World Championships 2000
Zagreb, Croatia, at Lake Jarun, Saturday 5th August 2000
Morning comments:
Today is more overcast - no sign yet of the promised storm, but crews have been tying their boats down more solidly just in case. Barely a breath of wind at 8 am before the racing starts, but it will probably pick up a little. No heat in the air yet, either, which is hopeful.
Rachel Quarrell, Lake Jarun
Race reports:
These are grouped by event, so that the small finals come first in each batch, and the A final last. Today is the junior finals day - the senior finals start at 9:30 tomorrow.
Junior Men's Single Sculls, JM1x
E final: A huge entry for this event, so even the E final carried five boats. After a great start by the Cypriot sculler, he faded fast, and the lead was taken by the Dutch sculler, with an improbable boy's name of Anne Braaksma. NED had stretched to a two-length lead well before the finish, allowing a steady cruise home. NED 25th, ROM 26th, MKD 27th, GEO 28th, CYP 29th.
D final: In the D final, it was a different kind of race. Three of the scullers were in contention at one time or another, starting with Slovenia, who then faded and recovered later to come back through to second. Meanwhile the Pole had taken the chance to seize the lead, and was walking away from the rest with great composure. POL 19th, SLO 20th, YUG 21st, SWE 22nd, NOR 23rd, JPN 24th.
C final: The third of the small finals in this event was pretty hotly contested. The Slovakian took hold from the start, and pulling CAN and HUN with him, moved out just enough to feel secure by half-way. At first the Canadian was lying second, then the Hungarian pushed through, but the Canadian didn't give up, and it was close right to the line. 13th SVK, 14th HUN, 15th CAN, 16th GER, 17th HKG, 18th RUS.
B final: Felipe Leal from Chile led for quite a while in this race, then was unable to maintain his speed under fire from first UKR and SUI, and had the Belgian sculler also closing sharply on him. He survived the latter to hold third, but meanwhile the Ukrainian was consolidating his lead strongly. The Swiss move was the last, coming just before the line, and snatching silver from CHI by just 0.31 seconds. 7th UKR, 8th SUI, 9th CHI, 10th BEL, 11th USA, 12th EST.
A final: Czech Martin Pavelka headed the race to begin with, hounded by ITA and CRO. As they neared half-way, Marco Ragazzi from Italy moved past the Czech, who then held on in second as LTU moved progressively up the field. With 750 to go the Italian's lead seemed unassailable, and the Lithuanian was moving fast past the Czech. With 200 to go, the Czech was bulleting it to hold off the Croatian, who had sneaked up to challenge for bronze, and it went to a photofinish as the Czech slid diagonally over the line, all thoughts of steering forgotten in the scramble.
Gold ITA 6:59.75, silver LTU 7:03.40, bronze CRO 7:05.16, 4th CZE 7:05.40, 5th DEN 7:08.52, 6th AUS 7:12.12.
Junior Men's Double Sculls, JM2x
D final: Easy pickings for the USA, strolling home without being pushed by South Africa, the splits reflecting the lack of bother. 19th USA, 20th RSA, 21st CYP.
C final: The second small final of this event came after a bit of a break - whether out of respect for our typing fingers or a wish to cut the umpires some slack, there are ten-minute breaks once an hour this morning. Anyway, China, Australia and Spain got away cleanly, the first two quite some distance up on the pack. Second place wasn't enough for this Aussie double, and they made a sustained effort at 1400 metres gone, which within 15 strokes had taken them through the Chinese. Meanwhile back a length or so the Spanish were scrapping with the Yugoslavians for third, the battle distracting them from steering and taking them into lane three behind the Chinese double. A photofinish was required to decide the matter. AUS 13th, CHN 14th, YUG 15th, ESP 16th (by 0.03 seconds, the closest margin so far), LAT 17th, DEN 18th.
