A day of fine weather, slightly cooler than yesterday and light tail winds down the course. Back on track, the race programme is repecharges and heats for 8s and non-Olympic boat classes.
Men’s lightweight pair: repecharge. France win from Great Britain in 6:28 with the Swiss missing out by 0.03 of a second. This was a very fast race time.Second repecharge won by Italy who led the whole way in 6:34 with Canada 0.04 behind taking the last two slots.
Men’s lightweight double sculls: repecharge. Two heats for the 6 remaining semi final places. China easily won the first followed by Germany and Slovakia in 6:21.9 and the second was won by Norway in 6:21.8 from USA and Greece the reigning U23 world champions.
Men’s lightweight four: repecharge. Twelve crews racing for six semi final spots finished with Denmark 2 seconds ahead of France and Japan in 5:57 and the second heat produced Italy, Australia and South Africa won in 5:58.
Men’s pair: repecharge. Five crews racign for three semi final spots and South Africa led throughout winning in 6:22 from Spain and Argentina who were neck and neck.
Women’s single sculls: repecharge. Four people racing for three semi final slots means singapore missed out. The race was won by Lindsay Meyer of USA in 7:50 from Ukraine and Spain.
Men’s single sculls: repecharge. Four heats with two semi final places in each. Luka Spik recovered from his busy day yesterday to win in 6:56 from China and in the second heat Karl Schulze of Germany won in 6:56 from Lassi Karonen of Sweden. Australian Duncan Free and Canadian Malcolm Howard not producing the pace to progress. The third race was won by Lithuania in 6:51 from Estonia and the last was Tim Maeyens of Belgium in 6:49 beating Ken Jurkowski of USA and the Dutchman, Roel Braas missing out. A head wind developed during this last heat.
Men’s coxed pair: Race for lanes. Four crews racing won by Australia in 6:55 with Germany second, Italy third and USA fourth.
Women’s lightweight quadruple sculls: Race for lanes. Six entrants here and China led throughout with Britain in hot pursuit winning in 6:35. Italy third, Germany fourth and Thailand leading in USA who cut to a paddle at half way. The stern pair is doubling up as are the lwt single scullers German stroke, Marie-Louise Draeger and the Italian three Laura Milani.
Men’s lightweight quadruple sculls: Race for lanes. Italy won this great race in 5:57 sculling beautifully leading in France and Denmark well ahead of Brazil, USA and Germany whose bow man Jonathan Koch is also in the lightweight single scull.
Women’s eight: Two heats of crews with the winner going to the final. Much-anticipated showdown between the USA and Britain ended with the Americans winning convincingly in 6.00 having been on world record pace at 1500m gone. The second head was also exciting as Canada and Roumania were well ahead of New Zealand and Germany finishing with the Canadians winning in 6.01 but they were pushed harder at the end than the American crew and had been 3 seconds slower at 1500.
Men’s eight: Two heats of crews with the winner going to the final. A surprising first head brought out the defending title holders, Germany for a battle against the young newcomers, New Zealand, who lose by a quarter of a length in the final 150 meters in 5:24. Canada was a disappointing fourth behind China. The second heat also had two clear leaders – Britian and Australia and the homeland won in 5:25 with USA and Netherlands similar speeds chasing the third place spot.
