Day II: Monday 27 August
Quotes and interviews from Day II
Interview with stroke of the women’s eight Sarah Heard after winning through to the final on Sunday
RA: Sarah congratulations on the row today, you must be pleased with winning through to the final.
Sarah Heard: It’s good to get the first one out of the way but we still have plenty to work on. We’ve been trying to apply some of the good times we’ve been putting in training to race pace work and while it’s taken a while we really challenged ourselves to get it right and have a 100% race in competition. We wanted to get every 250 metres correct and take ownership of our performance. While it was far from perfect it was a good effort.
RA: Take us through the race today.
Sarah Heard: It’s all a bit of a blur but from what I can remember we had an okay start, nothing special but we were out with everyone and we got into our rhythm and I felt that by the 500 metres that we had settled into something sustainable. We were cranking it along. We didn’t get it caught up with the USA. They had got out to about a length so we just stuck to our guns and went through the 1000 feeling pretty good. We then started moving together just thinking power most of the way, nudged through and brought it home with a nice even last 250.
RA: Did you feel you had the boat moving to its potential?
Sarah Heard: Yeah it was really good. It was controlled and had a lot of rhythm so it was something to build on. We still have plenty to do. It’s nice to be in the final but we’ve come here for a purpose and we still haven’t achieved that.
RA: How were you and the other crew members feeling about the race before it began?
Sarah Heard: I was just talking to Lizzie Patrick (cox) before about the fact that it was one of the first races we’re we’ve all been pretty relaxed and excited about it. We sat at the start and I was just thinking about how much I was going to enjoy it rather than “Oh god” what am I going to do. I think everyone else in the crew felt the same way. I think we all felt that if we could all relax we would get a good race.
RA: How do you and the crew manage the time between now and the final?
Sarah Heard: I think it’s really important that we take the advantage to relax and just keeping working on what we’ve been doing well. Keep a nice even balance with this group, support the pair because they have quite a few races coming up as well and just get ready for the big one. We’ve got the chance to do something special. It’s now up to us to make it happen.
RA: The Ukrainian eight were impressive in winning their heat.
Sarah Heard: It really is a pretty tight field. Our goal is Olympic qualification and win the race so we’ve put ourselves in a good spot but it is going to be tight, we know that. There will be 6 crews in the final neck and neck so it will be an exciting race. Working out who the other four will be over the next few days will be good to watch.
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Interview with James Tomkins
RA: The buzz around the course is that there is still life in the old dog yet, congratulations in stroking the men’s eight into the semi final?
James Tomkins: Well it was good to get away with it. We started off okay but once we hit the 250 metre mark we lost a bit of shape but we recovered over the last 1000 and started rattling home.
RA: What do you put the less than optimal performance from the 250 mark to the 1000 metre mark down to?
James Tomkins: We didn’t quite get our length right and against the sort of quality of opposition we faced today like the Canadians and the British, you need to have everything pretty much right if you are going to stick with them. With a 1000 to go we could feel that we were going to have a crack at the Poms and then with 500 to go I think we all felt like we were going to get there. 6 crews were fighting hard for the two semi final spots so to make it was great.
RA: I noticed that you were doing a lot of looking at the British over the last 500. What were you looking at?
James Tomkins: I like to have a bit of a look now and again just to get a gauge how we’re going, which I think you have to so you can judge when to finally put the foot down.
RA: I’ve been told that you were trying to get a feel for how the British stroke was thinking?
James Tomkins: I was thinking “I wonder what he’s thinking”. Looking back at us you could see he was thinking “Oh no”. Watching another crew coming up over the top of you and there’s nothing you can do. I’ve been there a few times myself so I know how he was feeling.
RA: You now get time to rest, is that a good thing?
Jame Tomkins: It certainly beats rowing repechage. It means that we can keep on quite a few things like our accuracy at the catch, just try to get our blades in the water and locked up just a little tighter than what we are at the moment.
RA: And it was a good day for Australia on Day 2?
