Who to Watch at Lucerne

China arriving in numbers

 

Including the late addition of Russia, forty-two nations meet in Lucerne to hear the cow bells at the start line and listen to the crowds at the finish of the scenic Rotsee course. 

Then the green and gold of Australia sees their under-23 team warm up for their championships in Amsterdam in two weeks. Germany come with their usual large contingent of 80 athletes with big names like four-time Olympic Champion Kathrin Boron, three-time Olympic coxswain Peter Thiede and indoor rowing lightweight champion for 2005 Eric Knittel featured in the men's quad. 

Host country Switzerland will be enthusiastically ringing cow bells for Andre Vonarburg who has been busily pushing his way up the single sculling rankings and double sculler Florian Stofer competing in his eighth international season.

Women's Single Scull (W1x)

Will this finish as a hat trick? Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and the Czech Republic's Mirka Knapkova have gone one-two at the first two BearingPoint Rowing World Cup regattas and it looks like all of the stars are pointing towards a repeat performance at Lucerne. Despite their leading advantage, the pressure is still very much on these two athletes. Karsten admitted at the Holland Beker regatta last month that she was surprised by Knapkova's speed and at Lucerne some old faces have returned to go for the medals.

Germany's four-time Olympic Champion Kathrin Boron only races for gold and after her bronze at Eton she disappeared from the regatta scene to get faster. Has her training paid off? South Africa's top woman rower, Rika Geyser, is also back. Geyser has spent the off-season racing men to get prepared and she will be raring to go in Lucerne.

Men's Single Scull (M1x)

The standard has definitely moved up a notch with 27 classy entries mixing new forces and experience. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic is no longer an unknown element. A win at Eton and the Holland Beker has established Synek as one of the new forces in single sculling. Also joining the new force fold is New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale who placed second in Munich and at the Holland Beker.

They will be up against the single sculling establishment of Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway who always improves as he gets closer to his main goal, the World Rowing Championships. Then there's World Best time holder, Germany's Marcel Hacker who looks to be back on pace after winning in Munich. Argentina's two-time Olympian Santiago Fernandez is a consistent finallist and potentially the Slovenians could line up in the single. Iztok Cop and Luka Spik race hard as a team and will race hard against each other if they choose this event.

Women's Pair (W2-)

Australia's senior team has gone home to prepare for the World Rowing Championships leaving a space for their Under-23 squad. As part of their preparation for this year's World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Alice King and Sassi McCarthy will line up in Lucerne.

But they will have their work cut out if they want to get on the podium with New Zealand favourites Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh. Munich winners Coles and Haigh will also be keeping a wary eye on Fie Udby and Majbrit Nielsen of Denmark who gave them a solid shake-up at the Holland Beker.

Men's Pair (M2-)

Croatia's Skelin brothers got a rude awakening when Athens fourth place crew Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater from New Zealand sprinted past them to win gold in Munich. The two crews will meet again along with Mediterranean Games winners Luca Agamennini and Dario Lari of Italy as well as Great Britain's Josh West and Kieran West.

But keep an eye out for the arrival of the Canadian Olympians. Barney Williams and Scott Frandsen have been training and racing (and studying) at Oxford University in Great Britain and may have learnt a few British lessons. They come to Lucerne after finishing second at the Henley Royal Regatta.

Women's Double Scull (W2x)

Will Rumyana Neykova and Miglena Markova make it three for three? The Bulgarian double easily won BearingPoint Rowing World Cups I and II but this may end at Lucerne with the Olympic Champion Evers-Swindell twins putting single scull racing behind them and stepping back into the double for New Zealand.

But there's more. Never underestimate the German scullers. Coach Jutta Lau has paired up Magdalena Schumde with Peggy Waleska in this event. Waleska was in the Olympic double that nearly piped New Zealand at Athens and with Schumde they have many years of experience to call on. Also experienced are Great Britain's Elise Laverick and Debbie Flood. Flood has been making waves in the single but in the double with Athens bronze medallist, Laverick, this crew could be going places.

Men's Double Scull (M2x)

If Christian Schreiber and Rene Burmeister of Germany hold their form that took them to gold in Munich, they could lead the field again in Lucerne. But the field has now grown and includes Italy's strongman Alessio Sartori, back in the double with new partner Matteo Stefanini. But Sartori and Stefanini are combination number two for Italy so Italy must still be doing some heavy-duty decision-making in their quest to put together the best team for the World Rowing Championships.

Keep an eye out for Ukraine's up-and-coming Dmytro Prokopenko and Volodymyr Pavlovskyy who impressed everyone in Munich when they won bronze. Slovenia's 2000 Olympic Champions Luka Spik and Iztok Cop have entered but could withdraw to focus on the single.

