A day that starts off with a win by the second youngest member of the US team (19 year old light men's single sculler Andrew Campbell) in the very first race of the day just can't be all bad – tho if you were on the wrong end of a couple photo finishes and a couple harsh draws as the day went on, you would be excused for thinking otherwise. A wrap up of the day follows, event by event, but we won't really recap all the results here, as that is why they have results sheets!
Light Men's Single
An outside lane in the very first heat of the Senior World Championships doesn't seem a likely place for a very young sculler to surprise the world, but that's how it went this morning. Campbell himself was surprised; as he came to the dock at the request of our interviewer, he asked "did I win?" Still out of breath, Campbell recounted the race and his reactions to the win on video for row2k.
Most of the times in the other two heats were similar to Campbell's, save for that of Danish sculler Henrik Stephansen , who went 6:52, some 12 seconds faster than anyone else in the event. Stephansen gave it a full pull, complete with a full-length sprint; his coach explained that, with several days off until the semis on Thursday, he wanted really to burn one out all the way to the line.
Men's Double
The men's double is always harsh, and this year proved no different; in the first, one-to-advance heat, the defending Olympic champs Australia were sent to the reps by Germany, whew.
Racing in second heat, the Slovenian double of Cop and Spik fought their way into the lead late in the race, and blasted out a full sprint to make it happen, complete with lots of looks out of the boat, two lifts, and high fives over the line. Cop also got some help from his two young daughters, who met him on the dock with Slovenian flags to say hello.
The British double seemed very much to cruise to their win in the third heat, and the New Zealand double seemed fully on form in the fourth heat; the NZ double has never been one of those doubles that matches up in perfect synch, but they really have a hold on the water, and their hull surges impressively on every stroke - and their sprint is not to be matched, as we have seen a few times in the past year or so.
Light Men's Four
In the first heat of the light men's four, the US crew failed to match the pace in the early going, and was never really in the hunt to advance as the finish approached. I have seen the crew have some good rows, however, and hope to see them on form as the week goes on.
The Chinese light four may have been the surprise of the morning, posting the fastest time of the day and sending the Australian crew to the reps. It turned out to be only the first of a few really good races by the Chinese squad today. The Italians raced a somewhat workaday effort to win their heat.
The Danish crew had to open it up at the finish line to beat back a tenacious German crew that was always within a second of the Danes for the final 1500 meters, but Danish stroke Eskild Ebbesen said in our interview with him on the dock that tho the Danes sprinted, it was not all out, so they may have more to show.
Light Men's Pair
The light men's pair featured what was at first called a dead heat, but with two to advance, it didn't really matter so much, save for the semis draw. In the end, Germany was given the nod by 1/100 over China – check out the photo finish.
Women's Pair
This event required boats to finish in the top two for a direct path to the semifinals on Wednesday. The first of three heats saw China's You Wu and Yulan Gao take the initiative and grab the lead. Wu and Gao last raced internationally at the 2008 Olympic Games when they took an impressive silver in this event. They are back together and this race indicated that they've lost none of their 2008 speed.
The US pair of Caryn Davies and Katherine Glessner placed second to China in the two-to-advance heat, and had to shake off the Romanian pair to do it; they did so through the middle thousand, which saved them from having really to wind it up to the finish line. Davies, like the Chinese, last raced internationally at the Beijing Olympics where she was part of the Olympic Champion eight. Paired up with Glessner, the duo remained in second throughout the race, never able to close the gap on the Chinese. Both China and the United States qualify for the semifinals, China recording the fastest qualifying time, albeit only just.
Last year's silver medallists, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain, continued to show that they are still fast by finishing first in heat two. Glover and Stanning come to these championships having won the 2011 World Rowing Cup series, and managed to establish such a handy lead today that they did not have to sprint the finish. The duo were at a comfortable 28 stroke rate as they crossed the finish line. Also qualifying for the semifinal was Sarah Tait and Kate Hornsey of Australia. Tait rowed last year and earlier this season with Phoebe Stanley, but Stanley was very recently diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia and has been replaced by Hornsey. Tait and Hornsey showed that they have what it takes to get to the final by finishing second.
The third and final heat featured reigning World Champions, Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand. Haigh and Scown have had a mixed season so far after finishing second to the British at the final World Rowing Cup in July. Today they looked comfortable in the lead and did not have to do their usual aggressive sprint to the finish. Behind the New Zealanders, South Africa followed in second. The young South African crew of Naydene Smith and Lee-Ann Persse had no other crews pressuring them for the last quailfying spot and seemed very content to remain in second, crossing the finish line at a low 30 stroke rate pace.
Women's Quad
The women's quad was a win and you go to the A Final affair, and opened with a very tight Commonwealth heat that went New Zealand's way, with GB and Australia in hot pursuit but headed to the reps – only a half-second separated the three crews, but the Brits and Aussies head to the reps nonetheless.
