Who to Watch in Lucerne

This is the final chance for coaches to test their athletes on the international stage before the World Rowing Championships next month in Munich, Germany, and it has brought out of retirement four-time Olympic gold medallist, Doina Ignat of Romania, as well as Athens double gold medallists, Georgeta Damian-Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania. Read on to find out who may be the stars of the Rotsee, Lucerne’s spectacular rowing venue.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Mirka Knapkova missed the last Rowing World Cup so, what has become, her standard silver medal place behind Belarus’ Ekaterina Karsten instead went to Xiuyun Zhang of China. Knapkova is back at this regatta and will be testing Zhang’s resolve right through to the finish line.

Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria is there as well. The former World Champion took a year off to have her second child and finished fourth at the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup last month. Now that she has brushed off the racing cobwebs Neykova will certainly be going after long-term rival Karsten. Will Neykova be able to step up her game and push the, so far unpushed Karsten out of her comfort zone?

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

A shake up at the Amsterdam stage saw current World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand off the medals podium and relegated to fourth. It also saw a much more consistent Marcel Hacker of Germany take bronze with a lately inconsistent (due to allergies) Olaf Tufte of Norway in second. But it was Czech man Ondrej Synek who showed he could do two golds from two Rowing World Cups. All of these contenders will be back.

Drysdale has promised that it will just take a bit of speed work to step up but last weekend, although beating Hacker at the Henley Royal Regatta in Great Britain, Drysdale was beaten by friend and rowing foe Alan Campbell of Great Britain. Campbell may well have found a second finishing gear to complement his fast opening to races.

Tufte wants to show that he can medal at any time of the season and Synek will come to Lucerne far more confident. Unfortunately for Switzerland, Andre Vonarburg has had to withdraw due to a heart problem. Hacker is a last minute withdrawl after deciding his time is better spent focusing on "a long training block."

Keep an eye out also for Belgium’s Tim Maeyens who missed Amsterdam due to illness.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

China won in Amsterdam but are out of the picture in Lucerne leaving the door open to Amsterdam silver medallists Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand. Haigh and Coles are known for their fighting spirit even when behind and this time will have challenges coming from the return of Americans Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson.

But the big news is the return of Olympic Champions Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu. Both of these athletes retired after winning double gold at the Athens Olympics (in the pair and the eight) and the speculation is now over on whether they would return to international competition to go after another Olympic gold. The entire field will be keeping a wary eye on these very accomplished rowers.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Last year Australia’s Drew Ginn and Duncan Free dominated the World Championships final, pushing the then reigning World Champions, Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater of New Zealand into second. Ginn and Free meet winners of the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup, Twaddle and Bridgewater for the first time this season and it will surely be a gutsy “downunder” showdown.

But these guys had better watch out for Great Britain. Matthew Langridge and Colin Smith had a storming finish at the first Rowing World Cup of this season and are back to do some damage. Croatia’s Skelin brothers aren’t slowing down either and France’s Erwan Pernon and Laurent Cadot get more savvy and confident with every race they have together. This will definitely be a highlight race to watch.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

China won at last month’s Rowing World Cup and Australia are the reigning World Champions. But China is absent from Lucerne and Australia is dealing with internal squad tension. So the time may be ripe for the former World Champions, New Zealand’s Evers-Swindell twins to get back on top. The twins admitted after Amsterdam that they had not spent much time in the boat together recently, so all arrows point to them improving on their racing speed.

Keep a watch out also for the young Czech duo of Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova who medalled at the last Rowing World Cup and also Germany’s Christiane Huth and Peggy Waleska who are both accomplished international scullers.

But the big mystery must be the coming-out-of-retirement of Doina Ignat of Romania. The four-time Olympic gold medallist must be aiming for Olympics number five and she’s trying it in the double with Aurica Barascu, also out of retirement after winning gold in the women’s eight at Athens.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

A storming finish for the Estonians Tonu Endrekson and Jueri Jaanson at the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup gave them the gold and Jaanson, 41, the honour of being the oldest Rowing World Cup gold medallist. Can they repeat his performance when they are again up against the reigning World Champions, Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy of France and Slovenia’s best, Iztok Cop and Luka Spik? Did the Estonians just get lucky in the Bosbaan’s close-to-the-crowd lane one? What has French Olympic gold medal winning coach Jean-Raymond Peltier been saying to his boys? What will two-time Olympic medallists, Cop and Spik be discussing between themselves?

Also very much in the picture are the powerful Brits, Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham. They will be ready to add to their World Cup medal collection with Germany’s Rene Bertram and Robert Sens often an A Final threat.