B final: Some pretty leisurely sculling for the bulk of the course, then as they pass 250 to go, you can see the finishes harden, Canada racing Ukraine for the first place. I'm not even sure the Ukrainians have seen Canada until the last moment, as they haven't got a lift in it. Mind you, the whole race will know this was the Canadian double who crabbed their way out of the A final, so it's no surprise they take the win here. CAN 7th, UKR 8th, GER 9th, GRE 10th, BLR 11th, NOR 12th.
A final: Argentina have a quick start, but pay for it soon, Italy and Croatia moving through on the stride. CZE follow them through, then GBR, and these positions hold for a quarter of the course. Coming through 1000 metres this is the order, though the margins are quite tight. From there to the next marker the top two move out, locked in their own battle, which the Italians are staying on top of, but then the Czechs start to really burn it on the outside lane, raising to 39.5 with just 300 metres to go. GBR launch their final big effort from 4th, as the Croatians rating remarkably low at 33-34 stay just behind ITA in the silver medal spot. Italy makes a dash for it to secure gold, and this leaves the late-responding Croatians open to a spectacular sustained push from CZE, which very nearly sneaks silver and leaves the beaten Brits in fourth. The final lift just works for CRO, however, and it's decided on a photofinish.
Gold ITA 6:19:40, silver CRO 6:21.19, bronze CZE 6:21.42, 4th GBR 6:23.61, 5th SLO 29.67, 6th ARG 6:30.43.
Junior Men's Quad Sculls, JM4x
D final: Quite a surprisingly tight margin time-wise disguised an easy race for Estonia, who could wander over just ahead of the chasing Norwegians. 19th EST, 20th NOR.
C final:Russia leading from Spain at the thousand-metre mark, and a well-bunched field, Bulgaria pushing up from third into second place. Not feet in it as the crews came towards the finish line, Spain battling hard, Russia having shot their bolt, and a photofinish between Spain and Bulgaria, far too close to call by eye. ESP 13th, BUL 14th (by 0.07 seconds), RUS 15th, AUS 16th, JPN 17th, HUN 18th.
B final: Italy have the lead after half-way, and have to maintain it against some sustained attacks from Sweden, Switzerland and Greece. The best of these is from the Swiss quad, who head up the rat-pack of crews, but they can't close on Italy. The lead is ITA's by a good length, but now Poland is surging into second place, and Croatia are also challenging the failing Swiss. SUI responds, and even closes back on POL, so just manages to stop CRO nicking third. ITA 7th, POL 8th, SUI 9th, CRO 10th, SWE 11th, GRE 12th.
A final: Another possible win for Germany here, as they lead France and the Czech Republic to the first markerpoint. A bit of a race developing for the minor positions in the middle of the field, but the margins are big, event GER maintaining a length off the French. 500 to go and the Germans have to lift it up as the French attack hard, this move taking both quads away from the rest of the race. UKR has dropped right back and CZE has no trouble staying ahead of SLO for third, though they have to jump several pips to stop the Dutch on a flying charge from fifth towards third in the last ten strokes.
Gold GER 5:50.89, silver FRA 5:52.80, bronze CZE 5:58.82, 4th NED 6:00.03, 5th SLO 6:01.02, 6th UKR 6:01.83.
Junior Men's Coxless Pairs, JM2-
C final: A very rapid start from the Hungarian pair, but they had to settle into a slower speed after the stride. This gave the Danes the gap they needed to come through into first place, but they couldn't hold onto it, and faded back into third. Through came the Spanish, overtaking the one-paced Hungarian pair, and they held this to the finish. 13th ESP, 14th HUN, 15th DEN, 16th LTU, 17th YUG.
B final: The wind has picked up now, and is cross-tail from the higher-lane side of the course. Whoever's running the scoreboard is annoying the pants off me - they never show what's happening further up the course until the crews are in sight. At 1500 metres France are leading, from Canada, by a decent length. Canada are having to fight off China and Bulgaria, and can't quite hold off the latter, with the mapleleaf blades chopping into the adjacent lane, then they recover enough to stand fast, picking up second as the Chinese fade and Bulgarians take third. 7th FRA, 8th CAN, 9th BUL, 10th CHN, 11th AUT, 12th CRO.
