Semifinal day is here; the last opportunity to make the finals and race for a spot on the podium. In many races, it was clear early on who would take the top two spots, but the races for third place, for the last chance for the final were decided almost entirely by mad sprints. Despite the bleak weather prediction, the morning was just a bit gloomy and cooler; not too much wind and the water stayed flat. All are appreciating the cooler weather—it's been a brutally warm week for the athletes and we heard even hotter when they were here the past two weeks for training. The day brought some great successes and disappointments for US crews; it's hard to come all this way to miss out on an A final, but many of these athletes have many more years of rowing ahead—this is another learning opportunity on a world stage.
After their win in Lucerne this summer, the USA M4- came to Chungju with high expectations. The crew of Grant James, Seth Weil, Henrik Rummel and Mike Gennaro had a fast start today, taking an early lead. They maintained their first place spot through the finish line despite the hard sprint from the Dutch crew who closed in and finished just two-tenths of a second behind the US boat. Neither the crew nor coach, Bryan Volpenhein were surprised by the last minute push by the Dutch crew, but were pleased to have held them off.
"It was all we wanted," said James, "a good base for the first 1500. The rest of the field, we expected, would come on strong in the last 500 and they did. We held them off to head on to the A final."
Volpenhein added, "We know we have good pace so we want to get to that pace and push out and see if we can get up on the field and see what's happening. We know the Dutch are fast sprinters, and the Czechs can move as well; we want to put ourselves in a position to be able to respond to that."
In the women's pair, Meghan Musnicki and Taylor Goetzinger chased Great Britain's Helen Glover and Polly Swann, winners of all three World Cups this year, for a solid second place finish. Musnicki, who is also racing in the W8+ this week due to stroke seat, Heidi Robbins' injury, will now be heading to two finals in Chungju.
"When it comes to racing, I try to keep things very: breathe and attack," said Goetzinger, a first time member of the USA senior team. "As a boat, our primary goal was to get ourselves in a position to qualify for the A-final. Drawing both GB and New Zealand for our semi-final, we knew we would have a tough race ahead of us, but we were very excited for the challenge. Any opportunity to race those crews is good for us as we are relatively new to the pair and are still learning how and where to push the limits. We are very excited for our final; we got here by taking one step at a time, improving a little each time we put 2000 meters together, and that's exactly what we're looking to do on Saturday. The semi-final was a great race for us, and we know where we can improve for our final."
Under-23 champion Andrew Campbell put down a memorable, but heartbreaking race in the LM1x. In a fast field with Danish Olympian Henrik Stephansen, France's Jeremie Azou and Hungary's Peter Galambos, the field stayed tightly knit through the first half. Campbell was third until the last 500, when Galambos who led the field in the first 500, but had slipped back to fourth made a big move to take the third spot in the final. Campbell, who will be entering his junior year at Harvard next week has a positive outlook on the future of his rowing career.
"I am certainly disappointed to have missed out on the final. But, to me, rowing has never been about just racing," said Campbell. "Moments like these are too small to define myself by. The day-to-day and year-to-year personal improvement means much more. I am looking forward to another great year with the Harvard Lightweights and trying out some combinations in the double."
Michelle Sechser, in the LW1x also faced tough competition in the semifinal; it was a tight pack with only five seconds separating the top four finishers. Sechser came into the thousand in second place, but had been passed through and moved into third with 500 meters left in the race. Former USA sculler Ursula Grober, now rowing for her native South Africa moved through Sechser taking the spot in the final.
With no more than 3 lengths separating whole field in the first thousand meters, Austin Meyer and Nicholas Trojan of the LM2x were in the throes of a very strong race. They were never quite able to get into third place, necessary for advancement to the A final. The two are looking forward to begin training together full time, which was not possible when Meyer was a student-athlete at Harvard until this spring.
In the C/D semifinals, both the US crews—Michael DiSanto and Alex Karwoski in the M2-and Stephen Whelpley in the M1x—won their races and will be advancing to the C final. Whelpley, who we anticipated would face Olympic champ Mahe Drysdale in the C final after the brutal men's single quarterfinals yesterday, will not be racing Drysdale as he removed himself from the regatta due to rib injury.
One interesting note about this regatta is that it is being run with static umpires—that is, without chase launches. There are umpires stationed at the start and finish, as well as mooring by shore at each 250. It's a bit controversial; the rowers prefer this method as it eliminates the wake that's kicked up by the launches, but it can also cause an issue with regards to safety and fairness. Some are concerned that umpires will not be able to do their jobs correctly with the changed vantage point. The plan was to use the static umpire system until yesterday, reevaluate, then make a decision as to how to proceed the rest of the week— to the delight of the rowers, FISA has agreed to keep the launches off the course for the remainder of the week. Given the weather cooperates, we'll have some nice flat water in the finals.
It's a busy afternoon here in the media center, but a quiet afternoon on the course as the anticipated thunderstorm has arrived. The races were moved up and run on five-minute centers, and with eerie timing--it began to rain as the last races came down the course. Even Australia's #1 fan, the inflatable boxing kangaroo has fled the rain grandstand.
We're now in full finals mode!
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08/29/2013 7:01:23 AM
08/29/2013 6:45:40 AM