Adrien Hardy of France continues where he left off in Athens in the men’s double. Australia’s Drew Ginn has found another Oarsome partner. This was the first day of finals at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain. In steady tail wind conditions, rowers encountered fast water but bobbly conditions. This didn’t stop the achievement of three new World Best Times.

Women’s Four (W4-)

The Australians got off to a storming start to open finals day. Taking advantage of bad steering by Belarus and the United States, Australia – Kate Hornsey, Amber Bradley, Jo Lutz and Robyn Selby Smith – had a clear water lead over China by the half way point. Rating 36, a notch higher than the Chinese, Australia had the advantage of being able to look back on the rest of the field. As the finishing grandstands came into view the Australian crowd was deafening, but it didn’t stop the Chinese from fighting back at 39.

The United States then took chase. Australia, though, had enough of a lead and defend their World Champion title. China take second and the United States sprint through to earn bronze. Adding icing to the cake, Australia set a new World Best Time of 6:25.35, taking away Canada’s 1991 time of 6:25.47.

Robyn Selby Smith commented at the end: “I’m very happy and it’s a great start towards the eight tomorrow. We’re planning to repeat this performance.”

Men’s Coxed Pair (M2+)

An historic moment. Three years ago at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Athens, the coxed pair for Serbia & Montenegro made history by becoming the first World Champions for their country in rowing. Today Jovan Popovic, Nikola Stojic and coxswain Ivan Ninkovic set history again in this event by being the first rowing World Champions for their newly-formed Serbia and the second World Champion for their country (canoeing won a medal a week ago).

Stojic was a late addition to the crew and turned up for the second time today having raced just over an hour earlier in the men’s pair B Final. Subbing for his injured compatriot, Stojic was doing a fine effort and took the lead at the start.

Meanwhile, Canada (James Byrnes, Derek O’Farrell and coxswain Brian Price) and Italy’s Francesco Gabriele and Dario Cerasola and coxswain Andrea Riva, battled it out for second. It’s been the Italian style to start slow and come through in the final sprint and Canada was doing their best to hold on to silver. With Serbia still in the lead on a comfortable 34, Italy sprinted. Canada couldn’t react. Serbia take gold, Italy silver and Canada bronze.

Stojic: “Despite the change (into the boat) I’m not surprised, I had expected this result.”

Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (LW1x)

She’s the defending World Champion, but Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands was pushed hard in her semi-final when four boats charged for first. Switzerland won. Today van Eupen was making no mistakes and took the lead at the start. Spain’s Teresa Mas De Xaxars took chase, but it was Germany’s Berit Carow that was showing the strongest challenge to the reigning World Champion.

Carow then looked to be struggling in the bobbling water trying to hold her 31 stroke rate. Van Eupen remained in the lead. Then in the final sprint Mas De Xaxars attacked back. The order remained unchanged. Van Eupen retains her World Champion status, Carow wins her first World Championship medal with silver and Mas De Xaxars earns another bronze to add to her 2005 bronze. Just back Italy’s Erika Bello shows that a 10-year international rowing gap has done her no harm with her fourth place comeback.

Mas De Xaxars: Before the race there were four boats within one second so it was a tough race. I expected to do better but Berit deserves her position. I’m happy anyway.”

Van Eupen: “I knew that the water would be quite rough. My plan was to get away as soon as possible and to just to hold on. I executed and it worked well.” And the future? “After Athens I decided to take my time step by step. Back in my mind I’d like to try for the women’s eight maybe.”

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x)

Zac Purchase of Great Britain is the new World Best Time holder. With a time of 6:47.82 Purchase out-rowed the old time of 6:47.97 set in 1999 by Denmark. This continues the rise of the Brit that began last year when he became the under 23 champion and followed it up with a silver at the senior level. Still just 20 years old, Purchase spent the first half of this season recovering from injury but came back in time to win the final stage of the Rowing World Cup.

At the start of the race, however, it was Greece in the lead with the high-rating Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans of Spain following closely behind. Purchase didn’t seem to mind and pulling out a piece at the 950 metre mark got his bow-riggered boat into the lead. From then on there was no stopping him. Zunzunegui Guimerans tried to hold on, but had no effect. Meanwhile New Zealand’s Duncan Grant was working his way into the bronze medal position from the outside lane. Despite Spain’s 40 stroke rate charge at the end, Purchase took the gold, Zunzunegui Guimerans silver and Grant bronze.

Zunzunegui Guimerans: “I knew that Zac was stronger. I tried my best but he was faster and for my first year in the single I feel good in this category.”

Lightweight Men’s Eight (LM8+)

Only two boats contested this race last year, so the six-boat line-up was a definite plus today for the large crowd at the Eton College rowing course. Italy is the defending champions and retain five of these champions in the boat. Adding to the strength of the line up four seat Franco Sancassani is going for World Champion title number six, his first one being back 11 years ago. Despite an early lead by Denmark, Italy pushed through to the front, but at the first 500 metre mark there was very little between the entire fleet.

