Synek tops champs to win single sculls title

CAMBRIDGE, New Zealand (AP) -- Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic overcame the reigning world and Olympic champions to win the men's single sculls gold medal at the world rowing championships Saturday on Lake Karapiro.

Synek completed the race in 6 minutes, 47.49 seconds, almost two seconds ahead of New Zealand's four-time world champion Mahe Drysdale and Britain's Alan Campbell. Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway was fourth, more than eight seconds behind the winner.

Campbell eescribed the field for the race as the strongest ever assembled at a world championships.

Drysdale lacked his usual endurance after a preparation which was hampered by a back injury.

Crews from Germany and New Zealand each won two of the eight finals contested on Saturday while Britain, Australia and Sweden also won golds.

Frida Svensson of Sweden won the women's single sculls title in 7 minutes, 47.61 seconds, only 0.18 seconds ahead of Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. Emma Twigg of New Zealand took the bronze.

New Zealand's defending world champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond came from behind in the last 500 meters to edge Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge of Britain by half a meter in the men's coxless pair. The win extended the New Zealanders' winning streak over the British pair to 13 races.

Murray and Bond rowed the 2,000 meters in 6 minutes, 30.16 seconds, taking the race by 0.32 seconds. Georgios Tziallas and Ioannis Christou were third.

Australia's Christopher Morgan, Dominic Grimm and David Webster won the men's coxed pairs in 7 minutes, 3.32 seconds, holding out Italy's Paolo Perino, Pierpaolo Frattini and Andrea Lenzi. Germany took the bronze.

Germany's Jonathan Koch, Lars Wichert, Linus Lichtschlag and Lars Hartig claimed gold in the lightweight quadruple sculls ahead of France and Denmark.

Britain's Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley took out the men's lightweight fours by 0.7 seconds from Anthony Edwards, Samuel Beltz, Blair Tunevitsch and Todd Skipworth of Australia. China's Lei Li, Chenggang Yu, Zhe Huang and Zhongwei Li were third, only a hundredth of a second behind Australia in the closest finish of the regatta so far.

New Zealanders Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown won the women's coxless pairs from Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning and Zsuzsanna Francia and Erin Cafaro of the United States. Haigh and Scown are competing together this season for the first time, though Scown won a gold medal in the same event with a different partner in 2005.

Germany's Lena Mueller, Daniela Reimer, Anja Noske and Marie-Louise Draeger claimed the women's lightweight quadruple sculls.

The championships conclude Sunday when the premier events, the men's and women's eights, will be decided.