Who to Watch at the final Rowing World Cup of 2009

Lucerne’s much loved Rotsee rowing course is likely to have cool summer temperatures and perhaps rain over the three days of racing which begins on Friday 10 July. But it can almost be guaranteed that the water will be flat and the racing intense. Watch out bell-ringing cows. Watch out ducks. Here come over 650 of the best rowers in the world.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

New Zealand showed the way last month in Munich at the second Rowing World Cup. Emma Feathery and Rebecca Scown proved that being new to the event was no hindrance when they won gold. Can they make it two-in-a-row at Lucerne?

Feathery and Scown will face Germany’s Marlene Sinnig and Kerstin Hartmann who have been chosen as the top pair for their country. The duo were third at Munich and Hartmann’s winnings as a junior and under-23 athlete will set her in good racing stead. They will also come up against two strong American entrants including Caroline Lind and Susan Francia from the Olympic Champion eight as USA’s first boat, Erin Cafaro and Mara Allen.

After a slip in the rankings at Munich, Great Britain will be back with new vigour and Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve will again be aiming for the medals while China will be hoping to get out of last month’s B Final and into the A Final.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

At the Rowing World Cup in Munich, the question was asked; in Lucerne it will be answered. Can Great Britain come back and beat the New Zealanders? Great Britain’s flagship crew of Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed finished more than two seconds behind Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (NZL) and vowed to talk to their coach and come back stronger.  But the British duo again suffered defeat in the hands of the New Zealanders, and on their home turf, at the Henley Royal Regatta last weekend.

Triggs Hodge and Reed will be spending this week working out how to better use their undeniably immense power against the high-rating Murray and Bond.

Watch out too for Shaun Keeling and Ramon Di Clemente of South Africa, who won silver in Banyoles. They were Olympic finalists last year and are improving the longer they row together. As South Africa’s top (and only) international boat at present, Keeling and Di Clemente have the eyes of their country on them.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

As Poland prepare to host this year’s World Rowing Championships, there is every indication that they are planning to be there with a powerful team. Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska led the way in the double at last month’s Rowing World Cup and Michalska won bronze in Banyoles with another crewmate. In their first season racing together, Michalska and Fularczyk will want to show that they are not just one race wonders.

But in Munich, Olympic medallists Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth of Germany finished close behind Poland. Thiele and Huth will certainly want to step up to gold in Lucerne.

Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain are currently the World Cup leaders with gold and bronze medals already this season. They will be fighting for another medal but are likely to face very stiff competition from Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova. If the Bulgarians manage to work out a faster start, their devastating finish should get them into the medals.

Watch out too for the Americans. Beijing Olympic finalists Megan Kalmoe and Ellen Tomek warmed up for Lucerne by racing singles at the Henley Royal Regatta.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

Last month at the second Rowing World Cup, New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott led the field for most of the Final only to be overtaken at the end by Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger of Germany. These two crews will face each other again, both now having a better picture of their competition’s talents.

Strong challenges are likely to come from Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham who won gold in Banyoles but finished a disappointing fourth at Munich. They will want to prove themselves again in Lucerne. Their defeat at the Henley Royal Regatta in the hands of Cohen and Trott has inspired them to come back better prepared.

Keep an eye out also for Olympic medallists from the quad, Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France. They are currently France’s top two single scullers and will only improve with more time together in the double.

Men’s Four (M4-)

Two German crews dominated this event last month at the Rowing World Cup in Munich. They gave their team selectors a pleasant headache by finishing first and second. These two crews have become the eight while the gold medal eight from Munich has now been split into two fours. Selectors are evidently seat racing their crews to make a final decision on their World Championship team.

Great Britain, who won at the first stage of the Rowing World Cup and then finished third in Munich, will take on the new German crews with a certain level of confidence and stability but will have to be wary of the United States. It is common for the USA to arrive with practically new crews at a World Cup, and in Lucerne they have a new four made up of three Beijing Olympians and an under-23 representative. It is anyone’s guess what they will show in Lucerne, but, going by past years, the Americans are adept at surprising.

Keep an eye out also for the Czech Republic, who won silver in Banyoles, and Slovenia. Although inconsistent, on a good day a medal will be theirs.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger is currently the yellow bib holder in this boat class. After winning gold in Banyoles, she missed out on the medals podium in Munich. She will be aiming to up her game again in Lucerne.

Reigning World Champion Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch of Belarus pulled out of both previous World Cups. At the prestigious race-for-cash Holland Beker in Amsterdam, Karsten lost to Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. Knapkova is on a bit of a streak at present as she also won the Rowing World Cup in Munich.

Coming in second at Munich was New Zealand’s Emma Twigg who just won at the Henley Royal Regatta and will have an added confidence boost coming into Lucerne. Watch out too for China’s rowing stalwart and Olympic finalist Xiuyun Zhang and also Frida Svensson of Sweden who was injured before Munich and could not compete.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

World champion Mahe Drysdale (NZL) is on a roll. In less than a month since he arrived in Europe, Drysdale has won the Munich Rowing World Cup, won the Dutch Holland Beker and won the Henley Royal Regatta. Meanwhile, Rowing World Cup yellow jersey holder, Alan Campbell of Great Britain has opted out of Lucerne after focusing his energies on Henley (where he placed second).

