FISA World Rowing Championships - Who to Watch

The 2002 season marks the halfway point to the next Olympic Games and competition has stepped up a notch with some of the hottest showdowns for the year at the World Championships in Seville, Spain.

Women’s Single

Exceptional expertise, a phenomenal comeback and extraordinary new talent meet for the first time at Seville. We’re talking about Ekatrena Karsten of Belarus, Roumiana Neykova of Bulgaria and Miroslava Knapkova, of the Czech Republic. 21-year-old Knapkova has declared she’s ready for a first place while Neykova says she can beat long time rival and two-time Olympic gold medallist, Karsten. This is looking to be one of the most exciting events of the Champs.

Neykova raced for the first time internationally in July after narrowly missing gold at the 2000 Olympics and then taking time off to have a baby. She came back in style with a gold medal finish over World Champion, Kathrin Rutschow-Stomporowski of Germany. Meanwhile Knapkova took home the World Cup yellow jersey in a very consistent season that had her on the medal dais at every race in 2002. Also in for a medal chance are Olympians Xiuyun Zhang of China and Russia’s Yulya Levina.

Men’s Single

Olaf Tufte is out to regain his number one spot
© Getty Images

After failing to make the A-final in 2001, Marcel Hacker of Germany has left nothing to chance this season. He has won every race he entered, from heat to final and has looked comfortable doing it.

World Champion, Olaf Tufte of Norway, has been closing the gap on Hacker throughout this season and with six weeks of solid training since they last met in Munich, Tufte will be out to regain his number one spot.

The depth of experience continues with Olympic gold medallist from the double, Iztok Cop of Slovenia, improving throughout the season and Vaclav Chalupa of the Czech Republic has many year of racing behind him to put him back into medal contention.

Women’s Pair

Lofty expectations follow World Champions, Georgeta Andrunache (Damian) and Viorica Susanu of Romania, into the women’s pair. With three golds this season they have become the flagship boat for the rebuilding of the post-Olympic Romanian national team. However, Natallia Helakh and Yuliya Bichyk, of Belarus have been closing the gap to gold with every race this season. They have picked up 10 seconds of boat speed since June.

The depth of talent will increase at Seville with the inclusion of the United States, Canada’s Olympians, Jacqui Cook and Karen Clark and Australia who have only managed brief appearances on the European circuit, but always reached the final when they appeared. South Africa’s Rika Geyser and Colleen Orsmond spent much of the 2002 season training and racing in Europe but have been back in their country since Munich, honing their skills with technique work and altitude training. The race will definitely be on for the medals.

Men’s Pair

All eyes in Great Britain will be on World Champions, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell in the men’s pair. They have only lost once in their last 25 races together and it was to Australian rowing legends, Drew Ginn and James Tomkins. These two crews met for the first time at Lucerne in July and the Australian duo sent British coach Jurgen Grobler scurrying to the drawing board to get Cracknell and Pinsent back on top again. Both crews skipped Munich, deciding instead to focus on the Seville showdown.

But it’s the Skelin brothers of Croatia who have nothing to lose. After winning at Munich Niksa Skelin says their confidence has been boosted. The United States and Canada will debut at Seville and World bronze medallists, South Africa, will be back.

Women’s Double

The Evers-Swindell twins from New Zealand took silver in 2001 and have signaled their intent for 2002 by winning gold at Munich. Coach, Dick Tonks, has the duo focusing solely on the double at Seville after racing in the quad as well last year. But it is Great Britain’s duo of Frances Houghton and Deborah Flood who have stormed onto the scene this year with two golds already in their first season together.

Lithuania’s duo of Kristina Paplavskaja and Birute Sakickiene come into the World Champs with two silvers. The pair placed fifth last year and it looks like they want more in 2002. But just a nudge behind them at Munich was the name of experience. Irina Fedotova of Russia has a string of medals, including Olympic bronze in the quad, and she has teamed up with Larisa Merk.

Men’s Double

It has been close racing all season and some new combinations have been added to the mix leaving the men’s double wide open to speculation. Italy’s multiple Olympic Champion, Agostino Abbagnale, has paired up with Franco Berra and the United States have entered a new combination.

2001 World Champions, Akos Haller and Tibor Petoe of Hungary, scored only two golds this season when they proved to be beatable. Milan Dolecek Jr. and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic out sprinted them to take the top spot at Munich.

