Image Credit: World Rowing
Wednesday’s racing offered a shorter list of races than on previous days, as the quarterfinals of the men’s singles and the semifinals of the men’s fours headlined the day. And while an unexpected delay put a pause in the racing, there was no dampener put on the excitement for the last non-finals day. Here’s what you need to know from Wednesday in Shanghai.
PR2 Mixed Double Sculls
The day opened with two sets of heats in the para-rowing categories, and the home fans were delighted with the showing as China dominated the first race of the day, as their world and Paralympic silver medallists set the fastest time in the opening race. Dominating from the start, there was never any significant challenge from the Israeli crew behind them, who were ten seconds ahead of the Brazilian duo.
Similarly, the German duo controlled the second semifinal, opening up a lead of several lengths in the first half of the race before maintaining that margin across the second kilometre, setting themselves up to challenge the home favourites in Saturday’s final. Behind them, the French initially had the advantage, but the experience former world champion Iaroslav Koiuda in the stroke seat of the Ukrainian double allowed them to move through to claim the second automatic qualification spot by a twelve-second margin, with the French progressing with the sixth fastest time.
PR3 Mixed Coxed Four
As the heavy favourites, there was no surprise that the British crew set the fastest time in the heats, winning the second heat by 20 seconds ahead of a tight battle for second place between the fast-starting Italian crew and the Germans. For this battle, the advantage was almost entirely made in their strong start, as the Italians held a one-second lead at the first timing point, which would largely remain stable across the whole course.
While the second heat was dominated, the first heat was a far closer affair, with three crews battling across the opening phases. In the opening stages of this battle, China and Brazil had the upper hand, making a strong start and leading the crew from the United States by two-thirds of a length early on. However, with the experience and power in the US setup, the Paralympic silver medallists would not expect that to remain, as they motored through the field, claiming the lead with around 900 metres to go and extending that to just over a length at the finish line. Behind, the Chinese were the closest contender as their stern-coxed boat remained in the fight while the Brazilian crew faded, but were still fast enough to reach the A-final on their time.
Men’s Single Scull
After an 80% progression rate from the heats, the quarterfinals of the men’s single would cut the remaining field in half, providing a strong test for the world’s best scullers as only the top three finishers in each heat would keep their medal hopes alive. Among the medal contenders, only the Olympic gold and silver medallists retained their unbeaten records in this championship as Oliver Zeidler won the fourth quarterfinal, though he was pushed all the way by Austria‘s Lorenz Lindorfer. In the second semifinal, Yauheni Zalaty was victorious ahead of Logan Ullrich, with Romania‘s Mihai Chiruta also qualifying with relative comfort.
It was similar joy for the 2020 Olympic champion, as Stefanos Ntouskos led the field in the third semifinal, posting the fastest time of the round to defeat Bruno Cetraro Berriolo, who impressed in the earlier heats.
One of the surprises from the heats was the underperformance of the Lithuanian Giedrius Bieliauskas, who reached the A-final in both the European Rowing Championships and the Lucerne World Rowing Cup regatta. However, he put fears to rest in his quarterfinal, quickly taking the lead against the Netherlands‘ Olympic medallist Simon van Dorp. The Dutchman would work throughout the race to return on level terms, taking the lead in the final 250 metres before the Bieliauskas sprinted hard to win the heat by one-hundredth of a second.
Another surprise progression to the semifinal came from that heat, with Moldova‘s Ivan Corsunov finishing third. In quarterfinal three, Slovenia‘s Filip-Matej Pfeifer, an Oxford Brookes student, achieved the same mark after qualifying for the quarterfinals by just over a boat length.
Surprise eliminations at this stage include the home sculler Han Wei, who won his heat with an impressive performance but will race in the D-final on Friday. Another athlete hoping to do better was Great Britain‘s Tom Barras, who finished almost ten seconds off the back of his race.
Men’s Four
After strong results in their opening heat, the first semifinal was drawn as a ‘semi of death’ with several top contenders in action. In the first race of the delayed afternoon session, the British crew performed well again, leading the field from start to finish. Alongside them, the crew from the Netherlands knew they would have to improve on their performance in the heat, and they held even with the British four throughout the opening kilometre before falling back to finish second. Behind was a battle between the United States, Australia and Croatia for the final qualification spot, and while the US held the lead off the start, the Australians moved through. Rowing close to the speed of the leading duo, the champions in Varese and Lucerne performed well to seal the final spot in the A-final as the US and Croatian crews faded to finish fourth and fifth. This leaves the Croatian crew, including the Sinkovic brothers, out of the A-final, breaking Martin and Valent‘s streak of 15 consecutive A-finals at 15 successive major global championships.
In the other semifinal, the racing was also intense. The French crew went out strong, holding the lead at both the 500 and 1000 metre mark, but faded towards the end to finish fourth. The Lithuanian crew moved through them, as the three Stankunas brothers used a stronger base rhythm to claim the victory in this race. A killer sprint from Romania allowed them to break into the top three, finishing second and pushing New Zealand into the B-final.
