Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) advanced to the semifinals of the men's single sculls on Friday at the second stop of the 2009 Rowing World Cup in Munich, Germany. He will now take on scullers from The Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Lithuania in the first of two semifinals on Saturday.
Anderson, who finished ninth in the single at the first world cup race last month in Banyoles, Spain, finished second in his afternoon repechage, or second-chance race, to move on to tomorrow's semifinals. Racing in the second of four repechages, Anderson led for the first 500 meters before settling into second position at the 1,000-meter mark behind Norway's Nils Jakob Hoff. The Norwegian went on to win the race, finishing with a time of 7:08.32. With only two rowers to advance, Anderson claimed the other spot in the semifinals by clocking a time of 7:12.53, 3.25 seconds ahead of Belarus' Maksim Shauchenka.
In the morning heat, Anderson finished third behind New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale and Lithuania's Mindaugas Griskonis. Anderson sat in third place all the way down the course, finishing with a time of 7:17.18. Drysdale, a three-time world champion and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the single, won the race in a 6:59.02, while Griskonis clocked a 7:06.56.
Racing continues on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. local time with additional repechages and semifinals. Placement finals will be held Saturday afternoon. Finals will be held Sunday beginning at 10:30 a.m. local time. More than 550 athletes from 37 nations are entered in the regatta. Event finals will be video streamed live on Sunday and can be accessed at www.universalsports.com.
The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997 and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup champions will be determined after a series of three regattas. The final world cup regatta will be held July 10-12 in Lucerne, Switzerland.