In heat two, the German crew had fully two lengths on the field at the midpoint of the race, wow. The US reeled them in late in the race, however, and even seemed to give the Germans a little bit of a scare: the Germans visibly dug in as the US crew drew closer and eventually closed water. The Germans seem to have a special crew, so this seemed like a good first go for the US quad, despite heading to the rep.
A critical sidebar to these heats is the fact that the heat winners that advanced directly to the A final also sewed up an Olympic qualifying spot for their countries for next year; with seven quads getting Olympic spots, advancing to the A Final on day 1 already makes them a lock. Congrats to New Zealand and Germany.
Quick quotes:
Louise Trappit, NZL: Qualifier
"This race was actually all about qualifying. We knew first place in this heat would qualify for the Olympics next year and we wanted to try to do whatever it takes in order to secure this spot. But we knew everybody else would be going for it as well and none of the other crews was going to give it to us easily. We managed to secure it on the last ten strokes. For the final, this weight is off our shoulders now and we won't have anything to lose. We'll try to have the race of our life."
Britta Oppelt, GER: Qualifier
"We wanted to have a good race and make it through to the final, but honestly the fact that first place would qualify the boat for the Olympics was not on the forefront of our minds. We are only realising this now and it's definitely great to not only have qualified directly for the final but also the boat for the Olympics. It gives us a bit more security, but in the end it's only the boat which qualified. Next year it will all be about the personal qualification and we'll still need to step up for that. For the final, I'm optimistic. I think we still have a bit more in us and we can still improve. But making it directly through to the final is great. I have never done it like this at a World Championship in the quad – rowing in the quad in the past I've always had to come through the repechage."
Men's Eight
It's still odd to see the men's eight contested in the middle of the program on Day One--thanks to FISA's new schedule--but it's time to get over it and get on with it. With 13 entries, the men's eight goes to semis this year, and all three heats of the men's eight were tight for the top three positions and a direct route to the semifinals. With a max of less than three second separating the top three boats in all three heats; the semis should be fantastic.
Canada looked solid in the first heat, holding off the Dutch down the stretch for the win. In heat two, the favored German crew had a scrap on their hands with Australia and Poland, and while they took the win in the end, it was a tight race right to the finish line. The Kiwi crew couldn't keep pace, and were well behind the pack at the finish.
In the final heat, the Chinese crew set the pace for the first 1000 meters, followed by the GB and US crews, but when the GB crew challenged the Chinese, the US went with them, and both went through the Chinese crew in the final 500. As noted above, all three go to the semis.
Light Women's Single
A total of 20 countries lined up in this event and they were divided into four heats, with the top two boats from each heat earning a spot in the semifinals on Wednesday. Heat one featured Tracy Cameron of Canada who is the reigning World Champion in the lightweight double. Cameron, however, recently suffered with back problems and chose to stay out of the double to put less pressure on her body. Today Cameron did just enough to be in second place to qualify for the semifinals. Leading from start to finish was Pamela Weisshaupt of Switzerland. Weisshaupt, in her 16 year international career, has one World Championship title and she continues to remain at the front of the field. Weisshaupt and Cameron both qualify for the semifinals, Weisshaupt crossing the line at a low 24 stroke rate pace.
Heat two finished with Katherine Copeland of Great Britain recording the fastest qualifying time… easily. Copeland, 20, came out of the woodwork this season and took the rowing world by storm by finishing second at the Munich World Rowing Cup. Then she won the light single at the Under-23 Worlds handily. Today, Copeland not only finished first, but she also recorded the fastest qualifying time, at 7:47.88. This time was a big seven seconds faster than the next fastest time, recorded by Brazil's Fabiana Beltrame in heat four. Behind Copeland, Ursula Grobler of the United States also qualifyied for the semis, coming in second.
The large Dutch contingent in the crowd made the most of heat three as their athlete, Marie-Anne Frenken, was racing. Frenken came out at the start in fourth and remained there through the first half of the race. The fast starting Phuttharaksa Nikree of Thailand then started to run out of steam, with Frenken able to move up through the field. With the help of the crowd, Frenken then pushed into the lead to qualify for the semifinal. Behind Frenken, Poland's Agnieszka Renc qualified from second.
The fourth and final heat was led by Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil. Beltrame finished fourth in this event last year and then went on to win a World Cup gold earlier this season in Hamburg. Today she led her race from start to finish, putting up the second best time of the day. Behind Beltrame, Japan's Akiko Iwamoto pushed through into second to qualify along with Beltrame. Iwamoto has spent most of her career in the lightweight double, including three Olympic Games, but swapped to the single for this regatta.
