Who to watch at the 2014 World Rowing Championships

Women’s Pair (W2-)
This season has been dominated by Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain. The Olympic Champions reunited in 2014 and their London Olympic speed is still evident. Some would say that they are in a class of their own. This puts a clear target on the backs of Glover and Stanning; a target that New Zealand, the United States and Romania will be chasing.

New Zealand’s Louise Trappitt and Rebecca Scown have medalled at the World Cups this season, as have Megan Kalmoe and Kerry Simmonds of the United States. Romania’s Nicoleta Albu and Cristina Grigoras come out of their country’s successful women’s eight and know about rowing fast. Keep an eye out for South Africa’s Lee-Ann Persse and Naydene Smith. This young duo shows oodles of potential.

Men’s Pair (M2-)
The six-year dominance of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand has not deterred a large turnout of nations in this boat class – even if it means the race will be for silver. A total of 23 nations will line up to take on the World and Olympic Champions with Bond and Murray ready to show the style that has held them at the top. Bond and Murray will also be competing in the men’s coxed pair for the first time. Time will tell how this extra challenge will impact on their racing record.

Competition for Murray and Bond will come from local boys Rogier Blink and Mitchel Steenman of the Netherlands. Blink and Steenman medalled at last year’s World Rowing Championships, and they medalled early this season at the World Rowing Cup I. Also medalling this season have been Great Britain’s James Foad and Matt Langridge and the German duo of Bastian Bechler and Anton Braun.

Watch out for Matteo Castaldo and Marco Di Costanzo of Italy. It is their first season together and they are improving with each race. 

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)
The crew that everyone will be watching is Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre of France. Azou and Delayre have been together since 2012 when they finished fourth at the London Olympic Games. An injury put Delayre out of the World Rowing Championships last year but he is back at full strength and the duo have been recording some fast times. But moving back into form are the 2013 World Champions Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway. Brun and Strandli peaked perfectly last year at the World Championships and under coach Johan Flodin, they are likely to get it right again.

Watch out too for the Italian combination of Pietro Ruta and Andrea Micheletti. Ruta and Michelette partnered up last year to finish fourth at the World Rowing Championships and at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne in July, they finished second to the French.

Strong challenges are also likely to come from Switzerland and Germany, who have been featuring well this past season. And also keep an eye out for the Muda twins of the Netherlands. On home waters they are likely to excel.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)
The return to rowing of Olympic Champion Katherine Copeland of Great Britain brought the British boat back to the top of the pecking order. Copeland is partnered with Imogen Walsh and together they won at the last major race before these World Rowing Championships, the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne (SUI) in July. This win pushed the World Champions Italy (Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani) to their first loss since coming together in late 2012. There is little doubt, though, that Milani and Sancassani will be back.

Australia’s Alice McNamara and Ella Flecker took away the silver medal from Lucerne World Cup with Canada’s Olympic pairing of Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee returning to racing and earning a bronze. These are the boats that will be challenging not only for a medal but for that coveted World Champion spot. Watch out too for Lena Mueller and Anja Noske of Germany. They have had a season of trying different combinations, but the duo that raced together at the London Olympics is back in the boat.

Men’s Four (M4-)
When British men’s head coach Juegen Grobler announced that he had made the men’s four his priority men’s boat, the news was out that this would be a fast combination. This crew of Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash, Alex Gregory and Andrew Triggs Hodge have not lost a race since forming earlier this season  – sometimes winning by large margins. But the World Rowing Championships is the regatta when all crews step up and on their home waters last year’s World Champions, the Netherlands, are likely to be doing something special. The Dutch finished second to Great Britain last month at the World Rowing Cup indicating that they had the speed.

Australia put a lot of emphasis on this boat and their crew were the silver medallists last year.  After taking silver at the second World Rowing Cup, Australia ended up seventh at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne. There is every indication, though, that they will be back and aiming for medals in Amsterdam.

Watch out too for Canada. Their new 2014 boat looks like it is improving with every race. And then the United States, the 2013 bronze medallists, are always a crew to push it in the final.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)
After playing around with line-ups earlier in the season, it looks like Germany has found the right blend. The reigning World Champions, Germany took a very clear win at the World Rowing Cup last month in Lucerne essentially leaving the rest of the field to race for silver. This race for silver, however, is likely to close the gap on the Germans with New Zealand, Australia and Canada in the mix.

New Zealand has been attempting for a while to put together a medal-winning quad and this year they may have struck the right combination. Canada, who won silver at last year’s World Rowing Championships, are also looking good and a silver medal at the Lucerne World Cup will surely be giving them confidence. Australia finished first at the World Rowing Cup in Sydney and then took fourth at the World Cup in Lucerne.

Watch out too for Belarus. They have added Olympic medallists Ekaterina Karsten and Yuliya Bichyk to the boat. Karsten and Bichyk joined the quad earlier this season at the European Rowing Championships and took gold. They are back to put pressure on the Germans.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)
With the World Champions Croatia out of action this season, the door has opened at the top of the field and through it has stepped Great Britain. They have finished first at the last two World Cups this season and also have the pedigree of a bronze medal from last year’s World Rowing Championships. The Germans, however, are the reigning Olympic Champions and they will be aiming to bring their crew back to the top of the medals podium.

