Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
Wednesday gave us some of the most exciting quarterfinals we’ve seen in a while. As the ‘top’ rowers of each category are usually separated into different races, you often get one boat dominating and the rest spread out. But as each crew needed the top three spot for the A/B semi-finals, they had a lot to work for and a lot of the crews were more closely matched than we had seen before. With finals day fast approaching, with Olympic spots up for grabs, we can’t help but watch our favourite athletes as they have some of the toughest races yet.
Men’s Single
The quarterfinals of the men’s single sculls was highly fierce and full of excitement and upsets. The first quarterfinal showed Olympic champion Stefanos Ntouskos coming through the 1000m in second place to Serbia’s Nikolaj Pimenov, where Ntouskos made a big push to take the lead which he held all the way to the line. But the fight for third was highly contested, as Spain’s Gonzalo Garcia Ferrero was closely followed by Canada’s Trevor Jones and Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev. The final 150m showed how hard Garcia Ferrero had pushed as he began to fade and stopped rowing. It was then between Jones and Vasilev to claim the third position, which ultimately was taken by Vasilev. In the second quarterfinal it’s no surprise that Oliver Zeidler dominated his race, taking the lead and holding his position throughout the race. Looking smooth and effortless, he crossed the line ahead of the pack, while back in sixth position Kjetil Borch drifted over the line in clear frustration.
Women’s Single
Olympic champion Emma Twigg took the early lead in her quarterfinal and maintained it to the line. It was Olympic silver medalist Anna Prakaten who trailed in fourth position throughout, ultimately finishing 14.8 seconds behind Twigg. Current world champion, Karolien Florijn, looks to have a very clean and quick rowing style. She manages to get the load onto her blades and put the work on quickly, perhaps explaining why she can maintain the lead she did. A clean, controlled style gave her the win in her quarterfinal, but its Swiss rower Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen who is the one to watch. Taking third place, securing her A/B semi-final spot, she has a unique rowing style and equipment preference. She uses different blades to everyone else – the old Macon style – and shows promise in both speed and racing style. Australia’s Tara Rigney took the win in her quarterfinal and was praised for her great boat feel, a compliment not to be taken lightly. USA’s Kara Kohler battled Serbia’s Jovana Arsic for first place in their quarterfinal. Kohler eventually prevailed.
Lightweight Men’s Double
The Irish dominated their race in the final 1k, but had to work hard to dispatch a pacy Italian unit. It’s the Australians and Belgians who provided the real drama in battling for that all-important third slot into the A/B semi-finals. The Belgian combination of Niels Van Zandweghe and Tibo Vyvey found a gear in the closing stages to see off the Aussie charge. Greece were exhibiting some clean extractions in the opening exchanges of their quarter-final before the boat from the Czech Republic took the lead at 1500m gone. Not to be outdone, the Chinese put on a massive push to surge through and, as the Greeks fatigued, it was the Spanish who found themselves in the second spot. When the line finally came, it displayed as a four way photo finish, too close to call. It would ultimately come to pass that the Spanish took first, with the Czechs in second and Chinese in third – a bitter blow for the Greek boat.
Men’s Double
The men’s double sculls played host to a range of ranking changes throughout as crews jostled for position. The first quarterfinal had Poland initially leading the pack, but with New Zealand only just behind. The Manson/Mason duo pushed on and took the lead just after the 500m, holding it right through the 1000m mark. At that point, the Romanian boat took the lead just after 1200m and the positions remained like that until the line, with New Zealand in second and Poland in third. The Netherlands showed their speed to dominate their quarter-final. Behind them, a pack was unfolding, led by Germany and Ireland. Spain showed much better form than in the heats ; the Henley winners managed to maintain a winning position to give them the best lane for the semis. Despite both overtaking the Spanish with 500m to go, Italy finished in second with Norway close behind. The real shock here was arguably the USA missing out on the A/B semi-finals entirely after an impressive display in the heats. The Sinkovic brothers of Croatia showed that they were back on form, breaking clear of an insurgent Chinese boat around halfway. The Croatians looked loose and together throughout. It was obvious that Martin, the stronger of the two, was hitting the water slightly earlier than Valent (at stroke) which seemed to take the weight off of Valent’s blade and allowed them to extract together and shift faster than their opposition.
Men’s Pair
The Italians flew out in the first quarterfinal, with the Swiss following behind. At the 850m mark there was a change of order as the Swiss managed to overtake their Italian counterparts into the 1k. The Swiss pulled away whilst the Italians were enveloped in a battle with the Irish, who would go on to claim second place. The second quarterfinal was full of tough work, with the USA and Spanish crews neck and neck approaching the 750m marker, followed by New Zealand. With Oxford Brookes Ladies Plate winner Evan Olson at stroke, the Americans led the Spanish heading into the second half of the course but the Spanish didn’t let up, eventually overtaking the USA with 350m to go. In the third quarter-final, World Cup winners and favourites to win Great Britain executed a controlled race as they led out from the start and took the win in relatively relaxed fashion, conserving some energy for the semis. The fourth quarterfinal was delayed due to equipment issues with the Danish crew, but this didn’t seem to impact their opening salvo. At the 1k mark the Danish crew were leading by 0.6 seconds over the Romanians, before Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan pushed through. Defying what Martin Cross and other big names believed might happen, the Croatians had a spectacular row to take third place, paddling over the line after a massive push saw them overtake Lithuania with 200m to go.
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