A final: Poland off quickly to begin with, Italy closing up pretty quickly on them in the first big push. Australia surge forward at 1250 metres, and this tactical move takes them past Italy and then through a faltering Poland. These three crews are on their own for the medals, GER, BLR and RUS way back. Australia have to really blast it now, Italy closing back, but Poland determined to regain their place, and only half a length separates the three crews. Poland now past Italy, Australia safe, Italy coming back again, but they can't quite hold onto the silver medal.
Gold AUS 6:40.57, silver POL 6:42.39, bronze ITA 6:42.67, 4th BLR 6:47.37, 5th RUS 6:49.33, 6th GER 6:49.71.
Junior Men's Coxless Fours, JM4-
C final: The Dutch four evidently had an axe to grind on this one, grabbing an early lead and stretching it out steadily throughout the race. Behind them Lithuania and Denmark swapped the lead several times before crossing the line just half a length apart. 13th NED, 14th LTU, 15th DEN.
B final: Lane one is good luck again, Portugal starting slowly then taking the lead between the mid-way and the third marker. A very close B-final, though, all six crews overlapping. The Slovenians are looking strong and now taking the rate up, passing Portugal, who are done for, Croatia think they've got second, but the Portugese valiantly find another gear from somewhere, and come sprinting back, forcing a photofinish for the second place. Happily for the local supporters, POR just didn't quite time it right. SLO 7th, CRO 8th, POR 9th (by 0.19 seconds), CAN 10th, CZE 11th, CHN 12th.
A final: A false start, and as they begin again, Germany move into the lead, a short head past France and Belarus. South Africa have fourth, ahead of Italy and Australia who can't get back into the main field. Germany look pretty solid at half-way, and the positions remain the same, the margins spreading a little as the crews have to cruise the mid-part of the race. 1250 gone, the Australians start a hefty push, get past Italy, while Belarus have fallen to South Africa, and even the Germans are tiring. South Africa are coming through very rapidly now, medals on their minds, and they're attacking the French four. 200 to go, German hanging on now as RSA charge hard into silver, FRA just managing to fend off BLR and AUS and keep the bronze. A photofinish for fourth place.
Gold GER 6:06.94, silver RSA 6:09.57, bronze FRA 6:11.00, 4th AUS 6:11.37, 5th BLR 6:12.02, 6th ITA 6:17.10.
During the medal ceremony, I have terrible trouble listening to the German national anthem - the first few bars always make me think of Monty Python... It gets to be quite a problem today, as you'll see.
Junior Women's Single Sculls, JW1x
C final: A two-boat race, Japan easily cruising home ahead of Lithuania. 13th JPN, 14th LTU.
B final: Australia's Rebecca Chisholm got herself well ahead before half-way in this race, followed by the Croatian and Czech scullers, with a large gap after that. Croatia's Izabela Vugec gives Chisholm an excellent run for her money, closing hard in the final few hundred, but the Australian escapes successfully. Clearly her supporters don't appreciate her winning the B final much: their "Aussie Aussie" chants are noticeable by their absence this morning. 7th AUS, 8th CRO, 9th CZE, 10th ARG, 11th YUG, 12th PAR.
A final: The impressive Italian sculler Bascelli is in the lead at half-way, having pushed right forward and then held her place ahead of the Dane and German. GER squeezes steadily up in the third quarter, and ITA is marking time, staying just ahead of Germany and ready to start the final sprint in. She may have left it too late: the German has the scent of victory now, and jumps it up with 150 to go, passing ITA and beginning to move away, rating 40 and really shifting the boat. ROM sculls in well ahead of DEN, and there's a small fight left for 5th between UKR and NZL.
