Chinese promising in B-finals

The water was calm, there was very little wind but rowers remained bundled up with temperatures remaining well below 10 degrees Celsius at the 1972 Olympic Regatta Course on the edge of Munich in Oberschleissheim.

WOMEN’S PAIR (W2-)

Australia’s Sarah Tait and Sarah Cook got off to a flying start ahead of Huan Zhang and Jiahuan Liu of China Four. This is the start of the European rowing tour for Australia while the Chinese team has been in Europe since they arrived in time for the first stage of the Rowing World Cup held in Bled, Slovenia, in May. Since Bled the Chinese team has reshuffled with new line-ups racing here in Munich.

Zhang and Liu then pushed into the lead with China Two (Zhengping and Meiling Sun) now bearing down on the leading boats. In the final sprint, the Suns, rating 40, charged for the line crossing first and ending this regatta seventh overall.

Results: CHN2, CHN4, GBR1, AUS, CRO, RUS

MEN’S PAIR (M2-)

This is Dominic Grimm’s first international outing and today the Australian raced at the head of the B-final with partner Bryn Coudraye. Coudraye comes through under-23 rowing and last year he made his country’s senior eight boat. Grimm and Coudraye led from start to finish over Maciej Mattik and Zbigniew Schodowski of Poland. Australia and Poland held a close battle at the head of the field with Australia always remaining a fraction ahead.

Results: AUS, POL, GER, HUN, EGY1, UKR1

WOMEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (W2x)

Former lightweight rowers, Minna Nieminen and Sanna Sten of Finland jumped out quickly at the start but they were soon overcome by Gabriele Albertaviciute and Lina Saltyte of Lithuania with Australia’s Hannah Every-Hall and Alice McNamara very much on the pace. A strong piece through the third 500m gave McNamara and Every-Hall the lead and they looked great coming into the final 300m stretch rating a solid 33 strokes per minute. Lithuania tried to come back with a 35 stroke rate, but their short strokes couldn’t match the Australians.

Results: AUS2, LTU, FIN, ROU, RUS, EST

MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (M2x)

The top two seeded boats from yesterday’s semifinals found themselves at the back of the field when New Zealand (Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen) and Poland (Michal Sloma and Wiktor Chabel) timed their races much better. Poland started off at the rear of the field and New Zealand sat in the middle of the bunch, but both crews used a powerful second half to come through and into the front.

Rating 39 at the finish Cohen and Sullivan finally found the lead with 80m to go. New Zealand earns one World Cup point for finishing seventh overall.

Results: NZL, POL, CZE1, NOR1, SLO1, UKR2

MEN’S FOUR (M4-)

After such an exciting semifinal yesterday there was little doubt how close this race would be. Germany’s number one crew jumped out first at the start followed closely by New Zealand Two. Germany’s Bertram, Urban, Kaeufer and Eichner are all very experienced rowers with much international racing behind them. They tussled with New Zealand for the full 2000m and Serbia was right there as well. All three crews matched each other rating 39 in the final sprint.

Results: GER1, NZL2, SRB1, GER3, AUS3, CHN2

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LW2x)

The young and the experienced blend of Austria’s Manuela Laimboeck and Michaela Taupe-Traer worked well in this race as they led from start to finish. But Akiko Iwamoto and Eri Wakai of Japan gave the Austrians a good run for their money and in the final sprint the Japanese nearly caught Austria. Iwamoto and Wakai are two rowers to keep an eye on in future races.

Results: AUT, JPN1, MEX, HUN, SWE, DEN

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LM2x)

Slovenia got off to a flying start but they could gain only inches over Guolin and Fangbing Zhang of China. By the half-way point the Zhangs had earned a smidgen of a lead with Hungary’s Robert Racz and Tamas Varga also right there. As Slovenia slipped a little, China kept powering on and the duo managed a 40 stroke rate sprint at the finish. Hungary managed 41 strokes per minute to give them second overall.

Results: CHN2, HUN, SLO, NOR, POL, CZE

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S FOUR (LM4-)

At the 2006 World Rowing Championships China burst onto the lightweight four scene and became World Champions. Since then China has tried to get back to that glory.  Today their crew raced at the front of the field in the B-final. Pushing China for the entire 2000m was Germany’s second crew. These two boats led the way with China rating 42 to cross the line first as the vuvuzelas sounded for South Africa who finished fourth.

Results: CHN, GER2, JPN, RSA, AUS2, RUS

WOMEN’S QUADRUPLE SCULLS (W4x)

Switzerland medalled in this event last month in Bled. Today they raced in the B-final jumping out at the start and into the lead. China Two followed closely with Denmark also on the pace. Greater stamina and a better second half brought China Two into the lead coming through the 1400m mark. China Two then proceeded to pull away with Switzerland unable to hold the pace.

Results: CHN2, SUI, ROU, DEN, POL, AUT

MEN’S QUADRUPLE SCULLS (M4x)

The United States may not have had the best start, but they managed to be in the lead by the end of the race. This is how the race panned out. At the first 500m mark there was very little between the entire field with Switzerland having a very slight advantage. The race remained extremely tight and at the half-way point all boats remained overlapping with only one and a half seconds separating the entire field.

Then Switzerland and New Zealand began to slip back as United States picked up the pace. A final sprint by New Zealand brought them closed to the Americans with Belgium also moving. A bad stroke for China near the finish meant they dropped a place.

Results: USA, BEL, NZL, CHN, CZE, SUI

WOMEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (W1X)

Last month in Bled New Zealand’s Emma Twigg finished second. After a badly paced semifinal yesterday, Twigg missed out on today’s A-final racing instead in the B-final. But Twigg made the most of it and after overtaking Lithuania she found the lead and moved away to a huge open-water lead. Twigg rated 29 coming into the end of the race. A big cheering squad for Sweden’s Frida Svennson helped the Swede at the finish.

Results: NZL, SWE, LTU, POL1, CHN3, NOR

MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (M1x)

Liang Zhang of China is a sculler to watch. He has been coming along in leaps and bounds this season and today he got himself in the lead by the second half of this race. Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania came back from a slow start to chase down Zhang rating 39. But Zhang, rating 42, stayed ahead.

Results: CHN, LTU2, NED, GER2, GER3, CRO

MEN’S EIGHT (M8+)

This two boat B-final was dominated by Russia who led over Romania from start to finish. Romania, rating 34, looked smooth coming into the finish but they could not match the power of Russia who rated 37.

Results: RUS, ROU