Lucerne World Cup 2002 snapshots

Women's eights, W8+
Romania could not spoil the German party, the women's Achte on a mission and nearly a length clear for most of the race. In this straight final Belarus looked for a while as if they were going to take a medal, but were rowed down in an accomplished fashion by the Australians.
Gold GER, silver ROM, bronze AUS, 4th BLR.

Men's quadruple sculls, M4x
The best finish of the regatta, seeing the first World Cup dead-heat that I can remember, as leaders Ukraine were nearly overtaken by the Italians, who knocked off Estonia and Poland in turn. Cracking stuff.
Gold UKR and ITA joint, bronze POL, 4th EST, 5th GER, 6th BLR.

Women's quadruple sculls, W4x
A lovely race by Ukraine, very polished and not far off the LM4x time to the first marker. By halfway they had a length, then even-splitted, despite a scrap for the minor places going on behind them which closed up at least the next three crews.
Gold UKR, silver GER, bronze USA, 4th RUS, 5th GBR, 6th DEN.

Men's lightweight coxless four, LM4-
Terrifically gutsy row by Canada, taking the Italians apart with a dedicated hard graft coming through 1250. Austria capitalised on the confusion, nearly bagging a silver medal but also happy to hold off the charging French, with whom they were trading blows up the course. Gold CAN, silver ITA, bronze AUT, 4th FRA, 5th GER, 6th GBR.

Men's lightweight double sculls
Italy on classic form, looking superb and not even needing to raise the rate much as Germany hounded them to the line. The Russians were third, just ahead of Denmark.
Gold ITA, silver GER, bronze RUS, 4th DEN, 5th GBR, 6th CZE.

Women's lightweight double sculls, LW2x
A bit of a walkover for the excellent German double scull, confirming their status as World Cup leaders from first stroke to last. Behind them the Brits also held onto their Hazewinkel place, not far in front of NED2, Hedi Poot and Van Eupen overturning their first double.
Gold GER, silver GBR, bronze NED2, 4th NED1, 5th DEN, 6th CAN.

Men's coxless pair, M2-
I'm going to have to do as much as I can on this one, since the blow-by-blow will be wanted by a fair few observers. They're all sitting on the start, Germans look sh*t scared, observes one pressman. OK, they're off, CRO and GBR showing fast, AUS at 38, now GER coming through. 500 metres out, AUS now levelling with GBR, CRO and GER leading both of them, everyone still above 36. Both AUS and GBR rates look quite low, but I can't see enough frames to take at the moment. Ginn taking a sneaky peek, and now here's the thousand - CRO first, GBR second, AUS third. GBR pushing just after the mark, 36.5, trying to going through the Croatians, AUS staying steady, but just as they did in the heat, moving through without apparently doing anything. CRO still in front, AUS next, GBR third. AUS up, coming to 1500, it's AUS, CRO, GBR, these three out a length over the pack. How do they do it? Without breaking any more sweat, at a steady 36, AUS are now in front by a length. long and smooth, and gearing up to sprint. 1750, both GBR and AUS at 38, CRO now attacking, AUS pulling away like a train. Coming to the line it's AUS without a single doubt, sprinting to 39-40 and clear, while CRO and GBR slug it out in the low 40's. They cross, and it looks certain CRO have second place from here, but our view is not exactly on the finish line, and it's announced GBR second.
Gold AUS, announced silver GBR, bronze CRO.

Men's coxless four, M4-
The Germans are back to their original boat, after joining their 4+ to race in the Grand at Henley. Stonking along in their delightful (!) pink shell, they refused to give the Italians and Slovenians a sniff of it, while France's new four was never really near the medals.
Gold GER, silver ITA, bronze SLO, 4th FRA, 5th POL, 6th GBR.