This leaves it up to Olympic champion, Olaf Tufte of Norway and Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek (CZE) to try and knock Drysdale off the top rung. Tufte has the potential under the right conditions while Synek will need to overcome his rough season so far which has held him outside of the medals on both World Cup occasions. Sweden’s Lassi Karonen often surprises and never discount Andre Vonarburg of Switzerland, especially when he races on his home turf.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

Germany (Marie-Louise Draeger and Anja Noske) has a gold and silver medal already this season. The silver medal, however, came at the expense of a historical win in Munich by Great Britain’s Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking. Goodsell and Hosking became the first British crew to win a World Cup race in this event. There is no doubt that Goodsell and Hosking will be motivated by this knowledge and hoping to prove themselves again.

Poland’s Magdalena Kemnitz and Agnieszka Renc have medal potentialas well. The duo are part of a current resurgence in Polish rowing and at Munich they won bronze. Keep an eye out also for Lindsay Jennerich and Sheryl Preston from Canada who raced at the first Rowing World Cup where they finished third.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Storm Uru and Peter Taylor of New Zealand stormed onto the international scene together last year as late Olympic qualifiers. They won the B Final in Beijing and vowed to be in the medals at the 2012 Olympic Games. Last month in Munich Uru and Taylor won gold over winners of the first stage of the Rowing World Cup, Italy’s Elia Luini and Marcello Miani. Luini and Miani then received another setback. They were beaten by France at the Mediterranean Games. Can the Italians pick themselves up and get back on top?

Luini and Miani will meet the New Zealanders and the French (Frederic Dufour and Jeremie Azou) in Lucerne. They will also meet first Rowing World Cup silver medallists, Canada’s Douglas Vandor and Cameron Sylvester. But the talent goes deeper still. Never discount a lightweight Dane. Indoor rowing King, Henrik Stephansen and partner Steffen Jensen are racing for Denmark. There is also talent in the Polish crew, with two-time Olympic champion Robert Sycz racing with a new partner, and Great Britain appear to be improving with each race.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

This event may have to be renamed “The Danish Lightweight Men’s Four”. Denmark is again at the top of their game. They have won both stages of the Rowing World Cup this season despite the crew only retaining one member of their Olympic Champion boat.

However, this race is well-known for being close. It often takes until the last part of the race for crews to start spreading out, so it is the crew with nerves of steel that has the edge. Germany has been showing strong tendencies: the crew made up of two sets of brothers look to be an extremely tight unit and they have picked up two silver medals already this season.

Also likely to be in the race for medals are Italy (with two entries) and Great Britain, who finished fourth in Munich. Keep an eye out too for the French. Although inconsistent in recent years, the line-up contains many proven talents. 

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

The field has strengthened from Munich and it is likely that all eyes will be on the Germans. At Munich, Germany (Stephanie Schiller, Tina Manker, Julia Lepke and Peggy Waleska) completely dominated, finishing the race with an open-water lead in textbook rowing style.

Great Britain and New Zealand are back to give it a go, but they may leave it up to the new-look American crew to really challenge the Germans. The United States sometimes pull out a top class performance that catches everyone off guard and with the country’s renewed enthusiasm in sculling, this may be their chance. Watch out too for Italy. The women scullers, under new coach Josy Verdonkschot (ex-Dutch and Belgian national team), have been coming along in leaps and bounds.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

At last month’s Rowing World Cup three-time world champions and current Olympic Champions, Poland got beaten into second by Croatia. At Lucerne neither of these crews are racing. This leaves the field wide open to invite in some new podium talent.

Slovenia will be in the running. They finished third at Munich and, under the stroking talent of their country’s most accomplished rower, Iztok Cop, the crew will be looking to excel.

Germany in the last month has been refining their crew that finished fifth in Munich. Former single sculler, Marcel Hacker has gone from stroke seat to bow. Meanwhile, Great Britain’s young crew remains unchanged with their line up that has already medalled once this season. The crew finished less than a boat length down on Poland at last weekend’s Henley Royal Regatta showing their ever-improving form.

But watch out for Italy. Stroke pair, Simone Raineri and Luca Agamennoni were in the silver medal crew at the Beijing Olympics and they are joined by the accomplished Matteo Stefanini and Luca Ghezzi.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Germany was hot at Munich. Can they repeat it with Olympic Champions, the United States, in the house? The United States has become very consistent in recent years in both the make up of their eight and their results. At Lucerne, coach Tom Terhaar has retained five of the members of his 2008 Olympic Champion boat.

USA will also meet old rivals Romania. As is common in Romania in a post-Olympic year, the eight brings together a young crew to fill the spots in the wake of retirements. The crew finished third at Munich. It is likely that they will have to pull out something very special to keep up with the Germans and the Americans on the Rotsee regatta course.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Canada and the United States. These are big rowing nations and all of them put huge amounts of pride in the abilities of their men’s eight. They come together for the first time this year in Lucerne.

Germany, who are at the beginning of a project to medal in the eight at the 2012 Olympics, have put together their top two fours to race as an eight. This is their first outing internationally and thus they hold the potential to surprise. Olympic Champions Canada line up with nearly a new crew. Only two of the 2008 medallists remain. This means the Canadian’s are also an unknown factor. The United States has retained Beau Hoopman and coxswain Marcus McElhenney from their Olympic bronze medal eight. The United States will arrive as unknowns.

Only Italy, Poland and Great Britain have statistics that can be assigned. Poland and Great Britain finished second and third respectively at the Munich Rowing World Cup while Italy (who did not race in Munich) won the first World Cup of the season.

The only sure thing is that this race will offer a sneak preview into what will go on at the World Rowing Championships.