New names through in Rowing World Cup semis

The rowers will be taking careful note of their surroundings and conditions as they will be hoping to return next year when Lake Bled hosts the World Rowing Championships. The 2011 World Rowing Championships doubles as the Olympic qualification regatta and this Rowing World Cup acts as a test event for next year.

This afternoon’s semifinals started with cooler conditions and ended with steady rain as athletes vied for a spot in Sunday’s finals. The United States introduced their new lightweight women’s double to the world, while Great Britain showed their strength in the four and Marcel Hacker of Germany came back in the single.
 
WOMEN’S PAIR (W2-) – Semifinals

Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro of the United States showed their World Champion colours today by leading semifinal one from start to finish. This came after a second place finish yesterday in a heat against the Canadians. Today they found themselves in a four-way battle through to the 1000m mark with Great Britain, Germany and China holding on to the Americans. Francia and Cafaro then showed their stamina and pushed away from the field leaving Germany, China and Great Britain to fight amongst each other. Three boats would qualify for the final, one crew was about to miss out. At the line the United States, China (Meng and Tong Li) and Germany (Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig) had qualified for tomorrow’s final.

Yesterday Krista Guloien and Ashley Brzozowicz of Canada came through to beat the United States in the heat. Today, in semifinal two they were up against two powerful British combinations. But the Canadians proved too strong for Great Britain and were able to cruise, relatively speaking, through the second half of the race. Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve, Great Britain’s number one crew came through in second with Great Britain Two (Jessica Eddie and Alison Knowles) qualifying for the final from third.

MEN’S PAIR (M2-) – Semifinals

Great Britain’s Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge love to race from the front of the field so it was no surprise to see them jump out into the lead in semifinal one. But World Champions, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (NZL) had a very steady race plan and their consistent speed was working to propel them into the lead. This match-up between the British and New Zealanders brings together last year’s first and second finishers and gave a fair indication of how the crews are placed after off-season training. At the line Bond and Murray had a handy seven-second lead over Reed and Hodge, with last year’s bronze medallists, Greek twins Nikolas and Apostolos Gkountoulas, coming through in third. These are the crews that will meet again in tomorrow’s final.

Semifinal two had France leaping out from the start closely followed by Germany’s new match up (Kristof Wilke and Richard Schmidt), the new American match up (Jacob Cornelius and Charles Cole) and the new Greek leading pair (Ioannis Tsilis and Georgios Tziallas). Coming through the middle of the Lake Bled race course Wilke and Schmidt had found a slight edge but margins remained close. As France began to fall back, Germany, the United States and Greece were able to relax slightly coming into the finish feeling comfortable in their qualifying spots.

MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (M2x) – Semifinals

In semifinal one Switzerland’s Andre Vonarburg and Florian Stofer look to have stepped up a peg from last year when they first came together as a double. Vonarburg and Stofer took off in the lead holding off Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman through the middle of the race. Olympic medallist Wells has paired up with Bateman for this regatta as his Olympic partner Stephen Rowbotham is out with an injury. In the third 500m Wells and Bateman did a huge push that took them into the lead. The Swiss fought back. Both crews charged for the line. Wells and Bateman got there first. Great Britain, Switzerland and Italy’s new combination (Jean Smerghetto and Leopoldo Sansone) are on their way to tomorrow’s final.

The second semifinal turned out to be the faster race when Great Britain’s second crew of William Lucas and Sam Townsend decided to show any watching British selectors what they are made of. But at the start it was Estonia (Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo) who took an early lead with composite golden crew of Olaf Tufte and Iztok Cop way back in fifth. By the middle 1000m Lucas and Townsend were nearly in front with Tufte and Cop pushing into third. Raja and Taimsoo held on to second and at the line the qualifying boats were Great Britain, Estonia and composite Norway of Tufte and Cop.

MEN’S FOUR (M4-) – Semifinals

The World Champion British four has stayed together and after a convincing win in the heats yesterday, they look to be on track for a medal-making season. Today they raced in semifinal one from the head of the field. Behind Great Britain, Poland tried to shake off Belarus and Serbia to retain their second place. Coming into the line Great Britain remained nicely in front, Poland held on to second and Serbia qualified from third. These are the qualifiers for Sunday’s final. This indicates a handy step up for Poland who finished 11th overall last year.

The Czech Republic stamped their authority on to semifinal two by jumping out at the start and keeping an eye on their competition. Croatia were the first challengers, with Italy then moving through to challenge. In the final sprint four boats gave it their all: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy and Canada. One boat missed out on a top three spot. Croatia was the unlucky boat. The Czech Republic, Italy and Canada are in the final.

