The third World Cup of 2009 kicked off on the Rotsee this morning with cool, calm conditions perfect for racing. As is common in the first year of the Olympic cycle, the national team managers have been trying out different combinations; Olympic athletes are entered in only six of the 14 boat categories and in the larger boats there have inevitably been crew changes, so Lucerne provides the last opportunity to settle crews before the World Championships in Poznan in August. That said, with the exception of heavyweight singles, it is the lightweight events that seem to be the most popular – the Italians entered four boats in LM1x.
As well as the usual plethora of European entries, the New Zealand squad, who have been based in England for much of the last month, have a strong entry, and a full US team took to the water today with 15 boats racing. Three Canadian crews have also made it over: LW2x; LM2x and M8.
In the W2-, the two US crews drew each other to meet in the first heat. USA 2 (Lindsay Shoop, Caroline Lind) had lane 2 while USA 1 (Mara Allen, Erin Cafaro) were in lane 4. Between them in lane 3 was the New Zealand pair, which won at Munich. The New Zealanders led from the start with the US crews almost level in 2nd and 3rd place until the last 500m, when Allen & Cafaro moved convincingly into second place, securing the second of two advancing spots in the A final.
With only one A final place available in each of the M2- heats, it was all about crossing the line first. In the first heat, the New Zealand pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who won at Munich and at Henley last week, stormed into an impressive lead and finished a full eight seconds ahead of the French 2nd pair.
In the second heat, the USA pair of David Banks and Charles Cole were up against the GB pair (Triggs-Hodge and Reed). After their shock defeat by the New Zealanders in Munich, the GB coaches swapped the boat around, putting Reed at stroke for HRR, where they again lost to Murray and Bond in the final. Reed stays at stroke for Lucerne and it will be interesting to see if the pair has bedded in enough to prevent New Zealand from making it three in a row. In their heat this morning, the Brits moved into an impressive early lead, which they extended to win comfortably. Not far behind was the US pair, who put in a polished performance and crossed the line in second place well ahead of the rest of the field.
In the women-s 2x, the US Beijing double of Megan Kalmoe and Ellen Tomek were back in a boat together this morning after racing against each other in the single at HRR last week. They won their heat this morning despite being challenged by the Polish double that won in Munich.
Neither of the Olympic Gold medal winners in the double sculls is in Lucerne this week, but the British bronze medallists Wells and Rowbotham face a number of new combinations. The Italian squad are testing both halves of their new four in the double sculls, while the German duo of Kreuger and Knittel, who won their heat today, made a strong impression at Munich with a win over the New Zealanders Trott and Cohen, who also won their heat today. The USA men-s double (Michael Sivigny and Stephen Whelpley) fared less well against strong competition in their heat, coming 4th behind France, GB and Switzerland.
When it comes to the M1x, you have to be pretty exceptional to even get a look in these days. The event continues to be hotly contested with most of the World-s sculling elite present on the Lucerne start line (only GB sculler Alan Campbell is notable by his absence). Perhaps unsurprisingly Synek, Mayens, Tufte and Drysdale won their respective heats today, leaving some strong competition in their wake to fight it out in the reps this afternoon. A good performance from US sculler Warren Anderson saw him take second in the fastest of the four heats, finishing about a length down on Olympic Champion Tufte.
It's eight years since Tufte won his first world title on the Lucerne course. He has yet to win in the -09 World Cup series, but he claims this is his favorite regatta course: “here I feel as much at home as on my ranch in Norway," he said.
Going into Lucerne, Great Britain is once again current World Cup point holders in the M4-, despite a complete shuffle of the crew this year (Reed and Hodge having been moved into the pair). Slovenia and the Czech Republic have entered unchanged crews and hopes were high as a result. In the US straight four, Giuseppe Lanzone became a late medical sub for Jacob Cornelius. Rowing with Cameron Winklevoss, Steve Coppola and Brett Newlin, the crew found themselves in a frantic race for second place against the Czech four, both crews having overlap with the GB four in the lead. Their last minute push proved to be just enough and the US nabbed second and a place in the A final by 0.15sec.
The second heat produced a similar last minute battle for first place between Slovenia and Germany. With a new line-up being tested for the World Championships, the German crew just squeezed ahead at the line, beating the Slovenians by a minuscule 0.04sec. With five crews posting times within 2 seconds of each other, Sunday-s final could well be one to watch.
Kristin Hedstrom and Michelle Trannel finished fourth in the first heat of LW2x this morning; the race was won by the Belgians, with the second A final place going to the German double who were first in Banyoles and second in Munich. Winners in Munich, the GB double of Goodsell and Hosking won their heat comfortably, while the Polish crew that was third in Munich were beaten to the post by the Canadians (Lindsay Jennerich and Sheryl Preston).
USA has two crews entered in LM2x. First up were the USA2 crew Brian Tryon and Jonathan Winter, Tryon making his first appearance at an International regatta. The crew finished fourth, ahead of Hong Kong, the heat being won by the British double (Mattick and Williams). The Canadian Olympic double of Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester won the second heat by a length, although the French double was closing on them in the last 100m, while USA1 (Andrew Quinn and Shane Madden) were unable to get on the pace and finished last. The Italians, who were forth in Beijing, came second the third heat, finishing two seconds behind Germany, while the fourth heat was won by Uru and Taylor of New Zealand.
The US LM4- (Washburn, Muffleman, De Regt and Daly) were unable to make an impression against a strong field, coming fourth behind France, Germany and the Czech Republic in the first of three heats. The Danes, who already have two World Cup wins under their belts, won the second heat and the Italians the third.
The California RC quad (Samuel Stitt, Glenn Ochal, William Millar and Elliot Hovey) that competed in the Queen Mother at HRR last week, were back to race as USA in the M4x today, as were the GB 4x, however, the Polish Olympic Champions have stayed away. The USA quad, who never looked pushed, qualified for the A final after coming second in their heat, just a fraction behind the Estonians.
All the nations from the Men-s eights Olympic final in Beijing are present in Lucerne, with the exception of the Australians. Additionally, all the crews have changed their lineups considerably, but Canada appear still to remain the favorites. Poland is currently the leader in the World Cup series in terms of points, with GB not far behind, but as Lucerne is the first time this season that all the major players have met on the water, interest was high, to see exactly who would show their cards. The first heat saw USA take on Poland, Italy and Canada. The Canadians showed they meant business from the start, storming home to win with 1/2 length clear water, the US eight had a blinder of a race for second place, but couldn't-t quite manage to take it on the line, losing out by 0.04sec to the Italians. They get to do it all again tomorrow though, as only the first placed crews in each heat go through to the A final.
In the second heat, the all new German eight showed that the restructuring of the German squad this year really has injected new life into their crews. The Germans dominated the race against the Netherlands, GB and China, beating the Canadians winning time by just under a second.
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