US M4x Advances US fans were waiting on tenterhooks for the last race of the day to see if the quad would advance. At skit night the night before, their extended remix of "If I Only Had Two Oars," sung to the tune of "If I Only Had A Brain," showed they could at least sing together; today's semi showed they can row together ok as well.
The quad semis couldn't have been much more alike with respect to final times:
Semi 1: | GER 5:45.81 | POL 5:47.56 | ITA 5:48.63 |
Semi 2: | NED 5:45.36 | USA 5:46.61 | UKR 5:48.53 |
Expect yet another heater final in this event.
The US light men's double found their legs somewhat today with a very solid winning effort in the C/D semifinal; they'll head into the C final with a win under their belts, always a good situation to be in.
Redgrave Just One of 24? Rumors that Steve Redgrave will come in to row in the 24-person boat's attempt to set a world record abound, tho nothing is certain. Apparently the fastest the boat has gone is 6 minutes for 2k. in a row the other night, the coxswain clocked a 1:10 500, while someone in the boat clocked the same 500 at 1"20 - a big difference. Our question - how do you back a 24-person boat into the gates such that the bowball is on the starting line for a clean shot at a world record?
Even Splits Off the Pace The US light men's quad seemed to be onto something in the reps when they even-split their race to go from last to first during the second thousand, but the same tactic failed to work today. They evensplitted the race, but gave up too much at the start such that they were never really in the race. They race next in the B final.
Polish Lightweight Powerhouse The inclusion of the lightweight double in the Olympic program has clearly benefited the Polish squad - both their lightweight men's and women's doubles have shown formidable speed here. The men are the defending Olympic champions, and look to be headed for the medals dock again this year.
LW Men's Four Final Promises Brawl After blasting out of the gates to nearly a length lead, the Danes were pushed the rest of the way down the course by the Austrian LW four, which drew within .29 seconds of the Danes with 500 to go. The Danes showed they have some juice, posting the fastest first and last 500s.
The other heat, however, had the faster time, with both the French and the Italians beating the Danes's time, and the Canadians beating the Austrians' time. (got all that?)
All of this is to say that we might be treated to a true heater of a final in this event.
No Positive Drug Tests According to FISA, the association has conducted an aggressive drug testing program this year, both in and out of competition. Listening to the athletes and federations, this would seem very much to be the case - everyone's talkinhg about how much they have been drug-tested.
This morning, FISA announced that this blitz of testing resulted in no positive drug tests whatsoever.
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Worlds coverage is brought to you in part by:
row2k's Worlds coverage is brought to you in part by: