Galtarossa and Sartori Take up the Double

Italian Olympic quad champions Rossano Galtarosa and Alessio Sartori are back in the double sculls at the FISA World Rowing Championships in Lucerne this week but the heats on Monday will be the new combination's first race.

Galtarossa and Sartori only started training regularly in the double on July 1, a few days after deciding that it was the boat they would row in Lucerne.

Both men took a long break from training after Sydney. Sartori returned to try some sweep rowing before taking two months off for his wedding and honeymoon, returning at the end of June.

Galtarossa, meanwhile, came back to train in February. He rowed in the new-look Italian men's quad for the Seville Rowing World Cup regatta before opting to take up the double.

All their time away from training does not worry Italian heavyweight men's coach Gianni Postiglione.

He points out that a break in training rarely means giving up fitness work altogether at the elite level, with both men continuing to run, cycle or row in their time away.

And the two rowers know each other well after three years rowing in the quad together, he says.

Galtarossa and Sartori are taking the 2001 World Championships in a less serious vein than other years – they are just keen to get out there and see what they can do.

But the combination is certainly not to be underestimated.

Galtarossa, 29, won the first of his two Olympic golds in Seoul in 1988 and has been a world champion twice since then.

At 24, Sartori has one world championship and one Olympic gold to his name.

The main crews for them to watch will be Zurich Rowing World Cup winners Akos Haller and Tibor Peto of Hungary, Stephan Volkert and Stefan Roehnert of Germany and perhaps the Swiss combination of Andre Vonaburg and Christian Stofer.

Heats for the World Championships begin with Group A on Sunday August 19. The men's double is in Group B which begins on August 20. Finals are on the August 25 and 26.

Worldrowing.com will feature live results along with all the latest news, photos and information from Lucerne.