Entries announced for 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup I

The 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup I will be staged in Sydney, Australia from 22 to 24 March as a part of an exciting new festival concept called World Rowing Down Under – The Sydney International Rowing Regatta. This event includes the Australian Rowing Championships, the Open Schools Championships, the King's and Queen's Cup Regatta and the Samsung World Rowing Cup regatta. It brings together the youth of Australian rowing with the best in the world.

As a part of a

strategic initiative to expand rowing's global calendar and to take advantage of Australia's pleasant early autumn temperatures, the World Rowing regatta season is launching two months earlier in 2013 compared to previous years.

Venue of the 2000 Olympic Games regatta, the Sydney International Regatta Centre will stage more than 100 crews from 18 nations racing in 14 World Cup boat classes. Australia is presenting the biggest team with entries in all events. China and Great Britain are also sending a large contingent with more than 40 athletes each.

In this first year of the Rio 2016 Olympic cycle, a number of 2012 Olympic medallists from Australia, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand and the USA will race in new combinations and in different boat classes, creating much anticipation as to which new crews might take centre stage during the 2013 season.

Two women's events are set to take the limelight in Sydney. The women's single sculls and the lightweight women's double sculls have both attracted 11 entries which will make for outstanding races.

In the women's single sculls, Australia's London Olympic success story Kim Crow is expected to lead the way. Crow raced in two events at the 2012 Games and medalled in both, taking bronze in the single sculls and a silver in the double sculls. She will face China's top single sculler Xiuyun Zhang who has an Olympic medal from 1996 and finished sixth in the single in London.

There is a solid presence of Asian nations in the lightweight women's double sculls. But the strongest medal contenders are likely to come from two of the top rowing nations – New Zealand and Great Britain. New Zealand's crew includes Julia Edward who raced at the London Olympic Games and was also part of the crew that set a new World Best Time in this event at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.

A tight battle is foreseen in the Blue Riband women's eight between the two top crews in the world, the United States and Canada. Both boats have retained a number of their 2012 Olympic medallists and also mixed in up and coming rowers, which adds an element of mystery to what the outcome might be.

The lightweight men's double sculls may see Portugal's best finally getting to the top of the medals podium. Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes have led the way for Portuguese rowing for several years and their fifth-place finish in London was very promising. But Fraga and Mendes will face a tough challenge from Great Britain if they want to get into the top spot.

A full event by event preview for the first stage of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup series will be published on www.worldrowing.com on Wednesday 20 March.

To consult the entries, please find the direct link on the homepage of www.worldrowing.com.

During the regatta, race reports, live results and a dedicated photo gallery will be provided on www.worldrowing.com.  

The World Cup event finals will be video-streamed live on Sunday 24 March and can be accessed through the video section of the website.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after a series of three regattas. This year, the three stages of the series include Sydney, Australia (22 – 24 March), Eton Dorney, Great Britain (21 – 23 June) and Lucerne, Switzerland (12 – 14 July). 

Media accreditation can be requested through the website media centre.

To find out more about the festival, please visit www.rowingdownunder.org.

-Melissa Bray