Consistent Germans back on top – the men’s quadruple sculls

Germany is the nation that owns the most Olympic and World Championship medals historically in the men’s quad. In the past 24 years, Germany won four Olympic medals, three of them gold. The Germans also have an overall 28 World Championship medals to their name, including nine as East Germany and four as West Germany.

Since their win at London 2012, Germany has been the most consistent nation in this boat class, reaching the podium at each World Rowing Championship regatta during this quadrennial. This season, they won the overall World Cup thanks to a gold medal at World Rowing Cup I [Watch here], silver in Varese [Watch here] and yet another gold at the final World Rowing Cup in Lucerne [Watch here].

Although they missed out on the podium at the European Rowing Championships, the German boat went on to finish the season in style, claiming World Championship gold [Watch here]. The crew composition is nearly identical to the Olympic Champion crew of four years ago, with Hans Gruhne as the single exception.

Back on the radar screen this year is Australia. The Aussies were a major force to reckon with in the lead up to their bronze medal in London, having won World Championship silver in 2009, bronze in 2010 and the World Championship title in 2011.

After a post-London break, Australia made a comeback in 2015, with Karsten Forsterling as the only athlete remaining from 2012. The Beijing Olympic Champion in the men’s double sculls, David Crawshay, has also joined the boat, along with Cameron Girdlestone and David Watts.

Competing in the A-Final at World Rowing Cup II in Varese, and then again in Lucerne, the Aussies waited until Aiguebelette to medal. Moving up the field from fourth at 500m, they finished the 2015 season with silver at the World Rowing Championships.

Estonia’s athletes have been Olympic and World Championship finalists each year since 2012. This year, their persistence paid off, and they finally broke into the medals, taking bronze at the World Rowing Championships. This is their third World Championship medal and third bronze medal historically, as they won their previous two medals in 2005 and 2006. No doubt this result will help build the quartet’s hopes of claiming their nation’s first ever Olympic medal in this boat class at Rio 2016.

Great Britain beat Germany at World Rowing Cup II in Varese, and won gold. At the European Rowing Championships they took bronze behind Russia and Ukraine. The British won their first World Championship medal ever in this boat class in 2013 – a bronze – and followed it with world silver in 2014. In Aiguebelette, the opposition proved too great to be able to move up into medal contention and they finished fourth.

The Swiss crew have been A-finalists at each World Rowing Championship regatta so far this quadrennial and this year they improved from their previous two sixth-positions into fifth, while the Lithuanians crossed the line last.

With eight Olympic qualification spots up for grabs at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, the six boats racing in the A-final were guaranteed a trip to Rio. The B-Final featured several of this year’s medallists at World Cup and European Championship level, including the 2014 World Champions and current World Best Time holders, Ukraine. With so much at stake and such a number of top boats involved, racing in the B-Final proved to be even more nerve-wracking than in the A-final.

The top three finishers in the World Championship B-Final crossed the finish line less than one second apart, with Poland taking the seventh qualification spot and Ukraine the eighth. Lucerne silver medallists New Zealand missed out on qualification by five hundredths of a second. Canada, who won bronze in Varese, finished a disappointing eleventh overall, while this year’s European Champions, Russia, raced in the C-Final.

With so much talent missing their ticket to Rio, racing is expected to be merciless at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta this coming May. Only two additional spots remain.

Olympic qualifiers so far:

1. GER
2. AUS
3. EST
4. GBR
5. SUI
6. LTU
7. POL
8. UKR