Race reports
Day III: Sunday 20 June
Women’s Pair – B Final
Sarah Cook and Sarah Tait lined up in the B Final of the women’s pair, aiming to resurrect the disappointment of missing out on a place in the A Final.
The Australia pair rowed from Lane 4 and got off to a perfect start, leading the field through the first quarter of the race, before they were overtaken by the China 4 crew leading into the halfway buoy.
A pack began forming behind the Australian duo as they entered the final 500m and China 2 and Great Britain 1 had too much steam for Cook and Tait in the closing stages of the race.
China 2 won from China 4 and Great Britain 1, while Australia crossed the line in 7:32.66, in fourth place.
Men’s Pair – B Final
Dominic Grimm and Bryn Coudraye has shown significant signs of improvement with every row, and only just missed out on a place in the A Final.
In the B Final, the Australian pair, who are based out of the AIS in Canberra, set the precedent from the get go and led the other five crews through 500m, holding a canvas boat length lead over Poland.
Grimm and Coudraye marginally extended their lead in the next portion of the race and then upped their rating to move ¾ of a boat length clear with only 500m remaining.
In a gutsy final 500m the Australian pair held off the Polish to win in 6:49.81, while Germany grabbed third place.
Women’s Double Scull – B Final
Hannah Every-Hall and Alice McNamara continued the bright start to the day for Australian crews as they secured victory in the B Final of the women’s double scull.
The lightweight combination had been combining well throughout the regatta and once again showed their potential as they came from behind in the second half of the race to take the victory.
Australia trailed Lithuania through 1000m and then surged past the European nation before eventually crossing the line over half a boat length clear.
They recorded a time of 7:24.31, with Lithuania 1.5 seconds behind, and Finland a further two seconds off the pace.
Men’s Four – B Final
Tom Swann, Fergus Pragnell, Brodie Buckland and Tom Larkins squared off in the B Final of the men’s four against a quality line up.
The young AIS four struggled to deal with the early pace that Germany 1 and New Zealand set and found themselves in fifth place at both the first and second time keeping buoys.
Despite Tom Swann looking to lift his crew in the second half of the race, Australia was unable to reel in the other crews and remained in fifth place, finishing in a time of 6:15.27.
Germany 1 won the race from New Zealand 2, with Serbia finishing in third place.
Men’s Lightweight Four – B Final
Australia’s second ranked men’s lightweight four crew of Angus Tyers, Michael McBryde, Perry Ward and Ross Brown were the next Australian crew in action in the B Final.
They raced from Lane 1 and got off to a slightly slower start than the rest of the field, with China and Russia leading the way.
The pace of the B Final was extreme and the Australian crew set their sights on trying to reel in the tiring Russians over the second half of the race, which they achieved in the final strokes of the race, pipping the Russians on the line by 0.35 seconds.
Australia recorded a time of 6:54.28, while China, Germany 2 and Japan filled the top three places.
Men’s Four – A Final
The final of the men’s four set up as a cracker with Australia 1 and Australia 2 taking on the world championship Great Britain crew, who also had won World Cup 1 in Slovenia three weeks ago.
The Olympic and World Championship silver medal winning Australia 1 (Francis Hegerty, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg, James Marburg and Matt Ryan) once again had placed themselves in the mix for medals, while this regatta had also seen the emergence of Australia 2 (Joshua Dunkley Smith, Nicholas Purnell, Sam Loch and Will Lockwood).
Australia 1 raced from Lane 2, Great Britain from 3 and Australia 2 from Lane 4 as all six crews pulled their first stroke in the 2000m final.
Australia 2 made their intentions clear from an early stage as they bounced out to a boat length lead after 500m, leading New Zealand and Australia 1 through the first time check.
They kept their advantage over the middle of the race as USA and Great Britain moved into contention for the final sprint.
Australia 2 was never challenged as they recorded a 5:59.91 to claim the gold ahead of USA and Great Britain. Australia 3 fought bravely to the line to finish fourth in a time of 6:04.58.
Men’s Lightweight Four – A Final
Australia’s top rated men’s lightweight four crew entered the A Final after two strong races in their heat and semi final.
Todd Skipworth, Blair Tunevitsch, Sam Beltz and Anthony Edwards drew Lane 6 for the final and faced a tough race against perennial favourites, Denmark, while Great Britain had also shown strong form throughout the regatta.
The Czech Republic and Denmark exploded from the start and set the race up over the first 500m, while Australia lay in fourth place.
Great Britain timed their race superbly however, and swept past both the crews in the middle half of the race before surging to the line to win by over half a length ahead of Denmark and Czech Republic.
Australia crossed the line in 6:14.00, finishing in fifth place, some six seconds away from the bronze medal position.
Men’s Quad Scull – A Final
The men’s quad scull shaped as another classic race as Croatia, Poland, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and Australia all aimed to win medals in the largest sculling boat.
Poland are the current World and Olympic Champions, the Croats have a young and exciting crew that continues to improve with each race, while Germany and Great Britain have been in great form.
Australia meanwhile, who won the silver medal at last year’s world championships, and despite having two changes to the crew, Karsten Forsterling, David Crawshay, Daniel Noonan and Chris Morgan all were capable of powering Australia to a medal.
Croatia got off to a strong start and quickly put space between themselves and the rest of the field, while Australia had to settle for sixth place out of the start.
Croatia had the race under control by the halfway point and let the other crews fight it out for the minor medals, with Germany and Great Britain taking advantage.
Australia began to work through the field but could not get past fourth place, finishing in a time of 5:55.81, just over half a boat length behind third place.
Women’s Single Scull – A Final
Sally Kehoe and Kim Crow made history in the semi-finals when they became the first two Australian women to appear together in an international women’s single scull final.
In the final they were both seeking to be the first Australian medallist in this category.
Both Kehoe and Crow started well as they looked to put pressure on the high quality field, featuring single scull legend Ekaterina Karsten.
At the 500m mark Crow led Karsten by a canvas, while Kehoe was in third place, and the Australian duo continued to take it to Karsten.
Just after the halfway mark Karsten began to assert her dominance on the race, while Russia’s Julie Levina moved into third place and began to challenge Crow.
Despite Crow’s best efforts, Karsten and Levina had too much for her over the closing stages, and she finished third in a time of 7:42.58. Kehoe crossed the line in 5th place, clocking a time of 7:48.58.
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Day II: Saturday 19 June
Day 2 of World Cup 2 is underway in flat calm conditions in Munich, Germany.
Australian crews will feature in 10 semi-finals, 1 repechage, as well as a C and E Final.
Men’s Single Scull – Final E
After a tough Friday heat Nick Hudson lined up in the E Final of the men’s single scull eager to place in a strong performance against the four other scullers in the field.
The Sydney Uni rower set up his rate from the opening strokes as he blasted to a three second lead over the first 500m.
Rowing from Lane 1, Hudson completed the first 1000m in 3:36.44, close to two boat lengths clear of Gasper Fistravec of Slovenia.
Hudson’s lead was too much for the remainder of the field to reel in and with a stroke rate in the low 30’s, Hudson continued to extend the gap towards the finish line, recording a final time of 7:27.99 to win by a commanding 5.5 seconds.
Men’s Double Scull – Final C
Danjels Reedman and Jared Bidwell improved in their second row on Friday and were unlucky to miss out on a place in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The two young rowers were aiming to improve even further in their C Final in order to gain more confidence for the remainder of the tour.
Their start was not ideal however and Reedman and Bidwell lay in sixth place after the first quarter of race. They lifted the stroke rate though in the next 500m to move past three crews and lie behind Norway and Lithuania.
Reedman and Bidwell momentarily made it to second place in the second half of the race but were not able to hold on and finished in a time of 6:40.47.
