Note that the reports previously labeled September 2 were actually from September 3; I lost a day in transit. C'est la vie; we're on track.
Since I've been here, I've yet to see the allegedly stunning cliffs leading up from the grandstands opposite the launching and press areas.
Yesterday's morning fog was less a fog per se than a low cloud, which climbed a couple hundred feet up the cliffs by the end of the day, but never quite let us see the top of the mountain, let alone the sun.
This morning, the sun is cutting through the humid air as competitors launch for the first round of semifinals.
The messaging service, through which you can send email to participants, is a tremendous success; we've delivered hundreds of messages already. The lag in delivery time is down, probably within 12 hours of the first messages in each batch I scoop up, to just a couple hours for the most recent messages.
Later in the day: There have been quite a few false starts in the regatta, largely due to the starting system; I've yet to go up to the start, but Chris Millman of the Rowing News told me that there are flaps that roll down after the crews are polled in their lanes, first a red flap, then a green one to start the race. The noise of the red flap has caused many crews to react to the sound, resulting in several false starts. On the first day of racing, this was almost epidemic in proportion, with some half dozen or so false starts.
There are more races today, semifinals for the C and D finals, but I will not be doing real-time coverage for these races. You can best find the results at Rachel's mirror site.
H1x men's single; top semis, top 3 to A final, next 3 to B final
semifinal 1: This race went across the 500 in a near dead-heat between the USA, Latvia and Egypt. Soon after that, Jamie Koven established a strong lead that he would never relinquish, and the German sculler Andre Willms moved into second place. The Egyptian sculler placed third after being steered all the way down the second 1000m byt the officials when his hull was right against the bouy line, and even crossed over into lane 5 from his lane 6 position for a couple strokes. There was no interference, however, and his third will qualify him for the A final.
semifinal 2:an extremely eventful race, follow closely: the early lead went to a stroke for stroke race between the Slovenian sculler and the New Zealand sculler; it was within a couple seats into the third 500. At the 500, there was .93 seconds from 3rd to 6th place, some 2+ seconds behind the leaders. At the 1000, the Czech Vaclav Chalupa and the GBR Greg Searle pulled away from the other crews, and were just .25 seconds apart for the third qualifyig position. Their battle for third seemed not to cost them so much as it did the New Zealander ahead of them in second place -- both raced past the NZL sculler to place SLO - GBR - CZE, with the NZL sculler open water behind.
F2x 2 semifinals, top 3 to A final, next 3 to B final
semifinal 1: Ekaterina Khodotovich led throughout, as perhaps expected, but not without a challenge from Maria Brandin of Sweden, who finished just .21 seconds behind. The third qualifying position was won by Denmark.
semifinal 2: The Bulgarian sculler dictated the pace of this race, despite finishing third overall; she paddled over the finish line. The GBR-USA battle was extremely close for a long time for the third position until the GBR sculler really opened up the race in the third 500. Finish order among these crews: GER, GBR, BUL, USA
H4- Men's straight four; 2 semis, top 3 to A final, next 3 to B final
semifinal 1: Romania set a torrid pace in this race, in which there was never more then 2.5 seconds separating first from fourth place until the last 100 meters. ROM lead until the final strokes, when France completely a methodical attack on their lead, spurred on by Slovenia, which led the USA crew for the first 500 meters, only to lose their third place position in the middle thousand. The Slovenia crew seemed to go with the French crew, however, and nearly caught the ROM crew to place third and advance to the A final. The US boat placed fourth, with some distance back to ESP and BRA.
semifinal 2: this is GBR's event, by all accounts; 2-seat Redgrave is close to a superstar in the sport. And the GBr led all the way; however, it was no walk. The Italian crew trailed them extremely closely throughout; .92 at the 500, 1.77 at the 1000, and .58 at the finish. The rest of the field was too far behind untl the second half of the race, with Germany taking the third A final position 4.14 seconds behind. This final should not be missed.
H2x Men's double; 2 semis, top 3 to A final, next 3 to B final
semifinal 1: missed much of this race, but ITA went out very hard again, leading for 1800 meters until the Norwegian crew reeled them in at thie finish. Order of finish: NOR, ITA, Poland, and Denmark, who challenged for a spot in the A final throughout, finishing very close behind the qualifiers.
semifinal 2: The German crew clearly dominated the race; establishing an early lead and never faltering, with a steady rating and consistent power. The Austrialian crew, the Free brothers, rowed in second throughout, with fiesty challenges from the Belgian crew, which could not get through the crew from Oz. The Yugoslav crew, after an unimpressive first thousand, attacked the Belgian crew for the third position in the final 500, falling short by just under one length. (note to US audience: the stroke of the YUG pair was the stroke of the Brown 8+ at the IRA.)
