Universiade heats display dominant crews

Athletes faced hot and humid temperatures with a gentle breeze as they launched to race in the heats in the 13 boat classes.

The Universiade is organised by FISU, the International University Sports Federation, and is held every four years. In 2013 there are 27 sports participating and it is the first time since 1993 that rowing has been included.

In the boat park there was a real sense of excitement amongst athletes. For many of them it was their first international regatta and some mentioned that staying in the athletes’ village really made them feel as though they were part of a special event. The 24-hour food hall was one of the most talked about features amongst athletes when asked about their village experience.

But the food hall was the last thing on their mind as they boated for round one of this three day regatta. The first race of the day was the lightweight women’s single sculls. Three heats lined up at the start with the top three in each progressing to the semifinals. The winners of each of the heats had comfortable wins over their challengers and it was Olga Arkadova of Russia who rowed home in the fastest time of the day. However, the talented Kirsten McCann of South Africa, who medalled here last year at the World University Rowing Championships, had the biggest margin over the field in her heat and so her potential to go faster remains unknown.

In the lightweight men’s single sculls it was Poland’s Jerzy Kowalski who moves into the semifinal rounds as the fastest sculler. He took over the lead from the fast starting Hungarian Gabor Csepregi who earned the final direct spot to the semifinals from Heat Two.

The women’s double sculls saw a mixture of names familiar at World Rowing regattas who faced newcomers to international competition. Lithuania’s Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukate come to this regatta having rowed to gold at the 2013 European Rowing Championships just a few weeks ago and today they displayed real style in totally dominating Heat Two of the women’s double. In Heat Three Olympian Lenka Antosova and partner Denisa Cvancarova sat in second place throughout the race and move to Sunday’s semifinals.

Lenka Antosova’s London 2012 Olympic partner in the women’s double was her sister Jitka, who lined up in the women’s single sculls in Kazan. Jitka won at Kazan last year and today she showed that her intention is to do the same again in 2013. With just two direct places to the final, Antosova crossed the line of her heat to take the first of the two spots with Ireland’s Monika Durkarska following in second.

The men’s four heats had just one direct qualification spot for the finals up for grabs and it was Germany and home competitors, Russia, who took these places and thus avoided facing a repechage.

With two final spots available from each of the two lightweight men’s four heats the university students racing here really fought hard to avoid the evening’s repechages. France, Japan, Germany and Poland were successful leaving all others to battle once again in the repecharge to get one step closer to earning Universiade titles.

South Africa and Russia were the stand-out crews of the women’s four on this first day of competition. South Africa found themselves in a worrying third place for the majority of Heat One but a charge in the final 500m saw them blast to the front of the field. Belarus and Ukraine joined these two crews in progressing directly to the final.

At senior level in the men’s pair one nation has become the talking point of the boat class; New Zealand. Men’s pairs must be becoming a specialty of the small rowing nation because in Kazan the duo of Paddy McInnes and Logan Rodger displayed true Kiwi pair grit in dominating their heat. They took the only A-Final spot from Heat One. Heat Two saw Russia’s Aleksandr Chaukin and Iurii Pshenichnikov progress from Heat Two. The battle for gold is set to be fierce between these two crews.

Lithuania has sent a strong team to this Universiade regatta and that strength was apparent in their men’s double sculls. They boated the talented duo of Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter in the hope of taking top honours in this boat class. Comfortably winning their heat and recording the fastest time of the day, it is going to take a lot to stop this pairing from coming out as champions.

It was a similar story in the men’s single sculls where Mindaugas Griskonis made rowing 2k on the Lake Kaban course look effortless. Having taken the first 500m to get himself to the front of the field, the Lithuanian sculler cruised the rest of the way to the line.

In the lightweight men’s double sculls, the race for gold looks as though it will be between Mexico’s Alan Ever Armenta Vega and Edgar Valenzuela and Austria’s brothers, Paul and Bernhard Sieber. Both crews won their respective heats, avoided the repechages, and get a rest day before Sunday’s final.

The final boat class of the heats on day one of the Universiade regatta was the men’s eight and for a while it looked doubtful that the home nation would make it to the start line. This was because the Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Kazan had resulted in a number of road closures and the bus on which the Russian eight was travelling got stuck on the wrong side of the blockade. Luckily it was lifted just in time for the crew to arrive at the course and make a hectic dash to launch and row to the start. They did not let the lead-up take away from their focus as they won their heat, finishing a massive 17 seconds ahead of the next closest crew, the Netherlands.

Sunday’s racing will see a day of semifinals and medal races in Kazan. Racing begins at 09:30 MST (CEST +2 hours). Stay tuned to www.worldrowing.com for regatta updates.