Men’s Four – Semi-final 2
The second semi-final of the men’s four gave Australia a chance for revenge against Germany – this time instead of fighting it out on the football pitch, it was the water of Munich where the encounter would unfold.
Semi-final 2 featured the three Australian men’s four crews, as well as two German crews and a New Zealand crews. Three places in the final were on offer and a close race was expected.
Australia 2 (Joshua Dunkley Smith, Will Lockwood, Sam Loch and Nicholas Purnell) drew Lane 3, Australia 1 (Francis Hegerty, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg, James Marburg and Matt Ryan) drew Lane 4, while Australia 3 (Tom Swann, Fergus Pragnell, Brodie Buckland and Tom Larkins) were to race from Lane 6.
Australia 2 set the impetus from the opening stroke and set a cracking pace over the first quarter of the race. They led from New Zealand and Germany, while Australia 1 was 5th and Australia 3 in sixth place.
Australia 2 continued to impress with a high stroke rate in the middle half of the race and held a three second lead heading into the final 500m, while Australia 1 had moved up into third place behind New Zealand.
The experience of the Francis Hegerty stroked crew showed in the closing stages however and they moved up into second to finish in second behind Australia 2. Australia 2 clocked 6:10.28, Australia 1 recorded 6:12.01, while Australia 3 crossed the line in sixth place in a time of 6:19.07.
Women’s Pair – Semi-final 2
Sarah Cook and Sarah Tait lined up in semi-final 2 of the women’s pair after claiming a second place finish in their heat on Day 1 of the regatta.
In the semi-final they rowed from Lane 4 and moved to a three quarter of a second lead after the first 500m over Great Britain, Romania and Germany.
The Romania 2 crew took the lead over Australia in the second 500m of the race, stepping up their stroke rate to 33, while Australia slipped back to third place just after the halfway point, falling behind Germany and Romania 1.
Cook and Tait faced an uphill battle over the final 750m as they looked to chase down the three crews in front of them and snare a place in the A Final, but they were unable to make up the ground and finished in fourth place in a time of 7:42.05, a boat length and a half from behind the third placed Romania 1 crew.
Men’s Pair – Semi-final 1
Dominic Grimm and Bryn Coudraye raced from Lane 6 in the semi-final of the men’s pair and looked to continue their improvement throughout the regatta.
New Zealand and Serbia set up a stranglehold on the race in the first 500m, which created a race between four crews for the final qualifying place for the final.
Grimm and Coudraye made a strong move in the third 500m to edge into fourth place just behind Romania, setting up an intense battle over the closing stages of the race.
It was a bow ball to bow ball battle in the final 200m that saw Romania hold on to the final qualifying spot ahead of Australia by 0.4 of a second. Grimm and Coudraye crossed the line in 6:55.61 and will race the B Final tomorrow.
Women’s Double Scull – Repechage 2
Alice McNamara and Hannah Every-Hall chased a place in the A Final and required a top two finish to move through.
Racing against heavyweights, the two lightweight Australian girls made up for their weight and size with hard work and endeavour, and went out just behind Belarus and Ukraine over the first half of the race.
Instead of dying off over the latter stages, McNamara and Every-Hall continued to push the Belarus crew over the closing strokes of the race.
Ukraine cleared out to win the race by clear water, and Belarus did just enough to hold off Australia by just over a second. Australia crossed the line in 7:33.64 and will race the B Final on Sunday.
Women’s Single Scull – Semi-final 1
Kim Crow faced a tough semi-final against Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and Emma Twigg of New Zealand.
The Australian sculler rowed from Lane 1 and had a good start, settling in just behind Karsten and Twigg through the 500m buoy, and holding her place at the 1000m mark by just less than a second over Russia’s Julie Levina.
Crow then pushed at 1100m and moved past Twigg to challenge Karsten at the 1500m mark, moving into the lead momentarily.
Karsten did enough on the line to edge out Crow by 0.28 seconds, but Crow had done enough to qualify in a time of 7:55.63.
