Rowers to watch at the World Rowing Cup III, Sabaudia, Italy

It’s the third and final World Rowing Cup of the 2021 season and the last chance for crews to compete internationally before they head to the Tokyo Olympic Games. More than 300 athletes from 24 countries are heading to Sabaudia and the weather is looking to be just as hot as the racing.

Women’s pair (W2-)
With just seven crews competing, it’s an excellent opportunity for some new combinations to test their speed. The Danish are racing in their newly-Olympic-qualified line-up of Hedvig Rasmussen and Fie Udby Erichsen. This duo came together just weeks ago and managed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. It looks like they are using all of the racing opportunities possible to gain experience together before heading to Japan.

They will go up against Italy, the Czech Republic and Croatia. All three crews finished behind them at the Qualification Regatta just two weeks ago. Great Britain is also sending two new combinations which look to be development crews.

Men’s pair (M2-)
The men’s pair sees the return of the Sinkovic brothers after their notable absence from Lucerne. They will go up against a new-look Italian crew. Giovanni Abagnale is stepping in for Matteo Lodo to race together with Giuseppe Vicino. Lodo and Vicino finished second at the second World Rowing Cup, so it will be interesting to see what this new combination can do.

Keep an eye also on the French combination of Thibaud and Guillaume Turlan. Their fifth-place finish at the second World Cup all but solidified their selection in the French squad to represent the country at the Olympic Games.

Women’s double sculls (W2x)
With seven entries all eyes will probably be on the Netherlands. Lisa Scheenaard and Roos de Jong have had some of the most consistent results in the field. They finished second just two weeks ago in Lucerne and are certainly ready to be on the podium again.

They’ll have to watch out for a possible strong performance from Italy and Germany. Italy have stuck with their new line-up of Clara Guerra and Stefania Buttignon after their fifth-place finish in Lucerne. And Germany qualified the boat for the Olympics at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta with their line-up of Leonie Menzel and Annekatrin Thiele.

Men’s double sculls (M2x)
With some of the top names out of the running, the podium might just be shaken up. The Swiss crew of Barnabe Delarze and Roman Roeoesli are entered. They were fifth at the second World Cup, but are likely to be on the podium again in Sabaudia. Watch out too for Poland’s Miroslaw Zietarski and Mateusz Biskup. They are world bronze medallists from 2019, but have had a few ups and downs at the last events.

Women’s Four (W4-)
The Dutch are back in their European Champion line-up and they are definitely looking to win in Sabaudia. Their biggest challenge is likely to come from Poland who finished fourth in a tight final at the World Rowing Cup II. But keep an eye on Italy. They have entered a young combination, but they might just benefit from a bit of home pride. And don’t rule out Denmark – they were third back in 2019, but have struggled in the last two seasons.

Men’s four (M4-)
Italy is making some changes to their line-ups across the board and they have decided to shake-up their men’s four. They’ve put Matteo Lodo into the bow-seat with Giuseppe Vicino in two-seat. The stroke pair of Bruno Rosetti and Matteo Castaldo remains out of their fourth-place finishing line-up from Lucerne. Are they eyeing these line-ups for Tokyo? It remains to be seen.

Other top performances are likely to come from Poland. They are defending World Champions, but found themselves back in sixth at the second World Rowing Cup. Great Britain and the Netherlands have both sent young crews, so it will be interesting to see how they measure up. 

Women’s single sculls (W1x)
It’s a young field entered in Sabaudia. None of the top names are competing, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting. Lovisa Claesson of Sweden finished fourth at the first World Rowing Cup of the season after securing her ticket to Tokyo. But watch out for Sophie Souwer of the Netherlands. She raced as a spare in the women’s four in Lucerne, but she came fifth at the European Rowing Championships in the women’s single.

And keep an eye on young talents like Pia Grieten of Germany, she comes out of the German women’s eight, but has a silver medal from the under-23 championships back in 2018. And don’t forget about Maike Diekmann of Namibia – she qualified for the Tokyo Games by winning the African Qualification Regatta.

