Event of the Day: Day 5 of the Rowing World Championships

Our event of the day is Day 5 of the Rowing World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. While initially slated to be a mainly semi-finals day today, poor weather yesterday meant that a number of races have been rescheduled. Despite this, be sure to watch the semi-finals of the Women’s Four, where the Australian team will be looking to secure a place in the final and a chance to win back-to-back world championships. Look out for the Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls too - the man to beat will be Jason Osbourne of Germany, who set a new world best time during his victory in the heats. The ancient city of Plovdiv has served as a picturesque backdrop to an exciting championship since competition began on Sunday. Yesterday in the Men’s Pair, Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinković looked to continue their dominant 2018 season and improve on the silver medal they won in the event at the 2017 championships, however, the poor weather meant that their quarterfinal was postponed.

 

Meanwhile, in the Men’s Eight event, Germany finished 1st in their heat to proceed to Sunday’s final. The German team is unbeaten in all competitions this year and looks to add ‘2018 World Champions’ to their growing list of titles from this season. However, the Australian team, who also made Sunday’s final, is also a team too good to overlook. They lost to Germany by just fourteen-hundredths of a second in the third regatta of the Rowing World Cup in July. This will surely make them eager to pip their European rivals to the gold this time around. The PR1 Women’s Single Sculls also saw plenty of excitement as the world championship best time was broken in consecutive heats. The heats set up an electric rematch between 2017 gold medallist Birgit Skarstein of Norway and 2017 silver medallist Moran Samuel of Israel. It should be a great day of rowing in Bulgaria.

 

Honourable mentions around the globe go to the NFL, where the Cincinnati Bengals host the Baltimore Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium. Both teams come into this AFC North matchup with a win from the opening weekend, meaning that the chance to top the division is at stake. With two explosive offences at play, this is sure to be a game you’ll not want to miss. In MLB, an important match takes place in Denver, as the Colorado Rockies host the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field in the final game of a three-game series. With both teams competing in a tight NL West, this series has been crucial to the playoff hopes of both sides. The Evian Championship, the fifth and final major championship of the LPGA season, opens at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains today. There is group stage action on day 4 of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in venues across joint tournament host countries, Italy and Bulgaria.  In WTA action, play continues in the Coupe Banque Nationale at PEPS.

 

Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!

 

 

Photo by Sincovic Brothers; Birgit Skarstein