Crews book tickets to finals in Lucerne
Seven more New Zealand crews will be racing for medals tomorrow following an action-packed day of semi-final, repechage and minor final racing at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland.
There were perfect conditions on the Rotsee for day two of the three-day regatta. 11 New Zealand crews took to the water with seven qualifying for A finals, the women’s eight exhibition race and the men’s pair C final.
Alex Kennedy and Cameron Webster claimed third place in the men’s pair C final.
The race was a tight battle between Germany’s Finn Shroeder and Anton Braun, Australia’s Ben Coombs and Nathan Bowden and New Zealand.
The three dropped the rest of the field early in the race. Germany led the way down the course but succumbed to a late charge from the Australians who snatched the win, with Kennedy and Webster finishing third.
Matt Dunham had to settle for fifth place in the A final of the lightweight men's single sculls.
Dunham couldn't make any headway into the strong field which included Olympic medallist Krisstopher Brun of Norway, local favourite and European champion Michael Schmid and world championship medallist Peter Galambos of Hungary.
Mikolajczewski of Poland who had trumped the Henley Champion in the earlier semi-final took the win, with Schmid and Galambos rounding out the podium.
World-leading single sculler Robbie Manson left the rest of his semi-final field scrambling in vain as he once again powered to victory.
Manson made his move early in the race and cruised to a win, finishing over six seconds clear of Olympic bronze medallist Ondrej Synek and local favourite Nico Stahlberg who claimed the final berth in tomorrow’s medal race.
Hannah Osborne faced a tough semi-final in the women’s single sculls. The first year elite lined up against a world class field including Olympians and world cup medallists.
Osborne held her own against the competition, moving from the back of the field to finish in fifth place in the race won by Swiss rower Jeannine Gmelin. Osborne will race in tomorrow’s B final.
Kirstyn Goodger and Jackie Gowler will join Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast in the women’s pair A final.
The young pair stayed cool and composed in this morning’s repechage, securing the top two position needed to progress.
The Australian duo of Katrina Werry and Lucy Stephan charged into the lead out of the gate but Goodger and Gowler stayed close, holding off the chasing field and crossing the line in second place, enough to book their place for tomorrow’s medal race.
Jamie Hunter and Tom Murray were unmatchable in the semi-final of the men’s pair.
Hunter and Murray finished a length and a half up on Dirk Uittenbogaard and Bo Wullings of the Netherlands and Alexander Sigurbjonssen and Pau Vela Maggi of Spain.
The kiwi pair moved into the lead early in the race and never relented their position, rowing away to a clear victory and securing their berth in tomorrow’s A final.
There were three A final places up for grabs in the women’s double sculls semi-final.
Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe started to pick through the field at the 500 metre mark, moving from fourth to first by the 1500 metre mark.
A slick-looking Donoghue and Loe extended their lead, taking a classy win over Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek of the USA and Olympia Aldersey and Madeleine Edmunds of Australia who secured the final ticket to tomorrow’s medal race.
Chris Harris and John Storey backed up their earlier dominant performances in the men’s double sculls semi-finals.
Harris and Storey flew out of the start and stormed down the course in a class of their own, finishing over a length clear of Dzianis Mihal and Pilip Pavaukau of Belarus and the Argentinian double of Rodrigo Murillo and Cristian Rosso.
Harris and Storey will be eyeing up a medal in tomorrow’s A final to add their gold medal from last month’s world cup in Poznan, Poland.
In an exciting repechage the men’s quad of Giacomo Thomas, Nathan Flannery, Cameron Crampton and Lewis Hollows started conservatively before unleashing a devastating move and charging into the lead.
With only two A final places up for grabs the pace was on and the New Zealanders were sitting back in fifth place before catching the rest of the field unaware and moving up a gear and into the lead.
Once out in front the kiwis were unstoppable and snatched the win while the fast chasing Polish crew took second just 0.2 seconds behind. The two crews will join the quadruple sculls A final tomorrow.
The men’s eight missed out on a spot in the A final by just one position.
The crew needed a top two to progress to the A final and were looking confident, sitting behind the leading under-23 crew from the Netherlands until Romania made a bold move that propelled them into second, knocking the New Zealanders out of contention.
The New Zealanders will contest tomorrow’s B final.
The women’s eight tussled with a strong Romanian crew in their exhibition race.
The powerful European crew pipped New Zealand in the last 500 metres after a tight race, with Great Britain and the Netherlands trailing in third and fourth respectively. The eights will face each other again in tomorrow’s medal race.
Racing continues for the final day tomorrow.
Full results, schedule and live race tracker available at worldrowing.com