Light Men's 2x
The pressure cooker of qualifying for the Olympics last weekend only seemed to have turned Tucker and Ruckman to hardened steel; they rowed down the formidable Italian double, drawing even at 500 to go, only to have the Italians concede and paddle into the reps. Remember, the Italians are the defending world champs; they don't row in the reps too often.

Light Men's 4-
After an unheard-of sixth place finish in Munich, the Danes look to be back in form in winning their heat today; the Canadians matched this feat in their own heat, while the Aussies joined their Commonwealth mates in winning the third heat. The US crew also advanced directly to the semis, placing third behind the Danes and Ireland.

Men's 4-
Canada and the US met up right away, with the Canadians taking the top spot, the US placing 2nd. Meanwhile, the GB 4-, with a recuperated (recuperating?) Cracknell back in the boat, won their heat with the fastest time. With three from each heat advancing to the semis, you can take place and time with a grain of salt, but there you go.

Ger 5:55
Great Britain 5:53
Canada 6:00

Men's and Women's 2x
The remarkable remark here is that there is no US men's 2x, as they're all at home prepping for next Sunday's trials. After failing to qualify for the Olympics by next to nothing on Sunday, Ala and Carol placed third in their heat, and will row in the rep tomorrow. They're admirably rowing hard into the sunset this weekend as the US W2x; tremendous luck to them.

Men's and Women's Pairs
No US entries in these events, but northern neighbor Canada's Dave Calder and Kyle Hamilton barreled across 500 to go clear of the field to take their heat's one and only advancement to tomorrow's semi.

Men's 1x
Four heats - ouch. The only surprise among the heat winners (below): two single scullers from Norway (Tufte and Simonsen). Juri Jaansen, who trains stateside, placed fifth in his heat, over a minute behind the leader; it turns out that he is ill, and had to withdraw from the regatta by the afternoon. Like Ala and Carol, Conal Groom is racing the World Cup as well; Conal placed third in his heat, advanced to the reps, and subsequently qualified for the semis by placing 2nd in the reps.

Tufte (NOR) 7:16
Hacker (GER) 7:04
Chalupa (CZE) 7:04
Simonsen (NOR2) 7:08

Women's 1x
The three primary contenders were all heat winners - Neykova, Karsten, and Stomporowski. Again, these were three-to-advance heats, so place and time are not yet indicators of what's really happening in the event. Potential spoiler - Fedotova of Russia.

Women's Eight
The six-entry women's eight is not quite final only this weekend; there is a seeding heat (race for lanes) on Saturday, then it's a six-boat, one-shot deal for the medals on Sunday.

Men's Eight
Canada and Germany won their respective heats, with the US Canada led over the distance, and was clear of the field at 500 to go; Germany tried the same tactic, but was shadowed by the US by ½ - 2/3 length all the way down the course.

Racing as USA2, the Harvard men's varsity eight placed fourth of four in their heat, succumbing to a late push by Egypt. They'll row in the rep tonight. One note: There are three Canadians in the Harvard eight, but World Cup rules indicate that you must be a valid member of the crew in which you are competing, that club must be a valid club in the country for which you are competing, and the club must have the sanction of the NGB to race, and they are eligible. Obviously this would not carry over to a world championships.

Light Men's 1x
The LM1x includes the only non-Olympic event entry from the US, Andy Liverman. Andy's 2nd place finish in the quickest of the three heats seemed to send him directly to tomorrow's semis according to the published results, but this wasn't the case; unfortunately Andy was in the reps, and in a heater of a rep, where less than 1.5 seconds separated the entire field. Andy failed to qualify, and will row in a C final, I believe.