Women’s Single Scull – Semi-final 2
The second semi-final of the women’s single scull featured Australia’s Sally Kehoe, as she aimed to join Kim Crow in the final.
Kehoe followed her race plan from yesterday and moved off to a strong start to lead the field through 500m. Kehoe led Czech Republic’s Mirka Knapkova and China’s Jingli Duan, with clear water back to fourth place.
Kehoe extended her lead in the second 500m of the race to hold a boat length and a half lead and then watched as the field chased her down in the closing 1000m.
Knapkova hit the lead at 1500m, with Duan in second, but Kehoe fought back to pass Knapkova rower and miss out by only 0.15 seconds on the line to finish second Duan in a time of 7:56.33. Knapkova held on to third by only 0.09 in a blanket finish.
Men’s Lightweight four – Semi-final 1
Angus Tyers, Michael McBryde, Perry Ward and Ross Brown raced from Lane 1 in semi-final 1 of the men’s lightweight four.
At the 1000m mark Australia found themselves just behind the pace, three seconds off third place Austria.
Great Britain and the Czech Republic led the way and continued to put a gap on the field, while Australia, South Africa and China looked to chase down Austria.
Australia could not quite keep up the chase however and finished in sixth place in a time of 6:23.90, five seconds behind qualifying for the A Final.
Men’s Lightweight four – Semi-final 2
Sam Beltz, Anthony Edwards, Blair Tunevitsch and Todd Skipworth raced the second semi-final from Lane 2.
Australia was in 3rd place behind Japan and Denmark at the 500m mark, and held onto this position through the halfway buoy.
Australia moved through the Japanese in the third quarter of the race and began hunting down Denmark.
Serbia then made their move and did enough to take second place from the Australian crew, but a time of 6:14.72 was enough to qualify them for the A Final.
Men’s Quad Scull – Semi-final 2
Karsten Fosterling, David Crawshay, Daniel Noonan and Chris Morgan raced from Lane 4 in the second semi-final of the men’s quad scull.
The Australian crew got off to a measured start and sat in fourth place at the 500m mark behind Russia, China and Great Britain.
Australia began making up ground over the second 500m, remaining in fourth place but closing the gap on the Chinese crew.
Moving into the final 500m Australia had passed China and set their sights on Russia and Great Britain, with some two seconds to make up and Forsterling lifted the rate to 39.
Australia made up a second but were not able to overhaul Russia, finishing third in a time of 5:56.39, qualifying for the A Final.
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Day I: Friday 18 June
Rowing World Cup 2 is underway from Munich, Germany with a number of Australian crews taking part in the morning heats from the 1972 Olympic Regatta Course.
Women’s Pair – Heat 3
Sarah Cook and Sarah Tait have been training with excellent poise and purpose after being selected in the women’s pair at the National Selection Trials.
Tait, who is returning to the boat after giving birth to her first child in 2009, initially started racing again in 2010 to return to a high level of fitness, but has impressed that much that she finds herself in her fifth Australian Senior A team.
Cook and Tait entered the heat knowing a top two finish would take them to the semi-final and placed themselves in a strong position after coming off the line well.
The New Zealand crew of Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown was the crew to beat and they led the Australian pair through the first quarter of the race, establishing a 1.5 second lead. Cook and Tait were rowing strongly however, and at the halfway point in the race were almost five seconds clear of the rest of the field.
The two Australasian crews were by far and away superior to the remaining three crews and were never headed on the line, with New Zealand (7:14.57) crossing the line ahead of Australia (7:18.70) and Russia (7:22.22).
Men’s Pair – Heat 1
Dominic Grimm and Bryn Coudraye lined up in the men’s pair for the first time for Australia after a solid five week training block out of the AIS in Canberra.
Coudraye made his World Championships debut in 2009 in the men’s eight, while Grimm was also initially in this boat before withdrawing through injury.
The Australian pair drew a tough heat against reigning world champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond from New Zealand. Since coming together in 2009, the New Zealand combination has not lost a race, including a pulsating A Final at the World Championships in Poland, where they held off the raging favourites from Great Britain.
