Heartache, triumph and new World Best times at the World
Rowing Championships
Serbia take their first ever rowing medal as a new nation.
World and Olympic Champions, the Evers-Swindell sisters of
New Zealand find themselves in the unusual bronze position.
Adrien Hardy of France continues where he left off in Athens
in the men’s double. Australia’s Drew Ginn has
found another Oarsome partner. This was the first day of finals
at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain.
In steady tail wind conditions, rowers encountered fast water
but bobbly conditions. This didn’t stop the achievement
of three new World Best Times.
Women’s Four (W4-)
The Australians got off to a storming start to open finals
day. Taking advantage of bad steering by Belarus and the United
States, Australia – Kate Hornsey, Amber Bradley, Jo
Lutz and Robyn Selby Smith – had a clear water lead
over China by the half way point. Rating 36, a notch higher
than the Chinese, Australia had the advantage of being able
to look back on the rest of the field. As the finishing grandstands
came into view the Australian crowd was deafening, but it
didn’t stop the Chinese from fighting back at 39.
The United States then took chase. Australia, though, had
enough of a lead and defend their World Champion title. China
take second and the United States sprint through to earn bronze.
Adding icing to the cake, Australia set a new World Best Time
of 6:25.35, taking away Canada’s 1991 time of 6:25.47.
Robyn Selby Smith commented at the end: “I’m
very happy and it’s a great start towards the eight
tomorrow. We’re planning to repeat this performance.”
Men’s Coxed Pair (M2+)
An historic moment. Three years ago at the World Rowing Junior
Championships in Athens, the coxed pair for Serbia & Montenegro
made history by becoming the first World Champions for their
country in rowing. Today Jovan Popovic, Nikola Stojic and
coxswain Ivan Ninkovic set history again in this event by
being the first rowing World Champions for their newly-formed
Serbia and the second World Champion for their country (canoeing
won a medal a week ago).
Stojic was a late addition to the crew and turned up for
the second time today having raced just over an hour earlier
in the men’s pair B Final. Subbing for his injured compatriot,
Stojic was doing a fine effort and took the lead at the start.
Meanwhile, Canada (James Byrnes, Derek O’Farrell and
coxswain Brian Price) and Italy’s Francesco Gabriele
and Dario Cerasola and coxswain Andrea Riva, battled it out
for second. It’s been the Italian style to start slow
and come through in the final sprint and Canada was doing
their best to hold on to silver. With Serbia still in the
lead on a comfortable 34, Italy sprinted. Canada couldn’t
react. Serbia take gold, Italy silver and Canada bronze.
Stojic: “Despite the change (into the boat) I’m
not surprised, I had expected this result.”
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (LW1x)
She’s the defending World Champion, but Marit van Eupen
of the Netherlands was pushed hard in her semi-final when
four boats charged for first. Switzerland won. Today van Eupen
was making no mistakes and took the lead at the start. Spain’s
Teresa Mas De Xaxars took chase, but it was Germany’s
Berit Carow that was showing the strongest challenge to the
reigning World Champion.
Carow then looked to be struggling in the bobbling water
trying to hold her 31 stroke rate. Van Eupen remained in the
lead. Then in the final sprint Mas De Xaxars attacked back.
The order remained unchanged. Van Eupen retains her World
Champion status, Carow wins her first World Championship medal
with silver and Mas De Xaxars earns another bronze to add
to her 2005 bronze. Just back Italy’s Erika Bello shows
that a 10-year international rowing gap has done her no harm
with her fourth place comeback.
Mas De Xaxars: Before the race there were four boats within
one second so it was a tough race. I expected to do better
but Berit deserves her position. I’m happy anyway.”
Van Eupen: “I knew that the water would be quite rough.
My plan was to get away as soon as possible and to just to
hold on. I executed and it worked well.” And the future?
“After Athens I decided to take my time step by step.
Back in my mind I’d like to try for the women’s
eight maybe.”
Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x)
Zac Purchase of Great Britain is the new World Best Time
holder. With a time of 6:47.82 Purchase out-rowed the old
time of 6:47.97 set in 1999 by Denmark. This continues the
rise of the Brit that began last year when he became the under
23 champion and followed it up with a silver at the senior
level. Still just 20 years old, Purchase spent the first half
of this season recovering from injury but came back in time
to win the final stage of the Rowing World Cup.
At the start of the race, however, it was Greece in the lead
with the high-rating Juan Zunzunegui Guimerans of Spain following
closely behind. Purchase didn’t seem to mind and pulling
out a piece at the 950 metre mark got his bow-riggered boat
into the lead. From then on there was no stopping him. Zunzunegui
Guimerans tried to hold on, but had no effect. Meanwhile New
Zealand’s Duncan Grant was working his way into the
bronze medal position from the outside lane. Despite Spain’s
40 stroke rate charge at the end, Purchase took the gold,
Zunzunegui Guimerans silver and Grant bronze.
Zunzunegui Guimerans: “I knew that Zac was stronger.
I tried my best but he was faster and for my first year in
the single I feel good in this category.”
Lightweight Men’s Eight (LM8+)
Only two boats contested this race last year, so the six-boat
line-up was a definite plus today for the large crowd at the
Eton College rowing course. Italy is the defending champions
and retain five of these champions in the boat. Adding to
the strength of the line up four seat Franco Sancassani is
going for World Champion title number six, his first one being
back 11 years ago. Despite an early lead by Denmark, Italy
pushed through to the front, but at the first 500 metre mark
there was very little between the entire fleet.
Chasing hard Germany then moved up the ranks to challenge
Denmark. Coming into the final sprint, Italy remained in the
lead holding a solid 38. Germany attacked again, but it was
Poland, coming down the outside that was making the biggest
impact. At the line celebrations for the Italians had already
begun. Germany gain silver and Poland snatch bronze from a
fading Denmark.
Italy’s coxswain Andrea Lenzi: "We attacked at
the beginning then attacked again after 1000 metres. We hoped
and wanted this victory."
Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)
She’s strong, her technique impeccable and, despite
being 185cm (six foot tall) Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus knows
how to rate high. But it was Frida Svensson of Sweden that
had the early lead. At a foot shorter than Karsten, Svensson’s
race plan was all about being as aggressive as possible. But
Karsten soon had the lead and continued to make it grow so
that by the first 500 Karsten was more than a boat length
over her nearest, not surprisingly, perennial silver medallist
Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic.
Despite her lead Karsten kept her rating at a high 35. Was
she attempting to go after the World Best Time? Meanwhile,
Knapkova was underrating Karsten at a steady 32. Karsten continued
to increase her lead while Svensson battled with France’s
Sophie Balmary. At the line Karsten adds to her incredible
medal haul, defending her World Champion title and looking
in good stead for Olympics number five in 2008. Knapkova adds
yet another silver to her collection and the little dynamite
Svensson earns her first World Championship medal with bronze.
Karsten finishes four seconds outside the World Best Time.
Karsten: “I didn’t expect to win so easily, I
would have expected less of a gap between me and my opponents.”
Any secrets? “Good facilities for training in Germany,
the best coach in the world and my physiology.”
Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)
These athletes know each other well, but during race time
it’s all business with a mental game going on that is
anyone’s guess. Hacker collapses after his semi-final.
Tufte carries out coughing fits. Drysdale looks like he’s
putting in no effort. Synek pulls out a stunner in the semi-final.
At the end of this race these athletes would push each other
for a new World Best Time. Today at the start Germany’s
Marcel Hacker took off in the style of his semi-final, rating
high and grabbing the lead. Great Britain’s Alan Campbell
also opened with his trademark fast start with Mahe Drysdale
of New Zealand and Norway’s Olaf Tufte back in the field.
