27 Mar 2013
Firsts for Korea in Sydney
For the first time, a World Rowing Cup regatta is being staged in the Southern Hemisphere in Sydney, Australia. As 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 began two months earlier in 2013 compared to previous years. Preliminary races were held on Friday 22 March and A-finals will be staged in the Olympic boat classes on Sunday 24 March.
From 09:35 through to 12:45 local time, the Sunday A-finals will be video streamed live on World Rowing TV and for the first time this channel will be opened to US viewers free of charge thanks to a new media rights model launched by World Rowing.
A-finals Preview
In the women's pair a handful of Olympic Champions will line up. Helen Glover of Great Britain is the reigning Olympic Champion in this boat class and here in Sydney she and new partner Polly Swann qualified for the A-final with the fastest qualifying time. Meghan Musnicki and Caroline Lind of the USA won Olympic gold at London 2012 in the women's eight and are now forming a competitive combination of their own in the pair.
In the men's pair the two standout crews are French. Finishing first and second in their race for lanes on Friday they will be lining up in the centre lanes for the A-final. France's number one crew of Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette won Olympic silver in London last summer while their number two crew includes Julien Despres, an Olympic bronze medallist from 2008 in the men's four. Which of these two crews will cross the line first on Sunday?
In the women's double sculls, Great Britain will feature two crews in the A-final. The combination of Frances Houghton (a two-time Olympic silver medallist) and Victoria Meyer-Laker had the faster qualifying time of the two boats. Watch out too for New Zealand – they won their heat, thereby qualifying directly for the A-final.
In the men's four, the A-final will showcase the Australian Olympic silver medalling boat with just one change to their line-up: Joshua Booth has replaced the now retired and legendary rower Drew Ginn.
Winning her heat on Friday, Kim Crow of Australia is all set to be the star of the women's single sculls. Crow was the only athlete to medal in two boat classes at the 2012 Olympic Rowing Regatta – bronze in the women's single sculls and silver in the women's double sculls. Crow's main competition on Sunday will likely come from Eleanor Logan of the USA, who also qualified directly for the A-final from her heat. Logan is a two-time Olympic Champion in the women's eight and here in Sydney is racing in two sculling events – the single and the quad.
New faces have emerged at the head of the men's single sculls field and Bulgaria's Georgi Bozhilov is showing promising speed, having qualified with the fastest time for the A-final.
Julia Edward of New Zealand impressed the world of rowing by setting a new World Best Time in the lightweight women's double sculls last season in Lucerne, Switzerland. Racing in Sydney with a new partner, Lucy Strack, the crew is racing strong. They qualified for tomorrow's A-final with the fastest time overall in this boat class.
China will be a force to reckon with in the lightweight men's double sculls, having qualified two boats, one from each heat, directly for the A-final. Also lining up in the A-final of the lightweight men's double are Great Britain's Richard Chambers, a London Olympic silver medallist in the lightweight men's four who is racing here with Adam Freeman-Pask, and Portugal's top rowers Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes.
Watch out for Great Britain in the lightweight men's four: two members of the crew, Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley, were part of the Olympic silver medallist boat in London. But New Zealand are not planning to make it easy for them, having beat them to the line in their race for lanes.
2012 Olympic bronze medallists the USA will line up in the women's quadruple sculls, but with only one rower from the London crew remaining, Megan Kalmoe. The other three crew members are from the Olympic Champion women's eight crew: Susan Francia, Esther Lofgren and Eleanor Logan. But Australia did not make the win easy for them in their heat – they chased the USA to the line and finished only one tenths of a second behind.
The women's eight is set to be full of surprises, with the Olympic Champion women's eight from the USA having finished second behind Australia in their heat – their first loss since 2006 – and Canada's Olympic silver medal winning crew having lost their heat to Great Britain.
In the men's eight, two Australian crews will line up, but the British crew will be the one to beat with a line-up of Olympic medallists, including 2012 Olympic Champions from the men's four Andrew Triggs-Hodge, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory.
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