Keep a look out too for Estonia, the United States and Switzerland. Estonia pride themselves in putting together a strong quad and their crew finished second at the World Cup in Lucerne, placing them in a very positive spot for Amsterdam. Switzerland won at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and will be hoping to step up to the elites with style. The United States have a new crew for 2014 who medalled at the Lucerne World Cup, but they will have to hold their nerves having had so little international competition.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)
When  Martin and Valent Sinkovic of Croatia ,World Champions from the men’s quadruples sculls, left the quad behind them this season and started racing in the double, they found instant success. The Sinkovic brothers are now the crew to beat. But it may not be plain-sailing for the brothers. This boat class has seen new combinations and a variety of medallists this season leaving a big question mark over who will make the final six at these World Rowing Championships.

Last year this boat class was won by Norway and although Kjetil Borch and Nils Jakob Hoff of Norway have not fared so well this season, they have the experience of knowing how to peak. They will be in the running. Also in the running are last year’s silver medallists Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter of Lithuania who always tend to surprise in the final sprint.

Australia hasmedalled at World Cups this season and will be putting up a strong challenge along with Great Britain and New Zealand who will give it their all if they are in the final.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)
Like the men’s double sculls, the women’s race is also open to a number of variables with no clear idea who will finish at the top. Current World Champions, Milda Valciukaite and Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania have been beaten this season but have remained in the medal chase. Australia’s Olympia Aldersey and Sally Kehoe started off the season with a bang but then slipped out of the medals at the World Rowing Cup last month in Lucerne.

Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj won the European Championships but then ended  up third in both World Cups that they entered. New Zealand’s  2013 silver medallists, Zoe Stevenson and Fiona Bourke, came out flying at the Lucerne World Cup and pulled off a close win.

Add the United States to the list of medal hopefuls,  and you have quite a mix of boats that all have a chance of becoming World Champions. Sunday 31 August will reveal all.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)
When New Zealand came onto the lightweight men’s four scene last year with all guns blazing, Denmark found themselves a new challenge. This boat class has been in Denmark’s domain ever since it became an Olympic boat and 2013 saw a new rivalry born. Denmark won the World Championships last year ahead of New Zealand but this year James Hunter, James Lassche, Curtis Rapley and Peter Taylor of New Zealand have beaten Denmark at their two World Cup encounters.

Jacob Barsoe, Morten Joergensen, Jacob Larsen and Kasper Winther of Denmark will not be resting on their laurels and they will do everything to defend their 2013 title. Also very much in the race for medals will be France and Great Britain. The British only just beat the French at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne and these two crews will be watching each other closely in Amsterdam.

Women’s Eight (W8+)
It would be very hard to look past the United States when it comes to the women’s eight.  Under coach Tom Terhaar they have got it right and keep on getting in right. Ever since they won the World Championships in 2006, the United States has not lost a major race in this boat. Lining up this year is another group of strong, confident women predominantly coming out of university rowing programmes. They are Caroline Lind, Eleanor Logan, Grace Luczak, Meghan Musnicki, Victoria Opitz, Amanda Polk, Heidi Robbins, Lauren Schmetterling and coxswain Katelin Snyder.

The closest challenge to the United States are the Canadians. Canada knocked on the door of gold medal success when they led the US at the World Rowing Cup II in June. Canada was overtaken at the finish but will come to Amsterdam with the confidence of knowing how close they are. Keep an eye out too for Romania and Great Britain. The Romanians won silver at last year’s World Rowing Championships and took gold this year at the European Championships while Great Britain has been knocking on the door of medal success.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)
A large field of 31 nations will start in the men’s single sculls with the top dogs at present being World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. Drysdale currently has the upper hand having beaten Synek to the line at the two World Cups that they met at this season. These two scullers know each other well so the final 200m often comes down to a battle of wills. Both have the will.

But Drysdale and Synek need to watch out for a whole bunch of other scullers. The very strong Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba took silver last year with Marcel Hacker of Germany taking bronze. Both of these scullers have medalled this year at World Cups.

Then coming up through the ranks is Roel Braas of the Netherlands. The local sculler is known for his power on the indoor rowing machine and on home waters he will be a definite challenger. Also coming through this season is the return to top competition of Norway’s 2004 and 2008 Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)
On the waters of the Bosbaan in Amsterdam the duel between Australia’s Kim Crow and New Zealand’s Emma Twigg will continue. Crow is the reigning World Champion but this season, in  their two encounters, Twigg has finished first. Twigg has been in the single regularly for seven years now and is yet to take a senior World Championship title. Will this be her year?

Crow and Twigg will have to watch out for relative newcomer Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. Lobnig burst onto the senior single sculling scene last year finishing fourth at the World Rowing Championships. At the World Cup in Lucerne last month, she was the bronze medallist ahead of Olympic Champion MIrka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. Knapkova has had mixed results this season, but when she races well, she is a winner.

Keep an eye out too for Great Britain’s Victoria Thornley and Genevra Stone of the United States. They could surprise.

Men’s Eight (M8+)
Germany dominated this boat class up until the 2013 World Rowing Championships when they were beaten by Great Britain. Are they back in top form this year? At the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Germany finished first and showed the form that had made them Olympic Champions. But the Germans can’t rest on their laurels. Coming up swiftly and confidently is Russia.

The Russian crew are under the guidance of coach Mike Spracklen and they have been looking better and better through this season. The British are still well and truly in the mix with a silver medal from World Cup II and a bronze medal from World Cup III. Keep an eye out too for the United States and France. The US don’t race very often internationally , but when they came out for World Cup II in Aiguebelette, they finished first. France has put a bunch of their best rowers in the eight and they will be aiming for the medals.