in 2011 and are the highest ranking crew in this event here at Belgrade. Nikolas and Apostolos kept their stroke rate in the high 30s throughout the race to hold off Serbia in second. Serbia chose not to challenge and Greece became the sole qualifier.

A Netherlands versus Romania battle opened the second heat which saw Nanne Sluis and Meindert Klem of the NED2 get the upper hand by the half-way point. Klem comes out of the four who finished sixth last year while Sluis was in the pair in 2011. Together they move on to this regatta’s semi-final. Belarus was able to start the race, but broke an oar. They will be able to go to the repechage.

Germany’s Anton Braun and Felix Drahotta made easy work of heat three finishing with an open water lead over the rest of the field. Braun and Drahotta are part of a very strong German men’s sweep squad. Drahotta was in the sixth-placed pair last year and has been joined by Braun from the third placed under-23 pair. They move on to the semifinals.

The final heat (four) introduced the new British pair line-up to World Rowing. George Nash and William Satch of Great Britain have been selected for the pair after pair for the last three years, Triggs Hodge and Reed were added to the priority British boat, the men’s four. Nash and Satch completely held their own by not only winning heat four but doing it in the fastest qualifying time. Crossing the line at a 35 stroke rate, Satch and Nash held off NED1 to qualify for the semifinal.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Heats
The men’s double sculls had three heats with the top two boats in each heat to qualify for the semi-final. Heat one not only set the standard, but presented one of the closest tussles of the day. This went on between Great Britain’s Bill Lucas and Sam Townsend and Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France. Lucas and Townsend are a newly formed line-up for this season while Berrest and Bahain have been together in the double since 2009. The two crews had to shake off Olympic Champions from 2000, Slovenia’s Luka Spik and Iztok Cop. Spik and Cop held the lead at the start before succumbing and letting France and Great Britain fight it out. Lucas and Townsend got the edge and also easily scored the fastest qualifying time. France qualify with the second fastest qualifying time.

Back together following an injury hampered 2011, Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger of Germany featured in heat two at the head of the field. Knittel and Krueger were World Champions in 2009 but have had mixed results since. Today’s result indicates they are back on form. Germany held off a very confident looking Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch of Norway who challenged from second place. Germany and Norway qualify for the semifinal.

A second German boat are through to the semi-finals having won heat three. Hans Gruhne and Mathias Rocher of GER2 may give German Olympic crew selectors something to think about after finishing first and in a time faster than Knittel and Krueger. Gruhne and Rocher had to get the better of Italy’s Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti to finish in first place. Sartori and Battisti have teamed up this season and they are hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta later this month. Sartori is an Olympic Champion from the quad while Battisti is an up-and-comer in the Italian squad. Germany and Italy qualify for the semifinal.

Men’s Four (M4-) – Heats
The top two boats in each of the three heats move directly to the semifinals. Heat one presented what came very close to an upset for Great Britain. The current World Champions presented to the world their new-look 2012 line-up strengthened by the squad’s top two sweep rowers, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge. This is the crew that coach Juergen Grobler hopes will be a certainty for gold at the London Olympic Games.

Great Britain got out into the lead with the Czech Republic (12th in 2011) holding on tightly. By the half-way point Great Britain was still unable to shake off the Czechs with Belarus also hold the pace. As Belarus slipped back Great Britain and the Czech Republic charged for the line. Great Britain, still in first, looked more comfortable rating 37 with the Czech’s going to a 39 then 42 stroke rate. These are the two qualifying boats and the Czech results looks good for them to qualify for the Olympics later this month at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta.

Heat two was also had an interesting result with Germany, fifth last year, pushed out of qualifying directly for the semi-final and into third by the Netherlands (sixth in 2011) and Romania who did not qualify for the Olympics last year. Romania and the Netherlands were pretty evenly matched through race with the Dutch getting the edge coming into the finish using a better sprint. The Dutch and Romania advance to the semifinal.

Last year’s silver medallists, Greece saw themselves under pressure from France throughout heat three. France did not qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games at last year’s World Rowing Championships, but their close finish against Greece indicated that they have a boat that may be able to qualify later this month. For now Greece and France did what they had to do to move on to the World Cup semifinal.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Heats
Always a big event, the lightweight men’s double sculls attracted 22 boats to Belgrade. These boats, spread over four heats, had to finish first in their heat if they wanted to advance directly to the semi-final. Last year’s bronze medallists, Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini of Italy led heat one from start to finish. This duo has been together since late in the 2009 season and look to be the combination that will race in London. Finishing at a 33 stroke rate Bertini and Luini looked at ease crossing the line in the sole qualifying position.

Back for another Olympic challenge, Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark were completely in control of heat two and finished with a huge open water lead to qualify for the semifinal.

World Champions, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain did not have it so easy in heat three. Purchase and Hunter were challenged by Hungary through the body of the race, but did just enough to hold off them off. Great Britain qualified for the semi-final from first and were able to relax somewhat as the finish line came into view. Hungary will go to the repechage.

