Who to Watch in Hamburg

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Reigning World Champions Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand have arrived in Europe and will be ready for some international racing action. But the ‘off-season’ has not gone smoothly for Haigh and Scown. Haigh was out of the boat for some time due to a back injury, leaving Scown to improve her single sculling skills and Haigh her swimming acumen. But selectors have faith that Haigh has what it takes and all will be revealed in Hamburg.

Amongst those aiming to get up with the New Zealanders will be Germany’s Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig who finished a disappointing seventh at the Munich World Cup. They will be hoping another regatta on home turf will help them out.

Watch out too for the Chinese. They have three entries which no doubt means they are looking to find their fastest combination for the World Rowing Championships later this year.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

As the Munich World Cup winning crew, Great Britain (Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge) finished powerfully, with Italy’s Carboncini and Mornati coming behind, followed by Greece. These three crews are not racing at Hamburg which leaves the door wide open for the return to the international scene of reigning World Champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand. Murray and Bond last raced internationally at the 2010 World Rowing Championships and since then there has been a fair amount of banter in the press about the meeting of New Zealand and second in the world, Great Britain. The showdown will have to wait until the next World Rowing Cup.

Keep an eye out too for the three German crews with Felix Drahotta and Maximillan Munski named as the top boat. It is likely these three crews are ‘seat racing’ to prove national team selection to coach Hartmut Buschbacher. They will be out to do their best.

Perhaps not in the medals, but worth noting is Miguel Cerda Silva and Lorenzo Candia Sandoval of Chile. Cerda, 41, has a huge rowing pedigree, usually as a lightweight and this move into the open category could indicate their aim to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

Yulia Bichyk and Tatsiana Kukhta of Belarus finished third at last month’s World Rowing Cup and they could be the crew to beat especially if you look at Bichyk’s experience. She already has three Olympic Games to her credit with medals from two of them.

But the Belarusians have some tough competition. They will face the return to the double of the Antosova sisters from the Czech Republic. On a good day Jitka and Lenka Antosova are fast and they appear to be continually improving. Bichyk and Kukhta will also have to face three German crews, one of them including the return of Peggy Waleska to top rowing.

The biggest threat for the medals, however, is likely to be 2009 World Champions Julia Michalska and Magdalena Fularczyk of Poland. The duo was third last year following a spate of injuries but they have the talent to get back to gold medal position.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

In the last couple of years no one crew has been able to really stamp their mark on this event. Last year New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan won. In 2009 it was Germany. Cohen and Sullivan are racing for the first time internationally this season at Hamburg and they could find their greatest competition coming from Estonia’s Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo. Raja and Taimsoo have been together in this boat for three years now and they continue to improve. Last month at the Munich World Rowing Cup, the Estonians only just missed out on a medal by a matter of inches.

Keep an eye out too for Michal Sloma and Wiktor Chabel of Poland. They are in their fourth year of rowing together and will be aiming to step up to Olympic qualification later this year.

Men’s Four (M4-)

Germany is boating a completely fresh line-up from the Munich crew that finished third with Kuffner, Johannesen, Schmidt and Wilke perhaps the crew to beat. The Germans are also putting out a number two crew to keep everyone honest.

They will get a true taste for New Zealand’s new crew. The New Zealanders have arrived with two of their crew members returning after a post-Beijing break. James Dallinger and Carl Meyer finished seventh at the Beijing Olympics after being World Champions in 2007 and they have some unfinished business as they work towards London 2012.

Belarus, who finished just outside of the medals last month at the first World Rowing Cup, are back and judging by their closing Munich sprint, they have potential to push into the medals once they sort out their opening half of the race. 

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

The very accomplished lightweight Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany returns to the doubles scene here in Germany.

Draeger is Germany’s best lightweight sculler. Last year she took an impressive two World Championship gold medals – in the single and in the quad. At Hamburg, Draeger will race with Anja Noske who was second last year in the lightweight double. Together they are likely to be a force to be reckoned with.

But keep an eye out for Julie Nichols and Kristin Hedstrom of the United States. The duo finished just behind the British who won at Munich and Nichols and Hedstrom are back to hone their racing skills. The Danes have also returned to race in Hamburg and will no doubt aim to push into the medals this time.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Always a big event, the lightweight men’s double sculls has attracted 22 entries to Hamburg and it sees the arrival of last year’s World Rowing Championship bronze medallists New Zealand – Storm Uru and Peter Taylor. Uru and Taylor were World Champions in 2009 and, in their fourth year together, they are aiming to get back on top.

This very competitive Olympic event often brings up surprises and this year is no exception. Tucked inside Poland’s number two crew is the return to international rowing of two-time Olympic Champion, Robert Sycz who won at both the Sydney and Athens Olympic but failed to qualify for Beijing. He has returned with new vigour and will no doubt receive some awed sideways glances from the rest of the field.

