LUCERNE, Switzerland - Two crews won their heats and a total of six U.S. boats advanced to Saturday's semifinals on the first day of competition at the 2004 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The lightweight men's double sculls tandem of Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Steve Tucker (Mooresville, Ind.) caught and passed the defending world champions from Italy in the final 500 meters of its heat to win the race and advance directly to Saturday's semifinals. Racing in the first of three heats, the U.S. duo, who earned a berth in the Olympics by winning the Olympic Qualification Regatta three days ago, stroked a 7:17.22 to defeat Leonardo Pettinari and Elia Luini by 15.32 seconds. With only the heat winner advancing to the semifinals, the beaten Italian duo coasted home over the final 300 meters to conserve energy for the afternoon repechage, or second-chance race. France and Hungary won the other two heats, also advancing directly to the semifinals.
The lightweight men's pair of Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.) and Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.), the bronze medalists in the event at last year's world championships, led its heat from start-to-finish to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Altman and Carcagno grabbed the lead early and clocked a 6:43.52 to defeat France by more than five seconds.
Racing in the third of three heats, the men's four of Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), and Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.) clocked a 6:02.38 to finish second behind the defending world champions from Canada. The Canadians took the lead off the line and stroked a 6:00.49 to win the heat by 1.89 seconds. The U.S. sat in third position behind Poland at the 500-meter mark before taking over second place at the midway point of the race. With the top three crews in each heat moving on to the semifinals, third-place Poland joined Canada and the United States in advancing.
The lightweight men's four of Matt Smith (Woodbridge, Va.), Pat Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio), Paul Teti (Upper Darby, Pa.), and Steve Warner (Livonia, Mich.) finished third in its heat to advance directly to Saturday's semifinals. The U.S. crew sat in third position the entire way down the course but made a strong push during the middle of the race, clocking the fastest middle 1,000 meters. The quartet finished with a time of 6:33.89, comfortably taking the third and final qualifying spot for the semis. The two-time defending world champions from Denmark came back to narrowly defeat Ireland by 0.14 seconds in the same heat. Denmark stroked a 6:29.96 to Ireland's 6:30.10.
Like Tucker and Ruckman, the men's quadruple sculls crew of Kent Smack (Clinton, N.J.), J. Sloan DuRoss (South Portland, Maine), Brett Wilkinson (Hyde Park, N.Y.), and Ben Holbrook (Hartland, Wis.) earned its berth into the Olympics by finishing in the top two at the qualification regatta earlier this week. On Friday, the quartet finished third in its heat to advance directly to Saturday's semifinals. The crew sat in third position the entire way down the course, finishing 4.10 seconds behind the heat winners from Germany in a 6:33.38. Germany clocked a 6:29.28, followed by Russia in a 6:30.99.
After finishing third in his morning heat, men's single sculler Conal Groom (Northford, Conn.) finished second in his afternoon repechage to advance to tomorrow's semifinals. Groom clocked a 7:03.92 to finish 4.94 seconds behind Switzerland's Andre Vonarburg. Earlier in the day, Groom finished third behind Germany's Marcel Hacker and Argentina's Sergio Fernandez Gonzalez in the second of four heats. Groom clocked a 7:12.16 to finish eight seconds behind Hacker.
The U.S. men's eight of Pete Cipollone (Ardmore, Pa.), Jon Watling (Greenwich, Conn.), Joey Hansen (Bakersfield, Calif.), Chris Ahrens (Milwaukee, Wis.), Chris Liwski (Sarasota, Fla.), Wolf Moser (Moultonboro, N.H.), Mike Wherley (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.), and Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine) finished second in its heat behind Germany and must now race in Saturday's repechage. Racing in the second of two heats, the crew clocked a 6:09.40 to finish 2.25 seconds behind the Germans, who advanced directly to Sunday's final.
The second U.S. entry in the eight, the Harvard University varsity boat, of coxswain Jesse Oberst, Kip McDaniel, Aaron Holzapfel, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Jonathan Lehe, Malcolm Howard, Jordan Sagalowsky, and Jonathan Durham finished fourth in the same heat. The crew stroked a 6:16.30 to finish 9.15 seconds behind Germany and only 0.28 seconds behind third-place Egypt.
The women's quadruple sculls of Danika Holbrook (Durham, N.H.), Kelly Salchow (Cincinnati, Ohio), Hilary Gehman (Wolfeboro, N.H.), and Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) finished third in its heat and will now race in a repechage on Saturday. The quartet sat in third position the entire way down the course, stroking a 7:17.48 to finish 10.05 seconds behind the heat winners from Germany. Germany clocked a 7:07.43, followed by Great Britain in a 7:11.11. The Ukraine won the other heat in a 7:19.28. Germany and the Ukraine advanced directly to Sunday's final, while the remaining crews will race in the repechages.
Racing in the second of two heats of the women's double sculls, Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Carol Skricki (Norwood, Mass.) finished third and will now row in a repechage on Saturday. The duo clocked a 7:05.26 to finish 7.20 seconds behind heat winners Kathrin Boron and Kerstin (Kowalski) El Qalqili from Germany. Great Britain finished second in a 6:59.30. Germany advanced directly to the final. In the first heat, New Zealand's Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell clocked a 6:55.10 to earn a berth into the final.
Lightweight men's single sculler Andrew Liverman (Oakton, Va.) finished fifth in the first of three afternoon repechages, failing to make the semifinals. Liverman will now race in Final C for places 13-17 on Saturday. In the repechage, it was a five-way battle for the three berths in the semis. Italy's Filippo Mannucci won the race in a 7:03.27, followed by France's Fabrice Moreau just 0.18 seconds behind. Portugal and Ireland finished in third and fourth place, 0.53 and 0.69 seconds behind Mannucci, respectively. Liverman clocked a 7:04.60 to finish 1.33 seconds behind the Italian. In his morning heat, Liverman finished second behind Italy's Stefano Basalini, the defending world champion. Basalini clocked a 7:14.36 to finish 2.61 seconds ahead of Liverman.
With only six entries, the women's eight of Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Lianne Nelson (Seattle, Wash.), Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.), Laurel Korholz (La Jolla, Calif.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Alison Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Megan Dirkmaat (San Jose, Calif.), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.), and Kate Johnson (Portland, Ore.) will race in a seeding heat on Saturday before racing in the final on Sunday.