The fastest qualifying time came in heat four when China’s new combination of Chongkui Wu and Fangbing Zhang battled with Greece down the 2000m Lake Sava course. A better sprint by Wu and Zhang gave them the winning edge and a place in the semifinal.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Heats
The three heats in this event meant that crews required a top three spot if they wanted to qualify directly for the semi-finals. Croatia grabbed the bull by the horns in heat one and took the lead, refusing to give it up for the full length of the race. Denmark did their best to hold on to Croatia but was soon swallowed up by Italy and France. Italy, who finished sixth last year, featured the great Rossano Galtarossa in stroke seat. Galtarossa medalled in this event 20 years ago at the Barcelona Olympic Games. At the line Croatia, Italy and France were the qualifying crews.

Germany, the highest ranking crew in this event after taking silver in 2011, raced in heat two and let the world know where they wanted to stand. Schulze, Wende, Schoof and Grohmann of Germany led from start to finish, recording the fastest qualifying time. Estonia, who are yet to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games, held on to second throughout the race with the slow-starting Swiss pushing through to third. These are the three semifinal qualifying boats.

Olympic Champions, Poland finished at the head of the field in heat three which turned into one of the closest finishes of the day so far. This four-boat race saw less than two seconds separating the crews after 2000m of rowing. Closely behind Poland was the Czech Republic and then Great Britain in a photo finish. These are the three semifinal qualifying boats with Russia, who led early in the race, having to return to race in the repechage.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Heats
The first Blue Riband event of this regatta, the men’s single sculls had four heats with a total of 24 boats lining up. Only the first boat in each heat would progress directly to the semi-final and 2010 World Champion, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic made easy work in winning to secure his place. Synek jumped out into the lead and remained there for the entire race to move on to the semifinal.

In this seeded event, there was little surprise to see 2011 bronze medallist, Alan Campbell of Great Britain easily in the lead. Campbell did not need to unleash his formidable sprint as he finished with an open water lead to qualify directly for the semifinal.

Heat three was a much closer affair than the other heats and, perhaps not surprisingly, the winner, Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba recorded the fastest qualifying time. Fournier was in the lead at the start with Sweden (Lassi Karonen) and Slovenia (Jan Spik) chasing hard. Then Spik fell back while Karonen tried to catch up with Fournier. A big sprint by Karonen nearly got him there. But Fournier held off the Swede and will go directly to the semifinal.

Will this be the year of Olaf Tufte of Norway? Tufte is the two-time Olympic Champion in this event but has not done much in the last three years. Tufte raced in heat four and after overtaking a fast-starting Austria, Tufte took the lead and remained there for the rest of the race. Tufte goes on to the semi-final, crossing the line at a very comfortable 29 stroke rate.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Heats
The three heats in this event required scullers to finish in the top two positions if they wanted to go directly to the semi-final. Heat one featured the reigning World Champion, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. Knapkova made easy work of the heat and coming into the final sprint the Czech sculler was able to drop her stroke rate to a comfortable 27 and still remain in front. Coming through in second was Nataliya Mustafayeva of Azerbaijan. Mustafayeva moved from Ukraine to Azerbaijan last year and has already qualified for the London Olympic Games for her new country. Knapkova and Mustafayeva qualify for the semifinals.

China’s longstanding top sculler, Xiuyun Zhang controlled heat two from start to finish with Sweden’s 2010 World Champion, Frida Svensson in second. Zhang was fourth in 2011 while Svensson was fifth. These two scullers were not challenged and go directly to the semifinal.

Serbia finally got to feel proud when Iva Obradovic rowed in heat three in front of a home crowd to take first. Obradovic, who will turn 28 in a couple of days, has been competing internationally for a decade now and is the only Serbian woman to really feature in rowing at this time. At the finish Obradovic had an open water lead and had the fastest qualifying time, with former Latvian Sanita Puspure, now of Ireland, coming through to also qualify for the semifinal.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Heats
This event had a few less entries than in other years, perhaps as it is not an Olympic event, so just two heats lined up. The top boat in each heat would get to go directly to the A-final. In heat one Great Britain’s Kathryn Twyman led from start to finish. Twyman became a World Champion last year when she raced in her country’s lightweight quad. Today Twyman remained easily ahead of the rest of the field to qualify directly for the final.

The second heat saw Michaela Taupe-Traer of Austria take a small margin of a lead at the start with Sweden and Switzerland pushing hard. Taupe-Traer moved into the lightweight double for the last couple of years in the hope of qualifying for the Olympics. Her crew did not make it and Taupe-Traer is back in the single. Coming into the second half of the race Switzerland’s Pamela Weisshaupt continued to press Taupe-Traer but then seemed to run out of steam. Taupe-Traer took an easy win.

Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Heats
The top two boats of each of the two heats in the lightweight men’s pair move directly to the A-final. In heat one former Olympic Champion and World Champion Jean-Christophe Bette of France raced with Fabien Tilliet at the head of the field. Then Jiri Kopac and Miroslav Vrastil of the Czech Republic stepped up and took the lead. Kopac and Vrastil raced last year in the lightweight four and helped qualify the boat for the London Olympics, but they are racing in the lightweight pair in Belgrade. At the line the Czechs remained in front and they qualify for the semi-final along with France in second.