Watch out too for the United States. They have entered two crews which could well mean that both crews are desperate to show their speed to the US team selectors.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

The final of this race at Munich last month was so close it took a photo finish to decide the order of the top three boats. Denmark, with the return of the amazing three-time Olympic Champion Eskild Ebbesen in stroke seat, finished first, France was just a whisker back in second and reigning World Champions Great Britain were in third by two hundredths of a second. Denmark will race again in Hamburg and judging by their Munich results, they will be the crew to watch.

But in this frequently close event the Danes will be up against Matthias and Jost Schoemann-Finck rowing with Jochen and Martin Kuehner. This brotherly German line-up is a popular boat and they are sure to take advantage of the home crowd support which is bound to be worth a couple of seconds of boat speed. Watch out too for Poland who have had levels of success in the past.

The close racing in this event makes it a final not to be missed, as the medal colours likely to be decided in the very last stroke.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Ukraine’s Kateryna Tarasenko, Olena Buryak, Anastasiia Kozhenkova and Yana Dementieva have sent out a clear message to the rest of the field after taking gold in Munich – they are out to win and no other position is considered acceptable. This came as quite a surprise to Great Britain and Germany at the first World Rowing Cup.

Although Great Britain will not be racing in Hamburg, the win by Ukraine has meant a recent adjustment to their crew. It also meant an adjustment to Germany’s crew that finished second at Munich. Tina Manker is now slotted into two seat.

Ukraine’s stable line-up, however, is sure to play to their advantage and it will take a huge effort by Germany and the rest of the field to get past them.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Last year this event became a battle of Olympic Champions, Poland against Under-23 Champions Croatia, and with both crews facing each other again this year at Munich, it looked like the showdown would continue. But nothing was further from the truth. Last month Germany won, Croatia came second and Poland limped home in fifth. A new racing agenda has begun.

Germany’s Karl Schulze, Philipp Wende, Lauritz Schoof and Tim Grohmann are racing again at Hamburg with just a slight tweaking to their seating order. Did they strike it lucky in Munich or is this the crew that will take Germany through to next year’s Olympic Games?

Croatia and Poland have not shied away from racing and are fronting up at Hamburg to prove themselves to the rowing world. Russia is joining in on the action as well stroked by 2004 Olympic Champion, Sergey Fedorovtsev. This will be a race to watch as new rivalries form and old ones continue.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Blue Riband Event

Annekatrin Thiele of Germany broke into the single sculling scene with style at Munich by leading for most of the final, then finishing a solid second when the unstoppable Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus sprinted for the line. Thiele comes to the single after an impressive career in the double sculls including an Olympic silver medal from Beijing.

Also there to challenge Karsten’s dominance is Xiuyun Zhang of China. Zhang’s career spans nearly two decades including a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. After a post-Beijing Olympic break she is back and showing her former speed, having won bronze in Munich.

Karsten will also have to watch out for Russia (Julia Levina) and New Zealand (Emma Twigg) who are debuting their 2011 season in Hamburg. On a good day both of these athletes are medal contenders. Reigning World Champion Frida Svensson will be hoping to prove herself after a disappointing sixth in Munich and comes to Hamburg having won the St Petersburg Sprints last weekend.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Blue Riband Event

Former World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand comes to Hamburg following a quick dash to St Petersburg, Russia for the St Petersburg Sprints. The 250m race was Drysdale’s warm-up for Hamburg and the pace proved to be a bit too swift, but getting back to 2000m racing should be more of Drysdale’s style.

Drysdale also will be testing his health in Hamburg. He spent much of the ‘off-season’ battling back problems and this regatta will be a test to see where he currently stands internationally. Sweden’s Lassi Karonen will be giving Drysdale a run for his money. Karonen was third in Munich and is looking very solid this season.

Watch out too for Kenneth Jurkowski of the United States. Jurkowski competed at the Beijing Olympics for his country and is becoming a regular on the international singles scene.

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Blue Riband Event

This race includes entries from China, France Germany and Poland. Germany is likely to be the crew to beat as, despite a new mixture of crew members, the tradition of racing eights is very strong in this country. But Poland has been slowly breaking into this event and China is also keen to show their weight in the eight.

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Blue Riband Event

Germany has an impressive men’s sweep squad this year with coach Hartmut Buschbacher having a strong pool of athletes that he can call on. As the eight is the 2009 and 2010 World Champions, expectations are very high and the Hamburg crowd will be turning out to see what they can do and after winning last month in Munich it is likely that the Germans will deliver.

Buschbacher has fine-tuned the crew to make it just two crew members different from the 2010 crew. Sebastian Schmidt is back in stroke seat with coxswain Martin Sauer calling the shots.

But hoping to put a dent into Germany’s armour are the Poles. Poland finished in a close third (behind Great Britain) at Munich and they are back for another shot at the top medal

Watch out too for China. They held the pace for the first 1000m at Munich and if they improve their second 1000m, China could be in a medal winning position.