Ten GB Crews in Munich finals
GB Rowing has qualified ten boats for the finals of the BearingPoint World Cup in Munich tomorrow – seven in Olympic classes and three in non-Olympic.
News
After a frustrating two and a half hour delay the Camelot-sponsored men’s four qualified for the final in their trademark style, leading from the front to win in 6:10.74 from Ireland.
The wait came when a starting mechanism equipment failure
damaged the lead German boat as the crews lined up under starters orders. Germany were given the time, under world rules, to repair their boat.
Britain’s lightweight rowers had another good day providing five of the finalist crews including the two men’s Olympic classes.
There was also a promising performance in the repechage from the young men’s open weight quadruple scull to put them through to the final.
The British women’s quadruple scull, also sponsored by Camelot and carrying four Olympic medallists on board, looked comfortable in winning today’s race for lanes to give them pole position on tomorrow’s starting grid.
"Our tally of finalists today is most encouraging", said David Tanner, GB Team Manager. "The competition in Munich is tougher in depth than it was at Eton three weeks ago. We have seen many of our newer and younger crews today raise their game to make the top six.
"Of course, tomorrow will be tougher still with medals as always hard to come by", he added.
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RACE REPORTS
Drama appears to dog Alex Partridge. Last year he missed out on a place in Britain’s gold-medal Athens four because of a collapsed lung.
Today his crew, containing Olympic gold medallist Steve Williams, Peter Reed and stroke Andy Hodge, went to the start of their men’s four semi-final but had to return over two hours later as the automatic start mechanism failed to activate and damaged the lead German four’s boat.
The race, originally scheduled for three minutes to four, eventually came down the course at 6.30pm. After the long delay, Britain wasted no time in getting their nose ahead and still looked comfortable in the last thirty strokes to keep a length lead over the Irish with the Germans in third. The winning time was 6:10.74
The opposing semi-final was more closely contested and was won by Italy on the inside lane from Slovenia and Germany.
Earlier In the first open weight Olympic class semi-final of the day Debbie Flood sculled a tactically-superb race to reach the final of the women’s single scull.
She was third in 7:43.87 behind the winner and 2000 Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten. The key for Flood, however, came when she took an early length’s lead over Russia’s Yulya Levina.
With a good view behind her, every time the Russian counter-attacked Flood responded to maintain her advantage to hold onto third, consigning the experienced Russian to the B Final.
"She sculled that really well", said coach Mark Banks afterwards. "She did what she had to do to put the Russian under pressure without emptying the tank too soon".
In the ensuing men’s pair race, Kieran and Josh West got a good start, were ahead at 100m, slipped back into the pack momentarily before emerging ahead again just before 500m.
They held onto the lead by just a second but the Germans
several lanes away gradually moved ahead from that point.
"That was difficult to race a crew that far away on my
wrong side. It was hard to see what they were doing", said Josh West afterwards.
As Germany pulled away to win in 6:39.99 the Italians began to challenge the British.
In an extremely tight finish the British won that battle by half a second to finish in 6:41.55.
"We rowed a good race to 1000m", added West. "We set out to take the race on from the start but we couldn’t quite maintain that right down the track which was frustrating. We’re in the final, though, that’s good news and we’re looking forward to tomorrow".
Britain’s camelot sponsored women’s quad of Rebecca Romero, Sarah Winckless, Fran Houghton and Katherine Grainger, are the current world cup leaders having won gold last month at Eton.
Tomorrow they will have the pick of the lanes after comfortably winning today’s warm-up. They led from the start and were several lengths ahead by the end.
The men’s quad race, in which Britain put in a performance which spoke of their future potential, was a thriller with the Italians taking an early lead and having more than a length over the field at half-way.
GB lay in fourth place at this point and worked through the field to challenge Italy and move past them in the last 400m and take second place overall.
Meanwhile Ukraine, lying fifth at 1000m, had a sustained burn and won the repechage by just over half a length, leaving Italy, Germany and France to race in tomorrow’s B Final.
The men’s quadruple scull will also line up for the final tomorrow after the Italians to second place in the repechage in a race which spoke of their future potential.
Earlier both of Britain’s open weight double scull combinations were disappointed not to reach the final.
Elise Laverick and Annie Vernon knew that the French were the unknown quantity in their race and, when they overhauled them going through 500m, the race was well poised.
"If there was one moment where they lost the race, that was it", said coach Nick Strange afterwards.
"That’s when they should have been more decisive. Up to them it was pretty positive", he added.
Indeed, for a while between 1500m and 1750m it appeared as if the British crew might just snatch qualification before the French and Italians moved away again.
For Alex Gregory and Colin Smith in the men’s double scull everything is a learning experience. They only came together two weeks ago but seem to have gelled as people and as a crew and have great potential.
