Who to Watch in Lucerne - Rowing World Cup II

After winning the first Rowing World Cup in Munich, Great Britain is back and hoping to repeat its opening season success. China and Germany both arrive with large squads as they continue to narrow down who will be in the Olympic boats for their country. This is the second of three Rowing World Cups for 2008.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

It was a sluggish start to the season for top sculler Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria and China’s best Xiuyun Zhang at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich earlier this month. Neykova didn’t finish the racing because of illness and Zhang only managed a B Final position. There is no doubt these two will be stepping up in Lucerne to go after medals and shake off World Cup leader Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus.

But Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic will almost certainly be part of the medals picture. Knapkova finished with silver behind Karsten at Munich and is willing to take race plan risks to get to the top. Last year’s under-23 World Champion Emma Twigg of New Zealand is coming along strong and promises to pressure the best.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

Great Britain’s Alan Campbell got off to a roaring start by winning gold at the first Rowing World Cup. This time he will be facing current World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand for the first time since last year’s World Rowing Championships. Drysdale comes to Europe after spending much of his New Zealand summer season battling for his single spot against 2000 Olympic Champion Rob Waddell. Often Drysdale starts the international season off slowly, but it will be interesting to see the impact of this recent hard racing.

Czech Republic’s Ondrej Synek is turning into a consistent medallist. He finished with silver at Munich and has matured in his ability to race under different circumstances. He will be one to watch along with Norway’s Olaf Tufte who, like Drysdale, improves as the season progresses. Keep an eye out also for both German entries. Marcel Hacker is inconsistent but when he races well, he is a gold medal prospect. On the other hand, Germany’s second entry in the single Karsten Brodowski is young and gifted with an under-23 world champion title already under his belt.  

Women’s Pair (W2-)

At the first Rowing World Cup this event was an open slate with China’s You Wu and Yulan Gao finally taking the top prize, and comfortably so, with World Champions Belarus nowhere to be seen. Can Gao and Wu do it again? With silver medallists Germany not racing, it will be up to Australia to have a better race and former World Champions New Zealand to step up at their first international regatta of the season.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Last year’s gold and silver medallists are back. There has always been big rivalry between top dogs Drew Ginn and Duncan Free of Australia and New Zealand rivals Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater. They will meet in Lucerne to check out how their recent training places them on the international scene. At this regatta, however, they will not get to meet the best from the first Rowing World Cup as Croatia and Switzerland are not racing this time.

Instead it will be France’s Erwan Peron and Laurent Cadot who will be the pace setters. Keep an eye out also for the Czech Republic. Vaclav Chalupa and Jakub Makovicka look to be coming together well and will be hoping to show improvement as they prepare to qualify for the Beijing Olympics at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in June.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

China dominated this race at the first Rowing World Cup taking out the top two spots. Both crews will race against each other again as their coaches continue the Olympic selection process. At present reigning World Champions Qin Li and Liang Tian have the edge. But with the arrival of reigning Olympic Champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand, the Chinese might not manage a repeat performance.

Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth of Germany are looking strong. They took bronze at the Munich World Cup and have had some more time to improve their rhythm together. Great Britain did not fare so well at Munich and have reshuffled their crew going back to last year’s bronze medal combination of Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington. The field also contains many of the top lightweight combinations including World Champions Australia, Finland’s top duo and USA Three which is currently the top lightweight combination in their country.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

There is no denying the power of Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain. They took gold at the first Rowing World Cup but, going by last season, Wells and Rowbotham have not always been able to maintain the top billing. This time they will face World Champions Iztok Cop and Luka Spik of Slovenia, who missed Munich due to Spik having back problems.

Great Britain will also race again against Munich’s World Cup silver (Germany’s Clemens Wenzel and Falko Nolte) and bronze medallists (Australia’s Scott Brennan and David Crawshay). There will be many eyes and expectant looks going New Zealand’s way. Sitting in the bow of the Kiwi double is Rob Waddell who has come back to the sport after an eight-year hiatus. He joins the much shorter, but very dynamic, Nathan Cohen.  