Chasing hard Germany then moved up the ranks to challenge Denmark. Coming into the final sprint, Italy remained in the lead holding a solid 38. Germany attacked again, but it was Poland, coming down the outside that was making the biggest impact. At the line celebrations for the Italians had already begun. Germany gain silver and Poland snatch bronze from a fading Denmark.

Italy’s coxswain Andrea Lenzi: "We attacked at the beginning then attacked again after 1000 metres. We hoped and wanted this victory."

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

She’s strong, her technique impeccable and, despite being 185cm (six foot tall) Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus knows how to rate high. But it was Frida Svensson of Sweden that had the early lead. At a foot shorter than Karsten, Svensson’s race plan was all about being as aggressive as possible. But Karsten soon had the lead and continued to make it grow so that by the first 500 Karsten was more than a boat length over her nearest, not surprisingly, perennial silver medallist Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic.

Despite her lead Karsten kept her rating at a high 35. Was she attempting to go after the World Best Time? Meanwhile, Knapkova was underrating Karsten at a steady 32. Karsten continued to increase her lead while Svensson battled with France’s Sophie Balmary. At the line Karsten adds to her incredible medal haul, defending her World Champion title and looking in good stead for Olympics number five in 2008. Knapkova adds yet another silver to her collection and the little dynamite Svensson earns her first World Championship medal with bronze.

Karsten finishes four seconds outside the World Best Time.

Karsten: “I didn’t expect to win so easily, I would have expected less of a gap between me and my opponents.” Any secrets? “Good facilities for training in Germany, the best coach in the world and my physiology.”

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

These athletes know each other well, but during race time it’s all business with a mental game going on that is anyone’s guess. Hacker collapses after his semi-final. Tufte carries out coughing fits. Drysdale looks like he’s putting in no effort. Synek pulls out a stunner in the semi-final. At the end of this race these athletes would push each other for a new World Best Time. Today at the start Germany’s Marcel Hacker took off in the style of his semi-final, rating high and grabbing the lead. Great Britain’s Alan Campbell also opened with his trademark fast start with Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and Norway’s Olaf Tufte back in the field.

Hacker continued to keep his rating high settling into a 35 stroke rate with Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, rowing a very clean, tidy race, representing the nearest threat. Coming through the half-way point Hacker remained in the lead with a good two second margin over Synek. Could the German maintain this? Coming into the final 500 metres stroke rates began to rise. The reigning World Champion, Drysdale was attacking. Tufte followed suit. Hacker tried to hold on. The heat was on the German. Two boats were level. Three final strokes. Hacker looked across at Drysdale. Drysdale remained in his zone. Drysdale crossed the line. He looked across both ways then his fists punched the air. Drysdale had stolen the gold from Hacker and stolen the German’s World Best time. Drysdale now owns the time of 6:36.33 (Hacker’s previous record, 6:36.40, set in 2002). Hacker wins silver and Synek holds off Tufte to take bronze.

At the medals ceremony, Drysdale was saluted with a New Zealand haka while Hacker’s coach, Andreas Maul accepted the silver, Hacker having earlier collapsed.

Synek: “Mahe and Marcel did a very good race, but I’m happy anyway because up until now it was a bad season for me.”

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Canada’s Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball looked to be the crew to beat coming into these World Rowing Championships. They shot into the public eye by winning at the final stage of the Rowing World Cup last month leaving Germany’s hot new combination Nicole Zimmermann and Elke Hipler in second. Marquardt has come back to competitive rowing after finishing in the heartbreak fourth position at Athens and with her new partner, Rumball, they led from the start nearly opening up a full boat-length lead by the first 500 metres.

Settling into a solid 37 stroke rate the commentator remarked that Marquardt and Rumball looked a bit tentative in these bobbly water conditions. But it was doing them no harm. Zimmermann and Hipler pushed hard from second with current World Champions Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand right on the pace in third.

Coming into the final sprint the United States joined in on the charge to the line. Canada held on at a 38 stroke rate, New Zealand pressed hard, Germany looked exhausted, the United States out-rated the field. At the line Marquardt and Rumball take gold, Haigh and Coles perform their best race all season to win silver and Zimmermann and Hipler win bronze.

After the race Haigh commented that although she races to win, she was happy with their silver medal following a bad season: “I feel like jumping up and down. It was just as good as last year. To come from what we had been…things were looking pretty dimly for a while, but to do this today and on the right day…I’m so, so happy.”

Marquardt: “We knew we had a fast start from our heat and from races in Munich. We knew if we had a good start, we’d be ahead and then we’d figure people would push us.”

