Who to watch at the final Rowing World Cup, Poznan

Some coaches have chosen this regatta as an important lead up to Beijing while others believe it is better to focus on training rather than racing. There is still much quality across the board and there is no doubt that athletes will only be going faster than at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

It will be hard to look past three scullers for the medal spots in Poznan. Standing in the middle gold medal position on the victory pontoon will be Belarus’s Ekaterina Karsten. By her current performance there is every indication that Karsten will continue her remarkable winning streak that began in 2005. Standing on either side of Karsten will be Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria.

After taking time off following a bronze medal at the Athens Olympic Games, Neykova is aiming for the elusive Olympic gold that has remained a little out of reach. The closest Neykova got was at the 2000 Olympics when she finished in a photo finish with Karsten. After much deliberation Karsten was awarded gold. Neykova will be using Poznan as a stepping stone towards her Olympic dream.

New Zealand’s Emma Twigg is the most likely of the field to challenge the best. Twigg finished fifth at the Lucerne World Cup, just a fraction of a second behind Neykova, and with more time for European acclimatisation, she will be stepping up at Poznan. Frida Svensson of Sweden is a World Cup medallist but her form has been a little off this season. She will be hoping to step up in this final race before Beijing.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

Norway’s Olaf Tufte has the confidence of being the reigning Olympic Champion, but since taking gold four years ago Tufte, although aways in the leading bunch, has had mixed medal results. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic is one of the more consistent performers. Synek beat World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. But there is every indication that Drysdale will be the one leading the pack. Drysdale readily admits that he starts the international season off on very little speed work, but now has a win at the Holland Beker regatta under his belt and with that more speed work. Pushing Drysdale at the Holland Beker was Lassi Karonen of Sweden. Karonen is known for his consistency and ability to rise to the occasion. Keep an eye out for him in Poznan.

Belgium’s Tim Maeyens is back in the single. Maeyens dabbled in the double earlier in the season with his eye on potentially qualifying it for the Olympics, but he has decided the single is a better bet. Absent from this regatta will be Great Britain's Alan Campbell who is recovering from an infection. Also a late withdrawl is Marcel Hacker of Germany. Hacker pulled out of his race at the Lucerne World Cup after 300m citing back problems and technical issues. The German selectors have allowed Hacker to focus on training rather than racing here.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Also racing in Germany’s eight, Maren Derlien and Lenka Wech are their country’s top duo and after coming together to win the European Championships last year they have continued to improve with time together. The Germans will be up against Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand. The never-give-up attitude of the Kiwi pair has been evident since they united to race at Athens. They have won a won a World Championship title and been regular World Cup medallists.

Returning to racing in 2007, the 2004 and 2000 Olympic Champions Georgeta Damian-Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania finished with bronze in the pair at last year’s World Rowing Championships and at the Rowing World Cup in Munich last month. They will be looking to step up at this regatta before tackling another Olympic medal.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

A fourth-place finish at Athens inspired Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater of New Zealand to continue on to the next Olympic Games. They have made it through to this point with a World Championship title under their belt and have only been outside of the medals once. This World Cup will no doubt earn them another medal and, in the absence of reigning World Champions Duncan Free and Drew Ginn of Australia, there is every indication the colour will be gold.

France’s Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot have been consistent A-final finishers ever since being selected as their country’s pair at the start of 2007. Last month in Lucerne they finished fourth in a stacked field. With fewer entries in Poznan, Peron and Cadot’s chances of medalling will be high.

Keep an eye out also for the new South African combination. Shaun Keeling has joined 2004 Olympic medallist Ramon Di Clemente this year and after finishing sixth at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne earlier this month, Keeling and Di Clemente will have grown in confidence.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

Reigning World Champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand missed the Lucerne World Cup due to illness. They have now had a month in Europe and will be eager to leave training behind to get into some solid racing. In the absence of the Chinese, the New Zealanders have a good shot at the gold medal spot.

Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova of the Czech Republic who will be pushing into the medals along with Great Britain’s combination of Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington.

Germany has changed their line-up again as they look at strengthening their quad. Jeannine Hennicke and Juliane Domscheit is not their strongest combination from the sculling squad. This regatta will be good experience for them.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

This race is likely to be tight. After New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen and Rob Waddell surprised the field by winning at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, the surprise factor will be gone.

Olympic gold and silver medallists Iztok Cop and Luka Spik of Slovenia have the expertise to step up a level while former World Champions Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy of France will be doing everything to improve on their fifth-place Lucerne finish.

But the biggest challenge to the New Zealanders is likely to come from Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain. This challenge, however, will not play out. A day before the regatta the crew withdrew as Rowbotham has a slight injury and the team does not want to risk aggrivating it.

Watch out also for the return of Jueri Jaanson and Tonu Endrekson of Estonia. They have not yet raced this season and after finishing third at the World Rowing Championships last year, there is no doubt they will be showing some solid boat speed.