In today’s semi-final they showed well until 600m when the rest of the pack gradually moved away. "We didn’t seem to have that much more to give", said Alex afterwards. The British duo ended in fifth in a time of 6:43.25 in a race won by the lead German boat in 6:29.51.
Today was again a generally good day for the lightweight crews. Mark Hunter and James Lindsay-Fynn, in the Olympic class lightweight men’s double, raced eyeballs out to the line
to hold off the Czech Republic by just three tenths of a second and snatch the third qualifying spot for the final in 6:40.68. The semi-final , far faster than the opposite semi-final, was won by Germany in 6:35.52 with France second.
Small wonder that a huge shout of "yes!" went up from the British boat as it crossed the line.
Hunter, who has this season taken over the role of captain at Leander Club from James Cracknell, and Lindsay-Fynn are currently forced to train together only at evenings and weekends because of Fynn’s job as a city banker.
"I’m sure we can move on hugely in the summer when we get some time together at training camps", said Hunter. "I’m still motivated by my rowing and want to come away with a medal from a major event".
Moments later, the lightweight men’s four, also an Olympic
class boat, held off a fast-challenging Italian crew in the final 100m of their repechage to finish in second and take a place in tomorrow’s finals.
The time for Mike Hennessy, Dave Currie, Nick English and Simon Jones was 6:21.52 in a race won by Germany 1 in 6:19.26. Italy were third in 6:22.08.
This crew is being coached here by Robin Williams, better known until recently as Cambridge’s Boat Race Coach. He switched to his role with GB Rowing in early April and seems to have instilled a confidence and camaraderie within the lightweight section of the GB team which had been previously lacking after two seasons of indifferent results.
Jennifer Goldsack, a former England junior netballer who has rugby and rowing blues from Oxford University, kicked off the lightweight programme this afternoon by finishing in the top three of the single scull semi-final to qualify for tomorrow’s final.
Goldsack was well-placed in second approaching the line but was just pipped by Daniela Nachazelova of the Czech Republic. Her team-mate Naomi Hoogesteger led for the first half of the race, remained in contention until the final 400m before fading in the final reaches. She will now contest the B Final.
Tim Male, who became a dad for the first time
two months ago, was fifth in a fast finish of the
lightweight men’s singles semi-final. He
will have been disappointed with the performance
which will now see him race the B Final.
Zac Purchase, newcomer to the senior squad this season and coached here by Darren Whiter, compensated in the very next race by taking second place in a controlled finish to qualify for the A Final.
Paul Mattick and Daniel Harte were next on the course. They took the first repechage of the lightweight men’s pair by the scruff of the neck, led for most of the way and won in 6:55.33 to qualify for tomorrow’s final.
The second repechage, however, produced a German one-two with Nick Wakefield and Matthew Beechey in third and destined for the B Final despite a considerable finishing burst which came just a tad too late.
Despite a better performance than yesterday in the heats Helen Casey and Jo Hammond could not quite find enough speed to take a qualifying spot in the lightweight women’s double.
They were dropped very slightly after 600m of their repechage today and never truly looked like closing the gap, finishing third to race a B Final tomorrow.
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GB RESULTS – DAY TWO
BearingPoint World Cup
Munich, 17-19 June
(crews from bow to stroke plus cox)
SEMI-FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Single scull
Semi-final 2
1. Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus) 7:30.50
2. Mirka Knapkova (Czech Republic 1) 7:34.05
3. Debbie Flood (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:43.87
4. Yulya Levina (Russia) 7:45.07
5. Frida Svensson (Sweden) 7:48.99
6. Veronika Jakoubova (Czech Rep 2) 8:14.39
Semi-final 1 won by Caroline Evers-Swindells (New
Zealand) 7:34.68
MEN
Pair
Semi-final 2
1. Gregor Hauffe/Toni Seiffert (Germany 2) 6:39.99
2. Josh & Kieran West (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:41.55
3. Luca Agamennoi/Dario Lari (Italy) 6:42.03
4. Dawid Paczes/Lukasz Kardas (Poland 2) 6:45.00