A top three finish would be enough to progress to the semi finals in the five crew heat and Grimm and Coudraye positioned themselves well at the 1000m mark, settling in third place behind New Zealand and the second ranked British crew.
Hungary however began to challenge the young Australian crew in the third quarter of the race and moved into the third and final qualifying spot with 500m remaining, pushing even harder to the line to also secure their semi-final berth.
New Zealand claimed the heat win in 6:26.25 ahead of Great Britain and Hungary, with Australia fourth in 6:50.28.
Women’s Double Scull – Heat 1
The women’s lightweight double scull crew of Alice McNamara and Hannah Every-Hall were entered in the heavyweight category in Germany to provide a different form of racing as part of the training program under Laryssa Biesenthal.
McNamara returns to the women’s lightweight double scull after featuring in the 2009 crew that finished fifth at the World Championships, while Every-Hall is back in Australian colours for the first time since 2008.
The Australian crew drew a tough heat against the Chinese combination that won silver at World Cup 1, with only one crew progressing directly to the A Final and the remainder going through to the repechages.
McNamara and Every-Hall raced from Lane 2 and found themselves in fifth place through the first 500m behind China, Germany, Czech Republic and Ukraine and continued to find the pace difficult to match in the middle half of the 2000m race.
Germany burst in front of the rest of the field through the 1500m mark to lead the crews through the line, and taking the important progression through to the A Final on Sunday.
The Czech Republic followed Germany across the line, some three seconds behind the 6:54.90 winning time of the home crew. McNamara and Every-Hall finished in fifth place in a time of 7:22.26 with a competent row that sets up their four-week tour well.
Men’s Double Scull – Heat 3
Danjels Reedman and Jared Bidwell were selected in the men’s double scull for the World Cup tour under the gold medal winning coach from Beijing, Rhett Ayliffe.
Bidwell made his senior team debut in 2009 as part of the men’s quad scull that won silver at the World Championships, while this was Reedman’s first Senior A tour.
Due to the number of entries only one crew would progress to the semi-finals directly. Australia were not drawn with any of the finalists from World Cup 1 in Bled, and led by Reedman from the stroke seat Australia was part of an evenly spread field through the first 500m.
New Zealand led from China, with Australia in third with less than a second separating all three crews, while Poland then joined the group as the race reached the halfway mark.
The New Zealand crew of Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan then upped the anti in the crucial 3rd 500 of the race to open up a two length lead that broke open the race, leaving the remaining four crews to battle out for minor placings.
Cohen and Sullivan crossed the line in 6:19.59, 10 seconds clear of second placed Poland, while Reedman and Bidwell recovered well to finish third in 6:31.05. Reedman and Bidwell will now race a repechage this afternoon.
Men’s Four – Heat 2
Two of Australia’s men’s four crews faced off in the second heat.
Reigning Olympic and World Championship silver medallists Francis Hegerty, Cameron-McKenzie McHarg, James Marburg and Matt Ryan were paired in the same heat as the AIS four of Tom Swann, Fergus Pragnell, Brodie Buckland and Tom Larkins with two crews to progress to the semi-finals.
The two Australian crews occupied Lane 1 and 2 respectively with two Chinese, a Czech Republic and a United States crew making up the field.
The Hegerty stroked Australian crew leapt from the start and broke to the lead through 500m, splitting in a time of 1:24.62, leaving them close to half a boat length clear from the United States.
The gap remained the same at the halfway mark while the second Australian crew moved into fourth place, four seconds behind the United States.
Against the script, however, the United States moved to the lead in the third 500m and held their lead over the closing stages to lead the Australians through to the semi-final in a time of 5:56.97. Australia recorded 5:57.66, with the Czech Republic in third and the second Australian crew clocking a 6:09.63.
Men’s Four – Heat 3
The third Australian men’s four was looking to continue the Australian success from the previous heat and make it through to the semi-finals.
