Munich moves into repechage mode

A second chance is one of the unique features of rowing racing. The repechage is not in every sport, but rowing embraces it. In Munich, Germany, at the first Rowing World Cup for 2008, repechages raced in head cross wind conditions with flat water and summer warmth from cloudless skies.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) – Repechages

The top two finishing boats in these two repechages would advance to the semifinal and the first repechages saw a win to Gaelle Buniet and Marie Le Nepvou of France. Both Buniet and Le Nepvou came through to senior international rowing via the junior team and Buniet finished seventh in this event at the 2004 Olympics. Together they are looking to qualify this boat for the Beijing Olympics. The win came after a tight battle with Italy’s Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani. Throughout the race the lead changed several times, but it was the better sprint by France that gave them the final result. Both France and Italy will be in the semifinal. Behind them two top lightweight crews, Finland and Denmark could only make the lesser finals.

The second repechage featured the return of 2004 Olympic medallists, Elise Laverick and Sarah Winckless of Great Britain. Winckless returns to full fitness following back problems and they are still shaking the cobwebs of competing at this level. Laverick and Winckless got off at a great start leaping out ahead of Norway and Switzerland. By the half-way point Norway had slipped back and Switzerland’s Nora Fiechter and Regina Naunheim were challenging the Brits. Last year Naunheim finished far back in the women’s single while Feichter comes through from under-23 lightweight success. At the 1500m mark both boats were rating 31 and Switzerland had found the lead. Switzerland and Great Britain will go to the semifinals.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Repechages

Croatia’s Skelin brothers have dominated their country’s pair for a number of years. Now brothers Valent and Martin Sinkovic are making their mark in the men’s double. The Sinkovics led the first of two repechages with Meindert Klem and Olivier Siegelaar of the Netherlands right on the Croatian’s pace. Although distanced by three lanes, these two boats spent the race level close to matching stroke for stroke. A better sprint by the Sinkovics gave them the winners’ edge. Both boats will go to the semifinal. Back in third, lightweight World Champions, Denmark, could manage no better than earn a spot in the C Final.

Last year Germany’s Karsten Brodowski helped qualify the quad for the Olympics. This year he has been placed with Markus Kuffner to race as the second boat in the double. With final Olympic selection still in the future, Brodowski and Kuffner will be trying to prove themselves in every race they attempt. Today they took off in the lead of repechage two with Zheng Chen and Hui Su of China going with them. The Germans raced a mature and skilled race but were outsprinted to the line by China. Both boats will go to the semifinal while Belarus in third (two-time under-23 champions and last year fifth place finishers) could only manage to get to the C Final.

Men’s Four (M4-) – Repechage

Yesterday in the heats the men’s four proved to be one of the most highly contested events at Munich. Today four of the crews got a second chance to try and advance through to the final. The top three would earn a spot in the semifinal. One crew would miss out. Barring mishap it appeared evident who wasn’t advancing early in the piece. Belarus’ second crew was finding the pace too stiff and were slipping back. In the thick of racing was Belarus One, Greece and Croatia. Belarus had the early lead before Croatia, featuring winter and summer Olympian Igor Boraska, stormed through to the front through the middle of the race. Croatia remained in front with Greece getting ahead of Belarus to take second.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

Repechage 1

The first of four repechages in the lightweight women’s double would be all about Great Britain, who entered two crews in this event. Level throughout the race, they were not so much racing to finish in the two top spots thereby qualifying for the semifinal as they were to impress Olympic selectors. Great Britain One included Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell who began competing internationally together last year and finished in eighth position at the 2007 World Rowing Championships. Ten years separate them: Helen has Olympic experience, having rowed in the lightweight double in Athens, while Hester earned the title of World Under-23 Champion in the lightweight single in the 2005. In Great Britain Two, Laura Greenhalgh and Sophie Hosking were determined to prove their strength. They both rowed to silver in Munich last year in the non-Olympic boat class of the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls. At the half-way mark, both crews were rowing at 31 strokes per minute. With 300 metres to go, Great Britain Two went for another push, upping their stroke rate to 33, and overtaking Great Britain One, crossing the line ahead. At the back of the field, Spain’s Teresa Mas De Xaxars collapsed, stopping the boat completely.

Repechage 2

The second repechage of the lightweight women’s double was clearly dominated by Italy’s Erika Bello and Laura Milani. This 2007 European bronze medallist crew finished second in yesterday’s heat behind Germany’s Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger. Just behind Italy, France kept tightly in, never quite letting go, keeping Italy on their toes until the line. In any case, first and second position in this race would go to the semi-final, so both were safe. Hungary tredged relatively far behind, and Mexico a bit further in fourth position. At the line, the Italians, who are still to qualify for the Beijing Olympics through the final qualifying regatta at the end of June, lifted their stroke slightly to secure the first place, followed closely by France.