Men’s four (M4-)

The entry line up makes this one of the toughest races at the regatta. Just making the final will mean taking on 2007 World Champions, New Zealand. It will mean getting ahead of regular medallists, the Netherlands. It will mean pushing past the crew that has finally been selected to represent Germany at the Olympic Games. It will mean taking on the might of two-time World Champions, Great Britain. It will mean facing the challenge of Italy’s top chance at an Olympic medal and it will mean going after the strong French crew.

Great Britain will be hoping to prove that they are back at full strength and heading towards defending their Olympic Champion title. They have selected crew member Tom James back in the boat. James missed the Lucerne Rowing World Cup due to injury. New Zealand wants to see gold again and Italy will be looking towards their 2007 silver medal for inspiration.

Lightweight women’s double (LW2x)

In the absence of China reigning World Champions, Amber Halliday and Marguerite Houston of Australia will be looking to step up to the plate. Halliday and Houston, however, will have their work cut out for them as at the Lucerne World Cup they were beaten by Canada’s Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron as well as Marit van Eupen and Kirsten van der Kolk of the Netherlands.

Van Eupen and Van der Kolk just qualified for the Beijing Olympics earlier this week so have decided not to race here. They will head back to the Netherlands to focus on their goal of Olympic gold. Watch out also for Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany. The duo finished sixth at the Lucerne World Cup and will be stepping up their speed as the Olympics looms.

The United States have withdrawn their entry. Like the Netherlands, the US qualified for Beijing earlier in the week and they must have decided it was more important to head back to their training venue in Philadelphia.

Lightweight men’s double (LM2x)

Illness forced World Champions, Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark out of the Lucerne World Cup. At Poznan they will have their last chance to show some domination before Beijing. Winners at Lucerne, Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, however, will also be wanting the psychological edge. Purchase, a former lightweight single World Champion, has shown to be a fighter and is gelling well with Hunter.

Also in the hunt for the medals will be Frederic Dufour and Maxime Goisset of France. Dufour and Goisset finished third at the Lucerne World Cup and in the process secured themselves as the Olympic combination for France.

The depth of the field continues with Japan showing up as well as Hungary and Greece. Keep an eye out for the Italy One. Elia Luini and Marcello Miani will be wanting to prove that they are the boat their selectors will choose for Beijing.

Lightweight men’s four (LM4-)

The racing was extremely tight at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup. This theme is likely to continue at Poznan but in the absence of Lucerne winners, China. Fighting for the front of the field will be Denmark and France. They finished second and third respectively at Lucerne and only half a second separated them. With athletes coming out of retirement, Denmark now has half the boat (Ebbesen and Ebert) that became Olympic Champions in 2004.

Reigning World Champions, Great Britain was not happy with their fifth place result at Lucerne. Their recent training has been all about how to step up a notch and coach Robin Williams is likely to have some valuable input. Italy is using this regatta to make the final selection of their Olympic boats. With that they have entered two crews who will be doing all that they can to prove their worth and keep their Olympic dream alive. Their number one crew is only one athlete different from the boat that finished with bronze at Athens.

Women’s quad (W4x)

A lack of entries has meant the cancellation of this event with reigning World Champions, Great Britain choosing to race at a local British regatta instead.

Men’s quad (M4x)

This event was full of upsets at the Lucerne World Cup, Three-time reigning World Champions, Poland were pushed out of first by a throw-together United States crew. In front of their home crowd Poland will be doing everything to redeem themselves.

Watch out for a close battle between France and Germany. These two boats crossed the line in Lucerne in a photo finish with Germany just a smidgen in front. This will be their last chance to race each other before Beijing.

Italy has reconstituted their quad that finished fourth at last year’s World Championships and outside of the medals earlier this season at the Munich World Cup. Two replacements have been made with Luca Agamennoni and Simone Venier joining Sydney Olympic Champions Rossano Galtarossa and Simone Raineri.

Women’s eight (W8+)

Both Canada and the Netherlands have entered this race. Both will be coming to this regatta on the back of trying to qualify for the Olympics at the last chance a few days earlier. Canada finished first and the Netherlands came second so both countries earned their Beijing spots. Their qualification result may impact on this race.

The German and British entries will be pushing hard. Both boats were finalists at Lucerne and both boats have been recent World Cup medallists. Keep an eye out though for Romania. The three-time Olympic Champions always step up in the four year cycle and with Viroica Susanu, Georgeta Damian-Andrunache and Doina Ignat back in the boat, power and experience has returned.

Men’s eight (M8+)

Just three boats have entered in this race with all eyes on the new German line up. After Germany finished fifth at the Lucerne World Cup, the whole crew went under a drastic reshuffle with six changes to the boat. As this is Germany’s flagship boat, the Germans will do anything to make sure they have the best. Great Britain will act as the guide for Germany. Great Britain finished in third at Lucerne, seven seconds ahead of Germany. Poland is also in the race. In front of their home crowd they will be wanting to show what they are possible of later in the year at the Olympics.