Who to watch at World Rowing Cup 2017 season starter

The Netherlands, Poland and Great Britain are sending large teams with the Dutch forming a men’s pair using Olympians Mitchel Steenman and Mechiel Versluis. Poland has brought 20-year-old Bartosz Modrzynski into stroke their men’s eight and Great Britain’s men’s four is being led by the formidable Mohamed Sbihi. The men’s single sculls sees Croatia’s Olympic silver medallist Damir Martin pitted against fellow-countryman and Olympic Champion Martin Sinkovic and in the women’s single European Champion Magdalen Lobnig of Austria will race the unstoppable Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus.

Women’s pair (W2-)
In the absence of two-time Olympic Champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, Great Britain will send a new line-up to World Rowing Cup I of Karen Bennett and Holly Norton. Bennett was part of the British women’s eight that won silver in Rio, while Norton won World Championship gold in the women’s four in Rotterdam last year.

The Netherlands will send three women’s pair boats to Belgrade. Rio Olympians Karien Robbers and Aletta Jorritsma will race separately in two of those boats.

Men’s pair (M2-)
Two crews that raced in last year’s Olympic B-final will be lining up in the men’s pair in Belgrade. Hungary’s Bela Simon Jr and Adrian Juhasz, and Serbia’s Nenad Bedik and Milos Vasic.  All of these boats have seen the podium in the past with Simon and Juhasz the reigning European Champions. But there is no doubt that the crowd will be behind Bedik and Vasic who come to Belgrade as Serbia’s medal hope.

Olympians from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Alexander Sigurbjonsson and Pau Vela Maggi from Spain will also race at World Rowing Cup I. They look to be on an ever-improving curve.

Great Britain will send two newcomer crews at the senior level with Jacob Dawson and Matthew Rossiter making up the first boat and Samuel Arnot and Tom Jeffery racing in the second boat.

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Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x)
All eyes will be on the dynamic double act from Ireland, the O’Donovan brothers. Gary and Paul O’Donovan finished second at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and thus brought Ireland their first Olympic medal in rowing. After Rio, Paul went on to take the World Championship title in the lightweight men’s single sculls and in-between training they have been igniting rowing in their homeland with many television appearances.

The Irish will face two of Great Britain’s most experienced lightweight rowers – Peter Chambers and Will Fletcher. This is one of two British boats racing in the lightweight men’s double sculls. Their national rivals will be Zak Lee-Green and Samuel Mottram who hail from the lightweight men’s quadruple sculls.

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)
After a disappointing season in the lightweight women’s double sculls, the 2012 Olympic Champion in this boat class Katherine Copeland and her 2015 and 2016 partner Charlotte Booth (nee Taylor), are back. They will be racing against a second British boat consisting of Madeleine Arlett and Emily Craig. 

The Polish duo of Weronika Deresz and Martyna Mikolajczak who finished seventh overall at the 2016 Olympic Games will also be lining up in Belgrade to give the British a run for their money.

Men’s four (M4-)
Great Britain won Olympic gold in Rio and will send a four to Belgrade, but with a mixture of participants. Only Mohamed Sbihi remains from last year’s line-up. Following post-Rio retirements, Sbihi is leading the way among the British men’s sweep squad and at over 2 metres tall and over 100kg, Sbihi makes for a formidable figure. New members Matthew Tarrant and Stewart Innes hail from the men’s pair that finished fourth in Rio, while the fourth member, William Satch was part of the 2016 Olympic Champion men’s eight.

Also racing in Belgrade will be two Dutch boats, one of which finished fifth in Rio (with one change to last year’s line-up).

Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)
The Netherlands won Olympic silver in Rio and two members from the Olympic line-up will be part of the boat in Belgrade: Inge Janssen and Nicole Beukers. Olympic bronze medallists Poland will also retain two members from Rio: Agnieszka Kobus and Maria Springwald. Both of these boats look to be part of the post-Olympic rebuild as they move into the new Olympic cycle phase.

The British line-up will include under-23 World Champions in the double Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Jessica Leyden as well as Bethany Bryan (an under-23 world bronze medallist in the eight), Holly Nixon (2016 World Champion in the women’s four). Hodgkins-Byrne and Leyden are also racing in the double.

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)
Estonia won Olympic bronze in Rio last year in this boat class. As two of its former members Allar Raja and Tonu Endrekson will race in the men’s double sculls in Belgrade, they have brought in two replacements. Kuslap Kaur has already raced a number of times in his country’s quad in previous years while Joosep Laos has so far mostly raced internationally at the under-23 level.

Look out too for Poland. They will send the same line-up that finished fourth in Rio last year and they come to Belgrade with a strong men’s quad legacy from their 2008 Olympic Champion boat.

Two British boats will race at World Rowing Cup I with only one athlete remaining from Rio’s fifth-placed boat – Jack Beaumont.

Lithuania finished ninth overall in Rio and will continue to build on its past experience. The one change to its Olympic line-up will be Rolandas Mascinskas, a World and European medallist in the double, who will replace Dominykas Jancionis.

Men’s double sculls (M2x)
The reigning Olympic Champions in the men’s double sculls are Martin and Valent Sinkovic from Croatia. However, in Belgrade, Croatia will be sending a different line-up consisting of David Sain and Luka Baricevic as Valent Sinkovic is recovering from injury. Sain is a multi-medallist at World Championship level and also an Olympic silver medallist from London in the men’s quadruple sculls. Baricevic is a newcomer at the senior level.

This leaves the 2016 Olympic silver medallists as the top crew to look out for. Encouraged by their Rio results, the Lithuanians Mindaugas Griskonis and Saulius Ritter have remained in the double and they will be hard to pass. The Estonians, however, will give it a good shot.

Olympic bronze medallists in the men’s quadruple sculls, Tonu Endrekson and Allar Raja from Estonia have now combined forces in the double. Endrekson, 37, took an Olympic medal in this boat class nine years ago in Beijing. With Raja, 33, the duo bring with them a world of experience.

Look out too for Rio Olympic B-finalists Kristian Vasilev and Georgi Bozhilov from Bulgaria.

 Women’s double sculls (W2x)
Poland won gold at the Rio Olympics in the women’s double, but a new line-up will be racing for Poland. The line-up includes Joanna Leszczynska who won Olympic bronze in the women’s quadruple sculls in Rio and Olga Michalkiewicz who is an under-23 World Champion in the women’s quad.

Great Britain will send two boats. One includes Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Jess Leyden who are the reigning under-23 World Champions in this event and they are bound to put up a good fight against their more senior competition.

Belarus’s Tatsiana Klimovich and Krystina Staraselets won silver at last year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships and are now making their way into the senior ranks.

Three boats will race for the Netherlands in Belgrade. One of these will include Roos De Jong who won bronze in this event at last year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships and another will include Inge Janssen who raced to sixth place in the women’s eight in Rio.

Men’s single sculls (M1x)
In Rio, Olympic silver medallist Damir Martin from Croatia crossed the line just fractions of a second behind Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. He is back in the single this season and will be the single sculler to watch. In the absence of Drysdale, Martin will still face tough competition as he will line up against fellow countryman Martin Sinkovic, the 2016 Olympic Champion in the men’s double sculls. There is no doubt that the two Croatians will be the stars to watch in this boat class. 

Belarus’s Stanslau Shcharbachenia and Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez will also be racing. They finished fifth and sixth respectively in the Rio Olympic final and both have shown that when needed they are medal contenders.

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Women’s single sculls (W1x)
Magdalena Lobnig of Austria is racing for the first time since her a-final finish at the Rio Olympics. Lobnig, 26, has shown steady improvement over recent years including becoming the European Champion last year.  She will be lining up notably against multi Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten from Belarus and Rio Olympian from Ireland Sanita Puspure. These three scullers know each other’s racing technique well, but it will be interesting to see how they come out at Belgrade after the off-season of training.

Look out too for Great Britain’s Victoria Thornley, who won Olympic silver in the women’s double sculls in Rio. Thornley has previously raced internationally in this boat class in 2013 and 2014.

Also switching from the double to the single in Belgrade will be Lithuania’s Milda Valciukaite who won Olympic bronze in the double in Rio and in 2014 was the under-23 champion in the single.

Men’s eight (M8+)
The reigning Olympic and World Champions in the men’s eight, Great Britain will be sending a new line-up to Belgrade with only Tom Ransley remaining from Rio. Adding to the mix is Callum McBrierty who took gold at the 2016 World Rowing Championships in the men’s coxed pair. His coxswain, Henry Fieldman, joins McBrierty in this new-look eight.

The 2016 Olympic bronze medallists, the Netherlands will race at World Rowing Cup I with an entirely new crew while fifth-place finishers in Rio, Poland, will line up in Belgrade with a crew nearly identical to that of Rio as they continue to push the development of this crew.