2003 World IRC Report
The 22nd World Indoor Rowing Championship took place on February 23rd at the Reggie Lewis Centre in Boston, USA. The British team this year was once again sponsored by AXA PPP healthcare, and one new element that they brought along this year was a team captain in the shape of Olympic hero Sir Steve Redgrave. An inspired team talk at the start of the weekend got everyone in the mood to race to their potential and Steve's support and encouragement for all of the British athletes was fantastic. If anybody thought that Sir Steve was just along for the ride, they'd have been pleasantly surprised by his performance on the day. Bombing around the stadium, he threw himself wholeheartedly into his role and wherever there was a Brit racing, there was Steve by their side, offering encouragement. At least one rower confided to us later that he'd gone off too fast and had shot his bolt by the 1,500 metre stage and just wanted to paddle home. Unfortunately, he pointed out, you can't really do that when you've got Steve Redgrave bellowing at you to wind it up.
One of the best races of the day involved big John Dixon from Norwich. John was pipped to the post last year in the 40-49 Hwt race and was determined to make amends this time. Come the day, however, John was feeling distinctly under the weather, and with Germany's Jurgen Schwab looking incredibly strong, it seemed he was once again going to have to settle for silver. With Steve Redgrave bawling in his ear, though, John managed to dig deep enough to pass Schwab in the dying moments of the final to win in a time of 6 minutes 9.4 seconds.
The star of the Men's team, however, was Nik Fleming, who won a silver medal in the Men's 30-39 Hwt. A silver medal might not seem as good as a gold, but Nik's time - a stunning 5 minutes 54.9 seconds - gave him the fastest time of the British team. In fact, we reckon that in the whole of British rowing there may only be two quicker athletes - Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell. Praise too at this point for Molesey rower Tony Larkman, who dead-heated with Fleming and Chris Rushton in this event last year. His fourth placed time of 5 minutes 56.3 was a Personal Best for him. While we're talking about heroic performances, it's worth noting that of Portsmouth's Graham Benton, who although he narrowly failed to make the Men's Open Hwt final, his time of 5:55.8 represented another stride forward for a highly promising rower.
The Men's Open Heavyweight final was all about one man, Jamie Schroeder. With Dave Simon having to drop out due to a bad shoulder, the only man in Boston that weekend who could stop him was probably the giant Estonian Tonu Endrekson, who came into the championship on the back of a 2:42 for 1,000 metres. The Open events in the World IRC are a heat and final format and, unfortunately for him, Tonu gambled that 5:55.1 would be enough to get him out of qualifying, which it would have been in previous years, but this time he was just edged out. A special mention here must go to Graham Benton, who, in his first time in Boston, pulled 5:55.8 in a valiant attempt to make the qualifying; although he wasn't able to this year, it was another PB for the man from Portsmouth and confirmed his arrival on the indoor rowing stage.
The final saw Schroeder positively fly out of the blocks, pulling himself swiftly down to 1:21 and there was clear blue water between him and his challengers after only three hundred metres. Covering the first 500 in 1:23.9 he then sat on 1:27s and 1:28s for the middle 1,000 metres. At 1,500 metres he tried to make a quick break to 1:25 before immediately falling back to 1:28. In his last two major races, in Birmingham and here last year, Schroeder's showed that, while he has the power early on, he's often not able to sustain that to the end, and he came home in 1:30s and 1:31s for the last 350 metres. At the end he managed to look as displeased with himself as is possible for someone who's improved his PB to 5:46.7, nine-tenths of a second faster than what he did at Birmingham. At only 22 he's only going to improve, and he's got the potential to become one of the all time indoor rowing greats.
Behind him, Wyatt Allen and Mark Flickinger, who finished first and second in qualifying with 5:49.0 and 5:49.1, were the main two battling it out for silver and bronze, with Allen proving that little bit stronger, finishing in 5:50.0 against Flickinger's 5:53.8.
The Men's Open Lightweight final was an all-American affair, with most of the pre-race betting focussing on Steve Warner and Gabe Winkler, who finished first and second at November's British IRC. With Gabe having revealed beforehand that Steve was in awesome form, the question was whether or not Warner could become the first lightweight man to hold both titles at once.