Repechage 3

Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska of Poland became a team in 2004 in the lead-up to Athens where they raced in the A Final. Together they earned silver at last year’s 2007 European Championships and have yet to qualify for Beijing. They made their class known from the start and with fine synchronicity led the field to the line, followed by Denmark’s Marie Gottlieb and Sine Christiansen, who won silver at world under-23 level last year. Both crews advance to the semifinal. South Africa finish in third and Venezuela in fourth.

Repechage 4

Ireland in lane one, Japan in lane two, Switzerland in lane three and a very young Greek crew in lane four taking the lead. Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou of Greece are only seventeen years old, and both raced in the bronze medallist junior women’s quad last year in Beijing. Greece already qualified a women’s lightweight double for Beijing this year, but perhaps this crew is trying to show that they could be contenders too. In the first 1000m Greece caught a boat-stopping crab, but Switzerland, who were right behind them, failed to notice in time and didn’t manage to take advantage and get ahead. The Greek recovery was quick, and despite this little mishap, they held on to their position until the finish line. Japan qualified for the Olympic Games at the Asian Qualification Regatta two weeks ago. This confidence boost, however, was not enough to get them through to one of the semifinal spots at stake, and Japan had to content themselves with a third position finish, and therefore the C Final on Saturday. At the line, Greece Two in the lead, Switzerland second by just a whisker, then Japan and Ireland fourth.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Quarterfinal 1

The Vetesnik twins Jan and Ondrej won their heat yesterday. The 2007 European bronze medallists and 2006 under-23 bronze medallists, who have yet to qualify for Beijing, wanted to do it again. But they were up against Top 10 rower Daniele Gilardoni of Italy, who has eight gold medals in the lightweight quad. Clearly his intention is to move into an Olympic boat class to medal in Beijing. By the half-way mark the Gilardoni and partner Lorenzo Bertini were leading, and they had they were not about to give in. The Czechs held on, racing on their heels. Less than one second separated the Italians, first, from the Czechs in second. Portugal moved up the ranks from fourth in the last 500m to take the last qualifying spot for the semifinal.

Quarterfinal 2

This race featured Great Britain’s winner of yesterday’s heat Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter. The 2007 world bronze crew set out ahead of the field, determined to find a way through to the semifinal in this second quarterfinal of the lightweight men’s double. At the back of the field, Belgium One really seemed to be struggling to find their rhythm; starting ahead of Germany and Croatia, they were soon relegated to the back and stayed there until the end. At the same time, Croatia found their strength, and at 1750 m really started to creep up from fifth to fourth and finally to third position.

Quarterfinal 3

A very determined Serbia jumped out of the starting blocks and get into the lead ahead of France, the favourite crew for this race. Indeed, following yesterday’s performance, one would have expected China’s Guolin Zhang and Jie Sun or France with Maxime Gosset and Frédéric Dufour to be ahead as they had recorded the fastest times. However, by the second half of the race France had recovered and had returned ahead of the field. Behind them, a tight battle was going on between China and Brazil for the second and third semifinal places – they crossed the 1500m mark neck and neck. China were the winners of yesterday’s heat and qualified for the Olympics at last year’s world championships. The Brazilian crew have not been seen together on the international scene before, although both raced last year in Linz Ottensheim in different line-ups. In the back of the field, Serbia, the fast starter, had burned out, and had drifted back into fourth place only to be overtaken by Turkey who crossed the finish line in fourth position. In the end, France Two, China and Brazil qualify for the semifinal.

Quarterfinal 4

This was the last quarterfinal of the lightweight men’s double. At the start, New Zealand went storming in front, with Sorm Uru and Peter Taylor enthusiastically getting out of the starting blocks. Towards 1250m, New Zealand was still in the lead, just ahead of France and Greece. But this very close race was about to take a turn for the worst for New Zealand. By 1500 New Zealand had lost two places, and had been overtaken by France and Greece. With only about 300m to go, Hungary’s Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga, last year’s European Rowing Champions in the lightweight double, who had been comfortably ploughing away in fourth position, made a push for the qualifying spot, overtaking Greece and New Zealand and finishing in second position just two seconds behind France One.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

Repechage 1

This lightweight men’s four repechage featured Denmark, with half of the famed Golden Four crew back in the boat. With no surprise, the experienced Danes got in the lead from the word “go”, with Spain just pushing hard to keep up in second place. Denmark and Spain both finished third in their respective heats yesterday, behind the top two semifinal qualifiers, so this race was bound to see these two crews in the lead. Behind them, China put up a fair fight, followed by Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Portugal. Although Ukraine did try several times to push ahead into third place, the order never actually budged, and by the line, it was still Denmark, Spain and China Two that went through to the semi and Ukraine, Czech Republic and Portugal through to Final C.