Hacker continued to keep his rating high settling into a
35 stroke rate with Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, rowing
a very clean, tidy race, representing the nearest threat.
Coming through the half-way point Hacker remained in the lead
with a good two second margin over Synek. Could the German
maintain this? Coming into the final 500 metres stroke rates
began to rise. The reigning World Champion, Drysdale was attacking.
Tufte followed suit. Hacker tried to hold on. The heat was
on the German. Two boats were level. Three final strokes.
Hacker looked across at Drysdale. Drysdale remained in his
zone. Drysdale crossed the line. He looked across both ways
then his fists punched the air. Drysdale had stolen the gold
from Hacker and stolen the German’s World Best time.
Drysdale now owns the time of 6:36.33 (Hacker’s previous
record, 6:36.40, set in 2002). Hacker wins silver and Synek
holds off Tufte to take bronze.
At the medals ceremony, Drysdale was saluted with a New Zealand
haka while Hacker’s coach, Andreas Maul accepted the
silver, Hacker having earlier collapsed.
Synek: “Mahe and Marcel did a very good race, but I’m
happy anyway because up until now it was a bad season for
me.”
Women’s Pair (W2-)
Canada’s Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball looked to
be the crew to beat coming into these World Rowing Championships.
They shot into the public eye by winning at the final stage
of the Rowing World Cup last month leaving Germany’s
hot new combination Nicole Zimmermann and Elke Hipler in second.
Marquardt has come back to competitive rowing after finishing
in the heartbreak fourth position at Athens and with her new
partner, Rumball, they led from the start nearly opening up
a full boat-length lead by the first 500 metres.
Settling into a solid 37 stroke rate the commentator remarked
that Marquardt and Rumball looked a bit tentative in these
bobbly water conditions. But it was doing them no harm. Zimmermann
and Hipler pushed hard from second with current World Champions
Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand right on the
pace in third.
Coming into the final sprint the United States joined in
on the charge to the line. Canada held on at a 38 stroke rate,
New Zealand pressed hard, Germany looked exhausted, the United
States out-rated the field. At the line Marquardt and Rumball
take gold, Haigh and Coles perform their best race all season
to win silver and Zimmermann and Hipler win bronze.
After the race Haigh commented that although she races to
win, she was happy with their silver medal following a bad
season: “I feel like jumping up and down. It was just
as good as last year. To come from what we had been…things
were looking pretty dimly for a while, but to do this today
and on the right day…I’m so, so happy.”
Marquardt: “We knew we had a fast start from our heat
and from races in Munich. We knew if we had a good start,
we’d be ahead and then we’d figure people would
push us.”
Rumball on moving from sculling to sweep: “Yeah, I
love it. I just love most of all being in a partnership with
someone, and I couldn’t have had a better partner than
Darcy. I haven’t been sweeping since high school so
it kind of brings me back to that time. So I really, really
enjoyed the sweep boat and I don’t think I’ll
go back (laughs).”
Men’s Pair (M2-)
With three Olympic medals sitting in the Australian boat,
quite a weight hung around the neck of Drew Ginn and Duncan
Free. This got them off the line in the lead sticking at a
39 stroke rate before settling down to a steady 34 pace. China’s
Yongquiang Zhang and Xiangdang Wang held on to the Australians'
coat tails with a full-on tussle going on between the remainder
of the field, current World Champions Nathan Twaddle and George
Bridgewater of New Zealand, right in the thick of things.
Coming through the middle of the race Germany did a burst
to overtake the Chinese with Twaddle and Bridgewater in hot
pursuit. The final sprint was going to be brutal. Australia
held steady, New Zealand went to 40 then 41 strokes per minute
and Canada’s Kevin Light (former World Champion from
the eight) and partner Malcolm Howard charging down the outside.
Free earns his first sweep World Championship medal in his
first year at this discipline, Ginn adds another World Championship
titles to his impressive collection. Twaddle and Bridgewater
finish with silver and Light and Howard earn bronze.
Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)
A bad day at the office for current world and Olympic Champions,
Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand. The extremely
unhappy duo after the finish commented philosophically, “this
is sport.” This is how it went.
The Evers-Swindells got of the line first using their powerful
finishing strokes and settled into their trademark 35 stroke
rate rhythm. But, unlike their past four years of domination,
the twins from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, had lost the lead
before the 900 metre mark. Instead it was the Australian duo
of Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley that were in the lead, underrating
the New Zealanders by about three beats. Kell comes back to
international rowing after a three-year break. In 2003 she
qualified the double for the 2004 Olympics but was not selected
in the Olympic year to be on the crew. Pratley is new to the
international scene, trying the sport for the first time in
2002, the 191cm Pratley is in her first international season.
Today, the Australians had nothing to lose in challenging
the best in the world. Maintaining their 32 stroke rate, Kell
and Pratley were handling the tail wind conditions with ease,
but there was very little between the leading boats coming
into the final sprint. Four boats charged at the Australians.
Australia didn’t react. In a photo finish, Kell and
Pratley had dethroned the World and Olympic Champions. Germany’s
Britta Oppelt and Susanne Schmidt had sprinted through to
second, the Evers-Swindells held on to third with Great Britain
and Ukraine also giving it all that they could.
What a finish. What a race. Two new World Champions are crowned.
As I write this in post-race peace, the large crowd enjoying
the post-race entertainment listen to Bowie’s “We
can be heroes.”
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)
They are not the top two scullers in France, but together
they create magic. Jean-Baptiste Macquet (Athens Olympian
from the men’s eight) and Adrien Hardy (Athens Olympic
Champion from the double) came together this season to beat
the reigning champions Luka Spik and Iztok Cop of Slovenia
at the second Rowing World Cup and in the process set a new
World Best time. Cop and Spik came back to win at the final
stage of the Rowing World Cup. Today these two formidable
crews met again and it was Macquet and Hardy that took an
early lead right from the starter's gun. Cop and Spik took
chase. The French, though, proceeded to move further into
the lead. What could the Slovenians do?
No one else could even get a look in on the pace of these
two leaders. Belgium tried. Poland gave it a bash. Then down
the outside lane Great Britain came flying. Matthew Wells
and Stephen Robotham had been sitting literally at the back
of the field when they saw the last 500 metre mark come into
view. The Brits started to fly. Their rating rose to 39. Slovenia,
still chasing France, went to 38. France thought "merde",
they’d better react and go up to 39. France holds on
to first, Slovenia take silver, Great Britain earn a deserved
bronze. Keep an eye on these crews. It’s likely that
you’ll be seeing them in the final at Beijing.
On the medals podium the chosen accessory was to hold little
blonde kids. Cop outdid Hardy by sporting two of them, Hardy
could only manage one.
Men’s Four (M4-)
It’s almost becoming a broken record scenario. Today
was no different. Great Britain’s star crew of Steve
Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge took off
at the start, got into the lead and remained there. Under
coach Juergen Grobler, this has been the way ever since the
crew came together at the start of 2005. During this time,
the Netherlands and Germany have given them the best run for
their money with France showing potential.
At the start this scene looked a little different. The United
States, who had come into this final after beating New Zealand
in a dead-heat re-row, were chasing the Brits hard with Slovenia
holding the pace. Nothing changed until the 1200 metre mark.
The Dutch must have decided enough was enough and charged;
Germany followed suit. Sprinting to the line Germany went
for broke hitting a 40 stroke rate, the Netherlands, at 38,
clung on. With the 9.38 litre lung capacity of Reed sitting
in the British three seat (compare that to 7.00 of Lance Armstrong),
the British took the rating up. Germany nearly did it but
will have to be happy with silver. Great Britain win in front
of their home crowd. The Netherlands take bronze.
|
