Karsten and Triggs Hodge lead 2013 points table

Karsten dropped off the Top 10 list last year after not medalling at the London Olympic Games or World Rowing Championships – one of the criteria for making the list. Karsten, 41, has spent the majority of her 23-year international career dominating the women’s single sculls. In 2013 she made a dramatic change by switching to the women’s double sculls. Karsten partnered with Yuliya Bichyk who comes in at eighth on the Top 10 list. With every intention of racing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Karsten could well continue to lead the list in the near future.

Total medal points for Karsten is 31, a count that puts her 20 points ahead of second-placed Caroline Lind of the United States. Lind’s spot is a result of her association with the long-winning US women’s eight. The eight has won every World Championship and Olympic Games race since 2006 and Lind has been in all of these boats bar one (2010).  

Lind’s teammate Meghan Musnicki comes in at three on the list. Musnicki, last year’s ninth-place getter, was very close to dropping off the list. Musnicki was pulled into the US World Championship eight at the last minute after one crew member had to withdraw due to injury. Musnicki was originally assigned to the pair in which she also raced, finishing fourth.

Andrew Triggs Hodge of Great Britain has moved up from third in 2012 to take the top spot on the 2013 Top 10 Male Rowers list. Triggs Hodge, at 13 points, sits one place ahead of his teammate Pete Reed (12 points). Triggs Hodge, 34, was an integral part of the British men’s eight this year. The crew won gold at the World Rowing Championships.

Triggs Hodge made his international racing debut in 2001 at the under-23 level. At his first Olympics, in 2004, Triggs Hodge was a member of the eight that finished ninth. His major success was yet to come and it came in a smaller boat. At the 2008 Olympic Games Triggs Hodge won gold in the men’s four. He was also part of the crew that successfully defended the Olympic title four years later. Now in the eight, Triggs Hodge helped the crew to serve Great Britain with their first ever gold medal in the men’s eight at the World Rowing Championship level.

Reed was also in this British men’s eight. He benefited from the 2013 World Championship title to come in as second on the list – up from fourth in 2012. Reed’s rowing career has almost mirrored that of Triggs Hodge. Since 2005 they have always been in the same boat including a three-year stint in the pair together. Triggs Hodge and Reed have trialled for the British team in the pair and are regularly the top performers.

Following in third equal spot on the Top 10 list is New Zealand’s men’s pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond. Murray and Bond started rowing together in their nation’s four in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Following a B-final finish at these Games, Bond asked Murray about doing a pair together. Their success was instant and phenomenal.

Since 2009 they have not lost a race and at the 2013 World Rowing Championships their wins added up to 16, putting them at the top of the list of most consecutive wins of any rower, ever. Murray and Bond have the World Best Time in the pair and regularly win by open-water leads. They can also be credited for the decision of British coach Juergen Grobler to take Triggs Hodge and Reed out of the pair and put them in the four.

Eligibility for the Top 10 is decided by a list of criteria which includes a point system that weighs Olympic medals three times more than a World Championship medal in an Olympic boat class. World Championship medals in international boat classes receive half of the points received in an Olympic boat class at the World Rowing Championships.

As stated, to make the list the rower must have medalled in the current year at either the Olympic Games or the World Rowing Championships.

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