Munich World Cup-Heats
Day 1 has been a successful one for the kiwis at the world cup in Munich.
As I said yesterday this is the first chance we have had to see how our training has been going and testing our speed in competition. It is still very early days (being the heats of the second world cup) but indications so far makes it look like our training is on track and most of the kiwis crews have the speed to match the competition.
The day started in the rain with some thunder and lightening, well one bolt of lightning which was enough for them to close the course for training early meaning we had to find alternative methods of warming up. By the time racing was due to start the bolt of lightning had moved on and there was just rain to contend with.
* Duncan Grant started the day well with a dominant display in the lightweight single recording the fastest time and advancing straight to the semi final.
* The woman’s pair of Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery were next to race, they again dominated their field, recording the fastest time in their event and advancing direct to the final on Sunday.
* The men’s pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray were the next to go from the kiwi stable, they drew a tough heat racing the very highly favoured Brits who are from the Olympic gold medal four and have never been beaten in the pair. Our boys were half a length down for the first 500M, clawed back to level by the 1000M, had a bow ball to bow ball drag race to the 1500M then opened up the famous bondy afterburners winning by just over a length. The British contingent were notably shocked, but seeing the results these guys have produced so far this year I don’t think anyone in the kiwi camp was. This result gives them a day off tomorrow and a berth in the final on Sunday.
* The Woman’s Double of Paula Twining and Anna Reymer looked good to make it 4 from 4, leading through to the 1500M. In the end the Brits and the Bulgarians were too strong and overhauled them to leave them 3rd and give them a second chance to make the final in tomorrow’s repechage.
* The Men’s double of Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott have been reunited after racing together in 2007, they looked pretty good leading a fairly tight race most of the way, just ahead on the Estonians. They go directly to the semi final.
* Next up Emma Twigg took centre stage as she blasted out of the blocks and into a very comfortable lead early on. She held this and cruised to the line taking a spot in tomorrow’s semi final.
* I was next, with 21 entries in our event you have to finish first in your heat to make it directly to the semi finals. I took off from stroke one opening up a clear water lead over the Lithuanian sculler by the 500M mark, from here it was just a matter of stay in control and while he never gave up, with a 5sec lead by the 1000M I was able to button back and maintain my advantage to the end. So straight through to tomorrow’s semi along with the usual suspects of Tufte, Campbell and Synek also winning their heats. While you cant read too much into times from the heats I was overall fastest as well and being quickest at each of the marks (except the 1000M where Tufte was 0.67sec quicker) so a good way to start.
* This year we have a big lightweight contingent with 7 athletes, this is quite a good thing as they have to starve themselves to make weight (70KG average) in the days leading up to racing leaving plenty of food on the table for the heavy weights, and giving us plenty of pleasure eating in front of them. Well the lightie double of Peter Taylor and Storm Uru finish 7th at the Olympics last year but flew out the blocks being 3seconds clear of the field by 500M and dominating the race to take first and a spot in the semi final as well as a confidence boost with the quickest time over the course of all the heats.
* The Men’s lightie four is a new boat for the kiwis this year. They drew the gold and silver medallists from the Olympics in their heat. While they struggled to keep pace at the start they didn’t loose too much ground through the middle of the race so should learn from the experience and be stronger next race when they race the repechage to try and make the A final.
* There are still two crews to race the woman’s quad and Robin Tinga our arms and shoulders (adaptive) sculler, both race later this afternoon but as they have 6 or less entries in their events, they are guaranteed an A final spot and their results will decide what lane they get for Sundays finals.
All in all it has been a good day with 7 wins from 9 races (2 to go) everyone is still in with a shot at making the A final (if they haven’t already made it) and I will be back tomorrow to give you a run down of round two racing and who has done what and a preview as to what our medal prospects look like for Sunday.
Mahe