Heat two turned out to be the faster of the two heats. Great Britain’s Paul Mattick and Adam Freeman-Pask got out in front at the start and were able to inch away from the field in the steady tail wind conditions. Great Britain are the World Champions in this event but this year’s crew is a new line-up from last year’s winners. Behind the British, Denmark and China fought it out for the second place with China’s Lei Li and Zhongwei Li getting the upper hand at the end. Great Britain and China qualify directly for the final.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Heats
The very best of British women’s rowing, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, raced in heat one of the two women’s doubles heats. If Grainger and Watkins wanted to progress directly to the final they had to finish first. And this is exactly what they did, despite meeting Germany’s new power line-up of Britta Oppelt and Annekatrin Thiele. Thiele and Oppelt held on to second throughout the race but never managed to close on the British duo. Grainger and Watkins advance to the final with the fastest qualifying time.

In heat two last year’s sixth place finishers, the Czech Republic dominated from start to finish. Sisters Lenka and Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic had no challenges and led the race by open water, crossing the line and looking comfortable on 34 strokes per minute. The Antosovas go directly to the final.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Heats
The first major upset of the day came in heat one of the lightweight women’s double sculls. The World Champions, Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece found themselves chasing a new Chinese line-up of Dongxiang Xu and Wenyi Huang. Xu raced at the 2008 Olympics, finishing fifth in this event, she then took some time off from and has now teamed up with Huang who raced in the lightweight double at last year’s World Rowing Championships. At the finish Xu and Huang had qualified for the final and as only the top boat is the direct qualifier, Giazitzidou an Tsiavou will have to return to race in the repechage.

Heat two had Great Britain’s new 2012 line-up of Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland take the lead. Hosking was part of the double that finished third last year and Copeland steps into the boat following success at the British team trials. Behind the British the Netherlands pressed Hosking and Copeland hard. Then at about 500m to go, the Dutch stroke, Maaike Head caught a crab. The Dutch, however, got back together quickly and continued to challenge Hosking and Copeland to the line. But Hosking and Copeland had done enough to remain in the sole qualifying position.  

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Heats
Always a close event, today was no exception especially in heat one of the two heats. With only the top boat qualifying directly for the final, the race was on to finish first. In heat one Olympic Champions Denmark established themselves as race leaders. Last year Denmark were disappointed to finish off the season in fifth place and perhaps they wanted to stake a psychological advantage by being in dominating form. Only the Netherlands looked to be able to keep up with Denmark, but in the final sprint France and Italy closed the gap. With Denmark in first, less than a second separated the Dutch, France and Italy. Denmark go directly to the final while the rest of the field will race again in the repechage.

Great Britain had a very close battle with China in heat two. This is a similar scenario to the 2011 World Rowing Championships when the British were third and China was fourth. Coming into the final sprint the two boats remained neck-and-neck with Great Britain getting up to a 45 stroke rate to China’s 41. The higher stroke rate of the British gave them the edge and they will advance directly to the final on Sunday.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) – Heats
Heat one of two heats presented another upset of the day. With the first boat only qualifying directly for the final, reigning World Champions, Germany found themselves playing second best to a flying Ukrainian line-up. Ukraine were sixth last year and have an almost entirely new line-up this year. Today they remained ahead of Germany from start to qualify for the final. There was no real battle between Germany and Ukraine closing stages of the race and Germany will now have to race in the repechage.

The second heat had a new British line-up lead the way. Great Britain was seventh last year and they came up against 2011 silver medallists, the United States. Both crews are quite different from their 2011 configuration as coaches try to find the perfect Olympic line-up. Today Great Britain did the better job and despite a very good 39 stroke rate sprint by the US, Great Britain earn the first place and a spot in Sunday’s final.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Heats
The two heats in this event required crews to finish first for a direct path to the final. In heat one Poland and Great Britain held a close battle to secure that spot. Great Britain, coxed by Phelan Hill, managed to keep their nose in front of the Poles, but Poland remained unrelenting. Coming into the final sprint both crews kept the rate high, with Great Britain hitting 43 and Poland breaking 44 strokes per minute. Great Britain prevailed and Langridge, Foad, Sbihi, Searle, Ransley, Egington, Partridge and Reilly-O’Donnell progress  to the final.

Three-time consecutive World Champions, Germany featured in heat two and made relatively easy work of it over nearest challenger, the Netherlands. Through the middle of the race Germany was able to pull away to an open water lead before taking it down to an easy 33 stroke rate in the final 500m. The Dutch continued to race to the line but Germany were too comfortable and could not be caught. Germany earned a spot in Sunday’s final.

All the action of day two of the Samsung World Rowing Cup I begins at 09:30 CET. Follow the action live with our live race viewer, check up on the latest results, and keep up with all the latest news on World Rowing's Facebook and Twitter pages.