Who to Watch in Munich ? 2003 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup

Records may fall in the men’s quad led by Poland – seen here in the foreground
© Getty Images

It is fortuitous that Munich was called ?the Athens of the North? as national rowing teams continue to build towards next year’s Olympics. Crown Prince Ludwig decided to model the city off an idealised version of ancient Athens and results are visible around the main town centre. The regatta course is on the northern side of Munich in Oberschleissheim. Built for the 1972 Olympics, it gives athletes and spectators a slice of history.

Temperatures in Munich are expected to be around 25 degrees Celsius and the days are long with sunrise just after 5am and sunset at 9pm.

Men’s Single

Some new names are competing in the men’s single opening up speculation as to who will appear in the outside lanes in the final. There’s little question about the centre lanes. Olaf Tufte of Norway, Iztok Cop of Slovenia and Marcel Hacker of Germany are the superior talents of the field and are likely to finish where they left off last season ? taking the three spots on the podium. After the first World Cup, Marcel Hacker came first to wear the yellow jersey and continue his unbroken winning streak since 2002.

However, Hacker was behind Cop for most of the race in Milan and the dual between these two top athletes will continue throughout this season. Tufte was pushed out of the medals at Milan by Slovenia’s Luka Spik. But with Spik racing the double at Munich, Tufte will be eager to get back onto the dias.

Men’s Coxless Pair

World Champions, Cracknell and Pinsent, of Great Britain will have something and everything to prove against the Croatians who have kept the game exciting by winning at Milan. Niksa and Sinisa Skelin of Croatia finished with a four second advantage over the Brits and they are continuing to improve on last year’s results which included winning bronze at the World Championships.

The Skelin’s are already accomplished rowers. They won bronze in the eight at the 2000 Olympics, silver in 2001 at the World Championships and then successfully made the transition to the pair last year.

Keep an eye out also for Djordje Visacki and Nikola Stojic of Serbia & Montenegro (Yugoslavia) who are also accomplished oarsmen with a World Champ silver from 2001. However, they got off to a slow start in Milan last month finishing sixth.

Men’s Double Scull

The men’s double is an open slate. Two of the top crews are out and there are a number of new combinations with distinguished names. First World Cup winners, France, will not be racing at Munich and current World Champions, Hungary are out due to injury. This leaves Milan Dolecek and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic as hot favourites. The duo started off the 2003 season with silver last month in Milan and go into their second year together as strong contenders.

Accomplished single sculler, Jueri Jaanson of Estonia has teamed up with Igor Kuzmin to try their hand at the double. Slovenia’s Luka Spick demonstrated his single sculling prowess in Milan by winning bronze in a very classy field. He too moves into the double with partner Matej Prelog. Ian Lawson of Great Britain also surprised the local crowd in Milan by finishing in an impressive fourth position in the single. He is back with his doubles partner, Matthew Wells, who had to miss the first World Cup due to exam commitments.

Men’s Coxless Four

The showdown between Great Britain and Germany continues. Great Britain feels rightful owners of this event having dominated the top spot in the late 1990’s including the 2000 Olympics, when Sir Steven Redgrave was at the helm. But a young German team broke the domination by winning the World Champion title last year. The same crew of Sebastian Thormann, Paul Dienstbach, Philipp Stueer and Bernd Heidicker took top spot in Milan to open up the season.

Great Britain came back from a slow start to finish in third behind Italy and will not be prepared to sit in this position so a more aggressive first 1000 metres is expected from the crew. Germany and Great Britain both have their number two crews racing with the British boat made up of spares from the eight who will want to prove their worth.

Men’s Quadruple Scull

The time achieved by Poland’s crew in Milan last month was less than two seconds off the world record and has set the tone for the 2003 season. These speeds pushed 2002 fourth placing Ukraine into the B-final at Milan but with another month of training together they will be fighting to get back into the top spots. But both these crews will have to contend with World Champions, Germany, who will debut their 2003 international season at Munich.

The German crew retains Stephan Volkert, Marco Geisler and Robert Sens from the winning 2002 boat and gains rowing’s stalwart, Andre Willms in bow. Willms first won gold at the 1992 Olympics and may be setting the stage for a fourth Olympic medal next year.

Men’s Eight

With the Italians not racing at Munich, Milan World Cup winners, Germany will have a different kind of challenge. After racing in the Essen regatta in May, Great Britain’s eight was selected two weeks ago and a revamped lineup takes to the water in Munich. Three new members will start in the eight including 19-year-old Thomas James in stroke seat. British coach, Steve Gunn will be hoping to see more boat speed after finishing sixth in 2002. The Croatians have reshuffled their line-up. They finished third in Milan and have now put Danijel Bajlo into bow.

Women’s Single Scull

This race is a mixed bag of new blood and regulars in the single. World Champion Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria suffered from the heat in Milan to finish second and is expected to be back on form. Her main rival, Germany’s Kathrin Rutschow-Stomporowski has chosen to focus on the Amsterdam Holland Beker Regatta at the end of June and will not be at Munich.

Yulya Levina of Russia continues to improve finishing third at Milan and last year’s yellow jersey winner, Miroslava Knapkova of the Czech Republic is also in fine form. They will be pushing for the podium later this week.  

Women’s Coxless Pair

Women’s pair – Great Britain’s Grainger and Bishop making an impression.
© Getty Images

Great Britain’s Cath Bishop and Katherine Grainger were the surprise silver medal winners at Milan in their first showing and without Romania competing they are the favourites going into this race. Bishop is competing again after taking a break in 2002. Her experience extends back to 1998 when she won silver in the pair. Grainger already has an Olympic silver medal from Sydney but has changed back to sweep rowing in a combination that looks to be working.

