Most Kiwi crews qualify at Rowing World Cup, Day 1

by Melissa Bray, FISA on 16 Jun 2006 Cloudy, calm and temperatures in the mid 20s created ideal conditions at the Malta Regatta Course in readiness for the heats of the second Rowing World Cup in Poznan, Poland. Home of the 2009 World Rowing Championships, Poznan put football to one side to focus on a day of 61 races. A slight tail wind that varied in pressure race to race meant that times across heats were hard to compare.

FISA reports on the events in which New Zealand crews competed:

Men’s Single Scull (M1x) – Heats

Twenty-four entries from 18 countries in four heats with only place one advancing to the final opened with Alan Campbell of Great Britain. Campbell has been the flavour of the month in Britain and his Northern Ireland home town of Coleraine, ever since winning gold at the Munich Rowing World Cup at the end of May. Today Campbell continued on his winning ways and in heat one also clocked the fastest qualifying time to go directly to the semifinals.

Heat two had the first appearance of New Zealand this season with Mahe Drysdale following Campbell’s style and taking the lead then controlling from the front. Finishing on what looked like a comfortable 30 strokes per minute, Drysdale checked his stroke coach after crossing the line ahead of Austria and rowed into the cool down zone.

Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic burst onto the singles scene last year by winning two of the three Rowing World Cups, but this season he has not been so dominating. Today he got off to a fast start in heat three before being reeled in by Germany’s Marcel Hacker. Hacker’s 2005 season did not go so well, but he looked to have made a turnaround last month at the Munich Rowing World Cup. Synek has proven to do best when leading, but with Hacker overtaking, Synek will have to qualify now through the repechage.

In heat four Norway’s Olaf Tufte was seeded in the top lane and that’s the way he rowed. Olympic Champion Tufte missed out on a medal at Munich where he suffered from allergies. But his nose must be clearer here in Poland and he stayed ahead of friend and occasional training partner, Lassi Karonen of Sweden. Tufte now goes directly to the semifinal.

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Heats

The power of Australia’s women’s eight showed its face with the crew breaking down into pairs and racing in each of the three heats. Australia competed at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich and then went to their European training centre in Varese, Italy. The extra time in Europe must have done them well as they qualified three of their four entries.

Heat one opened with the German combination of Nicole Zimmermann and Elke Hipler leading the way over Australia 2, Amber Bradley and Kate Hornsey. The order remained the same with both boats qualifying for the semifinal.

Germany did it again in heat two with the reshuffled German combination of Maren Derlien and Chistina Gerking leading from the start. They were followed by Australia’s Emily Martin and Sarah Heard, back to put the Munich boat flipping incident behind them. The accomplished Martin is on the 2005 top 10 list of rowers and has international experience dating back to 1998. But making for one of the closest races of the morning, a late sprint by the Netherlands pushed the pace. The Dutch, however, looked to run out of steam and will return for the repechage.

The big upset came in heat three when a slow start by World Champions Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh of New Zealand put them back in third with Australia 3, Sarah Cook and first-year rower, ex-track star, Kim Crow, leading the way. Coles and Haigh soon pushed through to second and went after Crow and Cook. They couldn’t close the gap despite a 37 up to 40 stroke rate sprint at the end. Both crews qualify for the semifinal.

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Heats

The formula in these three heats was a top three finish to advance directly to the semifinal and World Champions Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater opened proceedings in heat one. But the New Zealand duo didn’t have it all their own way having to overtake a fast-starting Slovenia to take the lead. Behind them, Germany’s number three crew kept the New Zealanders in check and in the final 200 metres Twaddle and Bridgewater pushed the rate up from 34 to 39 to cross the line ahead of Philipp Naruhn, 22, and Florian Eichner, 20, of Germany, both in their first year as senior rowers, with Slovenia also qualifying.

Racing internationally for the first time since winning this event at the Athens Olympics, 31-year-old Drew Ginn of Australia showed that he still has what it takes. Teamed up with Australia’s Duncan Free, who’s better known for his sculling abilities, the duo looked together with long flowing strokes. Ginn and Free, in heat two, kept Yongquiang Zhang and Xiangdang Wang of China in check. Wang and Zhang had a very strong showing in Munich and they held on to second pulling out a 42-stroke rate sprint at the end over Australia’s 28-stroke rate. Germany also qualify from third.

Germany added another boat to the semifinal line-up by winning heat three over Munich winners, Goran Jagar and Nikola Stojic of Serbia & Montenegro. Jochen Urban and Andreas Penkner of Germany come out of the eight to race in the pair and they look to be a solid combination. Stojic and Jagar did not contend the final sprint, dropping their rating to 28 to stay just ahead of fellow countrymen Goran Todorovic and Jovan Popovic who also qualify for the semifinal.

Women’s Double (W2x) – Heats

Coming out of the quad and into the double Australia’s Dana Faletic and Sally Kehoe led the way in heat one of three heats, but not without a struggle. Sticking to Faletic and Kehoe like glue were Munich winners Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain. Despite both boats being easily in the two qualifying spots, they continued an Australian versus Great Britain battle right to the line with Kehoe getting up to a 37 rating and Bebington to 38. Both boats go directly to the semifinal.

The other half of Australia’s quad showed up in heat two. Catriona Sens and Sonia Mills came off their training camp in Varese, Italy and found themselves going head to head with Qin Li and Liang Tian of China. This is Li’s first international season and, with Tian they look to have made big improvements from the B Final finish at Munich when Li was partnered with partner Yulan Gao. A more solid sprint by China gave them the edge over Australia at the finish and both boats will go directly to the semifinal.

Going for their fourth World Champion title in the double this season, the current World and Olympic Champions, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand got out at the start in heat three over Yana Dementieva and Natalia Ryzhkova of Ukraine. Dementieva and Natalia come to the double after spending last season in the quad, with Dementieva also having raced at the Athens Olympics in the ill-fated disqualified quad. But at the front of the field, New Zealand demonstrated a very solid middle 1,000 of the race and choosing to stay at a firm 32-stroke rate. Both boats move on to the semifinal.


Men’s Four (M4-) – Heats

Two heats with a ruthless first place finish necessary for a direct path to the final set heat one off at a fast pace. An early lead was soon swallowed up when Ireland showed the strength of their middle 1,000. But that strength couldn’t hold them at the end when a charging New Zealand crew, stroked by Eric Murray took command. Ireland had no answer to Murray’s 39 stroke rate sprint. Coach Chris Nilsen knew about that speed after falling off his bike trying to keep up with his crew in training yesterday. New Zealand moves directly to the final. Meanwhile a reshuffle of Germany’s silver medal Munich four doesn’t look to be paying off. They finished in fourth after battling with Poland.

Coach Juergen Grobler playing around with the order in the boat doesn’t seem to have slowed the British. The current World Champion