Gold GER 7:39.61, silver ITA 7:42.09, bronze ROM 7:45.82, 4th DEN 7:50.07, 5th UKR 7:53.40, 6th NZL 7:7:53.61.
Junior Women's Double Sculls, JW2x
C final: Three boats sculling for pride, and there's a ripple of applause as the local Croatian crew sculls strongly through the last few hundred metres well ahead of the other two doubles. CRO 13th, ISR 14th, RSA 15th.
B final: A gripping race, four crews almost in line abreast for the final few hundred metres. Piccolo shrieks of "Italia, Italia!), as the ITA double stick in a tremendous push to break through by half a length, then nearly blow the whole race by stopping half a length early as France and Poland neck-and-neck it to the line. Photofinish for second, and although it officially goes to the French on the scoreboard, the French and Polish times are the same down to the last hundredth of a second, so it's really a tie. ITA 7th, FRA and POL 8th, CHN 10th, SLO 11th, NED 12th.
A final: Early leaders Bulgaria, Germany, which they hold easily for several hundred metres. Latvia are quick starters too, but soon fall by the wayside and wobble along behind with UKR, while Greece and Denmark come challenging up towards the leaders. 750 to go, and the German double remains a length up on Denmark, and a length down on Bulgaria, so the three medal positions are starting to fall into place. Germany notch the rate up and close on Bulgaria, who try to respond, but it isn't pulling them away, and suddenly the gold medal is in doubt. GER at 34.5, moving every stroke, BUL jump to 35 and finally discover the gear they need to cross a few feet to the good.
Gold BUL 7:00.15, silver GER 7:00.88, bronze DEN 7:02.15, 4th GRE 7:07.92, 5th LAT 7:11.49, 6th UKR 7:11.91.
Junior Women's Quad Sculls, JW4x
C final: Some hefty sculling going on in this race, the Greek quad batting along neck and neck with Austria with 400 metres to go. Chants of "Hellas, Hellas" in the stands, as the Greek girls got their bow in front and moved away towards the line. GRE 13th, AUT 14th, CRO 15th, DEN 16th, EST 17th.
B final: An extraordinary sight: all six quads sculling sedately down the course more or less together, without an umpire in sight and at a very slow pace. We assume there has been an equipment failure requiring them to go back and race later, and indeed the bow girl of the Russian quad isn't sculling, so perhaps her stretcher or similar is broken. When we find it out, the real story is much more bizarre: the race had been started without problem, but half-way down the course, the umpire's boat from the previous race had been stranded across the lanes. The JW4x umpire tried to tell his crews to stop, but couldn't get his message across to the Russian boat, and they crashed into the stranded launch. With no injuries or serious damage, they just sculled back, the re-row postponed until later, after the A finals. When it finally happened, the race was won competently by the Spanish quad, who dogged Russia for three-quarters of the course before breaking completely clear of them to take first place, while the Romanians, just feet behind them, were closing fast as well and missed out on the win by 0.41 seconds. 7th ESP, 8th ROM, 9th RUS, 10th JPN, 11th CHN, 12th AUS.
A final: Four Belarussian girls take charge of this race, a length clear of the Germans in second place, with the Dutch next. This stays the order for a whole kilometre, by which time BLR are up on the pack by several lengths, and GER is fighting off NOR and NED for silver. NOR, a relatively small crew, reach out to lengthen their strokes and move into silver, leaving GER to fight off NED for the bronze medal.
Gold BLR 6:32.62, silver NOR 6:36.32, bronze GER 6:36.92, 4th NED 6:38.48, 5th POL 6:41.57, 6th CZE 6:42.46.
Junior Men's Coxed Four, JM4+
B final: A full petite final, and by just before half-way it's Romania and Russia battling for the lead, and Greece third, but the Croatians launch a huge attack, and push past the Greeks as they cross the marker. The Russian four are rowing pretty appallingly, but are still a length up on their nearest challenger, and the race is now for second place. Croatia look to have it, but Argentina are hot on their heels, and Greece come storming back to try for third. RUS 7th, CRO 8th, ARG 9th, GRE 10th, ROM 11th, LAT 12th.
