About floating starts and cold feet

About floating starts and cold feet

27 / 05 / 2011

Time trial test racing continued at the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Munich, Germany, but with a twist. This round of racing saw rowers using a floating start, time trial scenario. Each boat would line up, one at a time, in lane 7 and start to row towards the 100m mark. With 20m to go before the 100m mark, the starter would call ‘attention, go’. The idea was for crews to be at full speed when the clock would start at the 100m mark. This meant that the race was essentially reduced to a 1900m race.
All of the following races were conducted as floating starts in time trial format.
The weather remained cold with most athletes choosing to bundle up with an extra racing layer, often including long sleeves and leggings. Rain came and went throughout the races, with the water remaining flat.
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – time trials
A full field of 21 boats were divided into four ‘heats’ and it was up to each crew to earn the fastest time in each ‘heat’ if they wanted a direct path to the semi-finals. All other boats had to return for a repechage giving them a second chance to advance to the semi-finals.
‘Heat’ one had Anne Thomsen and Juliane Rasmussen of Denmark make the most of the flying start and they crossed the line with the fastest time, nearly six seconds ahead of Italy in second. This is the first international race for the Rasmussen – Thomsen combination and it looks to be a boat to watch. Denmark qualify for the semi-final.
Last year Great Britain’s Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking started off the season in winning form but ended up finishing fifth at the World Rowing Championships. This year looks good for Goodsell and Hosking as they not only recorded a win in ‘heat’ two but also qualify with the fastest time overall. Taking just 6.50 to cover the 1900m looks promising for the duo. They go directly to the semi-final.
But hot on Goodsell and Hosking’s tail will be their team mates, Kathryn Twyman and Andrea Dennis.  Twyman and Dennis raced in ‘heat’ three and their time was just a couple of seconds slower than their compatriots. This new British duo held off some solid competition from Belgium and the Netherlands to finish in the fastest time and earn a spot in the semi-final.
The fourth ‘heat’ featured under-23 World Champions, Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou of Greece who
got through the flying start in fine form. At the end of the six boat time trial, however, it was the new United States combination of Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols that prevailed. Hedstrom and Nichols won their American team trials earlier this month, but will still have to prove themselves at this regatta if they want to hold on to their spot. Hedstrom and Nichols move on to the semi-finals.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – time trials
This is the biggest event of the Munich World Rowing Cup. Thirty-five boats have been entered which means six ‘heats’ had to be raced. In each heat the top four boats would advance to the quarter-finals. For the next 25 minutes a procession of lightweight doubles came down the 1972 Olympic regatta course. Rain started then stopped, and Denmark issued the return of their 2008 Olympic medalling double; Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist.
Rasmussen and Quist have kept in the rowing loop sometimes appearing on the international scene in a variety of boats. Today they rowed together in ‘heat’ three and recorded the fastest time overall by clocking in at 6.12. This result is likely to give current World and Olympic Champions, Great Britain a bit of a shake up.
Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain raced in ‘heat’ two and although they finished first in this ‘heat’ their time was three seconds slower than Rasmussen and Quist. But perhaps Purchase and Hunter did not press quite as hard as the Danes. Coming into the finish the Brits were at a 33 stroke rate while Rasmussen and Quist clocked in at 36 strokes per minute.
The next fastest time overall went to 2010 silver medallists Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini of Italy. Luini is currently featured as the World Rowing Athlete of the Month and he indicated that this regatta is a real test to see where they stand after a long winter of training. Bertini and Luini raced in ‘heat’ four and clocked the top time of that ‘heat’ just one second down on the Danes.
Just a smidgen slower than the Italians, Jeremie Azou and Frederic Dufour of France finished at the head of the pack in ‘heat’ five. That puts them third fastest for the entire fleet.
Local heroes, Linus Lichtschlag and Lars Hartig of Germany raced in ‘heat’ one taking out first place over the Vetesnik brothers from the Czech Republic. Lichtschlag and Hartig rated a solid 33 stroke rate coming into the finish.
Really pushing it towards the end, Fangbing Zhang and Tiexin Wang of China clocked in with the fastest time in ‘heat’ six. Zhang and Wang earn a spot in the quarter-finals as well as securing adding to the pile of very close times. This spells exciting races when these crews meet again in the next round of racing.
The crews making up the remainder of the quarter-finals include, The Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece1 and 2, Argentina, Austria1, 2 and 3, Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Bulgaria, United States, Serbia, Belgium, Turkey, Norway and Azerbaijan.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – time trials
This event had 15 entries divided into three ‘heats’. Crews had to finish in the top three if they wanted a direct path to the semi-finals. All other boats would have to return and race in a second chance repechage.
At the conclusion of the three heats the times indicated that there would be six very close boats in the next round of racing. Six boats had clocked a time of within two seconds of each other.
‘Heat’ one opened with the new-look Chinese line up leading the way. Zhang, Yu, Huang and Li finished easily in the fasted time, beating Italy in the process, and with that they set the standard for the remainder of the heats. The Chinese raced right to the finish line taking their stroke rate to 44 in the closing metres of the course. China qualifies for the semi-final along with Italy and Denmark.