F2x Women's Double; two semis, top three to A final, rest to B final
semifinal 1: from mid-race on, the order of finish, with GBR, SUI and NED in the A final qualifying positions, was established fairly early.
semifinal 2: didn't see most of this race, but heard it: the order of finish was consistent through most of the race: GER, ROM, AUS, HOL, LAT, AUT.
H2- men's straight pair; two semis, three to A, three to B final
semifinal 1: The ITA pair led from start to finish in a semifinal that showed the intensity of a final race; ratings were high, focus intense, and the racing super. The ITA pair rowed beautiully and aggressively: coaches, buy the video, the stroke is an exemplary oarsman. The order of racing was ITA, FRA, USA, AUS, for the first 1000m; that would change considerably in the second thousand. The French crew could not respond to the pace, and by the 1500m mark, it was ITA, GBR (tremendous 3rd 500), the USA and Australia. The USA, however, had a blazing last 500; I'll bet the splits reveal it to be the fastest of all the crews. Order of finsih: ITA, USA, GBR, and AUS.
semifinal 2: After a false start (not sure by which crew), the Canadian pair showed that they just might take the world to school in this event. The led by over 2 lengths at the 1000m mark in 3:11.89, and then let some of the field row up to them in the second 1000. Order of finish: CAN, ITA, NOr and then 1.5 seconds back to Romania; this was the order of racing most of the way, from what was shown on the television screens.
F2-
two semifinals; top 3 to A final, next 3 to B final
semifinal 1: Canada, looking almost comfortable, led this race for 1750 meters, with the ROM crew hunkering down and pushing through for the win in the last couple hundred meters. The race, however, was for third place to get into the A final. The Belorussian crew led the US by one seat (.31 seconds) at the 1000m mark the US led the BLR crew by one foot at the 500 to go. It appeared that the LR crew reestablished the lead again early in the final 500, but the US crew stoked a fire no one thought they could muster in the last 5 strokes to win by less than a foot. The photo finish revealed that, were the finish line 2 feet sooner, the BLR crew would have won the race.
semifinal 2: if possible, this race was even tighter. Australia, Russia and Great Britain led most o the race in a pack, one lenth ahead of the Danish crew. Very late in the race, however, the Danish crew attacked the entire field, racing past both the GBR and RUS crews into a second place finish behind AUS. The GBR crew fell victim to the DEN assault, finishing fourth, out of the A final, with closed water from first to fourth position.
HPL1x five semifinals; first two determine which crews go to A and B finals; top 2 to A final, next 2 to B; next 2 to C), next three determine who goes to D and E finals
semifinal 1: the order of finish established early, with DEN and Austria going to the A final, Slovakia and Lithuania going to the B final. Very different styles of rowing, especially comparing the top twon scullers; the Dane rowed long and smooth, almost conservatively; the Austrian shorter and much more front-end loaded, and appeared to expend much more energy throwing his boat down the course.
semifinal 2: the US and Swiss boats were very slow off the line, almost a seat and a half after the first five strokes. It didn't matter; the Swiss sculler won the race, followed closely by the US sculler. Still, Steve Tucker, the US sculler, was in fifth position at the 500 meter mark, while the Swiss sculler had recovered early. In the second 500 , both Tucker and the South African sculler pushed the pace for all the crews, with Rucker moving into second from fifth in the course of a short span, and the RSA sculler moving into a close third. But the US and SUI scullers continued to press the pace, putting some 1.5 lenths of open water betwen them and the rest of the field by 500 to go. It looked like Tucker would try to go after 1st for a stretch, but he apparently backed off slightly, happy with a solid qualifying effort, a seat or two off of first place.
semifinal 3: The Italian sculler went off the line very aggressively, opening up on the field in the first 1000m; he was to pay dearly for the water he gained. the NED sculler rowed through, then the CZE sculler;, finally, the Italian failed to make the A final by a couple feet.
FPL1x (two semis, top 3 in each to A final)
semifinal 1: Wow; completing dominating performance from Sarah Garner of the USA. A 1.6 second lead over Italy and France at the 500; two lengths of open at the 1000 over the GBR, then Italy and France, and three lengths by the 1500 over France and GBR; Italy had faded to fifth by the finish. Garner bobbled slightly off the start, but regrouped quickly to effectively crush the field. It was no walk, either; the margin between second and fourth was less then one second at the 1000 meter mark; there was a fierce race going on in her wake.
Semifinal 2: this one opened up early, with Germany leading, followed open water behind by Argentina and Sweden, who traded scond position several times as they parcelled their energy carefully once establishing qualifying position. The German sculler did not sprint, and the ARG and SWE scullers moved in the last 250, but did not row through.
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