Single sculling semis on Lake Bled

Faced with flat, calm water and temperate temperatures, the athletes at Lake Bled enjoyed perfect rowing conditions with the predicted rain staying well away.

ARMS, SHOULDERS MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS (ASM1x) – Semifinals

These athletes are strapped into the seat of their fixed seat single, but have the use of their shoulders and arms. Their single is fitted with extra ‘outrigger’ flotation to help with balance. Tom Aggar of Great Britain is the current master of this event with Paralympic and World Champion status. He raced in semifinal one, but surprisingly was not dominating. At the half-way point of this 1000m race Spain’s Edorta De Anta Lecuona was right on top of Aggar and remained unrelenting. Coming into the finish Aggar remained just ahead of De Anta Lecuona, but only just. Spain takes second and Australia’s Benjamin Houlison pulls through to qualify for the final from third after a crab for Pascal Daniere of France destroyed his chances of qualifying.

The second semifinal featured Great Britain’s other speedy rower, Andrew Houghton. Houghton finished second to Aggar in yesterday’s heat but seems to be closing the gap on the Paralympic Champion. Houghton passed through the half-way point a comfortable four seconds ahead of Andrii Kryvchun of Ukraine. Kryvchun kept the pace up but could not catch Houghton who was able to rate a comfortable 33 strokes per minute, then drop to 27. Houghton qualifies for the final along with Kryvchun in second and Russia’s Alexey Chuvashev in third.

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S SINGLE SCULLS – Semifinal

The first semifinal featured current lightweight doubles World Champion, Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece. Tsiavou, 24, already has one Olympic Games under her belt plus, one World Champion title and two under-23 World Champion titles and is definitely one to watch. The Greek got off to a fast start followed closely by Sara Karlsson of Sweden and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany. These three athletes went through the half-way point practically neck-and-neck with Tsiavou retaining a slight edge.

Coming into the last 300m stretch of the race Tsiavou looked to be saving herself as she dropped her stroke rate to 27 with Draeger able to come through at a 28 stroke rate while Karlsson remained at 31. These athletes will race in the final this afternoon and obviously did not want to use up all of their energy just yet. Draeger, Tsiavou and Karlsson will make up three of the lanes in today’s final.

Semifinal two turned out to be the faster of the two races when Italy’s Laura Milani maintained her boat speed throughout the 2000m of rowing. Milani, 25, has been racing internationally since 2002 when she medalled in the single as a junior rower. Today she moved away from Eliane Waser of Switzerland and Lindsay Jennerich of Canada to open up a clear water lead through the middle of the race. Jennerich pushed back towards the end but Milani had enough of a lead to remain in first. Milani, Jennerich and Waser are in this afternoon’s final.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN’S SINGLE SCULLS – Semifinals

In the absence of three-time World Champion Duncan Grant of New Zealand, these athletes must have felt their medal chances had stepped up a notch. But sitting in semifinal one is the return to the single of 2006 World Champion, Zac Purchase of Great Britain. Purchase became an Olympic Champion in Beijing when he raced in the double. He then took a year off to recover from injury and is now back on the international scene. In semifinal one Purchase made very easy work of the race leading from start to finish and doing just enough to cross the finish line in first at a low 23 stroke rate pace.

Behind Purchase, Daniel Sigurjoersson Benet of Spain and Lukas Babac of Slovakia went head-to-head for the entire 2000m. Benet, 19, has come through his country’s junior ranks and is stepping up to the senior for the first time at this regatta. At the line the crossing order was Purchase, Babac and Benet. These rowers will be back on the water for the final later today.

Semifinal two recorded a faster finishing time with Maxime Goisset of France and Ailson Silva of Brazil taking turns in the lead as they covered the 2000m rowing course on the beautiful Lake Bled. Silva is currently Brazil’s most successful rower after winning silver at last year’s under-23 champs and he is part of a big Brazilian push in rowing as they head for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Goisset upped his stroke rate to 34 coming past the 1700m mark with Silva letting him go. Goisset, Silva and Fabrizio Gabriele of Italy earn spots in the final.