Men’s single sculls (M1x)
This is chock-full of talent. Most of the world’s top names are set to compete, including World and European Champion Oliver Zeidler of Germany. He seems to be unstoppable, but Sverri Nielsen of Denmark and Kjetil Borch of Norway have the best chance of doing so.

Damir Martin of Croatia also seems to be making his comeback after struggling with injury. He finished third at the first World Rowing Cup and it might have been enough of a confidence boost to see him on the podium again. Watch out too for Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk from Poland. He had a disappointing finish at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and did not qualify for Tokyo, but he is clearly continuing his rowing career and is a top contender in Sabaudia.

Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)
The Dutch are world silver medallists from 2019, European Champions from 2020 and European bronze medallists from 2021. They had to withdraw from racing in Lucerne due to medical reasons, but they are lining up in Sabaudia to test their speed again. Their biggest challengers will definitely be Switzerland and the Netherlands. Switzerland has only raced at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta this year, where they qualified their boat for Tokyo. Italy has boated a new line-up of Siliva Crosio and Federica Cesarini. It will certainly be interesting to see how their speed compares.

Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x)
The racing was intense in Lucerne in this boat class. The Irish managed to secure the win ahead of Norway and Germany. Italy finished just off the podium. But Ireland and Germany are not entered in Sabaudia. That leaves a battle for the Norwegians and the Italians to determine the top of the podium. Watch out too for a great race between Egypt and Algeria. Algeria has qualified their boat for the Olympic Games and are certainly looking to test their boat speed.

Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)
This has a fantastic entry of 11 boats. That includes some of the top countries: Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. Until two weeks ago at the second World Rowing Cup, the medals were mostly divided between Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. Then the defending World Champions from China returned to international competition and showed their incredible power. And the crew from Italy had a well-timed race to come third behind Germany. Poland and the Netherlands missed out on the podium.

China won’t be competing again in Sabaudia, but this third world cup will give the others another racing opportunity before their final preparations on the road to Tokyo.

Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)
Italy is probably the crew to beat in Sabaudia. They come off a silver medal finish at the second World Rowing Cup in Lucerne – and they are defending European Champions. But watch out too for Poland and Germany. Poland are world silver medallists from 2019, and they were just pushed off the podium in Lucerne, finishing fourth. Germany have a bronze medal from the first World Rowing Cup and are hoping to find a position on the podium again.

 Men’s eight (M8+)
There are just two crews competing in the men’s eight, but that doesn’t mean it will lack excitement. The Germans are defending World Champions, but they were dethroned at the European Championships earlier this year. They finished just a fraction of a second behind Great Britain at the second World Rowing Cup. Now they are going up against Italy and they will certainly be using this as an extra racing opportunity to boost confidence before heading to Japan.

There are five international boat classes also competing in Sabaudia. The lightweight women’s single sculls has seven entries, including World Rowing Cup I winner Sofia Meakin of Switzerland. Keep an eye too on 2020 European Champion Martine Veldhuis of the Netherlands and Paola Piazolla from Italy.

 The lightweight men’s single sculls will see the continuation of the Italian national dual between Niels Torre and Martino Goretti. The young talent Torre pulled off the win ahead of the 2019 World Champion Goretti just a few weeks ago in Lucerne. Sabaudia will be another chance for them to measure each other’s speed. But watch out too for defending European Champion Peter Galambos of Hungary.

The lightweight men’s pair is also an Italian affair with two Italian crews entered. But the crew to beat is probably Hungary who enter their gold medal winning duo from the European Championships.

 And then there’s the lightweight quadruple sculls. It’s going to be the Netherlands and Italy competing against one another in both the men’s and the women’s races. On the women’s side, Italy comes with half of the combination that won the World Championships back in 2019. The Dutch are a composite club crew and will have to see if they can compete with the experienced Italians.

The first Italian crew entered in the lightweight men’s quadruple sculls has two of the four members that won the 2021 European Rowing Championships. And the Dutch have boated a new line-up with just one remaining member from their bronze-medal winning quad at the European Championships.