Men's double sculls, M2x
The Hungarians haven't had the greatest of fortnights, being beaten at Henley Royal last weekend, then losing in the earlier races. They stuck it to the assembled company in spades this afternoon, briefly being pushed by Germany's Andre Willms and Andreas Hajek, then regaining the lead and steaming away. Neatest performance was from the Poles, really lightweights but doing brilliantly to compete on terms here with the heavyweights.
Gold HUN, silver CZE, bronze GER1, 4th POL2, 5th LTU, 6th GER2.

Women's double sculls, W2x
The Lithuanians really took this by the scruff of the neck, hoicking off like scullers possessed and soon opening up a solid lead over the Brits and Americans. The question was how long it could last - GBR oozed back, looking unruffled, and by 1km LTU had just half a length. A little push at 1250 gave GBR another few feet, and by 1300 they were through the Lithuanians, coasting along at a steady 33. LTU's heads were down as the crews approached the final sprint, but they dug in hard, forcing the Brits up to 36.5, though they did not have to panic.
Gold GBR, silver LTU, bronze GER2, 4th USA, 5th BLR1, 6th HUN.

Women's pair, W2-
I would never want to bet against the Romanians here, and although the commentator got multiple medallist Georgeta Andrunache wrong (deceived by her change of surname from the maiden name of Damian), by the time they'd cut through Belarus, she and partner Viorica Susanu looked unassailable. A great performance from the South Africans to grab second place after marching through.
Gold ROM, silver RSA, bronze BLR, 4th AUS2, 5th USA, 6th GER.

Men's single sculls, M1x
Hacker in blistering form, matching Neykova's achievement by leading from the front. The most fascinating race developed behind him, Tufte looking slow to start but with the best sprint to the finish, cutting through first Cop and then his team-meate Spik. Chalupa, who has been at the game longest of all these scullers, made a brave late push, but could not get the medals, though he burnt off Spik and Lippits pretty effectively. Back to the double for the Slovenian duo perhaps?
Gold GER, silver NOR, bronze SLO1, 4th CZE, 5th NED, 6th SLO2.

Women's single sculls, W1x
Fresh from her Henley win, and looking a million dollars, Roumiana Neykova was unrelenting, taking and never ceding the lead and finishing a comfortable length up which could have been three. Rutchow was again outclassed, at one stage more than six seconds back, and nobody else had a look-in. Karsten's record was never threatened, as conditions, though calm, are not really that fast, but the rest of the sculling world had better look to its laurels - the Olympic silver medallist is back.
Gold BUL, silver GER, bronze CZE, 4th RUS, 5th FRA1, 6th ITA1.

MORNING RACING ETC

FISA press conference
Denis Oswald and Matt Smith just held a press conference in the media tent, expanding on some recent announcements. Denis was asked about Athens (of course), and said the following: "The Coordination Commission paid a visit 2 weeks ago, and whereas some problems are clearly solved, new ones have turned up, and so "it will be a difficult challenge until the end. The main problem is that there is still a lot to be done in a short time: we can't lose any day. The CC is following daily progress and acting quickly when delays are discovered." Specifically on the construction of the rowing course in Schinias: "Work is progressing according to plan, 2000 metres is nearly finished, but the side return channel is not yet dug, the banks not yet constructed nor the onland installations." Apparently the course itself and the main technical areas will be ready for the World Juniors in 2003, but not some of the buildings. They were worried at the start that rowing was a venue creating difficulties, but they are now much more confident.
On the question of "is Denis taking too much on", he said "Rowing is really my sport, my basis, my reason for being in these different positions. Rowing is in the right place in my heart, and will always have priority over my other positions."
A question about Olympic Games quotas elicited the response from Oswald that although (as recently flagged up by Row2k's news) there is a Programme Commission meeting tomorrow in Lausanne, and their proposals will be discussed by the Executive board of the IOC in August, Denis intends to fight hard to avoid changing the rowing programme again, and thinks there are other sports which could sacrifice numbers without seriously reducing their breadth. He's particularly proud that the introduction of lightweight rowing at the Olympics has brought smaller and less well funded countries onto the medals podium. Rowing is definitely safe for Athens.