From the gun, both Warner and Winkler hit hard strokes, with Paul Teti, brother of US head coach Mike Teti, also setting off well; all three going in the low 1:33s. These three were soon joined by Angus Maclaurin and Michael Aller who'd obviously decided to take the fight to their colleagues early doors, pull down in the low 1:32s and putting themselves the merest fraction in front. Warner was looking ominously good at this stage, although, rowing a totally relaxed stroke and loose around the shoulders. At 900 metres he was in third, just behind Aller and Maclaurin, and from now on in he slowly wound it up, getting gradually quicker and quicker. At 1,200m he matched Maclaurin and soon after that he was on his own in front. Behind him the race for second and third was getting interesting, with Winkler starting to move through the field. In Birmingham, Warner and Winkler came from behind in a very good field, showing they were both incredibly strong in the latter stages of a race and so it proved here. Paul Teti, however, also started to show his hand, and with Maclaurin struggling to hold on, they both came through him in the final stages, Aller having blown up by this stage. Warner won in a time of 6:07.9, with Teti doing enough to beat Winkler into second place, with 6:09.8 against 6:10.8.
In comparison to the Men's Open Heavyweight final, the Women's event was wide open, with any one of a number of possible winners. The early lead came from Germany's Marlien Derien, who flew out of the blocks in 1:35s, and held the lead for the first couple of hundred metres. Behind her, the main contenders in the pack were Irja Ven of Belgium and Amanda Purcell of the United States. These two finished first and second in qualifying and were a study in contrasting styles; where Purcell had looked very steady at the finish and had an action that drew murmurs of approval from at least one creator of the machine, Ven looked much more cramped but was clearly capable of generating enormous power. At the mid-point, it was these two out in front, with Ven just having the edge. Although she looked slightly stressed from an early stage, it became clear that she was rowing an excellent race, level splitting at 1:41 for most of way. With 500 metres to go, she'd gradually eked out a small but significant lead over the rest of the field, and when she got to kick for home title was pretty much already in her bag, finishing in 6:43.2.
Behind her, the race for the rest of the medals was a mini-epic itself. Although Purcell was in second place for most of the race and finished second in 6:48.9, behind her several of the pack started to fly. Anna-Marie DeZawager, Liz Lambert and Heather Wakeley all really poured on the gas in last-ditch efforts to get on the podium. Although Anna-Marie had expended a bit more energy in qualifying, she was still able to dig deep enough to hold off the other two, taking the bronze in 6:50.2, while the other two tied in fourth with 6:51.6.
The favourite going into the Women's Open Lightweight final was probably the Czech Republic's Pavelina Krtenova, who returned to defend the title she won last year. She finished third fastest in qualifying, with the US's Megan Sarbanis and Holland's Marit Van Eupen first and second respectively. The qualifying times were all relatively relaxed, however, and it was unclear how good a guide to form they provided.
From the start it was clear that Pavelina was going to be up against it. Van Eupen and Sarbanis quickly settled into 1:45s and 1:46s, with the Czech rating a couple of seconds slower than that, a nose in front of the chasing pack. By 400 metres it was clear from the look of strain on her face that she could see her title slipping away from her, and although she tried to up her pace, she was unable to make much of an impact on the front two.
By the half-way stage, Van Eupen and Sarbanis had locked into each other's rhythm, matching each other stroke for stroke and split for split. At 1,400 metres Marit slipped a stroke, and with a quick glance over her shoulder at her cox, it was clear that she was struggling to keep up with the American girl, who saw the stumble and stepped up her rate accordingly. With 200 to go Marit came back but there was too much to do, and she crossed the line in 7:07.0, a good handful of metres behind Megan's winning time of 7:05.3. Pavelina was just able to hold off the rest of the field to take the bronze, finishing in 7:14.9.
Another excellent championship then, and we'll let Sir Steve have the final word on the performance, as he's been on Question Of Sport more times than us: "The medal winners' performances were outstanding and like all of the British team showed immense commitment and effort. For the senior athletes, it just shows that you're never too old to be competitive in sport!"