James Tomkins: It was a good day. The lightweights did a great job early and seeing the women’s eight win was a big positive. We just need to keep it together, enjoy the World Championships and keep focussed on what we’re here to do. There’s plenty more to achieved.
Adrian David
“It’s a good start to the week. It will be a long week but I’m certainly very happy for the girls. For the semi finals we will certainly have to make a few little adjustments. We came here as underdogs after our effort in Lucerne this year so it was a nice confidence booster to go out there this morning and perform so consistently. The challenge now is to improve every time we race here in Munich. There is a long way to go”.
Women’s lightweight quad
Alice McNamara
“It felt fantastic we’ve been waiting for three months to have a hit out. We got into a really good rhythm and were long and strong throughout the race. The aim through the first part of the race was “stay in our boat”. There was lots of adrenalin in our boat and we needed to make it work for us and keep focussed on what we were trying to achieve. We found a pretty powerful rhthm down the course and didn’t look back.
Miranda Bennett when asked about going straight through to the final on Sunday
“We knew we had a pretty tough heat because the Chinese have effectively not been beaten since about 2003 and so we knew we really had to perform. But that’s why we’re here. To race the best and beat the best. It’s going to be a long week but a good week”.
Bronwen Watson when asked about the week leading up to the final on Sunday
‘We’ll start by taking a good long look at the race. We’ll look to identify the good bits and see what we can do to improve even further. We’ll also have a good long think about the quality and type of training we do this week because it’s important that we stay up and quick for the finals. That’s when it counts.
Tara Kelly on the thrill of winning though to a World Championship final
“For Alice and I this is our first senior A World Championships so it’s so good to be a part of a great crew like the one we have here. It’s good to have that race behind us now. Now we can just concentrate on the final.
Men’s Lightweight Double
Sam Beltz when asked about contributing to such a strong start on the second day of the World Rowing Championships
“The first race is always hard. You feel like your lungs are going to explode. There was some real quality opposition out there this morning so I think it shows that the last period of time we have spent in Varese has put a nice finish on our preparation.
Q. Did you take a clear race plan in the heat or were you prepared to respond to what the other crews were doing?
Tom Gibson: We definitely wanted to win that heat. It just makes it a little a lot easier with the progressions through to the quarter finals and semi finals. It means you get a better ranking and positioning in those races. It’s good to get a good one on the board. It sets up the week well.
Q. How important is it to have success in the heats?
Sam Beltz: Confidence wise definitely also as Tom said, later in the week if you get a tough semi, winning the heat helps with position. There are always good crews going out so it does help to set the week up.
Q. Take me through your focus for the rest of the week
Tom Gibson: Quarterfinal on Wednesday and in the lead into that just a good recovery, perhaps a light row tonight, but of a day tomorrow to get the weight right and look forward to Wednesday.
Q. What about the challenge of not getting too carried away. It’s been a strong morning for Australia and there is a good vibe around the shed?
Sam Beltz: The only thing we can worry about is our next race. No question it’s going to be a long week but there are plenty of hard races coming up. Certainly we have had a good morning which helps team camaraderie and when everyone is going well it certainly helps things. But really just one race at a time.
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Race reports Day II
Race 46 Heat 2 Men’s Lwt 2-
The Australian crew of Ross Brown and Michael McBryde led comfortably out of the blocks and established a 1.4 second lead after 500 metres from Great Britain, Spain and Greece.
With first only advancing straight to the A Final, McBryde and Brown built on the early margin to move slightly further clear at every mark and crossed the line 1.46 seconds clear of Great Britain with Greece coming from fourth to place third.
The Australians rowed a conservative last 500 metres but have impressed in their first race of the regatta.
The other heat was won by Italy in a slightly faster time.
Race 47 Heat1 Lwt 4x
The young Australian crew of bow Bronwen Watson, Miranda Bennett, Alice McNamara and stroke Tara Kelly caused a huge boilover in clearly defeating the World Champions from 2006, China, in Heat 1 of the women’s lightweight quad scull.
The Australian crew coached by Ellen Randell jumped straight to the lead, albeit very narrowly by 0.18 seconds after 500 metres. In the second 500 they moved to a 2.82-second lead over China and Germany.
