Strong showing as SA rowers move into semis
WITH the grace of swans three of South Africa’s boats qualified for the semi-finals of their respective classes on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon yesterday.
The country has four boats guaranteed a place in the semifinals, and a step closer to earning rowing more Olympic silverware.
The women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Ursula Grobler and Kirsten McCann made it look easy in their heat as they took the boat out in front, finishing in the same position in the same time of 7:07.37, 3.54 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.
Grobler pointed out that although they may have looked like swans gliding over the water, it did not reflect the frenetic paddling below the surface.
“I’ve always said when you look at rowing it looks like Beethoven’s 5th symphony, and inside our heads it is like Metallica,” Grobler said.
Seeded second at the regatta, the two made their intent clear from the start, moving out hard before finding a steady rhythm.
McCann said they were satisfied with the result, which ranked the fourth-fastest of the four heats.
London Olympic gold medallists James Thompson and John Smith, now rowing the men’s lightweight doubles sculls, cruised through to the semi-final by beating the British boat with a time of 6:23.10.
The British crew of Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers held the lead over the first 1 000m, with the South Africans shortly behind them in striking distance.
Thompson and Smith reeled them in and held the lead over the next half of the race to book their place in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
“We had a really good start and to see we were down was a bit nerve-racking, but we were always moving and got more and more confident through the race,” Smith said.
“I think we handled the conditions well and we always knew what we were coming here for.”
Weather conditions around the lake have already had an effect on the rowing programme, with Sunday’s rowing postponed until yesterday.
Thompson said the heat proved to be a good experience as they got to row in the crosswind, which was common on the lake.
“We’ve been focusing a lot on the crosswind. We came out in November when we saw what we would get here, and we are quite happy to have got the cross and have our first paddle in it,” Thompson said.
“We are quite happy how we went in the cross and we will see how the week unfolds, but it is still early days.”
After the team’s reconnaissance mission in November, they installed a rudder in their boat to help them steer it in the crosswind.
The women’s pair crew of Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz also made it through to the semi-final after finishing their heat second behind the New Zealand boat.
South Africa’s last boat on the water, the men’s four crew of David Hunt, Vincent Breet, Jonty Smith and Jake Green went out hard in their heat placing second over the first half of the race before fading towards the end, finishing fourth and missing an automatic qualification for the semis.
The quartet will have to return today for the repechage and a second bite of the cherry, when they will be on the water with the men’s pair of Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling rowing in their semifinal.