Preview day 7: Four finals at Olympic rowing

Due to start at 11:30am (GMT) the men’s quadruple sculls is looking very promising for Croatia to take their first ever Olympic gold in rowing. The young crew are at their first Olympic Games and have proved themselves ever since they teamed up in 2009. They have are 2010 World Champions and they come to London following an unbeaten season through the Samsung World Rowing Cup series. They are up against World silver medallists, Germany and reigning World Champions Australia. Watch out too for late qualifiers, Estonia who has the very experienced Olympic medallist, Tonu Endrekson in the boat.

If Hamish Bond and Eric Murray of New Zealand are beaten in the men’s pair, it will be the biggest upset of this Olympic rowing regatta. Bond and Murray are unstoppable. They have three years of winning behind them and are desperate to put their seventh-place finish in the four at the Beijing Olympics far into history.

This leaves the rest of the field to race for silver and three boats are likely to be in the mix. Italy’s Olympians Niccolo Mornati and Lorenzo Carboncini had a great race in the semifinals and should be on the pace. So should Beijing Olympic silver medallists Canada (David Calder and Scott Frandsen) and, if the crowd is working for them, Great Britain’s young crew of William Satch and George Nash may have a shot at the medals.

The women’s double sculls has the potential to be Great Britain’s second gold at this Olympic regatta. Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins have not been beaten since they teamed up in 2010. This is the fourth Olympic Games for Grainger and with three silver medals, she really would like gold. But the Australian duo of Kim Crow and Brooke Pratley come to London on a roll. Crow, rowing in two events, has shown that she can be successful in both the single and the double, and Pratley is a tall talent that raced at Beijing in the women’s eight. They will be the ones to push Grainger and Watkins. Watch out too for Poland and New Zealand who could surprise – at least for the lesser medals.

The fastest scullers in the world, the men’s single sculls final gets going at 12:30pm (GMT). Many a top sculler got left by the wayside as crews were narrowed down to the final six today which includes silver and bronze medallists from Beijing – Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. Drysdale and Synek have been the main gold contenders over the last Olympic quadrennial and one of them is likely to take gold. This season Synek and Drysdale have raced twice and the score is one-all.

But Synek and Drysdale need to be wary of Great Britain’s Alan Campbell who is a regular medallist and, in front of a home crowd, Campbell is planning to break into the top spot. Then there is Germany’s Marcel Hacker who medalled at the 2000 Olympics in the single and when he puts it all together, he is very, very good. This very tough race also has a very in-form Swede, Lassi Karonen.