Finalists narrowed down at World Champs
Flat water and calm conditions must have brought smiles
to the faces of many athletes at the 2006 World Rowing Championships
in Eton, Great Britain.
Lightweight Men’s Pair (LM2-) – Semi-final
The 159th race of the 2006 World Rowing Championships went
Australia’s way when Tim Smith (4th in the LM4- at the
2005 World Rowing Championships) and Olympian (Athens LM2x)
Cameron Wurf took off in the lead of the first of two semi-finals.
Great Britain’s Chris Bartley and Richard Chambers followed
closely behind. Bartley and Chambers were a late addition
to the British squad after proving themselves by winning gold
at both the Rowing World Cup and at the Under 23 Championships.
Behind the two leaders Russia’s Mikhail Belikov and
Sergey Bukreev were holding the leaders pace. Belikov and
Bukreev are in their first season together but two-time Olympian,
Bukreev brings to the boat a wealth of experience. The Russian’s
kept ahead of Japan to hold onto third with the order not
changed for the rest of the race.
Australia, Great Britain and Russia will make up half of
the boats in the final.
The second semi-final featured Germany’s Felix Otto
and Ole Rueckbrodt. The duo have medalled at every international
race they’ve been in since 2003 and both say they have
the Beijing Olympics in their sights, hoping to get into the
lightweight four. Otto and Rueckbrodt took to the lead with
Spain’s Juan Manuel Florido Pellon and Jesus Gonzalez
Alvarez in hot pursuit. Florido and Gonzalez both have Olympic
experience and both are in their second decade of international
rowing. Their expertise came through as the Spaniard’s
pushed ahead of Germany.
Meanwhile, winding up from the back of the field, Italy’s
Andrea Caianiello and the very experienced (nine international
medals) Salvatore Di Somma were trying to come back from a
bad start. It took until the final 500 for the Italians to
get into a qualifying spot. In the closing sprint Spain held
off Germany who will qualify from second and Italy will also
go on to the final.
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) –
Semi-final
In a lineup full of accomplished rowers, Greece’s Chrysi
Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou got off the line first. This
crew is a mixture of experience and new talent; three-time
Olympian Biskitzi has teamed up with this year’s under
23 lightweight single champion, Tsiavou. Together they held
onto the lead, but not for long. First Dongxiang Xu and Shimin
Yan pushed past, then Canada’s Mara Jones and Tracy
Cameron.
Xu and Yan held a steady 34 to hold the lead, a definite
change from their style earlier in the season when high rating
for the full 2000 metres seemed to be the name of the game.
Jones and Cameron, coming to the double from last year’s
World Champion lightweight quad, did their best to chase down
the Chinese. Yan, who turned 20 yesterday, has the advantage
of having won the lightweight single on this course at last
year’s Eton Rowing World Cup. Xu, 23, comes from the
same province as Yan and is this year’s yellow jersey
holder from the World Cup series.
China crosses the line in first, followed by Canada and in
a three way dash for the line, Greece only just holds off
Poland and Germany to take the final qualifying spot.
Australia’s Amber Halliday used to hold the World Best
Time. She gained this in her heat at the Athens Olympics before
missing out on a medal and disappearing off the international
rowing scene. Earlier this season China (Xu and Yan) bettered
Halliday’s time and created a new World Best Time. Halliday
is back with new partner Marguerite Houston and has her sights
set on Beijing to right her Athens misfortunes. In semi-final
two the Australians watched Finland’s Sanna Sten and
Minna Nieminen take off at the head of the field. Sten and
Nieminen finished third last year and in their third year
together are aiming for Beijing. Looking smooth and together,
Sten and Nieminen remained ahead of Australia with Jane Hall
and Helen Casey of Great Britain (who qualified through the
repechage) sprinting down the outside. Going through the 1500
metre mark there was very little between these three crews
and despite all of them being in qualifying positions, they
all sprinted, nervously aware of what last year’s silver
medallists the United States and World Cup medallist, Ireland
may do.
At the line Australia had taken over in the best sprint to
take first, Finland holds on to second and Great Britain take
the third qualifying spot to move on to Sunday’s final.
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) –
Semi-final
Especially clean finishes and high rating gave the Czech
Republic the lead at the start of the first of three semi-finals
which meant a top two position was needed to gain a spot in
the final. But the margin was miniscule going through the
middle of the race with the top five crews only two seconds
apart. This is when the very gaunt looking Elia Luini of Italy
and partner Marcello Miani took advantage of their controlled
start to push ahead. France’s Fabrice Moreau and Frederic
Dufour also showed that a steady start would pay dividends
later in the race.
Italy and France had expended their energy correctly and
move on to the final.
The second semi-final opened with Vasileios Polymeros and
Dimitrios Mougios of Greece getting out in front first. Polymeros
and Mougios settled at a 37 stroke rate which was proving
to be effective. This position, however, did not last long
for the Greeks as Germany’s Joerg Lehnigk and Manuel
Brehmer pushed into the lead. But margins between boats continued
to be incredibly tight. Canada, rowing with the rigger-behind-them
style boat was well in contention and Australia fully in the
picture.