Joshua Dunkley Smith, Will Lockwood, Sam Loch and Nicholas Purnell, all based out of the AIS in Canberra, had an impressive lead up to the regatta and looked sharp in training after arriving in the south German city.
Dunkley Smith set the pace from the start and led an extremely impressive performance by the Australia 2 crew. They were 1.5 seconds clear at the first checkpoint, before maintaining the gap at the 1000m.
Dunkley Smith led the young crew superbly through the third 500m and held their form in the closing stages of the race to cross the line in 5:52.85, three quarters of a boat length ahead of Serbia. Both crews will progress straight to the semi-final.
Men’s Lightweight Four – Heat 1
Ross Brown, Perry Ward, Michael McBryde and Angus Tyers entered heat one of the men’s lightweight four in lane five against Serbia, Great Britain, China and Germany.
Brown and Tyers were part of the men’s lightweight four that finished 14th at last year’s World Championships, while McBryde returned after a three year absence and Ward made his Senior A debut.
Great Britain was the crew to beat and the hosts of the next Olympic Games swept to the lead in the first strokes of the race.
Australia was in fifth place at the halfway mark of the race and despite continually looking to breach the gap were unable to make up any places and recorded a time of 6:15.10.
Great Britain won in a time of 5:58.48, with Serbia and Germany the other crews to progress to the semi-finals.
Men’s Lightweight Four – Heat 3
Three Beijing Olympians returned to the Australian fold in the second Australian men’s lightweight crew to take to the water.
Anthony Edwards, Sam Beltz and Todd Skipworth joined Blair Tunevitsch in the crew as they chased a top two place and an automatic progression to the semi-final.
The Australian crew surged from the blocks to lead through both the 500m and 1000m mark, before the Czech Republic assumed the lead in the third 500m segment of the race.
The two crews were well clear of the remainder of the field and continued to go bow ball to bow ball over the final part of the race with the Czech Republic prevailing on the line in a time of 6:02.14, just 0.67 ahead of the Australian crew.
Men’s Quad Scull – Heat 3
The men’s quad scull has become one of the marquee boats of the Australian fleet after a fourth place finish in 2008 in Beijing and then a silver medal last year at the World Championships in Poland.
David Crawshay and Dan Noonan remain in the silver medal crew from 2009 and were joined for the World Cup tour by the returning Karsten Forsterling and Chris Morgan.
Forsterling, after acting as the reserve for the Beijing Olympics, returned in style at the 2010 Australian Rowing Championships and the National Selection Trials, establishing himself as one of the form rowers. Morgan, meanwhile, also had a year off after being part of the quad in Beijing.
The four crew heat offered three semi-final places for the competing crews and Australia sat behind the Russian crew after the first 500m of the race, before clawing back to a deficit of 0.03 seconds at 1000m.
Australia then made their move on the 2007 World Championship course to breeze past the Russian crew and put space on the field in their surge to the line. They won in a time of 5:49.32, two seconds clear of the United States, with Russia claiming the final semi-final place.
Women’s Single Scull – Heat 2
Sally Kehoe returned to the single scull for the first time since she won the event as a junior in 2004.
In what is widely regarded as one of the toughest events in world rowing, Kehoe was chasing a top two finish in her five-person heat to progress directly to the semi-finals.
The Toowoomba born athlete burst out of the blocks and established a commanding lead after only 500m. She held a three second lead which expanded by a further second after the next quarter of the race.
Russia’s Julia Levina looked to peg Kehoe’s lead in the back half of the race but the Australian had done enough and crossed the line in 7:34.14, two seconds clear of Levina. Both athletes will now move to Saturday’s semi-final.
Women’s Single Scull – Heat 3
Following the injury to Kerry Hore a few days before the Australian team departed, Kim Crow was placed in the women’s single scull field for World Cup 2.
Crow was drawn against the queen of single sculling, Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch in her heat, along with two of the powerful Chinese single scullers.
