World Championship Entries Released

Two-time Olympic single sculls champion Ekaterina Karsten is to row in both the single and double sculls at the FISA World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland next week, with FISA releasing the entries today (Wednesday).

The Belarussian is one of 61 Olympic medallists, including 25 gold medallists, looking for more success in 2001.

They are joined by all of the 2001 Zurich Rowing World Cup champions keen to race for this year’s ultimate prize – World Championship gold.

Karsten will row the double with Vohla Berazniova, the woman she raced with for the first time at the final Zurich Rowing World Cup regatta in Munich last month.

The two have put forward a strong challenge to reigning Olympic champion Katrin Boron and her partner (Olympic quad champion) Kerstin Kowalski of Germany.

The German crew had been winning with open water until Munich when they finished just 1.3 seconds ahead of the new Belarussian combination.

More Olympic champions doubling up in the small boat classes are the French lightweight men’s coxless four and Olympic coxless four champions Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell of Great Britain.

Cracknell and Pinsent have confirmed they will row in both the men’s coxless pair and men’s coxed pair while the French will row both the lightweight four and lightweight eights.

Italian men’s quadruple sculls Olympic champions Alessio Sartori and Rossano Galtarossa have opted for the double in 2001 and Lucerne will mark their first appearance at a FISA regatta this year.

In the men’s single sculls, Olympic silver medallist Xeno Mueller returns after an absence from the World Cup regattas since his loss in the early season Princeton regatta. He will face a strong field including Sydney bronze medallist Marcel Hacker of Germany and double sculls champion Iztok Cop of Slovenia.

A total of 946 rowers representing 49 nations will compete in the 24 boat classes that make up the championships.

Racing starts on Sunday August 19 at 13:30 CET with additional preliminary rounds Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Semi-finals will be held on August 23 and 24 and the finals will take place Saturday and Sunday afternoons, August 25 and 25 from 13:30 to 16:15 CET

Worldrowing.com will feature a more detailed entries breakdown as we preview the World Championship boat classes in the coming days.

A full list of entries by name and country or by event are available in the Events section.