Men's Coxless Four (M4-)

This event now has Great Britain stamped all over it after their impressive wins in both Eton, Munich and Henley. The question is can Italy and Ireland close the gap? Italy's programme is now under the guidance of Technical Director Beppe de Capua who has already made progress since taking up the position in March. In Munich the Italian eight won and the four came second. Team confidence must be high.

Meanwhile former Australian coach Harald Jahrling, now in Ireland, has chosen to blend scullers and sweep rowers into the four and it seems to be a good decision as the crew medalled in Munich.

Watch out also for the arrival of Canada. Coming from a second place at Henley the crew is a blend of last year's Olympic eight and four. This could be coach Mike Spracklen's priority crew.

Women's Lightweight Double Scull (LW2x)

If Germany's Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger are back at full health, they could be the crew to beat. But Reimer and Draeger will have to prove themselves against Munich winners Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland who have been improving every race since just missing out on Olympic qualification for Athens.

Then there's the Chinese. Both of China's entries contain experienced rowers including Qian Li who finished fifth at Athens in the double.

The depth of talent continues with Germany's number two crew of Berit Carow and Laura Tasch still needing to prove themselves to get onto the German team.
And Romania is back. Two-time Olympic Champion Angela Alupei is racing with Liliana Niga and there's no doubt that all other competitors will be eyeing them up warily.

Men's Lightweight Double Scull (LM2x)

This event must breed staying power. The number of returnees from the Athens final is impressive. Third placed Greece started this season off the pace, but a win at the Mediterranean Games last week must be boosting their confidence. Fourth placed Rasmussen and Quist of Denmark are back in the boat together after racing most of the season in singles. Fifth placed Hungary won at Eton and look strong going into their third season together. And sixth placed Japan has retained Japan's most successful rower Daisaku Takeda who now teams up with new partner Takahiro Suda.

The only crews missing are the minimal racing Poles and the French who are taking time out from racing after the Mediterranean Games.

The boat to beat, however, may be a crew that did not even appear in the Athens final – Italy's Leonardo Pettinari and Stefano Basalini. Pettinari never got as far as the Olympic final due to injury but after winning at the BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Munich last month, the three-time World Champion is well and truly back at full strength.

Men's Lightweight Four (LM4-)

This event is up for grabs. Line-ups are new and the only possible leader, France, is not racing in Lucerne. The top contender must therefore be Denmark with a 10-year winning legacy to live up to and the stability of the same coach, Bent Jensen, who has guided so many crews to success. Germany is also in the running after finishing second at Munich. Ireland is sure to put up a good challenge with Olympian Paul Griffin setting the rhythm.

Women's Quad Scull (W4x)

The event that Germany has dominated for years may be slipping from their grasp. Even in front of their home crowd in Munich, Germany failed to reach the top three spots. But, to their credit, new athletes are being brought into the sculling fold and they are bound to build in speed as their experience grows.

This season instead has been dominated by Great Britain who retain three members of the crew that won silver at Athens. The Brits are not taking any chances in the lead-up to Lucerne and chose to miss the Henley Royal Regatta to give Sarah Winckless more time to recover from a sprained wrist. Winckless is back in training and the crew will be the ones to beat.

The main competition for the British is likely to come from Ukraine. They finished second in Munich and won last weekend at Henley. Keep an eye out also for Belarus with the seasoned Yuliya Bichyk who has been successful internationally in the pair, the eight and the quad.

Men's Quad Scull (M4x)

Five-time Olympian Jueri Jaanson is better known for his single sculling, but joining Estonia's quad at Eton paid off when the crew won gold. They will be aiming to do the same in Lucerne. But hidden in the Czech Republic entry, and just as experienced as Jaanson, is five-time Olympian Vaclav Chalupa. The Czechs have been doing well without Chalupa's help so he is only going to make the boat go faster.

The Germans will also be improving their chances with Robert Sens back in stroke seat. Recently married Sens has spent most of the winter and early season in the single and with his experience he will no doubt be helping his boat go faster.

Women's Eight (W8+)

Watch out for the Chinese invasion. With two entries in the eight there's likely to be some heavy duty seat racing in preparation for China selecting their top boat. Earlier this season in Eton, China won gold but this time they will face a strong Dutch contingent. The Netherlands also has two entries. Their number one crew includes six members of the Athens bronze medal eight while the Netherlands number two boat is made up of under-23 rowers, who will use Lucerne as a warm-up for the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Amsterdam two weeks from now.

Romania has dominated the Olympics in the eight, but with a number of post-Athens retirements, they are in the rebuilding phase. Romania will want to see how they currently stand on the international scene.

Men's Eights (M8+)

Germany started off the season on a roll, but Italy's win in Munich cut short the German winning streak and gave the Italians their first win in the eight in years. Germany then went on to face Great Britain in the final at Henley and only just held off the British underdogs.

So get ready for a strong challenge by the Brits with Italy and Germany ready for a fight. Behind them the field is slim. Australia is entering their under-23 crew and the Netherlands are rebuilding with their top rowers now in the four.