The Victorian sculler settled in second position after 500m behind Karsten and was only one place further back at the halfway mark of the race.
Crow battled bravely over the final 1000m but was unable to rate at the same level as Karsten and Jingli Duan of China to finish in a time of 7:43.72, ten seconds behind Karsten.
Men’s Single Scull – Heat 5
Nick Hudson made his second Australian Senior A team this year, after winning a silver medal in the men’s quad scull in 2009 at the World Championships.
His reward in Heat 5 of the men’s single scull was a match up against dual Olympic gold medallist Olaf Tufte.
With three scullers progressing to the quarter finals the race was always going to be difficult and Tuft set a quick pace over the first half of the race.
Hudson completed the race in a time of 7:25.07, 15 seconds behind Tufte, while Mexico and Finland finished second and third to move through to the quarter finals.
Men’s Pair – Repechage
Dominic Grimm and Bryn Coudraye dominated their repechage of the men’s pair to easily progress to the semi finals of the event.
After finishing back in the pack earlier in the day in their heat, the young Australian pair took the bull by the horns off the line and led through the 500m mark by close to two seconds, before almost doubling this margin to lead at halfway over Ukraine and Egypt.
Grimm was setting a good pace in the stroke seat and the third 500m ensured Australia would win the repechage and move to the semi-finals.
Despite easing off in the closing stages, Grimm and Coudraye crossed the line in 6:45.47, leading home Ukraine by 5.16 seconds.
Men’s Double Scull – Repechage 2
Danjels Reedman and Jared Bidwell needed a top two finish in their repechage to progress to Saturday’s semi-final after finishing third in their heat earlier in the morning.
The young AIS combination were surprised out of the blocks by a quick start by the French and Slovenian crews, who set up a four second lead over Australia and the Czech Republic at the middle stages of the race.
The gap was proving a difficult one to overcome, and despite an attempt to reduce this over the final 1000m, Australia was unable to reel in the French and Slovenians, who both qualified for the semi-finals.
Reedman and Bidwell recorded a time of 6:36.71, 13 second behind that of the French, and only five seconds back from Slovenia. They will now race in the C Final on Saturday.
Men’s Four – Repechage 1
The third Australian men’s four of Tom Swann, Fergus Pragnell, Brodie Buckland and Tom Larkins were chasing a top three finish in their repechage to join the other two Australian crews in the semi-finals.
The Australian four was off the pace in the first quarter of the race and found themselves in fifth place, some three seconds behind leaders Germany.
Tom Swann then lifted the stroke rating of the Australian crew and they began to move through the field to find themselves in third at the halfway mark.
The Australian crew held their form in the second half of the race and in a nail-biting finish held off Slovenia by 0.24 seconds to cross the line in 5:59.77 and book a place in the semi-finals.
The semi-final draw has paired all three Australian crews in the same race.
Men’s Lightweight Four – Repechage
Ross Brown, Perry Ward, Michael McBryde and Angus Tyers faced a repechage in their quest to make the semi-final stage of the regatta.
Three places were on offer in the four crew field and Russia leapt out from the start to lead Australia and China through the first timing buoy.
China made their move in the second 500m to overtake both crews, while Australia moved pass Russia to remain in second place.
China put space on the field over the second half of the race as it was clear that the leading three crews would progress, as Chile struggled to cope with the conditions and pace.
China won in a time of 6:06.10, six seconds ahead of Australia, who recorded a time of 6:12.27.
Women’s Single Scull – Repechage 1
Kim Crow has improved with every row since her double scull partner Kerry Hore fell to injury and she showed her potential in the single scull in the repechage.
Crow took the race to her opponents from the first stroke and led by close to three seconds after a quarter of the 2000m.
Crow was looking to join Sally Kehoe in the semi-finals of the event and continued to assert her authority in the middle half of the race to lead by more than six seconds with only 500m remaining.
Crow crossed the line in 7:43.59 to win by over seconds over the scullers from Norway and Finland.
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