5. Marcin Wika/Piotr Basta (Poland 1) 6:45.18
6. Gregor Novak/Bostjan Bozic (Slovakia) 6:53.53
Semi-final 1 won by Nathan Twaddle/George
Bridgewater (New Zealand) 6:34.17
Four
Semi-final 1
1. Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Alex Partridge/
Andy Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:10.74
2. Ireland 6:13.86
3. Germany 1 6:16.51
4. Poland 6:21.84
5. Germany 3 6:23.49
6. France 6:23.80
Double scull
Semi-final 2
1. Christian Schreiber/Rene Burmeister (Germany 1) 6:29.51
2. Luca Ghezzi/Federico Gattinoni (Italy) 6:31.53
3. Dmitro Prokopenko/Volodimir Pavlovskij (Ukraine) 6:32.68
4. Nils-Torolv Simonsen/Morten Adamsen (Norway) 6:36.69
5. Alex Gregory/Colin Smith (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:43.25
6. Mario Vekic/Ante Kusurin (Croatia) 6:47.37
Semi-final 1 won by Ivo & Martin Yankiev (Bulgaria) 6:31.93
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Semi-final 1
1. Mirna Rajle (Croatia) 8:17.68
2. Daniela Nachazelova (Czech Republic) 8:19.94
3. Jennifer Goldsack (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:20.41
4. Naomi Hoogesteger (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:29.33
5. Lara De Stefano (Italy) 8:31.19
6. Tina Jaklic (Slovenia) 8:48.43
Semi-final 2 won by Benedicte Luzuy (France) 8:11.76
MEN
Single scull
Semi-final 1
1. Gerard van der Linden (Netherlands) 7:16.80
2. Jose Czcy (Argentina) 7:18.00
3. Marcello Miani (Italy 1) 7:19.54
4. Jiri Vlcek (Italy 2) 7:19.94
5. Tim Male (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:22.46
6. Rolandas Kazlauskas (Hong Kong 2) 7:31.43
Semi-final 2
1. Ingo Euler (Germany) 7:13.35
2. Zac Purchase (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:14.79
3. Peter Loerinczy (Hungary) 7:15.22
4. Bine Pislar (Slovenia 1) 7:15.89
5. Frederic Hanslemann (Switzerland 1) 7:28.59
6. Lukas Babac (Slovakia) 7:44.43
Double scull
Semi-final 1
1. Joerg Lehnigk/Manuel Brehmer (Germany) 6:35.52
2. Frederic Dufour/Arnaud Pornin (France) 6:37.87
3. Mark Hunter/James Lindsay-Fynn (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:40.39
4. Jan & Ondrej Vetesnik (Czech Republic 1) 6:40.68
5. Igor Ronchi/Mitja Trkov (Slovenia) 6:47.47
6. Jiri Kopac/Vaclev Malecek (Czech Republic 2) 6:55.73
Semi-final 2 won by Elia Luni/Bruno Mascarenhas (Italy1) 6:40.42
REPECHAGES
OPEN
WOMEN
Double scull
Repechage 2
1. Laura Schiavone/Elisabetta Sancassani (Italy 1) 7:08.41
2. Caroline Delas/Inene Pascal-Pretre (France) 7:08.51
3. Elise Laverick/Annie Vernon (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:11.97
4. Volha Berazniova/Hanna Nakhayeva (Belarus 1) 7:17.51
Repechage 1 won by: Amber Bradley/Sally Kehoe (Australia)
7:04.64
MEN
Quadruple scull
Repechage 2
1. Ukraine 6:00.77
2. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham/
Alan Campbell/Matthew Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN)
6:01.57
3. Germany 6:03.36
4. France 6:05.39
5. Italy 6:06.44
Repechage 1 won by Poland: 5:58.43
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Repechage 1
1. Elena Lyakisheva/Ksenia Potapova (Russia) 7:26.66
2. Berit Carow/Laura Tasch (Germany 2) 7:27.26
3. Jo Hammond/Helen Casey (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:35.09
4. Lena & Sara Karlsson (Sweden) 7:38.48
5. Daniela Reimer/Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany1) DNS
Repechage 2 won by: Netherlands 7:25.19
MEN
Pair
Repechage 1
1. Paul Mattick/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:55.33
2. Ahmed Gad/Hossam Azouz (Egypt) 6:59.88
3. Jorge Morgenstern Medina/Javier Post Godoy (Chile) 7:02.02
4. Simon Stellmer/Mark Rippel (Germany 4) 7:03.40
Repechage 2
1. Alexander Bernhardt/Stefan Locher (Germany 1) 6;55.55
2. Ralf Baltasar/Jost Schoemann-Fink (Germany 2) 6:56.97
3. Nick Wakefield/Matthew Beechey (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:58.18
4. Andreas Toennies/Matthias Bergamann (Germany 3) 7:02.17
Four
Repechage1
1. Germany 1 6:19.26
2. Nick English/Dave Currie/Mike Hennessy/
Simon Jones (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:21.52
3. Italy 2 6:22.08
4. Italy 1 6:24.54
5. Austria 1 6:31.56
Repechage 2 won by Germany 2 6:17.06
SATURDAY "FINAL"
(this is a race to decide on lane draw
for the final on Sunday)
OPEN
WOMEN
Quadruple scull
1. Rebecca Romero/Sarah Winckless/
Frances Houghton/Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN)
6:41.06
2. Ukraine 6:45.25
3. Germany 1 6:45.76
4. USA 6:46.93
5. Germany 2 6:49.45
