surprise defeat for Cop at Croatia Open

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23/04/2009

It is not often that an athlete can say they have beaten a world and Olympic Champion, but that is exactly what Valent Sinkovic is saying after winning the men’s single at the Croatia Open. Croatia’s Sinkovic, 20, a junior and under-23 medallist, beat Slovenia’s finest rower Iztok Cop in the men’s single on lake Jarun in Zagreb, Croatia. Cop, who recently returned from successfully racing in Great Britain in the Great8, a men’s eight of some of the top scullers in the world, finished second after Sinkovic managed an awesome sprint in the last 300m of the race. Sinkovic used the tail wind conditions to finish in a fast time of 6:46.68. Cop has participated in this regatta of many years, but this is the first time that he has lost the single here. Cop finished strongly and appeared happy with his performance. Also racing in the men’s single final was Cop’s Olympic doubles partner, Luka Spik and Olympians from Croatia (Mario Vekic) and Estonia (Allar Raja). Vekic was third. The men’s pair went to Serbia’s Beijing Olympic crew of Nikola Stojic and Goran Jagar. Organising committee member, Igor Velimirovic described the race: “After the 1000m mark it looked like the race was already decided. However, the lightweight pair of Babovi? and Tomi?, also representing the Serbian rowing federation, and Slovenia’s combination of Kolander and Pirih, came on strong. Jagar and Stojic managed to use their experience and strength and maintain their lead to win a race in time of 6:30.18.” Velimirovic also described the women’s single: “We saw a fine race between two lightweight scullers Michaela Taupe-Trauer from Austria and Mirna Rajle Bro?anac from Croatia. The younger Taupe-Trauer managed to prevail over the more experienced and decorated Rajle Bro?anac and win the race in time of 7:44.96.” Over 700 athletes from nine countries including Turkey, Ireland and Italy, competed at this year’s Croatia Open. It is the 26th year of the regatta which became an international event in 1991. Being an early season regatta, countries used the racing format to try out different combinations of athletes. The second day of racing saw many new combinations as coaches begin to fine tune their crews for the up-coming international season. Velimirovic said the weekend went well and called it an excellent introduction to the upcoming rowing season. Race results: http://www.croatiaopen.vsz.hr/