Men's Quad
Man, the Russian quad threw down in the first part of their heat – so much so that it looked like a throwback to Russian crews of the past – sitting tall-ish, apparently with relatively heavy gearing, very methodical in their approach to the race – and with a chunk of open water over the field by the 1000. But the pace caught up to them dramatically, and they very nearly gave up their entire margin; they won, but by a blink, and looked all but wrecked as they rowed past on their warm-down.
The US crew rowed an end-loaded race, coming out of the gates in fifth to the 500, and grinding through the field as they went – in fourth at the 1000, third at 500 to go, and second by the finish line behind the German crew that posted the fastest time on the day. The crew seemed satisfied with their row, and their spot in the semis, waving to their parents and friends cheering in the stands on the row home.
Men's Pair
With a solid, unflappable, and wire-to-wire win in the first heat, the Canadian pair of Frandsen and Calder seems intent on thrusting their bow into the pairs feud that has centered on NZ and GB the past couple years. Not that the Canadians don't know the ropes at the top, as they won Beijing medals rowing this same lineup. See our interview with them afterwards.
After the second heat, the GB crew seemed to make a point of spinning their boat and heading back up the course to warm down – they were fully turned around, rowing back, and waving to the crowd by the time some of the other crews even stopped rowing.
Italy made a solid bid to be considered a gold medal contender with a runaway win in their heat. The young USA boat continues to spot the field a bit at the start, then row themselves back into the picture, but in this case the Italians were so far gone: no one was near them by the finish.
Finally, the Kiwi crew had some competition from the Dutch for a bit, but pulled away for the fourth open water win in four heats. The times of the four heats are very close, with only the Canadian time a bit off, so the race for the medals is going to be hairy pairy.
Women's Double
The US crew drew both the dominant GB crew and the stellar German crew, so really had their hands full in the two-to-advance heat. The GB double ran the show, with the Germans a bit behind, leaving everyone else to chase them. Just before the midpoint of the race, the US blasted out a big move that shook off the rest of the field, and subsequently chased the Germans all the way down the course, but just didn't have enough to get through down the stretch.
In this event, all eyes are on Katherine Grainger in the GB crew; anything other than gold for this boat would be a major upset.
Men's Single
The men's single featured some arguably unexpected heat winners – Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriguez over Swede Lassi Karonen, and Lithuanian Mindaugas Griskonis over Norwegian Olaf Tufte.
When stopping by the finish line docks to pick up water, Ken Jurkowski was overheard to say "that was the $#!%-iest race I have had in my life" – which should bode okay, as he qualified comfortably only a few seconds behind Alan Campbell.
The Monacan entry in the event, Raymond Mathias, carried the flag for Monaco in Beijing as the only athlete representing Monaco at the Games.
The Italian sculler is rocking a sharp Mohawk.
Mahe Drysdale has stated his uncertainty whether he can truly contest for the gold at these championships, but he looked fairly solid today with a comfortable row.
Men's Four
The US men's four put on an inspiring charge in the second 1000 meters of the course, only to get pipped at the line by Belarus, who had shadowed the US crew's move to the front of a tight pack. The Belarus burst came on the last stroke of the race, and the final margin was almost infinitesimal – two 1/100ths of a second. Check out our galleries for the evidence.
The Greek crew had the fastest time of the day, and the Belorussians won the other heat – in an event that used to be all about GB and Canada, there could be a changing of the guard afoot, at least for a couple of the medals.
Light Men's Double
With more than half of the field advancing to the quarterfinals, most of the expected crews moved along fairly easily in the course of the six heats of the event. The US double of Jon Winter and Brian de Regt rowed in second place from start to finish, shadowing the Italian double that includes Elia Luini by about a length for most of the way. It might be the semis before things get really intense in this event, and then it will be gnarly, and really hard to advance, for everyone.
Women's Single
The USA's Gevvie Stone drew a brutal heat, going to the line with defending world champ Frida Svennson and 2011 Lucerne winner Emma Twigg of New Zealand. Stone was racing in the back of the field for much of the race, but bore down in the second 1000 and grabbed third – not enough to skip the reps, but maybe good enough for a better draw.
Ekaterina Karsten is sometimes inconsistent from year to year, which perhaps can be excused for a sculler who won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics, whew – she's been to a few of these, and might not feel the need to win every single time. Today she showed no signs of boredom, posting the best time of the day by a bit, with Mirka Knapkova in relatively close pursuit.
So ended the 57th race of the day on this opening day of Worlds 2011. Throughout the day, it was very cool to hear folks cheering heavily for teams that don't always have big fan bases at Worlds – Poland (which is not really that close by), Croatia, Romania, and of course Slovenia.
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08/29/2011 3:49:56 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
Good luck to Matthias and everyone else in the racing!