A final: At the first marker, France are leading, Germany very close behind, then GBR and USA chasing hard, with ITA and YUG a little slower. USA start moving up the field, and the Germans push through the French to take over the lead just before the half-way marker. They start moving away hard, and are clearly trying to take the field unaware and establish an impregnable lead. But the French are fighting furiously back, coming up to and then past the Germans with a fantastic final push, the USA still holding third over the Italians, now well past GBR and YUG. The French cox sticks his hand up in celebration and whacks the water before the line, and as the other crews slump over their blades, the French strokeman takes his blade out of the gate and stands it up to acknowledge the crowd. Meanwhile there is a little posse of British coaches under the scoreboard: their crew died on their feet in the last 500 metres, and there's an instant post-mortem.
Gold FRA 6:30.12, silver GER 6:31.97, bronze USA, 6:37.15, 4th ITA 6:38.59, 5th GBR 6:46.39, 6th YUG 6:47.12.
Junior Women's Coxless Pair, JW2-
B final: A miserable row for two crews, this year happening to be Bulgaria and the USA. The former thumped the latter, mostly by rating a tad more nippily down the course, and once they were ahead, they could relax. BUL 7th, USA 8th.
A final: The Belarussian pair has been tremendously impressive this week, even in training paddles, and it's no surprise to see them leading straight away. By 1000 metres the gap is so big that it takes several seconds for Germany's name to come up second on the board. Conditions are perfect, practically no breath of wind, a light sun breaking through the cloud, and the water still. Belarus rating a steady 29-30, but it's so obvious they're going to take the gold, that they don't need to raise it. There's not much contest for the minor medals either, Germany well second, and the only question being whether the French can stop the Chinese coming past them for bronze. Belarus stick it up a little to finish 15 seconds ahead of the next crew, Germany second, and China successfully smack past the French to get third.
Gold BLR 7:35.53, silver GER 7:40.11, bronze CHN 7:46.04, 4th FRA 7:46.74, 5th CZE 7:50.59, 6th GRE 8:03.97.
Junior Women's Coxless Four, JW4-
B final: Another plodding B final, stretched right out and won easily by the Danish four. DEN 7th, BUL 8th, RSA 9th.
A final: 250 gone, and the USA and Germany lead the pack, with Italy and GBR making slow starts. GBR starts moving up the field, while the USA consolidates its lead, and Germany settles in well ahead of Australia. At 1000 metres, the Germans start having a bit of steering trouble, and shift over, followed by the Americans in the adjacent lane. France have been pushed down to fifth by the British, and Italy languishes last. Now the Germans are back in their lane and third place now to Australia, but the Americans are nearly washing the Aussies down, and France and GBR are closing in on their mutual buoy line. GBR can't get off the buoys, so can't raise the rate past 37 as they reach 250 to go, and are in danger of interfering with France. USA are still ahead, but now are washing the Australians down directly, and although the umpire is warning them, they are moving past the AUS lane and into lane six (having started from 4). The umpire gives up warning them as they cross the line, raises his red flag instead, to say that he is not happy with the race. Finishing order is USA, AUS, GER, GBR, FRA, ITA, but we wait and see what the FISA decision is. Finally we see the American crew hugging, and the race will stand.
Gold USA 6:46.07, silver AUS 6:49.30, bronze GER 6:51.37, 4th GBR 6:52.12, 5th FRA 6:57.90, 6th ITA 7:03.50.