They continued to move away in the second 1,000 metres and won by 6.39 seconds from China and Germany in a time of 6.38.42.
The other heat was won by Great Britain in 6.41.44.
Race 53 Heat 3 Women’s Lwt 2x
Australia’s silver medallists from 2006 Amber Halliday and Marguerite Houston have had a seating change in the last few weeks and tackled Heat 3 of the women’s lightweight double sculls knowing that the first two crews would advance to the semi finals.
The Germans jumped to the early lead in the first 500 over Australia however the Australian crew fought back in the second 500 metres.
At the halfway mark the girls were a half a length clear of Germany with Great Britain in third place. The Germans continued to challenge Australia in the third 500 metres but the experienced Australian combination was too strong and moved away in the last 500 metres to win by 3 seconds from Germany and Great Britain.
The other heats were won by Finland, who defeated the 2006 World Champions, China and Greece.
Race 54 Heat 1 Men’s Lwt 2x
The Australian crew, fourth in the 2006 Championships, has trained well in Europe and Sam Beltz in bow and Tom Gibson in stroke are aware of the incredible depth in their event and took on a strong field in Heat 1 with the first four to go straight to the quarter finals.
The boys jumped to the lead over Germany and Japan and established a narrow margin in the first 500 metres. They were able to hold that lead all the way down the course and crossed the line almost 3 seconds clear of Germany and Japan. Those three crews all advance to the quarter finals to be rowed on Wednesday.
The other heats were won by Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, France and World Champions from 2006, Denmark.
Race 62 Heat 3 Men’s Lwt 4-
The Australian men’s lightweight four has a couple of new faces in it from last year with the evergreen Anthony Edwards coming back from a couple of years off to join new boy Rod Chisholm in the boat with 2006 members stroke Todd Skipworth and three-man Ben Cureton.
The boys contested Heat 3 with the first three boats to qualify for the quarter finals. After a good start at 500 metres Australia was narrowly behind the leaders Italy, with Spain in third place.
In the second 500 metres Australia moved to the lead over Italy and held that at 1,500 metres by a length with Ireland moving into second and Italy third.
At the line the Australian crew won comfortably from Ireland and Italy and looked good with strong technique.
The other heats were won by defending World Champions China, Egypt, Canada, Great Britain and France.
Race 67 Heat 2 Women’s 4x
This new Australian crew of Amy Ives, Sonia Mills, Brooke Pratley and stroke Catriona Sens faced the 2006 World Champions Great Britain in their heat with first only to advance to the A final.
The crew got away to a slightly tardy start and were back in fifth after 500 metres. They moved into fourth at 1,000 metres and battled hard all the way down the course with the USA for fourth spot behind Great Britain, Germany and Canada.
In the drive to the line the Australian girls were no match for Great Britain and finished in fifth place. They will now tackle the repechage on Wednesday.
The other heat was won by China, which defeated Great Britain in the World Cup racing.
Race 71 Heat 4 Men’s 4x
The young Australian crew of bow Chris Morgan, two James Gatti, three James McRae and stroke David Kelly had raced well in their two World Cup events and looked forward to their heat with anticipation despite drawing traditional quad sculling powerhouses Russia and Italy.
To qualify the boys had to finish in the first two and tried valiantly but could not match the power or experience of those two crews and finished a very creditable third a length behind the winners Italy and Russia with China back in fourth place.
The other heats were won by 2006 World Champions Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Race 73 Heat 2 Women’s 8+
With two crew members having raced the pair with success on Sunday the women’s eight was prepared for a good race in their first hit out of this World Championships regatta.
The crew of bow Sally Kehoe, Sarah Cook, Robyn Selby Smith, Kate Hornsey, Kim Crow, Natalie Bale, Sarah Outhwaite, and stroke Sarah Heard coxed by Lizzie Patrick had a hard task taking on 2006 Champions the USA with first only to advance to Sunday's A final.
