Who to watch: Rowing World Cup II (Munich, GER)

The second stage of the 2009 Rowing World Cup series in Munich, Germany, welcomes a large field from around the world. China has come in force. The power of their numbers is seen in the two men’s and two women’s eights entered. New Zealand arrives for the start of their European tour as they build towards the World Rowing Championships. India has the biggest team ever at an international rowing event and Great Britain retains the majority of their line-ups that did so well at the first stage of the Rowing World Cup last month.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Although reigning World Champion Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch of Belarus showed up at Banyoles, she did not race as she was recovering from injury. Munich is thus Karsten’s debut for the season and there is every indication that she will not have an easy time of it. Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic is also opening her 2009 season in Munich and when Knapkova’s race goes to plan she puts Karsten under pressure.

Beijing Olympic finalists Emma Twigg (NZL) and Xiuyun Zhang (CHN) are appearing on the scene in Munich to reveal their off-season training improvements.

This means that winner of the first Rowing World Cup, Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger, will need to push a lot harder to retain the yellow leader’s jersey she currently holds. Second-placed Frida Svensson (SWE) will also have more of a fight on her hands.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

When Alan Campbell of Great Britain beat Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway in Banyoles last month, no one was too surprised. Tufte often starts his seasons off slowly and ends with a bang. But now Campbell and Tufte will not just have each other to worry about. Ondrej Synek, who missed the Final in Banyoles due to an unfortunate rudder problem, will want to do everything to be back at the head of the field.

Then there’s reigning World Champion Mahe Drysdale (NZL) who is turning up in Munich. Drysdale will be fresh off the plane from New Zealand winter training and it is known from past years that it usually takes the New Zealander a couple of regattas to really hone his form.

Keep an eye out for the grand duke of the single, Jueri Jaanson of Estonia. After taking an Olympic silver medal in the single in 2004, Jaanson, now 43, switched to team boat rowing and won silver again (in the double) at Beijing. He has now returned to his beloved single and there will be great interest surrounding how Jaanson performs in Munich.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

After Great Britain’s win at the first Rowing World Cup in Banyoles, the competition has stepped up markedly. China is coming out in force with some obvious internal seat racing happening. They have four boats entered, led by Tong Li and Meng Li, with Beijing silver medallists You Wu and Yulan Gao not even featuring in this event. Twin sisters Li, 19, raced last year in their country’s eight.

Germany has chosen Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Sinnig as their top pair duo following rigorous trials. The strength of German pairs rowing is bound to lead this duo to a potential top placing. Keep an eye out also for Romania and, first Rowing World Cup winners, Louisa Reeve and Olivia Whitlam of Great Britain.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

This event looks like a clean slate with only Great Britain and Serbia as truly known quantities. Hence, watch out for new crew combinations coming through.

Great Britain, however, look like the crew to beat. The dominating win by Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge at the first Rowing World Cup caused the British press to tout them as the new Redgrave and Pinsent. Reed subsequently announced that the title sits well with him and furthermore he is ready to go after the World Best Time in the pair. This means that their competition will have to aim high.

Nikola Stojic and Goran Jagar of Serbia have experience in the boat together but are inconsistent in results. They finished fourth at Banyoles and have the potential to get better. Coming from New Zealand’s Olympic four, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond are fresh off the plane and straight into summer competition.

They have been recording encouraging times over their New Zealand winter training but may still be a little ragged from changing hemispheres.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

It will be hard to look past Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain. The Olympic medallists (albeit in different events) performed to a gold medal standard at the Rowing World Cup in Banyoles and are geared up to remain at the top of the doubles table.

But the British will need to keep an eye out for the return of the Germans. Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth finished second at Beijing in the oh-so-close Final. This has served to fire up Thiele and Huth and they have every intention of aiming for gold at the London Olympics.

Bulgaria has an interesting development. Olympic Champion in the single, Rumyana Neykova is teaming up in this event with Miglena Markova. Neykova has raced in the double before in her long career and has always made an impact. Watch out too for Finland’s Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen. Sten and Nieminen medalled at Beijing in the lightweight double and have now decided to race in the open class this year.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

A very close race at the first Rowing World Cup had Great Britain’s Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham finishing a smidgen ahead of France. With the French not competing in Munich, Wells and Rowbotham will find themselves up against a new wave of competition full of unknown quantities.

Look out for the single scullers. Entered for Belgium is Tim Maeyens (fourth at Beijing in the single). Maeyens will be racing with under-23 representative Hannes De Reu and has pulled out of the single to focus on this event. But as Maeyens is also entered in the single, one of these events may be forfeited. The Swiss double is following a similar scenario. Olympic single sculler Andre Vonarburg will combine with Florian Stofer. Vonarburg, like Maeyens, has also entered in the single.