Rumball on moving from sculling to sweep: “Yeah, I love it. I just love most of all being in a partnership with someone, and I couldn’t have had a better partner than Darcy. I haven’t been sweeping since high school so it kind of brings me back to that time. So I really, really enjoyed the sweep boat and I don’t think I’ll go back (laughs).”

Men’s Pair (M2-)

With three Olympic medals sitting in the Australian boat, quite a weight hung around the neck of Drew Ginn and Duncan Free. This got them off the line in the lead sticking at a 39 stroke rate before settling down to a steady 34 pace. China’s Yongquiang Zhang and Xiangdang Wang held on to the Australians' coat tails with a full-on tussle going on between the remainder of the field, current World Champions Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater of New Zealand, right in the thick of things.

Coming through the middle of the race Germany did a burst to overtake the Chinese with Twaddle and Bridgewater in hot pursuit. The final sprint was going to be brutal. Australia held steady, New Zealand went to 40 then 41 strokes per minute and Canada’s Kevin Light (former World Champion from the eight) and partner Malcolm Howard charging down the outside. Free earns his first sweep World Championship medal in his first year at this discipline, Ginn adds another World Championship titles to his impressive collection. Twaddle and Bridgewater finish with silver and Light and Howard earn bronze.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

A bad day at the office for current world and Olympic Champions, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand. The extremely unhappy duo after the finish commented philosophically, “this is sport.” This is how it went.

The Evers-Swindells got of the line first using their powerful finishing strokes and settled into their trademark 35 stroke rate rhythm. But, unlike their past four years of domination, the twins from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, had lost the lead before the 900 metre mark. Instead it was the Australian duo of Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley that were in the lead, underrating the New Zealanders by about three beats. Kell comes back to international rowing after a three-year break. In 2003 she qualified the double for the 2004 Olympics but was not selected in the Olympic year to be on the crew. Pratley is new to the international scene, trying the sport for the first time in 2002, the 191cm Pratley is in her first international season.

Today, the Australians had nothing to lose in challenging the best in the world. Maintaining their 32 stroke rate, Kell and Pratley were handling the tail wind conditions with ease, but there was very little between the leading boats coming into the final sprint. Four boats charged at the Australians. Australia didn’t react. In a photo finish, Kell and Pratley had dethroned the World and Olympic Champions. Germany’s Britta Oppelt and Susanne Schmidt had sprinted through to second, the Evers-Swindells held on to third with Great Britain and Ukraine also giving it all that they could.

What a finish. What a race. Two new World Champions are crowned. As I write this in post-race peace, the large crowd enjoying the post-race entertainment listen to Bowie’s “We can be heroes.”

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

They are not the top two scullers in France, but together they create magic. Jean-Baptiste Macquet (Athens Olympian from the men’s eight) and Adrien Hardy (Athens Olympic Champion from the double) came together this season to beat the reigning champions Luka Spik and Iztok Cop of Slovenia at the second Rowing World Cup and in the process set a new World Best time. Cop and Spik came back to win at the final stage of the Rowing World Cup. Today these two formidable crews met again and it was Macquet and Hardy that took an early lead right from the starter's gun. Cop and Spik took chase. The French, though, proceeded to move further into the lead. What could the Slovenians do?

No one else could even get a look in on the pace of these two leaders. Belgium tried. Poland gave it a bash. Then down the outside lane Great Britain came flying. Matthew Wells and Stephen Robotham had been sitting literally at the back of the field when they saw the last 500 metre mark come into view. The Brits started to fly. Their rating rose to 39. Slovenia, still chasing France, went to 38. France thought "merde", they’d better react and go up to 39. France holds on to first, Slovenia take silver, Great Britain earn a deserved bronze. Keep an eye on these crews. It’s likely that you’ll be seeing them in the final at Beijing.

On the medals podium the chosen accessory was to hold little blonde kids. Cop outdid Hardy by sporting two of them, Hardy could only manage one.

Men’s Four (M4-)

It’s almost becoming a broken record scenario. Today was no different. Great Britain’s star crew of Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge took off at the start, got into the lead and remained there. Under coach Juergen Grobler, this has been the way ever since the crew came together at the start of 2005. During this time, the Netherlands and Germany have given them the best run for their money with France showing potential.

At the start this scene looked a little different. The United States, who had come into this final after beating New Zealand in a dead-heat re-row, were chasing the Brits hard with Slovenia holding the pace. Nothing changed until the 1200 metre mark. The Dutch must have decided enough was enough and charged; Germany followed suit. Sprinting to the line Germany went for broke hitting a 40 stroke rate, the Netherlands, at 38, clung on. With the 9.38 litre lung capacity of Reed sitting in the British three seat (compare that to 7.00 of Lance Armstrong), the British took the rating up. Germany nearly did it but will have to be happy with silver. Great Britain win in front of their home crowd. The Netherlands take bronze.