Women's Single Sculls (W1X)Pre-Race AnalysisPreliminary HeatsWinners to Semi-finals. Others to Repechage. Heat 1CUB (Lane 1), HKG, AUS, NZL, CHI (Lane 5) Sonia Waddell of NZL should defeat Georgina Douglas of AUS and move on to the semi-finals. In their last meeting at the World Cup in Lucerne in July, Waddell placed 5th overall, approximately 6 seconds ahead of Douglas, who was 6th. Heat 2GBR (Lane 1), ARG, POL, BUL, ALG (Lane 5) Rumyana Nekova, 3rd at the 1999 Worlds with a 2nd at the Lucerne World Cup in July, should win easily over Alison Mowbray of GBR and Agnieska Tomczak of POL. Mowbray and Tomczak finished 7th and 8th, respectively, in the Vienna World Cup in June. Mowbray defeated Tomczak by 4.6 seconds in that race. The Algerian, Samia Hirch, did not race at the World Cup, but was 6th at the 1996 Olympics, and could challenge Mowbray and Tomczak. Heat 3CAN (Lane 1), SWE, BLR, USA (Lane 4) Ekaterina Karsten of BLR is the overwhelming favorite to win this heat and the Olympic gold medal. Karsten is the defending Olympic Champion and was World Champion in 1997 and 1999. She is undefeated in two World Cup appearances this summer. Monica Tranel-Michini of the USA and Maria Brandin of SWE could be testing each other for 2nd and 3rd in this race, but will probably save themselves after 1000 meters for the repechages. Heat 4TUN (Lane 1), RUS, FRA, GER, THA (Lane 5) Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski from GER is the silver medalist from the 1999 Worlds and should win easily over Sophie Balmary of FRA to qualify for the semi-finals. Copyright 2000. Kent Mitchell.
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