The girls got away well but the USA took the lead in the early stages and still led at 1,000 metres from Canada and Australia in third place. In the third 500 metres the Aussie girls began to haul in the leaders and in the last 500 really put the hammer down.
The young crew behind their stroke Sarah Heard reeled in the early leaders and won by half a length on the line in front of the USA and Canada to record a terrific win in the fastest time of the two heats.
The other heat was won by the Olympic Champions Romania.
Race 75 heat 2 Men’s 8+
The Australian crew stroked by James Tomkins with Karsten Forsterling, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg, Sam Conrad, Tom Laurich, Jeremy Stevenson, Matt Ryan and James Marburg coxed by Marty Rabjohns faced a hot field in their heat with Canada having shown great form in the World Cup regattas.
In the early stages Canada went to the lead over Great Britain with Australia holding third place at halfway. Canada had more than half a length over the battle for the second qualifying spot between Great Britain and Australia.
In the last 500 metres Canada could not be caught but James Tomkins did what he does best and lifted his young crew to haul in Great Britain with 50 metres to go to move straight to the semi final to be rowed on Friday.
The other heats were won by 2006 Champions Germany and Russia.
Race 80 Heat 2 Men’s AM1x
Twice World Champion Dominic Monypenny raced the second heat of the event he has dominated for the last two years and went head to head with his training partner of the last two weeks from Italy with the first two placegetters to advance from this six boat heat.
Dominic had a tardy start but recovered and by halfway was almost a length clear from Israel and Italy.
In the second half he continued to lead but with 250 metres to go the Israeli sculler sprinted to the lead and moved away. Monypenny tastes defeat for the first time in two years however Dominic still advances to the semi finals.
Race 84 Heat 3 TA2X
This new Australian crew of John Maclean and Kathryn Ross got away to a slow start and were in fifth place in the early part of the race.
After the bad start they gathered themselves together and moved through the field in the second half of the race to take second place and be challenging the winners Brazil in the dying stages.
Brazil held on by a small margin and the Aussies move into the semis at their first attempt in international competition.
They will race for an A Final spot on Friday.
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Women's Eight
Rowing Australia was able to catch up with coach Lyall McCarthy after the Australian women’s eight won their heat and qualified for the final of the event to be held on Sunday 2 September.
The girls chased down the reigning world champions from the United States to win Heat 2 and join the Romanians in gaining direct qualification for the final.
McCarthy said that the race unfolded very well.
“We knew the United States would come out exceptionally strong, after all they are the reigning world champions”, McCarthy said. “They are renowned for being quick over the first 1000 metres and we believed that if we could stay close enough we could apply some pressure at the end of the race.”
“The girls have the required fitness levels to succeed and have learnt how to move the boat over the last few weeks exceptionally well. We had to manage a few injuries in the build up and this has made the group stronger as a whole and it is paying dividends.
But McCarthy added that there was a lot of work to be done over the coming week before the final.
“We have a lot to learn before Sunday and there will be five other crews in the final capable of winning”, McCarthy said. “The Romanians were very impressive in their heat and know how to win. They have rowed a lot of races together.”
The Women’s Eight need to finish in the top five boats in the six-crew final on Sunday to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
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Race Reports Day I
Race 1 Heat 1 Men’s 2+
The young Australian crew of Jason Heard bow, Fergus Pragnell stroke, Marty Rabjohns cox, after a bright start settled in third place behind Italy after 500 metres knowing that first only would advance to the A final of this non-Olympic event.
The crew held that position well through the middle thousand of the race but with 500 metres to travel knew they could not catch Italy or Poland and conserved energy in the run to the line to finish fourth. After a tight last 500 metres it was Poland first, Italy second and Germany third. Australia will now tackle the repechage on Tuesday.
The second heat was won by Croatia from Canada and the Czech Republic.
Race 16 Heat 4 Women’s 1x
Zoe Uphill is representing Australia in this event through her role as reserve for the women’s sculling squad under the coaching of Adrian David. Zoe was unfortunate to draw the world's greatest ever female sculler Ekaterina Karsten from Belarus in her heat and was unable to match the amazing pace set by Karsten in the first 500 metres.