China has three entries and could be using Munich as a way to pick their top crew.

Men’s Four (M4-)

The Czech Republic performed with distinction at the first Rowing World Cup, finishing behind the powerful British four. These crews will meet again in Munich with the added element of Germany. The Germans have put together Philip Adamski, Urs Kaeufer, Florian Mennigen and Gregor Hauffe as their number one crew and, racing on their home rowing course will play to their favour.

Watch out too for Slovenia who regularly push into the Final of this event and Croatia who showed potential at Banyoles last month. But all of these crews will need to conduct a tremendous race to challenge Great Britain.

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls (LW2x)

Germany’s Marie-Louise Draeger and Anja Noske currently hold the World Cup yellow jersey after their win at Banyoles and racing in front of their home crowd certainly bodes well for further success at Munich.

China’s power should not be underestimated, however. Dongxiang Xu has consistently been China’s top female lightweight rower, competing in this event at the last two Olympics and winning a World Championship title in between. The Chinese are gearing up for their National Games later this year which pits province against province and Xu’s doubles partner is Shimin Yan, with whom she won the 2006 World Rowing Championships title. Together they will be looking towards the National Games and Munich will be one step along the way.

After injury changed the Banyoles line-up for the British, the original boat of Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking is back together. There is every sign to indicate that they are medal prospects.

Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls (LM2x)

Italy’s Elia Luini and Marcello Miani started off the season on a high note by winning at the first Rowing World Cup, but at Munich they face a larger, more talented field that will be pushing the Italians right from Heat One.

The power of lightweight rowing in Denmark means one can never overlook them and with three entries there is likely to be internal racing going on as well as World Cup racing. The Danish top crew includes Henrik Stephansen who is best known for his world record indoor rowing times. Stephansen will race with Steffen Jensen.

There are a couple of familiar names with new teammates. Poland’s Olympic Champion Robert Sycz is back with a new partner, Lukasz Siemion, and Hungary’s Tamas Varga is racing now with Peter Galambos.

Keep an eye out too for Beijing Olympians Storm Uru and Peter Taylor of New Zealand. In their second season together, the duo continue to make improvements.

Men’s Lightweight Four (LM4-)

The performance of Denmark’s new 2009 line-up at the first Rowing World Cup was inspiring and their first place set the crew’s standard for the season. There will be no looking back now for Joergensen, Winther, Vilhelmsen and Pedersen. But the Germans are going to keep the Danes honest. The crew of two sets of brothers that finished second at Banyoles will race again at Munich.

Hoping to be in competition with the Danes and the Germans will be China and Great Britain. Although the British finished at the back of the A Final in Banyoles, this new 2009 line-up will undoubtedly continue to improve with more time in the boat.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Great Britain won this event at last month’s Rowing World Cup, but they come to Munich with a revised combination. Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington leave this boat to focus on the double, so Katie Greves and Beth Rodford will now race with Sarah Cowburn and Rosamund Bradbury. This new line-up is likely to endure tough challenges from both China and Germany.

The Germans and Chinese both medalled in this event at Beijing but in Munich the crews are quite different. China has many relatively new athletes while Germany brings Peggy Waleska back into the boat to join Olympic stroke Stephanie Schiller. Julia Lepke and Tina Manker finish the line-up.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Are the Poles unstoppable? They have been together since 2005 and only lost one race in that four-year stretch. The Beijing Olympic Champion crew remains intact and took gold at the first stage of the 2009 Rowing World Cup last month. Great Britain gave Poland a solid run for their money and will be back to do the same in Munich with more experience under their belt.

There could be some new challenges to Poland. Germany has put their top single sculler, the intrepid Marcel Hacker, into stroke seat, with a powerful bunch following him. And then Slovenia has entered two boats and snuck into the middle of both crews their top two scullers: Iztok Cop is in one and Luka Spik in the other.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

It was reasonably low key on the women’s eight front at the first Rowing World Cup of 2009 with two countries entered and Great Britain winning. Things have definitely ramped up for Munich. Great Britain is back and will have the confidence of the yellow jersey on their side and on their backs. But regular medallists in this event, the Romanians are fronting up.

Romania make the women’s eight their priority and this line-up will be the start of their campaign towards winning back the Olympic gold in 2012 that they lost last year. China and Germany are also there, both with a bunch of new names for 2009 in the boat.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Poland finished a solid second behind Italy at the first Rowing World Cup last month and in Munich, in the absence of the Italians, will be looking to step up a notch. But so will Great Britain. The British crew were third last month and are part of a wave of confidence that is sweeping Great Britain’s camp.

Watch out for Germany’s new line-up. They have set themselves the goal of medalling at the 2012 Olympics and already made plans on how to make this happen, step by step. The Germans have many new names in their boat but will have the enthusiasm of a fresh Olympic cycle on their side.