Who to Watch at the European Rowing Championships

The 10-laned international standard course will see 31 European nations battling it out in the 14 Olympic rowing events to become European Champions.

Raced over three days the regatta begins with heats on Friday 18 September at 9h30 EEST through to finals starting at 11h EEST on Sunday 20 September.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Romania has taken their 2009 silver medallist from the World Rowing Championships, Camelia Lupascu, and partnered her with under-23 medallist Cristina Ilie to take on Germany’s under-23 silver medallists in the women’s pair, Michaela Schmidt and Anne Becker, as well as a number of newcomers to international pairs racing. Romania won this event at the European Championships last year and will be looking to defend the title in 2009.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

There is little doubt that the Greeks will be looking for gold and their record marks them as clear favourites. Twin brothers, Apostolos and Nikolaos Gkountoulas, 24, of Greece finished third last month at the World Rowing Championships and their rowing talent together is well known. They were the 2008 European Champions in the four on their home waters in Marathon and they come to Brest on the back of a very successful season in the pair. Challenging the Greeks will be France. Laurent Cadot was half of the fourth-placed World Rowing Championships crew and with partner Jean-David Bernard they will be looking to give Greece a surprise. Watch out too for regular A-finalists, Serbia and also the talented Italian pair.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

Check out Jitka and Lenka Antosova of the Czech Republic. These sisters only started racing together internationally this season and pulled off an impressive fifth-place finish at the World Rowing Championships. Not bad for little sister, Lenka at 18 years of age. With the experience of Olympian Jitka and the exuberance of Lenka, the Czech team look to be onto a winner here. However, they will have to watch out for Italy’s Laura Schiavone and Gabriella Bascelli. This duo have spent the season in the quad but are an unknown element in the double. Watch out too for Finland’s Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen who are working their way up in weight from being former lightweight medallists.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

When Swiss single sculler Andre Vonarburg decided he had had enough of soloing and chose the double, he was paired up with Florian Stofer. They are in their first season together and with a seventh place at the World Rowing Championships, they are a must-see for the future. But the true favourites will be the Estonians. Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo of Estonia were bronze medallists at the 2009 World Rowing Championships and Taimsoo also has a 2008 European Championship silver medal.

Men’s Four (M4-)

Overshadowed by the dominance of Great Britain in this event, the Czech Republic have been persevering, lately turning up regularly in regatta A-finals. At this year’s World Rowing Championships they finished fourth and three of the crew raced to fifth at last year’s Olympic Games. With this developing pedigree the Czech crew is likely to be the crew to beat in Belarus. Watch out too for Belarus. On their home waters they are likely to close the gap on the Czech Republic.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) 

With Olympic and World Champion Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus showcasing herself to her own people, the 13 other nations competing might as well just be prepared to race for silver. Karsten is a local hero and she will relish the chance to race for the first time internationally in her own country. Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic always gives Karsten a worthy challenge and Russia’s Julia Levina is also likely to be in the medals mix, but this will be Karsten’s race.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

Going by last year’s European Championship results, Greece’s Ioannis Christou has the top chance as the defending champion. But a lot can happen in a year and with 2007 Junior Champion, Aleksandar Aleksandrov of Bulgaria having another year of maturity in his favour and Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania also a year older, Christou will have his work cut out for him. Christou also comes to Belarus in the knowledge that Griskonis finished one spot better than him at last month’s World Rowing Championships. Watch out too for 2008 European silver medallist Lukas Babac from Slovakia who comes to this regatta after a season of racing in the lightweight category.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

The gold and silver medallists from last month’s World Rowing Championships are lining up to do battle again in Belarus. 2009 World Rowing Champions Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou from Greece had a comfortable edge three weeks ago, but silver medallists in Poznan Magdalena Kemnitz and Agnieszka Renc of Poland, will be doing everything possible to get the upper hand. Tsiavou is the defending champion and she looks to be moving the boat very well with new partner Giazitzidou. Poland will have to pull out a very special race to get into the gold medal spot.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

This event is an open slate with all sorts of new combinations, but no one can look past the Italian entry. With Elia Luini sitting in stroke, you know that is is going to be a quick boat. Luini, third at last month’s World Rowing Championships, has partnered up with Lorenzo Bertini. Bertini is far from slow with an Olympic medal behind him and international racing that dates back over a decade.

Keep an eye for the flying Portuguese. Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes are well known for their aggressive, high-rating finishes and if they time their race right, they have a very good chance of medalling.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

When Germany beat Denmark last month at the World Rowing Championships, it signalled a huge accomplishment and breakthrough in this event which has been dominated by the Danes. The German “brothers” boat is back to do some more damage in Belarus. But the French have put together quite a line-up which includes Olympic Champion Jean-Christophe Bette and his 2009 World Champion lightweight pairs partner Fabien Tilliet. There are also big names in the Italian and Czech Republic boats. Despite no Danes, the Germans will be presented with solid challenges.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

It is difficult to look past Ukraine. They looked great when they won gold last month at the World Rowing Championships. Svitlana Spiriukova, Tetiana Kolesnikova, Anastasiia Kozhenkova and Yana Dementieva of Ukraine look to be the next strength in women’s quad rowing. But Italy have committed to building a strong performance and they will be hoping to improve on their fourth-place finish last month in Poznan.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Estonia are the defending European Champions in this event but they have had two crew changes since their 2008 win. This new line-up finished in the B-final at last month’s World Rowing Championships and they will have their work cut out for them to defend their European title. The Estonians will be up against 2009 A-finalists Italy which has some of the best names in quad sculling sitting in the boat. Watch out too for Germany. It may be their “B” boat but there are still lots of top German sculling names filling the four spots. There is also Slovenia. Stroked by Slovenia’s rowing icon, Iztok Cop, the quad finished seventh last month, but racing in Belarus shows their commitment to improve.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

It will be difficult to look past Romania. They are the current world silver medallists and are the European defending champions. The Romanians do not take the women’s eight lightly and have made this their priority boat for a number of years. Great Britain and Poland will have a lot of work to do to get up close to the Romanians.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

France are the defending European Champions and this year they have put together an interesting mix of their top sweep and sculling athletes including six of the athletes who took gold last year. They will have strong opposition from Poland who finished fourth last month at the World Rowing Championships. Russia is likely to also be in the mix. The Russians finished second at last year’s European Championships, but their new 2009 crew will have to prove their worth in Belarus. Look out to for Italy, who finished sixth in Poznan and will be looking to improve their performance.