World silver medallists, Sebastien Vielledent and Adrien Hardy of France have improved as the season progressed. After a disappointing Lucerne regatta, they will be ready to challenge for gold by September. Also keep an eye out for the very experienced German duo of Andre Willms and Andreas Hajek who have consistently made the final all season.

Men’s Four

Great Britain has dominated this event for many years, but illness has led to an uneven season for Joshua West, Stephen Williams, Toby Garbett and Richard Dunn. They will have their hands full with last year’s silver medallists, Germany, who have already taken a gold this season at Munich and will want to step up to the plate again in Seville.

Italy and World bronze medallists, Slovenia, have both made it to the medal dais this season in some tight racing. Keep an eye out also for the United States who will make their debut at Seville.

Lightweight Women’s Double

Claudia Blasberg and Janet Raduenzel of Germany have dominated this event in 2002 and will want to polish off another World Champion medal at Seville. But they will be meeting Australia’s Sally Causby and Amber Halliday for the first time. The duo was part of the quad that set a world record last year and they have been preparing for the World Championships from their training base in Europe.

Adding to the depth are yellow jersey winners, Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands, of Great Britain and Marit van Eupen and Hedi Poot of the Netherlands who have been gaining speed with each race this season.

The diversity and depth of lightweight rowing is evident in this race with entries coming from the Pacific, Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. This event boasts the largest number of entries at Seville with twenty-two boats lining up for the heats.

2001 World Champions, Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari, of Italy continued to dominate this season, but Germany’s, Peter Ording and Manuel Brehmer are nipping at their heels. But with the number of new arrivals on the scene excelling the final six lineup is anyone’s guess. Australia’s duo of Daniel Stewart and Haimish Karrasch debuted with silver at Munich, while Japan’s duo includes single sculler, Daisaku Takeda.

Denmark, Greece and Great Britain have remained within seconds of each other all season and have spent the last six weeks working on gaining that sought after edge.

Lightweight Men’s Four

The Danes dominated through the late 1990’s and have gone two for two in 2002. The crew remains strong with Stephan Moelvig replacing an injured Soeren Madsen. But in a season of close racing the competition can only get hotter at Seville.

Australia led by men’s crew captain, Simon Burgess, have the experience to win and Canada, in their one appearance this season, took a surprise gold in Lucerne. Austria has entered the same lineup that took them to gold in 2001 and Italy has consistently taken silver throughout 2002.

Like the lightweight men’s double, crews come from a number of development countries with the colours of Paraguay, Portugal, and Turkey fronting up as well.

Current World Champions, Germany, have endured a season of line up changes and illness. This has left the field open to a challenger and it’s Ukraine who has stepped up to the plate, winning every race this season from the front. However, Germany will be at full strength by Seville and with the experience of Kirsten El Qalqili (Kowalski) in stroke seat, they will be going for gold. Olympic champion single sculler, Ekaterina Karsten, is trying the two-event approach again this year and will compete in the quad for Belarus as well as the single.

Also keep an eye out for Great Britain who finished the season with a couple of bronzes around their necks and Australia and the United States will be back. They have both medalled when they raced this year.

Men’s Quad

Ukraine look like they are going for a double header in both quad events. They have scored gold all season, though only by a smidgen. In Hazewinkel it was less than half a second over Poland. In Lucerne it was a dead heat with Italy and in Munich barely a canvas separated them and Belarus.

Olympic Champions, Italy, have reconfigured their quad from earlier in the season and will be an unknown quantity along with the United States who will make their first international appearance at Seville.

Women’s Eight

Germany, Romania and Belarus raced each other all season. They also maintained that order each time they competed. World Champions, Australia has made a brief appearance but could not match the speed of the Germans at Munich. Canada raced once this season and look to be on the improvement track. They made the B-final in 2001 and will be after a higher position this year.

The United States will debut at Seville and judging by past performances, they will be putting in a good challenge. China is also making its first appearance.

Men’s Eight

Germany’s gold medal run was upset by the arrival of the United States at Lucerne. With the strength of United States rowing based around collegiate eights, the country has a large pool of athletes to draw from and it looks like their on track this year. Canada, in their only World Cup appearance also impressed. Under new coach, Mike Spracklen, they pulled off a bronze at the second World Cup.

Australia arrived in Europe at the start of August and took silver in Munich. They have continued their build up to Seville by training in Italy and will be ready to face the North American powerhouses next week. Romania goes into the race as World Champions and along with Croatia will want to get back on the podium again.