Belarus and Bulgaria are also looking positive after finishing in the final at Milan. The United States have added three entries made up of their national team trial winners, Katie Hammes and Lianne Nelson and also members of the eight. They will be using this regatta for further selection of the national team.

Women’s Double Scull

The old hand of Kathrin Boron and the new blood of Britta Oppelt for Germany pulled off silver at Munich and look like the favoured going into this event without the Russian crew competing. But keep an eye out for Hungary. Gitta Barz returns to the double after recovering from a back injury that kept her away from Milan. She teams up with Viktoria Szekely and are looking to be a faster combination.

Olympic single sculling champion, Ekaterina Karsten is extending her repertoire in an attempt to find the most probable gold medal event. She rowed the quad at Milan winning bronze and at Munich Karsten will be joined by fellow quad rower, Volha Berazniova to test their boat speed in the double. 

Women’s Quadruple Scull

The battle is heating up. It was a photo finish between Ukraine and Germany at Milan with Ukraine getting the upper edge and retaining the yellow jersey from 2002. Germany has retained the same line-up while Ukraine has made one change. Nataliya Guba replaces Yana Dementyeva who will row the double.

With Karsten and Berazniova in the double for Belarus, the quad has two new members and will have a battle on their hands with the United States. The U.S. retain their same line-up from Milan and with a month’s training in Italy behind them they look to be improving with every outing. The line-up of Danika Harris, Sarah Jones, Laurel Korholz and Hilary Gehman includes two of the same members that finished fifth at the Sydney Olympics.

Women’s Eight

Germany makes their international season debut and have retained the same line-up that won bronze in 2002. They will be up against the World Champions and yellow jersey holders from Milan, the United States. The U.S. team heads home after Munich, so this is their chance to check their boat speed against the Germans.  The crew has two changes to the boat leading into Milan with Dana Pierce and Megan Dirkmaat coming out of the pair to join the eight.

Belarus was 13 seconds down on the United States in Milan and will have their work cut out trying to reduce that gap. They have swapped in three new members to the crew in an attempt to chip away at the margin.

Lightweight Women’s Double Scull

Twenty-one boats in the lightweight women’s double make it the biggest field of the regatta. Stretching over five continents the top pick must be Germany. Marie-Louise Draeger and Claudia Blasberg set an impressive time in Milan coming first ahead of the Netherlands. The Dutch are back to challenge the Germans and make up the three second deficit to go for the top spot.

Great Britain’s Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands have the experience with a bronze from 2002 but did not show so well in Milan finishing sixth overall. Two United States entries will definitely be a challenge to the European crews. The two boats finished with less than a second between them at their country’s trials and will be looking to be the top boat to ensure selection for the World Championships.

Lightweight Men’s Double Scull

With 20 boats entered the line outside the weigh-in area will be long at Munich. Most experienced going into this race are Denmark’s Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Hansen. But at the World Cup level there is never an easy path to the top. The Danes will have to contend with Ingo Euler with Sydney Olympic experience who has teamed up with Manuel Brehmer to race in front of their home crowd.

Keep an eye out for the United States duo. Debuting their international season in Munich is last year’s bronze medallist in the single, Steve Tucker. He has paired with Greg Ruckman who, like Tucker is an Olympian. Ruckman took a break after the 2000 Olympics and is back with Tucker last having rowed together in 1998.

Lightweight Men’s Coxless Four

The Danes finished second in Milan and have reverted to their World Champion line-up for Munich. Stephen Moelvig comes back into the boat with Bo Helleberg moving to the pair. But right behind them at the first World Cup was the United States. The crew of Matt Smith, Erick Miller, Paul Teti and Stephen Warner has just come from a month of training in Italy and will be looking to improve their position on the podium.

Germany’s number one boat is also a definite challenger with one change from the crew that finished fifth in 2002.

Non-Olympic Events

Lightweight Men’s Single

Young Csaba Denes of Hungary was the surprise silver medallist at Milan and will be looking to gain more World Cup points. World Champion, Sam Lynch of Ireland is involved in national team selection trials and with the Italians not competing at Munich, Denes becomes the one to beat. But Germany’s Peter Ording is back in the single and will be using his experience to reassert his place on the German team.

There are some new faces starting in Munich. China, Japan and Hong Kong have entries and will want to test themselves before the Asian Championships later this year.

Lightweight Men’s Pair

This race is an open slate with a number of new combinations and faces. Mads Anderson joins Bo Helleberg for Denmark and Helleberg’s experience in the lightweight four will be an addition to his rowing skills. Denmark will be up against a new United States line-up along with Spain, China and Japan.

Lightweight Women’s Single

Germany’s Janet Raduenzel missed out on selection into the Olympic-class boat, the double so will want to prove her boat moving capabilities at Munich. She lines up as a favourite in this event. However, opening up her season is Mirna Rajle of Croatia. Rajle finished fourth in 2002 and will be showing off her winter training at this regatta.

Tunisia’s Ibtissem Trimech will have the support of her nation behind her as she breaks new ground for Tunisian rowing. Trimech finished a commendable fourth in Milan and will take this confidence with her to Munich.

Lightweight Women’s Quad

The Netherlands go into this event as World Champion silver medallists and with three of the same members competing at Munich they are likely to b e the crew to beat. But the untried Germans may show their skills at their home venue.