Men’s Four (M4-)

World Champions Great Britain is one man down. An injured Alex Partridge is out for this regatta and replaced by Tom James. Will they be able to retain their two-year gold medal streak? James proved to be a worthy substitute with the four winning against Canada last weekend at the Henley Royal Regatta.

Now, the British four, for the first time this season, will be up against a fired-p New Zealand line-up of Carl Meyer, James Dallinger, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond. The New Zealanders overtook the highly favoured Dutch crew at the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup to win gold.

Watch out also for regular finalists Slovenia and the return of the Italians with coach Coppola putting the best from their broken down 2006 silver medal eight into the four. Germany, although lately under-performing, will be aiming to put on a good show.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

This event will greatly feel the absence of the Chinese but in no way will the event be short of tough competition. Winners of the first Rowing World Cup, Katrin Olsen and Juliane Rasmussen of Denmark are back together hoping for a repeat performance. Returning from racing heavyweight for the first half of this season, Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland will get down to lightweight and aim for the medals. And racing for the first time internationally this season are last year’s silver medallists Amber Halliday and Marguerite Houston of Australia.

Mixed into this veritable talent pool is the hot Canadian duo of Lindsay Jennerich and Tracy Cameron. And there’s no doubt that the United States, Germany and Great Britain will be snapping at the heels of an A Final position.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Lately Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark have stamped ownership on this event. At the last Rowing World Cup they were the only crew to set a new World Best Time and in recent races they have won by open water leads. But Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter won’t be giving up and in their first season together, the British duo are looking to get better with each new race together.

Look out for the return of Marcello Miani and Elia Luini of Italy. Although the Italians didn’t fare so well at the opening Rowing World Cup, the duo are talented enough to work out their glitches. There is also talent hidden inside the Greek and Japanese entries as well as with the French and Czechs.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

China have been leading all season but as they are not racing in Lucerne the door may open up for Great Britain to pull off a win. Richard Chambers, James Lindsay-Fynn, Paul Mattick and James Clarke finished second at the Amsterdam Rowing World Cup and will be ready for a win this time around.

However, the competition is stiff. Former World Champions France must be plain sick of not medalling. Germany the same. The Canadians will be looking for a lucky break after a stray drink bottle lodged under a seat got the better of them at the first Rowing World Cup. The Netherlands will also be looking to stay in the medals with the new-look Danes, led by Eskild Ebbesen, improving on their race plan with every event they enter.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Current World Champions Great Britain was surprised and disappointed to lose to China at the Rowing World Cup in Amsterdam. They will be aiming to be in full health and at full speed for Lucerne. Germany was also disappointed not to be higher up the medals ranking at Amsterdam. The Germans, with the great Kathrin Boron in bow, will be aiming to topple Great Britain. This leaves a fight for the lesser places amongst Australia (a uniting of their two doubles who double up to race the quad as well) and a return of Russia led by the very experienced Irina Fedotova.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Poland have been dominating for the last couple of years and being out of the picture at Lucerne opens up the gold medal spot to a number of contenders. The countries entered look like they are still experimenting with line-ups with new quad names appearing. The Dutch have put single sculler Dirk Lippits in at three seat. The Russians are trying former Junior Champion Alexander Kornilov at two seat. The Germans have current Junior Champion Hans Gruhne at three seat and Estonia has put Allar Raja into stroke position.

It is Italy, however, that are to be favoured. A very talented quad of Luca Ghezzi, Simone Venier, Rossano Galtarossa and Simone Raineri are likely to be looking towards the same gold medal result they achieved at the 2000 Olympics. Watch out too for the newly fired up British.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

The United States return to Lucerne with many of their World Champion crew intact plus a couple of new names in the middle of the boat – Erin Cafaro and Rachel Jeffers. No doubt the US have pulled on their vast choice of talent that emerges every year from Collegiate rowing programmes and they will be well prepared to take on the Dutch and the Germans who have been showing themselves worthy of medals this season.

Keep an eye out too for Great Britain who have been coming along in leaps and bounds this season.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Great Britain put all of their top sweep rowers in the eight at the last Rowing World Cup and finished first. Their main eight took third. This is the best result in recent racing for the main British eight and it will surely give them confidence going into the Lucerne racing.

World Champions Germany finished a disappointing fourth last time and seem to be part of the general German team sluggishness. They will be back in Lucerne and hoping to medal, although they will have a fight on their hands with the return of Canada. Canada won the first Rowing World Cup and could only have improved in their time off which included a win last weekend at the Henley Royal Regatta in Great Britain. The very talented coxswain Brian Price is back in the steering seat for Canada.

But watch out for Switzerland’s priority boat. In front of their home crowd they will be fired up to the sound of cow bells and aiming to better their fifth place finish from the last Rowing World Cup in Amsterdam.