With 1500 metres rowed Australia’s Sam Beltz and Tom
Gibson earned the lead. Beltz and Gibson both come from Tasmania,
Australia’s island that has bred many lightweight champion
rowers and the duo look to be adding to this history. At the
line Australia had held on to first, Germany sprinted through
to second to also qualify. Canada and Greece will have to
contest the B Final.
Denmark’s race plan must have been to get out in the
lead, stay efficient and hold off any challengers until the
finish. In the third semi-final Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus
Quist of Denmark took off out of the starting holders hands
in the lead and settled from 38 down to 34 strokes per minute.
This is a change from Rasmussen and Quist’s style at
Rowing World Cup races earlier in the season when they would
burst out in front and keep their rating high through the
entire race, one time being overtaken. A tweaking of their
race plan must have led to this more controlled style that
would give them enough energy if needed at the end.
Meanwhile two-time Olympic Champions Tomasz Kucharski and
Robert Sycz of Poland held a close battle with Great Britain
for the second qualifying spot. Poland, rating higher than
the Danes stuttered through the middle of the race giving
Great Britain the edge. The final sprint, however, went the
Poles’ way as they caught up and overtook Great Britain
in the final three strokes. Denmark were still well in front.
Denmark and Poland advance to the final.
Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Semi-final
An appalling start by the Irish announced the commentator
as France and the United States got away first. The Irish
come to the World Rowing Championships with high expectations
as winners of last year’s silver medal and yellow jersey
holders from this year’s Rowing World Cup series, but
they have been struggling at this regatta to get off the line
quickly. Back to defend their World Champion title, Fabien
Tilliet, Jean-Christophe Bette, Jeremy Pouge and Franck Solforosi
of France remained in the lead while Great Britain moved up
the ranks and the United States dropped back.
Margins remained tight in the last 500 metres. Stroke rates
moved up. Fastest qualifiers Germany tried to get back from
their fifth place start. At the line France takes first, Great
Britain second and Ireland stays ahead of Germany to take
the third qualifying spot.
China showed that they had the goods earlier in the week
and took off at the head of semi-final two. They come to this
regatta with a World Cup fifth and sixth place finish, but
there has been some further tweaking to the line up and it
seemed to be working a charm.
Canada, stroked by the experienced Iain Brambell and father
to be, soon got the better of China by moving into first.
China, rating a couple of beats lower, held on with Australia
and Italy still clambering for that third spot. A better sprint
by China gave them the lead at the end with Canada qualifying
from second and Australia dropping Italy, who had run out
of steam, completely takes the remaining spot in the final.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Semi-final
Poland showed their World Champion class in the first semi-final
by moving out to the lead at the start and establishing a
relatively easy 32 stroke rate pace for the body of the race
and left the remainder of the field to fight for second and
third. First Australia grabbed hold of second, then Italy,
stroked by Sydney Olympic Champion Simone Raineri, pushed
through to second, before Ukraine sprinted through to take
this spot. The whole time Poland, with 21 year old champion
Konrad Wasielweski, sitting in bow, remained comfortably in
front lifting their rating to 35 to keep their nose in front
at the end.
A solid sprint by Ukraine rating 42 pulled them into second,
Italy held on to third while an unlucky Australia miss out
despite their 45 stroke rate charge.
Russia’s three seat Alexey Svirin is an impressive
individual. He’s over two metres tall, he weighs in
at over 100 kg, when not rowing he’s a builder and he
has an Olympic gold medal. Today, with his crew, Svirin was
in the lead of semi-final two earning enough of a lead that
they could keep an eye on the tussle for second. Germany,
the Czech Republic and Estonia were all there. Only about
60 strokes were left to race and a near on dead heat existed
between these three crews. Who had the best sprint? Germany
didn’t. Estonia, rowing a style that looked almost a
mirror image of Russia’s upright style, did. At the
line the fight for second had hauled in the Russians.
Estonia qualify from first with the fastest time overall,
Russia hold on to second and the remaining spot goes to the
Czech Republic.
Men’s Eight (M8+) – Semi-final
Semi-final one had the all familiar sight of the United States
in the lead. The crew, stroked by Beau Hoopman, one of the
survivors from the gold medal Olympic boat, already had their
nose in front within the first 20 strokes and continued to
move away. The quip from the commentator’s car was this
US crew did not look as tidy as their 2005 World Champion
boat. Would they pay for it later in the race?
The United States continued to lead with the only challenges
coming from Germany and Italy. Coming into the final sprint
the United States still looked like winners. Germany then
let loose, their stroke rate rising to 39 with Italy following
suit. Hoopman reacted, their stroke rate rising to 42. At
the line there was nothing in it. A photo finish gave it to
the US with 1/100th of a second over Germany. Italy held on
to third to also qualify.
Australia followed the US style in semi-final two. Getting
into the lead over a quick starting China, Australia settled
into a very comfortable 35 stroke rate pace as Canada tried
to reel them in. Then Poland gave it a shot and finally, to
the delight of the crowd, Great Britain. Four boats were easily
in the running for three spots. Australia held on to first,
Great Britain, rating 42, took second, Poland, rating 43 squeezed
ahead of Canada (at 45) to take third.
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