Zoe settled into third place behind Karsten and the Serbian sculler Obradovic and by the 1,000 metres mark the first three placings were settled with all three to advance to the quarter finals and the remaining two scullers well off the pace.
Zoe has achieved her first objective by now advancing to the quarter finals to be rowed on Tuesday.
Race 23 Heat 5 Men’s 1x
Peter Hardcastle represents Australia in this event and drew German Marcel Hacker in the heat. Hacker began well and led from the Swiss sculler with Hardcastle in third place.
With the first three to qualify straight to the quarter finals Peter needed to hold his position and worked really well through the middle stages of the race and was still third with 500 metres to go.
While outgunned by local here Hacker, Peter Hardcastle did a terrific job to advance directly to the quarter finals and will race for a spot in the later rounds on Tuesday.
This Olympic-category event has plenty of depth but Peter is in good form and can go further in the week ahead.
Race 25 Heat 1 Women’s 2-
The Australian women’s pair of Sarah Cook in the stroke seat and Kim Crow in bow had raced well in their two World Cup appearances and tackled heat one with the first three to advance to the quarter finals.
The girls took the lead in the early stages of the race from Belarus and Germany and established an almost two-second lead after 500 metres. The crew from Belarus almost drew level with Australia in the third 500 metres but Cook and Crow answered the challenge to move away again.
Cook and Crow continued to lead the field all the way and at the line won by 1:53.39 from Belarus and Germany. They now advance straight to the semi finals.
The other two heats were won by Canada and New Zealand.
Race 30 Heat 3 Men’s 2-
Australia’s World Champions from Eton in 2006 Duncan Free and Drew Ginn took on a field of six and jumped straight to the lead and at 1,000 metres were almost five seconds clear of Germany and China.
With a lead bigger than any other race of the morning the crew rowed well within themselves in the second half of the race and coasted for the last 750 metres to win in a slower time than the other heats but in empathic style and have put the rest of the field on notice that they are here to win gold again and to establish a dominance over the field prior to Beijing.
Germany held on to second and China was third.
The other heats were won by Great Britain, New Zealand and France.
Race 32 Heat 1 Women’s 2x
The Australian crew of Kerry Hore and Amber Bradley took on the women’s double scull heat one with Australia as the defending champions from Eton in 2006.
This field included New Zealand the Olympic champions, however the crew from Great Britain caused something of a boilover by winning this heat from New Zealand, with the Czech Republic third.
With first and second to advance to the semi finals the Australian girls tried hard but were no match for the top three crews and finished a gallant fourth and will now advance to the repechage on Tuesday.
The other heats were won by China and Italy.
Race 40 Heat 6 Men’s 2x
Scott Brennan and David Crawshay, both members of the quad scull in Athens, have raced well in the World Cup regattas they undertook and were looking forward to getting on the water on this first day of racing.
With six heats, all that we required was to finish in the first three of a field of four and this proved no problem for the boys.
China jumped straight to the lead from the Australian crew with Poland in third and the crew from Lithuania in fourth place after 500 metres.
Australia held this place until the last 500 metres when Poland moved into second place and at the end China had led all the way with Poland in second and Australia third. This was the fastest of the six heats and the Australian crew will benefit from the hit out and now look forward to the quarter finals on Tuesday
The others heats were won by Slovenia, France, Germany, Estonia and Great Britain.
Race 42 Heat 2 Men’s 4-
The Australian crew of Nick Baxter, Francis Hegerty, Sam Loch and James Chapman, coached by Andrew Randell, took on a full field of six in this race and the young Czech crew took the lead early and established about a length's lead over Italy and Belarus with Australia fourth.
The Aussie boys continued to improve throughout the race and moved clearly into third through the middle stages of the race. In the last 500 metres the boys continued their very good second half of the race and finished second behind the Czech Republic with Italy third.
Only the Czechs advance directly to the semi finals with Australia leading the rest of the field into the repechages to be rowed on Tuesday.
The other heats were won by Great Britain, The Netherlands and New Zealand.
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