World Rowing Championships Countdown – The quadruple sculls

Women’s quadruple sculls

The 2017 Season

• Poland won all three World Rowing Cup Regattas, but a 4^th place finish at the European Rowing Championships prevented a perfect season.
• Poland’s line-up remained consistent throughout the season (Agniesyka Kobus, Marta Wieliczco, Maria Springwald and Katarzyna Zillmann) including two members of the Olympic bronze medal crew (Kobus and Springwald)
• Fastest Final: World Rowing Cup II, Poland won gold in 6:14.60 – WATCH HERE. 
• Closest Finish:  World Rowing Cup III – The Netherlands pushed out the fastest final 500m sprint of the season. They covered the last 500m in 1:33.80 finishing in 6:18.01 with the leading Poles winning in 6:17.31. WATCH HERE. 
• The Netherlands placed second each race this season. With regular adjustments to seating order, the one constant in this boat has been Nichole Beukers.

[PHOTO src=”127677″ size=”mediumLandscape” align=”right”]  

Predictions

The Polish crew may be the season favourites, but they will not have an easy ride at the World Rowing Championships. The Germans, the Dutch and British took European honours early in the season, shutting out the Polish crew from the podium. The Poles came back strong, but a tight finish at World Cup III reveals just how precarious their position is. With the exception of Australia and China, the World Rowing Championships will also see the first appearance since the Olympics of many strong non-European crews. The Americans in particular, who finished 5^th at Rio 2016, will certainly be hoping to achieve something on home waters.

Historical Facts

• The first time the women’s quad was raced at the World Rowing Championships was 1985. Before then it was the coxed quad.
• Most World Championship Wins: Germany* (11 golds out of a possible 24 since 1985)
• Most Olympic Wins: Germany* (4 golds out of a possible 8 since 1988)
• Rio 2016 Olympic Champions: Germany (Annekatrin Thiele, Carina Baer, Julia Lier, Lisa Schmidla)
• World Best Time: 6:06.84 set by Germany in 2014

Men’s quadruple sculls

The 2017 Season

• Lithuania is undefeated this season, winning World Rowing Cup I and III as well as the European Rowing Championships.
• Fastest Final: World Cup II, with Lithuania absent, Great Britain claimed gold with a time of 5:36.42, posting the season’s fastest final so far. – WATCH HERE. 
• Closest Finish: While Lithuania has not let a crew get within two seconds of them, the battle for the podium has been fierce. At the European Championships 0.28 seconds separated 3^rd from 5^th – WATCH HERE – and again at World Rowing Cup III where Poland managed to hold off New Zealand to claim bronze by 0.66 seconds. – WATCH HERE. 
• Poland twice used their complete Rio 2016 Olympic line-up of with mixed results (2^nd WRC I and 5^th WRC III)

[PHOTO src=”127533″ size=”mediumLandscape” align=”right”]

Predictions

Lithuania look to be the crew to beat. But Great Britain performed exceptionally at World Rowing Cup II to maintain a foothold on the podium. The experienced Poles and a hard-finishing Kiwi crew could gain a podium foothold. Not to be discounted are Rio 2016 silver medalists, Australia, whose Olympic line-up would surely prove a challenge .

Historical Facts

• The men’s quad has been part of the World Rowing Championships and Olympic programmes since the mid-1970s
• Most World Championship Wins: Germany* (12 golds out of a possible 30 since 1977)
• Most Olympic Wins: Germany* (7 golds out of a possible 11 since 1976 )
• Rio 2016 Olympic Champions: Germany (Philipp Wende, Lauritz Schoof, Karl Schulze, Hans Gruhne)
• World Best Time: 5:32.26 set by Ukraine in 2014

*For simplicity, these numbers include the results of both the former East Germany (GDR) and West Germany (FRG) as well as those of the current unified state of Germany (GER).