Men’s Four (M4-)

Great Britain won by a substantial margin at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich, but instead of being satisfied, Coach Juergen Grobler is trying a slightly different line-up as he heads towards picking the best crew for the Olympics. Meanwhile, Germany continues to test their top two boats with Germany One, who won bronze in Munich, hoping to get the Olympic nod.

The Czech Republic look like a new force on the four’s scene after taking silver in Munich. This time they will go up against reigning World Champions New Zealand who open their 2008 international season here in Lucerne. Keep an eye out too for the Netherlands who only just missed out on a World Cup medal by less than a second and also the United States who are boating a mixture of some of their best sweep rowers.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

Germany’s Berit Carow and Marie-Louise Draeger started the 2008 season off strongly by taking gold at the first Rowing World Cup. Following that result they look like the crew to beat at Lucerne. However there are a few unknown elements that could surprise. China has reconstituted their boat bringing back Hua Yu to join Dongxiang Xu after being in and out of the double in recent years. Then there’s Denmark’s Katrin Olsen and Juliane Rasmussen who finished third last year and opened their 2008 international season by racing open weight. Watch out also for the return of Olympic medallists Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands. They only just missed out on a medal at the Munich World Cup.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

This field has certainly gained depth since the first Rowing World Cup. World Champions Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist are back racing lightweight after racing open earlier in the month. Two-time Olympic Champions Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz of Poland, who are still looking to qualify for the Olympic Games, will be opening their international season in Lucerne.

But odds could well be on Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter who had a great start to the season when they won three weeks ago at the first Rowing World Cup in commanding fashion. Keep an eye out also for Maxime Goisset and Frederic Dufour of France. They took silver three weeks ago but looked a bit worse for wear by the finish line.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

As is common in this event, the field is close, and on the day a number of crews have the ability to be the top boat. At the first Rowing World Cup, 2006 World Champions China managed to regain their confidence and take gold, but their margin over Great Britain and Germany in silver and bronze medal position was small. These three countries face each other again in Lucerne. France is also back for another go. The French crew, who struck World Champion status in 2005, is trying out new team member Guillaume Raineau, and after finishing fourth three weeks ago, they will be hoping to step up a notch and onto the medals podium.

Keep an eye out also for the arrival on the international scene of Australia and Canada. Both of these boats have the merit to not only make the A Final, but also step into medal-winning positions.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

The odds will certainly be on three-time World Champions Great Britain to continue their winning streak. The British crew never take anything for granted and always have a wary eye on former dominators of this event, Germany. Germany is still working on their final Olympic line-up but at Lucerne they are boating the same crew that finished second (behind Great Britain) at the first Rowing World Cup.

China is still sorting out their Olympic crew by racing two boats at Lucerne. The coaches have remixed the two crews that finished third and fourth in Munich and only two of the top boat from last year (world bronze in 2007 and third at Munich’s World Cup this year) remain together. This means that China could surprise as both crews have Olympic spots at stake.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Poland has won the World Championships for the last three years and not lost a race since coming together in 2005. No other team can match these statistics. This puts Adam Korol, Michal Jelinski, Marek Kolbowicz and Konrad Wasielewski of Poland in the enviable position of being the crew to beat. Will Germany be the boys to do it?

Germany finished second to Poland at the first Rowing World Cup and, with a couple of adjustments to their 2007 bronze medal crew, they continue to impress. The French also look like they’ve taken their racing up a step especially with Slovenia breathing down their necks.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

No one could have guessed the medallists, or the huge margins, at the first Rowing World Cup. Australia won by a hefty six seconds with China in second and Romania in third. Australia and China are back to race again in Lucerne. They will face some new challenges. Germany has strengthened their line-up from the boat that raced at Munich. Canada arrive on the international scene and so do reigning World Champions, the United States. The USA will be aiming to get some hard racing practice before they shoot for Olympic gold later this year.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Australia got their season off to a flying start by winning at the first Rowing World Cup with Great Britain and China taking out the minor medals. But all three of these crews will see the standard step up a level with the arrival of the fully intact reigning World Champions, Canada. This will mean that Lucerne has the makings of an Olympic trial run, but without the Americans. Germany is there as well as they continue to tweak and adjust their line-up in the hope of finding the perfect Olympic crew.