Home crew Slovenia took bronze medals in 2009 and had high expectations for this regatta, but were unable to race in front of the Bled home crowd due to injury setbacks.

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LW2x) – Semifinals

The most stable combination in semifinal one was British number one duo of Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking. Goodsell and Hosking hit the ground running in 2009 when they became the first British lightweight double to win a Rowing World Cup title. They went on to finish third at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Today they came out of the blocks in third behind Greece and new American pairing of Ursula Grobler and Abelyn Broughton. Grobler is in her first season competing for the US and her short rowing career has come along in leaps and bounds with a World Record coming her way in January on the indoor rowing machine.

By the half-way point Broughton and Grobler had the lead with Goodsell and Hosking settling into second followed by Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou of Greece. This remained the order at the finish line and assigned the three crews for the final.

Great Britain got another boat into the final in semifinal two when Stephanie Cullen and Andrea Dennis stormed through at the finish to take first. Leaders for the majority of the race, Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head of the Netherlands, had to settle for second and the lucky Irish, Claire Lambe and Siobhan McCrohan, came through from behind to finish third. Surprisingly last year’s world silver medallists Poland could only manage fourth and will have to contend the B-final.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LM2x) – Semifinals

Canada’s Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester are leaving nothing to chance this year. They have been together since the Beijing Olympics and finished fifth in 2009. Today, in semifinal one, Vandor and Sylvester took a commanding lead at the start, opened out to clear water through the middle of the race and finished comfortably in first with their long, layback style. Serbia’s Nemanja Nesic and Milos Stanojevic got the award for gutsiness after coming through from the back of the field to take second. Italy’s number two crew of Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini held on to take third. These are the qualifying crews.

Semifinal two turned into the hottest race of the day when six crews matched each other through the first half of the race, dropping down to four crews charging for the line, all hoping for one of the three qualifying places available. Forcing a photo finish was France (Jeremie Azou and Remi Di Girolamo), Italy One (Marcello Miani and Francesco Rigon), the United States (Jonathan Winter and Brian De Regt) and Portugal (Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes). Winter and De Regt were unlucky by a smidgen of a second. Italy, France and Portugal are in Sunday’s final.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S FOUR (LM4-) – Semifinals

Great Britain looked good in the heats yesterday. Today, in semifinal one, they proved they had the goods to head for a medal. Taking the lead at the start, Chris Bartley, Rob Williams, Paul Mattick and Richard Chambers held the lead for the entire race. Behind them Denmark put up a huge challenge pulling out a 45 stroke rate sprint at the finish, but Great Britain, at 40, held them off. Last year’s World Champions, Germany, qualified from third. Great Britain, Denmark and Germany will meet again in Sunday’s final.

The second semifinal turned into a three-boat fight when Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy raced the full 2000m with all of the heart of a big final. Switzerland held a slight early lead with Italy and the Netherlands following closely. Going through the 1000m mark Italy did a huge push with a 37 stroke rate. This gave the Italians the lead with the Netherlands and Switzerland right with them crossing the line less than half a second separating them. Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland meet again in tomorrow’s final.

MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (M1x) – Semifinals

For pride or for a middle lane in the final? In semifinal one, two of the world’s fastest men went head to head. Alan Campbell of Great Britain got off to his usual flying start, but Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic was ready and waiting and all but matched the flying Brit through the first 500m of the race. With that Campbell and Synek left the rest of the field for dead and by the half-way point, Synek (now in the lead) and Campbell (now in second) had opened up an enormous 10 second lead over the rest of the field. This absolutely showed the talent of these two rowers.

Coming into the final sprint Synek had worked into a half boat lead over Campbell. Campbell was not giving up. As Campbell charged for the line under rainy skies, Synek seemed prepared to let it go. Campbell crossed the line in first rating 36 strokes per minute, Synek cruised across in second at a 27 stroke rate. The third qualification spot went to Ioannis Christou of Greece who crossed the line nearly eight seconds back.

All eyes were on the eternal showman Marcel Hacker of Germany in semifinal two. Hacker had the fastest qualifying time from yesterday’s heat. Could he pull off another win today? At the start Hacker and top French sculler Julien Bahain jumped out together in the lead. By the half-way point Hacker had earned a boat length lead over Olympic medallist from the quad, Bahain, and continued to keep the pressure on. Hacker’s lead continued to grow with Sweden’s Lassi Karonen now moving on Bahain. Coming into the finish Hacker felt confident to drop his rating to 29 with Bahain at 33 and Karonen at 32. These are the three qualifiers for tomorrow’s final.