The Serpentine boating lake in Hyde Park, is not a venue that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of top quality rowing, but the inaugural Mercedes-Benz world rowing sprints was an unusual event in more than just its location, after all, how often do you get to watch international mixed 8s race?
With the aid of the buoys from Dorney lake and a the addition of a couple of concrete blocks to moor the start pontoon, the 500m course came together with the rest of this well managed event, to provide an exciting afternoon of sprint racing and allowing spectators to see top athletes from the USA, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany competing, close up for the Squad trophy (which looked suspiciously like an iron!)
A valid attempt to repackage rowing, making it more palatable for a TV audience, the World Sprints is a new concept, with a format quite different from that raced at Sir Steve Redgrave's Supersprints events. A laid back atmosphere, combined with excellent behind the scenes organisation, resulted in a very slick couple of hours where the racing came thick and fast. The one downside of the event was its clash with the Tideway Pair's head, preventing a large number of potential rowing spectators from attending. This was in part due to the late organisation of the Sprints, but despite the lack of media coverage in advance, the racing drew a large crowd of both rowing and non-rowing spectators, along both sides of the course.
There's not much to say about Sprint racing really, as the tactics employed across the board can be described as "wind it up high and keep it there". Getting out of the blocks fast is the order of the game, and with courses times ranging from 1min 26 sec to 2min 3 sec, there wasn't much room for mistakes.
It's unusual to see a US entry in an event of this kind, and their presence was probably more to do with the vice-president of FISA being American than with Mike Teti and the US coaches' grand plan. The squad had a mixed day, showing a greater strength in the sweep events than in the sculling, taking second place in the men's and women's pairs, the men's coxless four and the women's double, and winning the mixed eights event, piping the overall event winners, GB, at the post.
Final Team Placings:
1st - Great Britain
2nd - Germany
3rd - USA
4th - Netherlands
Representing the USA were:
W1x : Danika Harris
M1x : Daniel Protz
W2x : Laurel Korholz Von Bering; Sarah Jones
M2- : Bryan Volpenhein; Jason Reid
W2- : Portia Johnson; Katherine Johnson
M4- : Patrick Todd; Garrett Klugh; Michael Wherley; Eric Muller
Mixed 4x - : Danika Harris; Daniel Protz; Laurel Korholz Von Bering; Sarah Jones
Mixed 8+ : Bryan Volpenhein; Jason Reid; Portia Johnson; Katherine Johnson; Patrick Todd; Garrett Klugh; Michael Wherley; Eric Muller