Day One Daily Digest – Olympians, Penalties, & Sprint Finishes

Hot on the heels of the 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, the World Rowing Coastal Championships got underway today in Oeiras, Portugal.

With large entries in the men’s solo (68) and men’s double (63), an additional round of racing was required, which was held this morning. Crews ranked 1-4 in these boat classes by their National Federation automatically proceeded direct to Round 2, whereas the rest of the crews had to fight it out for the remaining places.

Having assessed the conditions in the morning, the decision was taken to use “Option 2” race format with the boats starting in the water and finishing on the beach.

After a 30-minute delay, the 17 men’s doubles got underway to race for 14 places in the second round. It was a fantastic spectacle as the boats all set off together but after a couple of minutes of racing, the pack had started to spread. Whilst the lead three crews got cleanly around the first turn, there was a collision which bought Italy7 to a standstill and allowed several Spanish boats to take advantage.

 

Does Leading the Pack Help?

France5 had established a significant lead in the first round of the men’s double, but not having a crew to follow doesn’t necessarily help. The double appeared to have a navigation error and headed from buoy 2 to buoy 4, and had to re-adjust their course to go around buoy 3. They managed to hold on to their lead, but then made a similar error between buoys 4 and 5. The other crews benefited from having a boat to follow, and Great Britain5 were closing in on France5 after their mistakes.

 

Recovering from a “Faulty Start”

17 boats lined up for round one of the men’s solo, to race for 12 places. However, unfortunately there was a “faulty start” when France5 collided with an umpire boat immediately after the start. Recalling the crews to restart took a long time, particularly as the crews had to row back to the start into a strong head-wind. They eventually got away again around 15 minutes later.

 

The Spanish Armada

The results of round one of the men’s solo had four Spanish boats in the top five places with the scullers all from different clubs. The fastest finisher was Vitor Alberto Ferreira Bermudes from Reial Club Nautic De Tarragona who clocked a time of 22:45.36. There was also an impressive performance from Great Britain’s Fishguard & Goodwick Jemima Rowing Club with all three of their scullers finishing in the all-important top twelve places.

Round 2 of racing got underway in the afternoon session for the “Group A” boats – CW4x+, CM2x and CW1x. The breeze had picked up since the morning racing, and the tide was really running. Given the conditions, the afternoon session continued with the format of a water start and beach finish.

 

The Art of Navigation

Despite having a coxswain on board to take charge of the steering, some of the boats in heat one of the women’s quads were navigating around 20-30 metres wide of the first turning buoy, and with challenging conditions, you really don’t want to row further than you have to! By the later buoys on the course, the turns were a bit tighter, as the pack began to spread out.

However, when the coxless boats started racing, we saw the tide playing havoc with navigation, making aiming for the turning buoys really challenging. Several of the solos had to make significant corrections to their course, particularly towards the first navigation buoy. Those that got around the first buoy cleanly gained a significant advantage.

 

Olympians Become Coastal Rowers

There were impressive performances in the men’s doubles from rowers who raced at the Olympic Regatta in Tokyo earlier this year including Norway’s Olympic silver medallist, Kjetil Borch who was teamed up here with fellow Norwegian Olympian Jan Oscar Stabe Helvig. The duo was first across the line in heat one. In fourth place in the same race was Great Britain3, the crew featuring Oliver Cook from GB’s men’s four. Eighth across the line was Monaco1 which included Quentin Antognelli who raced in the single scull in Tokyo, they will be one of the fastest boats in the B final tomorrow.

In the women’s solo, Italy’s Stefania Gobbi was the winner of heat 2. Stefania was in Italy’s women’s quadruple scull that finished fourth in Tokyo.

 

Oh Buoy!

There was chaos in heat one of the men’s doubles as many of the boats missed the first turning buoy. On attempting to re-route and go around it, there was several collisions and then an unfortunate capsize from France5. The crew of Ivan Bove and Vincent Cavard were able to right their boat quickly and get going again and back into the race and still beat four crews.

 

Penalty Box

The “Penalty Box” came into use in heat one of the women’s solo for Portugal2 and Spain2, who false started. The athletes are held by a member of the Jury in a waiting area for two minutes before they are allowed to make their final sprint to the finish line. The penalty meant that Rita Faria of Portugal missed out on being in the top 10 that qualified for the A final, but for Spain’s Maria Angeles Purcarea, it was still a tenth place finish, even after being held for two minutes.

 

All down to the final sprint

In the second heat of the women’s quad, it came down to a margin of just two seconds to decide which of Germany2 and Switzerland2 progressed to the A final and was all decided between the runners who jumped out of the boat and sprinted to the finish line. Paula Rossen got there first and secured the A final place for Germany.

 

Tidal Impact

By the time of the last few races of the day, it was close to the end of the tide and there was much less current. This meant that the buoy turns were generally cleaner and, unlike the earlier races, in the second heat of the women’s solo there were no real issues at the first buoy.

 

A Waiting Game

 The progression system of the World Rowing Coastal Championships dictates that where there are three heats, the first six in each heat progress directly to the A final along with the two fastest seventh place finishers across the three heats. This meant a long wait for Portugal2 and Italy4 as they had to wait until the last race of the day to see if their time was fast enough.

The final results showed that there was just six seconds separating the seventh placed crews in each of the heats. with Sweden2 from the third heat missing out on progression into the A Final.

 

Italy Dominate Last Men’s Doubles Heat

 In one of the biggest margins of the day, it was a 35 second win for Italy1 – Luca Chiumento and Simone Martini in the last race of the day, indicating they will be strong contenders for a medal in the A Final on Saturday. Martini has won the men’s solo several times, and Chiumento has been racing in the Italian men’s flat water double scull this season, as well as being part of Italy’s sweep spare rowers in Tokyo.

Racing continues tomorrow, starting at 08:30AM local time (9:30AM CET) and you can follow all of the action at www.worldrowing.com.