After more than two months of waiting, the World Rowing Championships are here. Yesterday, the spares’ races were held; today, the racing began in earnest at the Shanghai Water Sports Centre with preliminary races in the lightweight doubles before heats opened the racing for the pairs and the quadruple sculls.
Here’s everything you need to know from Shanghai so far.
Spares Races
Looking back to Saturday, the spares’ races were excellent viewing for the new-look Australian setup, as the Rowsellas won all three of their exhibition races. Sarah Marriott and Emily Sheppard dominated the Irish opposition in the women’s pair, but it was much harder work for the men’s pair. It was a close battle across the length of the 2000 metre course, but the challengers from the USA eventually faded in the final quarter, allowing Lachlan Doust and Charles Batrouney to claim the glory. In the last of the spares’ races, the second flight of the men’s single was another tight battle with Marcus Della Marta getting the better of Paris silver medallist Olav Molenaar.
Elsewhere in the spares’ field, Juliane Faralisch of Germany claimed the crown in the women’s singles race by four seconds over the Olympic Champion Imogen Grant, the most decorated of the competing spares. The race of the day, however, came in the first round of the men’s single as a three-way battle emerged. At the midpoint, it was too close to call between Great Britain and Germany, but an electric sprint from Italy’s Eduardo Caramaschi allowed him to surge through in the final quarter to cross the finish line 1.4 seconds ahead of Jamie Gare.
Lightweight Double Sculls
With four days of rest until their race for the medals, we can assume we had a representative showing in this morning’s races for lanes. It was an excellent start for the home team as China won in both races.
In the women’s event, Peru was the early leader, but a strong low-rate rhythm from the Chinese could not be matched by their opposition as they claimed the lead after 400 metres, with open water by 600 metres, and eventually finishing almost 15 seconds clear of a close pack.
On the men’s side, the Chinese dominated again, leading from wire to wire, but the crew to look out for is from Indonesia. The combination of Ali Mardiansyah and Rafiq Wijdan Yasir had a slow start but demonstrated significant pace through the middle of the race, moving away from the German European Champions to finish within two lengths of the Chinese crew.
Women’s Pair
The women’s pairs were the first to experience the revised World Rowing progression system at World Championships level. Despite the lack of repechage opportunity, we didn’t see any curveballs. In the women’s pair, the favourites from Romania set the fastest time, as they ran out as comfortable winners in the quickest heat of the day, as all five crews from heat three progressed to the semifinal.
The first and second heats also provided close racing, with France rowing through the Italians to take the top spot in the first heat. In the second, Serbia finished just a length in front of Chile, overlapping Great Britain and Czechia.
The first three crews of the championships to be eliminated from medal contention were Ireland, Hong Kong and the Independent Neutral Athletes from Russia.
Men’s Pair
In the first heat of the men’s pair, Great Britain established the early advantage, but a battle for the final automatic qualification spot drew them back across the final third of the race. Crossing the line, the British finished third in their heat, behind both the Spanish and Swedish crews, as the leading trio crossed the line within 0.7 seconds of each other.
A similar dynamic played out in the third heat as the Rienks brothers from the Netherlands were the leaders at each intermediate timing point in a close race with the French and Swiss offerings. However, once again, the leaders would be overturned – this time by a rapid French outfit – who took the top progression spot as the Swiss finished just half a canvas back, and the Dutch relegated to third.
The second heat was less exciting, as the favoured Romanian pair claimed victory by a comfortable margin over Ireland, who were in turn almost three seconds ahead of Denmark.
The fourth heat was similarly simple, though notable in this one was the sheer speed of the crews. Second-placed South Africa set the second-best time across all heats but remained a length and a half behind the New Zealand pair as the winners in Lucerne look to stamp their authority on the world championship field.
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
The racing was fast and ferocious across the board in the women’s quadruple sculls. With direct qualification for Thursday’s A-final on the line, all crews were on top of their game, with qualification ultimately coming down to 0.34 seconds for the final ‘fastest loser’ spot.
It was practically inseparable through the first half of the race in the first heat, with Great Britain, Romania, Ukraine and Canada all within a second of the lead at the 1000 metre mark. However, the shift in speed throughout the second half of the race began to separate the crews. Defending champions Britain strengthened their lead in the third quarter of the race, moving to a third of a length’s lead over the Romanians, a lead they would hold to the finish line. The Canadians would fall back a little more to finish third, while the slower-starting Swiss crew eventually beat the Ukrainians to fourth.
The second heat was a battle between lanes one and six, with the Dutch and German crews trading the lead all the way down the course. Ultimately, the Netherlands would take the victory, setting a time more than a second better than their British rivals, but the race for third also provided great viewing. It was a tight battle between New Zealand, Poland and the United States in the opening stages, with the women in red, white and blue being the first to yield, dropping back to finish fifth. Ultimately, the Kiwis claimed the final qualification spot, having gained their eventual winning margin across the middle of the course.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
The day’s final event was the three heats of the men’s quadruple sculls. With all but two to progress through to the semifinals, the protagonists of this event had an opportunity to establish themselves over their rivals.
In heat one, the favoured British crew did just as was expected. They used their reliably blistering speed through the second half of the race to put 3.34 seconds into a strong crew from the United States, claiming top honours in their heat.
In the second heat, the Italians posted the fastest time of the morning and were relatively untroubled for victory in their heat. Behind, the Spanish crew had an electric finish, almost overturning the Ukrainians for second place.
The third and final heat saw Germany and Poland move away from the field, leaving Croatia and Ireland somewhat disconnected. This may have impacted their speed, as being drawn into other, closer heat may have inspired a faster time. Ultimately, the Germans claimed a 2.7-second victory in the heat and will race against the British in Tuesday’s semifinal, while the Croatian and Irish crews will have a rematch in the C-final.
