Men's single sculler Wyatt Allen advanced to the semifinals on the first day of competition at the 2005 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup stop in Munich, Germany.
Allen, who is making the switch to sculling after winning a gold medal as part of the men's eight at the 2004 Olympic Games, started his racing schedule with a fourth-place finish in Friday morning's heat. Racing in the first of four heats, the Portland, Maine, native got off to a strong start and led the field after the first quarter of the race. Allen sat in third position as the field crossed the 1,500-meter mark, nearly 10 seconds behind the race leader. With only one sculler advancing directly to the semifinals from the heats, Allen finished with a time of 7:02.57 and began preparing for the repechage, or second-chance race. New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale won the heat by clocking a 6:51.98.
In the afternoon repechage, Allen battled Serbia and Montenegro's Nikola Stojic for the top position before getting edged out at the line. The second-place finish gave Allen a spot in Saturday's semifinals. Unlike the heat, Allen sat in second place through the first 500 meters as Stojic gained a two-second advantage. However, Allen came back during the second quarter of the race, passing the Brown University graduate by the 1,000-meter mark. He continued to build his lead as the two scullers entered the final 500 meters, but Stojic put on a furious charge to overtake the American in the final strokes. Stojic crossed the line in a 7:02.37, with Allen finishing in a 7:02.54.
While Allen was the only U.S. athlete to race on Friday in Munich, the U.S. has a women's quadruple sculls and a women's eight entered in the regatta. Both crews will race in seeding races on Saturday and in finals on Sunday. In addition, the women's eight will compete in a special 500-meter sprint against Germany on Sunday. The sprint will serve as a fundraising and awareness raising event for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
In total, 240 crews and 551 athletes are scheduled to race in Munich. Racing continues on Saturday with semifinals and repechages for events that don't require semifinals. Finals will be held Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. local time.