World Rowing Cup II - Day Two
Semifinals are always hotly contested as this is the last chance to make it to the final. At World Rowing Cup II in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria this was exactly the case. Rowers lined up in relatively calm conditions with a small tail wind and a rather cool summer day. The temperature was in the low teens with some cloud. As the wind calmed down and temperatures remained moderate, the first finals of the weekend got underway.
Men’s Eight (M8+) – Repechage
Missing out on qualifying in their heat race, the New Zealand Men’s Eight progressed to a repechage to secure a lane in the A-final. With the first four crews progressing to the A-final, a frustrating 0.01 seconds behind third place Netherlands.
Women’s Four (W4-) – Repechage
Missing out on qualifying through their heat race, New Zealand’s Women’s Four progressed to a repechage, again missing out on a spot in the A-final. The crew move forward to the B-final.
Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Semifinals
In Semifinal Two Jonathan Rommelmann of Germany Two went off at an incredibly high 48 stroke rate pace and held onto it. This gave Rommelmann a bit of a lead as he ‘settled’ into a 37 stroke rate. Switzerland One of Michael Schmid pushed Rommelmann hard and at the same time tried to hold off New Zealand’s James Lassche. Then Schmid challenged Rommelmann with Rommelmann responding and this moved them further away from Lassche who was now solidly in third. Schmid now had the lead with the last couple hundred metres left to row. Rommelmann had to accept second with Lassche qualifying from third.
Women’s Pair (W2-) – Semifinals
The current World Champions, New Zealand had a very fast race yesterday in the heats and today they sat in the middle lane in Semifinal One. Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler of New Zealand are the World Best Time holders and they took the lead at the start and never looked back. This put Great Britain Two of Rowan McKellar and Harriet Taylor into second. The British duo have only just come together as a crew and they had a great race in yesterday’s heats. These two boats moved away from the rest of the field with Italy a boat length back.
The New Zealand duo then broke clean away from Great Britain and turned this race into a procession. Gowler and Prendergast crossed the finish line in a very quick 7:02.
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Semifinals
It was looking good for France’s Matthieu Androdias and Hugo Boucheron in Semfinal One. They got away very quickly and they led the New Zealand World Champions of John Storey and Christopher Harris through to the middle of the race. Storey and Harris then got overtaken by Great Britain’s Angus Groom and Jack Beaumont. Groom and Beaumont motored into the lead and France and New Zealand had no reply. The British duo finished second earlier this month at World Rowing Cup I and they must have found some new speed inbetween. France took second and New Zealand was third.
Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Semifinals
Annekatrin Thiele of Germany has a wealth of experience from Olympic medals to years of international rowing. She got out the quickest in Semifinal Two. This left Victoria Thornley of Great Britain and Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark to tussle it out for second and third. Thiele did not have a good race in yesterday’s heats and she looked to be making the most of today. The three leaders were the three boats that didn’t medal at World Rowing Cup I. They finished fourth, fifth and sixth.Then Erichsen and Thornley started to close on Thiele as New Zealand’s Hannah Osborne, rating in the high 30s, tried to get into the top three positions. Thiele then pulled out a sprint as Thornley came after her. Thiele had won with Thornley in second.
Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Semifinals
Semifinal Two had Robbie Manson of New Zealand in the middle lane leading at the start. But there was very little in it with less than two seconds separating the five boats. Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand Two had to pull out for medical reasons. Manson still had the lead at the half way point with Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez in second. Fournier recorded the fastest time in the quarterfinals, but it looked like he couldn’t catch Manson. The New Zealander crossed the line in first with Fournier and Sverro Nielsen of Denmark almost crossing with identical times.
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Semifinals
China One of Fang Chen and Dandan Pan shot out quickly in Semifinal One with the 2017 silver medallists, Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle of New Zealand back in fifth. By the 1000m mark it had all changed. Switzerland’s Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol had grabbed the lead with McBride and Kiddle chasing hard. Chen and Pan had slipped to the back of the field. McBride and Kiddle then took over the lead with Italy’s Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini now getting ahead of Switzerland. Rating 36 Italy was establishing themselves in second as New Zealand continued to lead. Switzerland held on to third.
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Semifinals
At the start of Semifinal Two Italy One of Stefano Oppo and Pietro Ruta had the lead. The Italian double had qualified with the fastest time from yesterday. Poland’s Jerzy Kowalski and Milosz Jankowski followed rather closely in second with New Zealand’s Matthew Dunham and Benjamin van Dalen slotting into third. The Italians continued to lead coming through to the second half of the race. Now Switzerland began to move up as there was very little between position two to five. Oppo and Ruta crossed the line to take first with Poland getting through in second as New Zealand went to 40 to hold off Denmark and close on Poland. The finalists had been decided.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – Semifinals
In yeaterday’s heats Italy recorded the second fastest qualifying times. They led at the start of Semifinal One, just a fraction ahead of Germany. Italy settled to 37 strokes per minute at the half way point led by Giacomo Gentili in stroke season. This gave them a bit of a margin over Germany with New Zealand in third. The New Zealanders raced the B-final at last year’s World Rowing Championships and they must want to step up this year. The Italians of Gentili, Rambaldi, Mondelli and Panizza then got more than half a boat length over Germany with the real battle going on for third. New Zealand’s stroke, Lewis Hollows took his crew above 40 to hold off France and hold on to third.
Men’s Pair (M2-) – C-Final
Winning their C-Final ahead of Italy and Argentina was New Zealand’s Charlie Rogerson and Martyn O’Leary, securing first place in a time of 6:33.85.
Lightweight men’s single sculls – A-final
After placing third in his semi-final with a time of 7:00.66, New Zealand’s James Lassche missed out on a medal in the event’s A-final, crossing the line in 7:07.26.