Men’s Four (M4-) – Semifinals

by Rowing-World on 24 Aug 2006 New Zealand was slow out of the start and trailed the field for much of the early stages, however only a boatlength covered first to sixth.

At the 1000 metre mark Netherlands led.

The New Zealanders began to to inject themselves back into contention for an A Final berth at the 1500 metre mark.

At 1750 NZL drew equal with FRA who took off and went onto win from NED. It was a photo finish for third between NZL and USA in the tightest race of the day.

The judges elected to call it a dead-heat and scored both crews with the same time and same place. Initially it was thought there would be a seven boat final, however a further match race between USA and NZL was called.

In the finish photo, note that USA is racing without a bow number, on the inside lane, and gives a slightly different image than the NZL bow.

From FISA:

What started off to be an average race with a reasonable spread of boats going through the half-way point, turned into a full-on fight for positions as four boats closed their eyes and charged for the line to a very unusual dead heat result. This is how semifinal one panned out.

The United States got off the line at a blistering pace in with the more experienced Dutch tracking closely in semifinal one. A squeeze in the second 500 gave the Netherlands the lead, but the United States weren’t giving up and hung on with France trying to close the gap. As the final 500 metres came into view New Zealand joined in the chase for a top three finish and coming through the last 100 metres there was nothing between these four crews. France handled the pressure the best and crossed the line first, the remaining three crews waited for the call. Time went by. The crews waited. The Dutch had come second. More time passed. The finishing photo was revisited. A dead heat between the United States and New Zealand was called: 5:51.24 each.

FISA Rule 75 calls for a re-row that same day between the two crews. The United States; Brett Newlin, Josh Inman, Mike Blomquist and Matthew Schnobrich would race against New Zealand; Eric Murray, Selwyn Cleland, Carl Meyer and Hamish Bond at the end of the day.

The last semifinal of the day featured Great Britain’s star crew of Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge. In their usual style the Brits continued their two-year winning streak by taking off at the head of the field with a 46 stroke rate pace. This shook off Canada, but didn’t shake Germany who looked to be improving as the race progressed. Coming into the final sprint Germany went for broke. Great Britain held them off, but their leading margin was less than half a boat length. Great Britain, Germany and a strong finish by Slovenia gave them the qualifying spots.

Men’s Four Re-Row

Following the dead heat at the finish in the first semi-final of the men’s four, FISA Rule 75 called for a re-row that same day between the two crews. The United States’ Brett Newlin, Josh Inman, Mike Blomquist and Matthew Schnobrich raced against New Zealand’s Eric Murray, Selwyn Cleland, Carl Meyer and Hamish Bond three and a half hours after racing their semifinal.

On paper the New Zealand crew had the better score card this season already having picked up a Rowing World Cup medal earlier this season. The United States, coached by Mike Teti has a link with the New Zealand crew as their coach, Chris Nilsson, used to coach with Teti. But today the rivalry was clear. In this brutal two-boat race, the United States handled the situation better getting out to an early lead and, despite catching an early race crab, the United States kept in front. Maintaining a 37 stroke rate, the New Zealanders seemed unable to react. The United States will move on to the final.

Result  World Cup World Rowing Championships 2006, Eton - Race 235: M4-  Semifinal - ReRow R
Rank	Boat	500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish	Lane
1	USA	1:25.17  (1)	2:54.32  (1)	4:24.69  (1)	5:54.41	2
Matthew SCHNOBRICH, Mike BLOMQUIST, Joshua INMAN, Brett NEWLIN
2	NZL	1:26.64  (2)	2:57.39  (2)	4:27.52  (2)	5:55.98	3
Hamish BOND, Carl MEYER, Selwyn CLELAND, Eric MURRAY
Key to terms: DNA=Data Not Available DNF=Did Not Finish DNS=Did Not Start DSQ=Disqualified EXC=Excluded BUW=Boat Under Weight

Result  World Cup World Rowing Championships 2006, Eton - Race 135: M4-  Semifinal A/B 1
boat progression: 1-3->FA, 4..->FB
Rank	Boat	500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish	Lane
1	FRA	1:24.14  (3)	2:54.43  (3)	4:23.69  (3)	5:50.55	5
Julien DESPRES, Benjamin RONDEAU, Germain CHARDIN, Dorian MORTELETTE
2	NED	1:24.00  (2)	2:52.10  (1)	4:22.43  (1)	5:50.85	4
Geert CIRKEL, Jan-Willem GABRIELS, Matthijs VELLENGA, Gijs VERMEULEN
3	NZL	1:25.16  (5)	2:55.63  (4)	4:24.00  (4)	5:51.24	3
Hamish BOND, Carl MEYER, Selwyn CLELAND, Eric MURRAY
3	USA	1:23.69  (1)	2:53.08  (2)	4:23.00  (2)	5:51.24	2
Matthew SCHNOBRICH, Mike BLOMQUIST, Joshua INMAN, Brett NEWLIN
5	CZE	1:25.71  (6)	2:56.26  (5)	4:27.00  (5)	6:02.14	6
Jan GRUBER, Jakub ZOF, Petr VITASEK, Karel NEFFE JR
6	ESP	1:24.68  (4)	2:56.46  (6)	4:31.66  (6)	6:10.51	1
Oriol PUEYO VALLET, Eduardo MURILLO GARRIDO, Pedro M. MURILLO GARRIDO, Imanol MUGICA LESMES
Key to terms: DNA=Data Not Available DNF=Did Not Finish DNS=Did Not Start DSQ=Disqualified EXC=Excluded BUW=Boat Under Weight

Result  World Cup World Rowing Championships 2006, Eton - Race 136: M4-  Semifinal A/B 2
boat progression: 1-3->FA, 4..->FB
Rank	Boat	500 m	1000 m	1500 m	Finish	Lane
1	GBR	1:23.55  (1)	2:52.54  (1)	4:21.96  (1)	5:49.94	3
Steve WILLIAMS, Peter REED, Alex PARTRIDGE, Andrew TRIGGS HODGE
2	GER	1:25.36  (3)	2:54.80  (2)	4:24.56  (2)	5:50.55	4
Gregor HAUFFE, Toni SEIFERT, Urs KAEUFER, Philip ADAMSKI
3	SLO	1:25.82  (4)	2:55.60  (4)	4:25.54  (3)	5:53.02	2
Rok KOLANDER, Tomaz PIRIH, Miha PIRIH, Matej PRELOG
4	CAN	1:25.11  (2)	2:55.23  (3)	4:25.74  (4)	5:55.55	5
Scott FRANDSEN, Kyle HAMILTON, Benjamin RUTLEDGE, Barney WILLIAMS
5	IRL	1:26.28  (5)	2:56.95  (5)	4:28.36  (5)	5:59.13	1
Cormac FOLAN, Sean O'NEILL, Sean CASEY, Alan MARTIN
6	ITA	1:27.97  (6)	2:59.89  (6)	4:32.72  (6)	6:07.04	6
Valerio MASSIMO, Aldo TRAMONTANO, Valerio PINTON, Raffaello LEONARDO
Key to terms: DNA=Data Not Available DNF=Did Not Finish DNS=Did Not Start DSQ=Disqualified EXC=Excluded BUW=Boat Under Weight