A very strong, direct tailwind accompanied by a biting rain ushered out the several days of cross-head and revised lane draws. At the start, the water was pretty good, with a slight ripple, but by the time the crews reached the 750 mark, where a bridge that spans the course funnels a strong wind, the water was coming up, and by the finish, it was whitecapping for most races.
"A" finals:
Lightweight women's pair:
This race was scheduled for Sunday, but had to be run this morning to accommodate a substitution in the GBR pair - one rower was taken out for health reasons (not sure of specifics), and a rower from the quad subbed in, doubling up. Nonetheless, the GBR pair won the four-boat event, followed by Argentina winning their first LW women's medal ever, and the US pair in third for the bronze. Germany finished fourth.
Lightweight men's single
Despite excellent performances in the heat and semifinal, which had raised valid medal hopes, James Martinez finished sixth, well off the pace. After going to the 500 in third position, James seemed off his usual solid game, after a solid, if unspectacular second 500, fell back dramatically in the second 1000.
Open men's coxed pair
In an extremely bold move (don't try this at home), the US coaches switched strokes and rig only two days ago, after the repechage. New stroke Kurt Borcherding and bowman Phil Henry never went under 37 spm fo the duration of the course, and held off a fourth 500 charge by the Germans to win the bronze. The Germans may have had the lead briefly with about 15 strokes to go, but the US responded brilliantly to win the bronze by 0.14 seconds. Cox Nick Anderson, defending World Champ in the event, now has two medals in the coxed pair.
Lightweight men's 8+
Whew! This was a barnburner of a race, with countless lead changes, esp. in the final 500 between the US and Germany. GBR led to the 1000, and a look at the splits in the results will show just how intense this racing was -- crews were within a beat of 40 spm for most of the first half of the race. Going into the final 500, the US and Germany were perfectly level most of the way, with the US leading at 500 to go, then Germany just ahead, then the US again, and finally Germany at the finish line, by a bowball. In third, Italy was only 0.78 behind the pace; that's not much more than a couple seats. US takes silver, the best performance since 1988 (i was in that boat, eh!).
Women's pair
The US pair of Linda Miller and Amy Martin took bronze after racing in second position most of the way. The GBR pair, which was only .6 seconds behind the US at 500 to go, posted the fastest last 500 of the race to pull into the silver position.
Men's 2-
Adam and Cyrus finished a heart-breaking 4th, only three one-hundredths of a second (0.03) behind the Yugoslav pair, who raced brilliantly in the last 500m.
Women's 2x
In what might be the surprise US crew of the championship, Laurel Korholz and Carol Skricki took fourth place, and challenged for third before hitting a wave and bobbling in the third 500.
Petite finals:
Lightweight men's pair
The pair raced for the lead early, holding on until around 400 gone, then hung onto second for another 400 meters. The pace proved too much, however, and the pack was tight through this point, and they fell back to sixth, finishing 12th overall.
Lightweight Men's 2x
The double of Greg Ruckman and Steve Tucker came from a 6th place position at 500 gone to move into fourth by the 1000, and third by the 1500, where they stayed for the rest of the race. A look at the splits shows an almost perfectly even split race; one only wishes for a little more speed in the first 500, and they might have been out front. They finish 9th overall.
Lightweight men's 4-
The straight four has been a little slow getting out of the blocks, and quick in the third 500. They repeated that pattern today, pulling to within 1.21 second of the lead at 500 to go, but faltered in the final 500 to finish third, ninth overall.
Women's quad
After powering to a quick start that put them in second to the 1000, the somewhat undergunned US crew ran out of fuel late in the race, finishing third, ninth overall.
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