The women's four and women's single sculls advanced out of the repechages on Friday to highlight the second day of competition at the 2009 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Racice, Czech Republic.
The women's four of Sarah Gribler (Marysville, Wash.), Theresa Shields (Grosse Ile, Mich.), Laura Nicholson (Newton, Mass.) and Sarah Zelenka (Itasca, Ill.) finished second in its repechage, or second-chance race, to advance to Sunday's final. The crew got off the line in third place before moving into the top spot during the second quarter of the race. The U.S. continued to hold a one-second lead going into the final 500 meters, but Belarus won the sprint to the line, finishing with a time of 6:42.51. The U.S. clocked a 6:43.79, finishing three seconds ahead of The Netherlands for the last spot in the final.
Women's single sculler Helen Tompkins (Friendswood, Texas) also finished second in her repechage, earning a spot in tomorrow's semifinals. With three to advance, the American grabbed third place in the first 500 meters before quickly moving into second before the midway point of the race. Tompkins, who finished sixth in the event at last year's under 23 championships, held second the rest of the way down the course. Poland's Natalia Madaj won the race in a 7:44.11, with Tompkins finishing 5.69 seconds behind in a 7:49.80.
The men's eight of Daniel Connolly (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), Nick Lucey (San Francisco, Calif.), Brad Bertoldo (San Jose, Calif.), Max Goff (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Matthew Wheeler (Eugene, Ore.), Blaise Didier (San Francisco, Calif.), Sebastian Peterlin (San Francisco, Calif.), Scott Morgan (Portola Valley, Calif.) and Neil McPeak (Linwood, N.J.) missed reaching the final by three seconds after finishing third in the repechage. Australia and Estonia held the top two spots the entire way down the course, with Australia taking the lead in the second 1,000 meters en route to a winning time of 5:33.34. Estonia finished second in a 5:33.65, with the U.S. clocking a 5:36.69. The American boat will now race in the B final for places 7-9.
The women's quadruple sculls crew of Amanda Chase (Alexandria, Va.), Desiree Burns (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), Emily Dreissigacker (Morrisville, Vt.) and Michelle Nance (Simpsonville, S.C.) finished third in their repechage, just missing a spot in the final. The U.S. boat sat in fourth through the 1,000-meter mark before making a strong push to pass Australia and challenge Romania for second. However, the Romanians were able to hold off the American's charge in the final 250 meters. Italy won the race in a 6:27.76, with Romania finishing in a 6:28.71. The U.S. clocked a 6:30.31 and will now race in the B final for places 7-9.
Thomas Davidson (Seattle, Wash.) and Nick Donald (Seattle, Wash.) finished third in the repechage of the lightweight men's pair and will now race in Saturday's B final. Davidson and Donald sat in fourth at the 1,000-meter mark before moving into third place with 500 meters to go. Hungary was able to regain third in the final quarter of the race; however, Davidson and Donald were later moved up to third place after Hungary's boat failed to make weight. Germany and France took the top two spots to advance to the final. The German crew clocked a 6:39.87 to finish just 0.08 seconds ahead of France. The U.S. boat finished with a time of 6:59.32.
In the men's single sculls, Stephen Lambers (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) made a major push over the final 500 meters but came up just short of advancing to the semifinals, finishing third behind Argentina's Brian Rosso and Belgium's Bram Dubois. With two to move on to the semis, Lambers was more than six seconds back of second place going into the final 500 meters but put on a huge sprint over the final quarter of the race, finishing less than one second behind Dubois. Rosso won the race in a 7:04.07, with Dubois finishing in a 7:04.77. Lambers clocked a 7:05.71. He will now race in tomorrow's C/D semifinals, which determines who will advance to the C and D finals for places 13-18 and 19-24, respectively.
In the men's pair, Eli Roxby (Paoli, Pa.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished fourth in the repechage and and qualified for the C Final. Due to Turkey’s withdrawal from the repechage for medical reasons, there will be no C final in the men’s pair for the duo. That left the field with only 13 boats.
Singen Elliott (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Hans Struzyna (Seattle, Wash.), Martin Etem (Long Beach, Calif.) and Sean Engel (Greenbrae, Calif.) also finished fourth in their repechage of the men's quadruple sculls and will now race in the C/D semifinals. Latvia won the race in a 5:50.12, with Russia claiming the other spot in the semifinals in a 5:53.96. Hungary finished third, followed by the U.S. in a 5:59.26.
The men's double sculls tandem of Sebastian Kirwan (Wilton, Conn.) and Nate Kelly (New Canaan, Conn.) finished fourth in its repechage and will now race in the C final on Saturday. The crew sat in third place through the 1,000-meter mark before dropping to fourth. Slovenia won the race in a 6:23.46. The U.S. finished in a 6:41.72.
Dani Dewitt (Parkersburg, W.Va.) finished fifth in her repechage of the lightweight women's single sculls and will now race in the C final. With three to move on to the semifinals, Dewitt sat in fourth position through the 1,000-meter mark but fell to fifth during the second half of the race. Dewitt finished with a time of 8:12.96. Paraguay's Gabriela Mosqueira won the race in a 7:59.45.
In the lightweight men's single sculls, Mike Orzolek (New Milford, Conn.) finished fifth in his quarterfinal, crossing the finish line in a 7:18.04. Iran's Mohsen Shadi Naghadeh won the race in a 6:58.60. Orzolek will now race in the C/D semifinals.
Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) and Alec Buckenheimer (New Canaan, Conn.) finished fifth in their repechage of the lightweight men's double sculls, crossing the line with a time of 6:47.98. The duo moved up from sixth place in the final 500 meters. Norway won the race in a 6:29.49. Campbell and Buckenheimer will race in the C/D semifinals on Saturday.
The women's double sculls duo of Cristina Felix (San Marino, Calif.) and Emily Eiffert (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) finished sixth in its repechage and will now race in the B final on Saturday. Felix and Eiffert finished with a time of 7:28.36. Hungary won the race in a 7:03.82.
In addition, the U.S. lightweight men's four, men's four, lightweight women's double sculls and lightweight men's quadruple sculls will race on Saturday in semifinals. The four crews advanced directly to the semis from Thursday's heats.
Racing continues on Saturday with semifinals and placement finals, with the remaining placement finals and grand finals being held Sunday. Racing begins each day at 9:30 a.m. local time.