Sixteen-scull express
Following the failure of the 24x-boat to break the world 2km record last summer, Stampfli have tried cutting it back to 16 scullers in a single shell, and altered the rig. They just bolted their way down the course in another effort to break the world record time, but were way outside it (time 5:37.84).

Men's lightweight quads, LM4x
Superb racing, this, Spain in control from the first but only just. Behind them the Aussies, Brits, French and Dutch fought it out in turns, slow-starting GBR picking up pace to row through the pack in the last phase. Coming to the line all four boats were in the mix, only France trailing fifty metres back. Spain hung on, as did the Brits in second despite a superb last-ditch charge from the Dutch, with Australia and France bringing up the rear.
Gold ESP, silver GBR, bronze NED, 4th AUS, 5th FRA.
GBR quotes: "Shaky start, OK in the middle, we were too scrappy in the finish, especially in the last 200 metres. We need more time together, we've only been together the last 2 week, Steve only got back in the boat after his Henley virus." Steve Lee: "I've lost so much weight that eating hasn't been a problem for us this weekend" [big grin from Beechey].

Women's lightweight quads, LW4x
Another straight final, just three boats again. Great Britain sneaked off first, letting a battle between Denmark and the Netherlands develop behind them. By the end, GBR were cruising pretty comfortably a length up at a pacey 39, and the Dutch, having edged through into second place, refused to give quarter.
Gold GBR, silver NED, bronze DEN.

Men's lightweight pairs, LM2-
The Brits and Irish promised a lot, but only one crew could deliver. A closely-knit group in the early stages settled down with the Romanians in charge for much of the first half, until Ireland shoved hard and kicked past in the third split. Hot on their heels were Italy, but as Romania faded with the effort, China came through. Semi-winners GBR could not get the rate above 34.5, and generally lacked attack.
Gold IRL1, silver ITA2, bronze CHI, 4th ROM, 5th GBR, 6th AUS.

Men's coxed fours, M4+
A straight final, won by Germany in a good three-boat dash for the line. Germany, a little slow off the start, had thumped their way through the quick-starting Netherlands and then Italy to take the lead just after 1600 gone. A superb final row saw them survive charges from both Italy and Croatia, the latter nearly taking second place off the Italians, just losing it on the nod. Both Dutch crews faded gently into fourth and fifth.
Gold GER, silver ITA, bronze CRO, 4th NED1, 5th NED2.

Men's lightweight eight, LM8+
Only three boats in this event, and it was a relatively close race, although Denmark led from the front and never yielded the advantage. Germany hounded them all the way, never more than a couple of seats back, and in the final lift almost snatched victory, failing by just 0.04 seconds. The Dutch eight, though never bettering third, can be proud of a strong row within contact of the two leaders and just half a length down at the line.
Gold DEN, silver GER, bronze NED.

Men's lightweight single sculls, LM1x
Daisaku Takeda of Japan led off, but Ireland's Sam Lynch reeled him steadily in, and took the lead with about 650 gone. From then on he looked outstanding, and could even relax a little on the run in.
Gold IRL, silver HUN, bronze JPN, 4th USA, 5th GER1, 6th FRA.

Women's lightweight single sculls, LW1x
A dominant effort from Kirsten McLelland-Brooks, rowing as GBR1 in her Welsh Commonwealth colours. Although pushed by Mirna Rajle of Croatia and Valerie Viehoff of Germany through the first half, she held on to first place.
Gold GBR, silver CRO, bronze ROM, 4th GER1, 5th CHN, 6th GER2.

Women's coxless four, W4-
The row for lanes yesterday could easily have been a procession, but in the end, although today's race was considerably faster, the Saturday race turned into a direct preview of the eventual outcome. Australia 1 beetled off with despatch, and the closest anyone else came was China, in the shape of two competitive crews who burst through to dominate the minor medals.
Gold AUS1, silver CHN1, bronze CHN2, 4th AUS2, 5th GER, 6th GBR.

Copyright Rachel Quarrell, 2002. Not to be reproduced in any form without express permission.