2001 Report
Against a backdrop of falling snow, the 2001 C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championship took place in Boston, USA on the 25th of February. With 1,800 competitors from over twenty different countries taking part, some of the finest athletes in the world were assembled at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center.
The Men's Open final was truly a battle of the giants with some exceedingly large competitors. The fastest qualifier was Pavel Shurmei of Belarus who was clearly going to provide some stern opposition. Others lining up for the start included six times former winner Matthias Siejkowski, who sneaked in as the eighth fast qualifier for the ten man final; Italian Mario Palmisano, the bronze medallist at this year's British Indoor Rowing Championship, and the young Estonian Tonu Endrekson who did 5:53.5 in qualifying.
Shurmei was the first to show the lead, going off at 1:22 and quickly settling into a race pace of about 1:25. As they went through the 500 metre mark, Siejkowski had managed to form a narrow lead of a couple of metres which he eked out to about ten with 500 to go. Just when it seemed like Matthias had it in the bag, Pavel started going like the proverbial train and with 150 left was hitting 1:15s, forcing Matthias to respond. With one final heave both men gave it their all and, when the smoke had cleared, Matthias had pipped Pavel by just two metres and a scant couple of stokes, finishing in 5:42.2 with the Belarussian on 5:42.5. Some way behind, Palmisano held off a challenge from Luke McGee of the States to take another bronze, this time in 5:51.1.
In the Lightweight final Leonardo Pettinari of Italy, the Olympic Lwt double scull silver medallist from Sydney, went in as the clear favourite having cruised his heat. Pettinari hit the front from the gun, going off at 1:30 and briefly hitting 1:29 before settling into a 1:32 race pace. Rowing long and seemingly well in control, he countered an impressive push from Gabe Winkler of the USA through the last 500 metres to take gold in 6:06.8. Steve Warner, also of the USA, finished just behind Winkler in 6:09.3.
In the Women's Open Lightweight, the favourite was last year's winner Lisa Schlenker, the fastest lightweight woman ever over the distance. The race followed last year's pattern, with Schlenker hanging in the pack for the first 1,000 metres. Whereas last year she then burned everybody else off, this time around she couldn't get away, and faded to sixth. The battle for gold and silver was a close fought race between Catherine Humblet of the States and Tracy Duncan of Canada, with Humblet just shading it with 7:05.1, two tenths of a second faster than Duncan. Pavlina Krtenova of the Czech Republic came third in 7:07.0.
The Women's Heavyweight final was dominated by the Dutch girl Hurnet Dekkers. Standing at 6'5", Hurnet hit the front from the start and finished seven seconds ahead of the Belgian Irja Ven in 6:35.4 with Elizabeth Smith of the United States third with 6:45.7.
In the 30-39 Master's Men the old Finnish warhorse Klaus Geiger once again emerged with the honours, winning the title for the third time in four years with 5:57.0. This year he didn’t have things his own way, however, with Chris Rushton from Great Britain pushing him hard in the latter stages. Rushton finished in 5:58.8, becoming in the process the first known non-rower to ever go under six minutes, just edging out Paul Spencer of Canada who took bronze with 5:59.1.
The 30-39 Master's Women was a clear sweep for the home nation as Carol Stricki stormed home in 6:42.0, six seconds inside the championship record and a good thirteen seconds clear of Kristina Karlsson who beat Heather Nunes to the silver.
In the Junior races the Czech Republic won the Men’s event, with Ondrej Synek, the bronze medallist last year, coming home comfortably ahead of his compatriot Jacub Hanak with Giuseppe Lanzone of the United States in third. The Junior Women, meanwhile, was another US 1-2-3, Leah Ketcheson (7:02.6) beating Samantha Magee (7:05.3) and Alexis Peterson (7:10.2) to the prize.