Repechage 2

In this repechage, it seemed boats were racing in the reverse order of lanes, with Greece in lane 6 leading throughout and Austria in lane one trailing throughout. Greece is still awaiting Olympic qualification, whereas Italy in steady second, the Netherlands in steady third, and Switzerland in steady fourth have already qualified. At the line, the position remained unchanged and Greece, Italy and the Netherlands go to the semifinal.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Heat 1

In this Olympic cycle, Great Britain has largely dominated the women’s quadruple sculls event, earning the world title each year since 2005. Now they are clearly targeting Olympic gold. The two permanent members of the crew have been Katherine Grainger and Frances Houghton, with Annie Vernon joining boat in 2007 and Debbie Flood in 2006. The Brits charged out of the starting blocks and stayed there, with clear water separating them from China in second. Germany’s second boat stayed in third and last year’s European Champions Ukraine lagged behind in fourth. Great Britain take the only direct path to the Final, with the remainder going through to the repechage.

Heat 2

Germany’ priority quad were favourites in heat two. With legendary four-time Olympic champion and ten-time World Champion Kathrin Boron in stroke seat and double Olympic champion Manuela Lutze in two-seat, the Germans powered down the course, catching up with China One by the 500-metre mark, overtaking them and staying in first until the line. China One stayed out of reach of Australia, widening the gap until the line. Germany go directly to Final A.

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)

Repechage 1

The first of two repechages in the men’s quad saw Great Britain sprint out of the start pontoon, and secure their place ahead of the field notwithstanding the slight pressure by the Russian crew behind them. Lining the course, their British team colleagues for the women and men’s eight, already on their way down to the start for their next race stopped to cheer them on, encouraging them to stay in place. But this would not suffice. A determined Ukraine which had been in third position had edged past Russia and was now eating away at the gap between them and Britain. With 250m remaining there was less than a canvas between them, and just before the line, the Ukrainians got the hand over Great Britain and overtook to secure first place. Ukraine, Britain and Estonia take the semifinal spots in this race, followed by Russia and Romania Two in fourth and fifth position.

Repechage 2

With a fourth-place finish in their heat yesterday, Australia did not seem to be the crew to beat. But the newly formed crew surprised and charged out of the starting blocks to lead from the start. Romania was holding on in second, but by the half-way mark the Czech Republic had moved up from third pushing Romania behind. The Czech Republic finished fifth at last year’s World Rowing Championships, and this year’s crew sees one new member, Milan Dolecek Jr., replacing Tomas Karas. These crews move on to the semifinal, with Italy Two, Argentina and Spain going to Final C.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Heat 1

The women’s eight only has nine entries, so just two heats were necessary, and these take place this afternoon. Australia were first to get in front, then the Netherlands, then Great Britain and finally New Zealand and Belarus. The core of the race was mainly about Australia and the Netherlands, who were fighting for the precious A Final spot at stake. In their urge to get in front, they cleared a huge gap between themselves and the other three crews. With a final 250m to go, Australian cox Lizzie Patrick called her crew to even greater efforts, pushing them to two-thirds of a length advance over the Netherlands, and securing the precious first place. Behind, The Netherlands came in second, with Britain third, New Zealand fourth and finally Belarus fifth.

Heat 2

The Chinese clearly had no regard for the seniority and vast collection of Olympic medals in Romania’s boat in heat two. Widening the gap with reigning Olympic champions Romania, who had moved up to second by the half-way mark, China led by two lengths at the finish line and go directly to the A Final. Romania, Germany One, Germany Two and the Netherlands go to the repechage.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Heat 1

In this first heat of two in the men’s eight, only the first place would do go straight to the A Final. The pressure was on. And it was Great Britain and Australia who would run the show in this race after a very quick start by both crews at a rate of 44 strokes per minute. At the 500m mark Britain was just ahead. This boat was world bronze medallist here last year in Munich and has former men’s four Alex Partridge in bow seat. Australia within the same second was behind, followed by Poland, Croatia and Switzerland. By the half way mark only three-quarters of a length separated the five crews, and all were trying for the best spot. The battle went on, but Great Britain stayed in the lead, finishing with over two seconds’ advantage over Australia. Croatia, Poland and Switzerland rolled in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Heat 2

In the absence of world champions Canada, China knew last year’s silver medallists Germany were the crew to beat. Both crews were overlapping each other down the course. At the 1000 metre mark China was just barely ahead, but the race had started. Unwilling to yield again even slightly to Germany, China had decided to charge ahead, and charge ahead it did, widening the gap until the line, where they led by one boat length. China go directly to the Final. Germany, France, The Netherlands and Italy go to the repechage.