Junior Men's Coxed Pair, JM2+
B final: A whole heap of no news from the results service for a thousand metres, then Italy show in front by quite a way, and Ukraine and Russia close to each other next. Italy look comfortable at 35-36, Russia now looking extremely tired, Ukraine also having difficulty as the Brits overtake Russia but can't quite reach Ukraine. Then Russia harden just one more time, GBR can't do anything about it, and the two boats struggle towards the line with inches between them, as Italy and Ukraine cross. Finally it goes on the nod, GBR taking a stroke at precisely the right time to nick third place. ITA 7th, UKR 8th, GBR 9th, RUS 10th (by 0.33 seconds), VEN 11th.
A final: Yugoslavia and Germany open the bidding, Croatia initially close, but dropped by the field pretty quickly at the strides. The USA moved up into third, and then pushed with 800 metres gone, into second ahead of Yugoslavia who have yielded to GER. The Germans open up a useful lead, and into the last quarter look pretty comfortable, while the USA and YUP fight it out stroke by stroke, a battle won by the USA on a photofinish.
Gold GER 7:10.82, silver USA 7:14.19, bronze YUG 7:14.42, 4th CRO 7:15.81, 5th PER 7:18.83, 6th CZE 7:23.83.
Junior Women's Eight, JW8+
B final: Only two crews in the petite final for the women's eights, and New Zealand, who have been out of the running in both their junior eights this week, will be looking in the two B finals to make the trip worth it and avoid coming last. It's not looking good for them, as the Ukraine eight takes the lead quickly, and in the two-horse race can afford to wait there and watch. As they come into the final 250, the NZL crew desperately shoves up the rate to 40, but the bow-coxed UKR eight can hold their push still rating 36-37. UKR 7th, NZL 8th.
A final: The first to lead are the Americans, from Germany. The USA crew contains the four who have already won the JW4- without a cox (though they probably needed one!), and they're clearly keen to get another medal here. Romania pushes through both the leading crews as they settle down, and starts to move authoritatively away. At 1250 Romania looks unbeatable, the USA fading fast, having been pushed into third by the Germans already, but well ahead of the trailing Canadian and British crews, who are in a race of their own some lengths back. At 500 to go, the Russians are being pulled along a little by ROM and get past the USA, but it's Germany who has the best chance of rumbling Romania, and in the final 200 metres they sprint it to 39. All the Romanians have to do is put a spurt on, to 41.5, and they have it in the bag, a commanding performance.
Gold ROM 6:13.81, silver GER 6:15.95, bronze RUS 6:19.26, 4th USA 6:21.79, 5th CAN 6:27.21, 6th GBR 6:39.19.
Junior Men's Eight, JM8+
B final: UKR take it off to start with . Canada starts at the back, but soon moves up into fourth place, displacing NZL and CRO to move into the main pack. Again the Kiwis are well off the pace, alas. Meanwhile Austria and Italy are creeping up on the Ukraine, but the boys in yellow are now 3/4 length clear with a few hundred metres to go, and solidly in place for first. Behind them the Italians have faded, Canada comes surging through the Austrians, towing the Croatians with them (huge local applause), the Croatians start another wallopping push, and it's a photofinish for second. ITA 7th, CAN 8th, CRO 9th (by 0.16 seconds), ITA 10th, AUT 11th, NZL 12th.
A final: Russia blasting out of the blocks for this one, but the Germans make a strong move at 800 metres gone, and go into the lead, the USA and GBR following in third and fourth. As they came through the mid-point, RUS is hanging on to second place by three or four seats, and GBR is moving through the USA into third position. 1250 gone, and there's half a length between GER and RUS, and RUS and GBR, all the crews pushing, but it doesn't get them far for the next 200 metres. With 250 left, in what is now a rocking tailwind, up go the rates, and Germany take it to 40, RUS hang on desperately at 39, while the USA try and attack the Brits with a surge to 40. Germany are really charging now, the Russians find a last-minute lift at 50 metres to go which fends off GBR, and the USA are nowhere close, while Poland and Romania trail in.
Gold GER 5:35.43, silver RUS 5:37.13, bronze GBR 5:39.31, 4th USA 5:41.74, 5th POL 5:43.14, 6th ROM 5:49.47.