The fastest overall qualifying time was done in ‘heat’ two with reigning World Champions, Great Britain sending out a message that they still had great boat speed. But less than half a second behind Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley of Great Britain was the new-old-look Danish entry. Sitting in stroke seat for Denmark was the very medalled Olympic Champion, Eskild Ebbesen out from post-Beijing Olympics retirement and celebrating his 39^th birthday today.
Ebbesen is a name etched in lightweight fours history and he led the Danish crew into the finish using a 38 stroke rate pace. Denmark qualifies along with the British for the semi-final with France also qualifying from third position.
‘Heat’ three tested Germany’s new lightweight line up to the world of international rowing. Siebt Wichert and the Kuehner brothers got to the finish in the fastest time of their heat and also recorded fourth fastest time overall. Behind Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands also qualify for the semi-finals.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x) – preliminary race
With 10 boats entered in this event, the rules of racing meant that they were divided into two ‘heats’ and raced in the same time trial situation as all other events. But the real race for these crews would come in the heats to be raced later this evening.
Judging by stroke rates it looked like about half of the crews raced it to the end, while the remainder of the field seemed to be saving themselves for the more important race this evening. Neither of the top two boats, Poland and Croatia pushed it to the finish with Poland crossing at a comfortably 30 stroke rated. Croatia rated a bit higher at 34 but looked like they had more to give if necessary. Italy all but gave it away towards the end and seemed to treat it like a training row as they crossed the finish line at a 20 stroke rate pace.
This left Great Britain to take out the fastest overall time. The British were up at 36 going across the finish line and this result will no doubt give them a level of confidence for the heats.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – time trials
This event featured 19 entries spread over four ‘heats’. The aim for all of the single scullers was to finish in the top two times of each ‘heat’ if they wanted to earn a direct path to the semi-finals.
Multiple World Champion and one-time Olympic Champion, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus was seeded as the first boat to go. Karsten, looked to be back to her old fast form crossing the finish line rating a solid 32 strokes per minute. Karsten’s time of 7.14 gave her a win in ‘heat’ one and also the fastest time overall. Behind Karsten Jitka Antosova of the Czech Republic left her usual boat behind (the double) to race in the single. Antosova looked very competent and crossed the line in second to qualify for the semi-final along with Karsten.
‘Heat’ two featured reigning World Champion, Frida Svensson of Sweden. Svensson became famous at last year’s World Rowing Championships when she broke Karsten’s domination in the single by beating the Belarusian. But today Svensson, rating 35 strokes per minute, finished her time trial behind relative newcomer to the international racing scene, Genevra Stone of the United States who rated 32 coming into the finish. Both Stone and Svensson qualify for the semi-finals.
‘Heat’ three presented another surprise. Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, who regularly medals at World Cup events, finished in a time slower than Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania. Vistartaite clocked in with a win in this ‘heat’ and the fourth fastest time overall. Knapkova looked content not to sprint the finish but still kept up a solid 31 strokes per minute. Vistartaite and Knapkova advance to the semi-finals.
One of China’s most successful rowers, Xiuyun Zhang came out of an extended retirement and appeared at the Essen regatta earlier this month. Winning the Essen regatta in the women’s single indicated that Zhang may be back with vengeance and today she confirmed that by winning ‘heat’ four. Zhang’s time of 7.16 was the second fastest time overall. Also qualifying for the semi-finals from ‘heat’ four was Germany’s former doubles rower, now in the single, Annekatrin Thiele.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – time trials
For this event 24 boats had been entered. These boats were divided into four ‘heats’ with the top two boats to leave in each heat seeded from previous results. In each of the ‘heats’ it was up to the scullers to finish first for a direct path to the semi-finals. All other boats would have to return for the repechage.
The overall fastest time was recorded in ‘heat’ three when local hero, Marcel Hacker of Germany pushed down the course finishing with a solid 34 stroke rate. Hacker took the majority of last season off from international racing and missed the World Rowing Championships. Now Hacker is back and looks to be pressing towards the 2012 Olympic Games in the single.
Hacker’s time of 6.33 was two seconds faster than the next fastest boat. This honour belonged to World Champion, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic. Synek comes to Munich on the back of racing at the Philadelphia Challenge Cup where he finished behind Slovenia’s Iztok Cop. Today Synek raced a very steady 1900m coming through the finish at a comfortable 31 stroke rate to qualify from ‘heat’ two.
Next up on the speed front was 2010 bronze medallist, Alan Campbell of Great Britain. Campbell showed his legendary sprint in the final 150m of the race by taking his stroke rate up to 36 strokes per minute. Campbell earns a spot in the semi-finals.
In ‘heat’ four the times were much slower with winner, Lassi Karonen of Sweden finishing first in a time of 6.45. Karonen rated 33 in the closing metres of the race which helped hold off his competitors including Luka Spik of Slovenia who was back by less than a second but will have to race in the repechage.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – preliminary race
The approaches to this race of the eight crews involved in the two ‘heats’ ranged from one extreme to the other. As the crews would have to race again in their heats this evening, this preliminary race was not so important in the progression system.
The World Champions, Germany chose to treat it like a training piece and they powered their new green Empacher boat across the finish line at a comfortable 25 strokes per minute. The Chinese use a very different approach. They thundered down the course finishing with an all out sprint of 39 strokes per minute. Great Britain also took their race seriously and sprinted the finish, while the Netherlands chose to take it much more easily.
Overall Great Britain had the fastest time followed by France and China.