German spring marked by 6km trials

The arrival of spring in Germany means one thing for national team rowers; team testing. The German national team has just completed ergometer testing and a 6km on-the-water time trial in Leipzig, Germany. This is the first measure for the athletes as they head into the 2011 season.

Racing in the women’s pair, Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig reinstated their dominance by posting a handy win and being the only women’s crew to go under 24 minutes over the 6km distance. Hartmann and Sinnig were the German pair for 2010 and these trials put them in good stead to keep their spot.

The men’s pair was much tighter. Fifteen boats (of the 35 that raced) all finished within a minute of each other. Kristof Wilke and Richard Schmidt took line honours in a time of 21:29 beating Sebastian Schmidt and Toni Siefert who came in second. The 2010 pair combination that raced at the World Rowing Championships, Andrew Kuffner and Eric Johannesen, finished third.

The lightweight men’s pair was won by twins Jochen and Martin Kuehner. The duo won gold last year at the World Rowing Championships in the lightweight men’s eight and also raced to fourth in the lightweight four. In second were Bastian Siebt and Lars Wichert who were also part of the 2010 eight. Wichert also won gold in the lightweight quad and completed his World Champs racing by finishing fifth in the lightweight pair. Matthias Shoemann-Finck is back from injury and came in third, racing with brother Jost.

The women’s single turned out to be incredibly tight with Anne Katrin Thiele winning by just one second over Juliane Domsheit and Britta Oppelt who finished in a dead heat time of 25:28. A full field of 17 rowers competed in this event.

Marie-Louise Draeger was back on top in the lightweight women’s single scull. She stayed ahead of Anja Noske who finished second after a powerful last 1000m push.

For the men’s single scull Marcel Hacker is back after a break from racing for much of last year. Hacker put himself right back on top, winning by a margin of 11 seconds over 20-year-old Lauritz Schoof. Schoof raced to fourth at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in the men’s quadruple sculls.

In the lightweight men’s single scull Lars Hartig clocked a time of 22:57 to win. This time would have made him second fastest overall, just four seconds behind Hacker. Hartig was part of the winning lightweight men’s quadruple sculls from 2010.

Top three placings:
Women’s pairKerstin Hartmann, Marlene Sinnig, 23:56
Ulrike Sennewald, Nadja Drygalla, 24:15
Kathrin Thiem, Anika Kniest, 24:21

Men’s pairKristof Wilke, Richard Schmidt 21:29
Sebastian Schmidt, Toni Seifert, 21:37
Andreas Kuffner, Eric Johannesen, 21:48

Lightweight men’s pairJochen Kuehner, Martin Kuehner, 21:33
Bastian Siebt, Lars Wichert, 21:39
Matthias Schoemann-Finck, Jost Shoemann-Finck, 21:51

Women’s single scullAnnekatrin Thiele, 25:27
Juliane Domscheit, 25:28
Britta Oppelt, 25:28
Peggy Waleska, 25:36

Lightweight women’s single scullMarie-Louise Draeger, 25:56
Anja Noske, 25:59
Lena Mueller, 26:19

Men’s single scullMarcel Hacker, 22:53
Lauritz Schoof, 23:04
Philipp Wende, 23:05
Stephan Krueger, 23:05
Eric Knittel, 23:08

Lightweight men’s singleLars Hartig, 22:57
Linus Lichtschlag, 23:11
Stefan Wallat, 23:18