Rowers to watch – 2022 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships

The 2022 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships (WRICH) presented by Concept 2 is virtual for the second time but it hasn’t stopped a record number of nations entering with rowing machines from around the world kicking into action on 25 – 26 February.

Hailing from 66 nations competitors will race over a number of distances, age groups and classifications.

The blue ribband events are the men’s and women’s open 2000m. The reigning world champion Ward Lemmelijn (Belgium) will be out to defend his title in the open men’s. But it’s Russia’s Alexander Vyazovkin who has qualified with the fastest time (5:42.6). Olympic finalist, Vyazovkin also has the flying Finn, Joel Naukkarinen to deal with. For Naukkarinen, however, this is just one of several events that he’s entered. Keep and eye on the African continental qualifier, Privel Hinkati of Benin. The Olympian is a crowd favourite (when there’s a crowd!)

For the open women the 2021 world champion, Kirsten Kline (USA) is up against the 2020 world champion, Olena Buryak of Ukraine. But coming in with the fastest qualifying time is Peixin Zhang of China. Zhang is the 2019 world junior champion and will also be competing against two very fast team mates.

Isaiah Harrison (USA) is a star in the indoor rowing world. Competing in the under-23 men’s 2000m, Harrison holds multiple world records over a variety of distances. He collected these through his teenage years and remains a record-breaker. Qualifying just behind Harrison, in a time of 5:54.5, Tristan Vandenbussche of Belgium will be a force to be reckoned with. Vandenbussche raced in 2021 at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and finished in the final. Watch out too for Jan Cizek of the Czech Republic who had a very fast qualifying time.

The under-23 women’s 2000m has the reigning world champion Alexandra Foester (Germany) still in this category. But it is Estonia’s Doris Meinbek with the best qualifying time of 7:06.0. This, however, is just a fraction faster than Foester’s 7:07.1. It will be a great race between these two rowers with Diana Bulasa of Latvia and Denmark’s Var Guriardottir Hansen in with a medal shot.

The lightweight men will see a tough battle between Algerian Olympian Sid Ali Boudina and the reigning world champion, Florian Roller of Germany. Keep an eye out too for Man Sun of China who recorded a qualifying time of 6:11.3.

It looks like it will be a race between the Chinese entries for the lightweight women. The top three qualifying times all go to Chinese athletes with Yang Min slightly ahead recording a time of 7:06.9. A long shot to challenge is Nourelhoda Arafa of Egypt.

Two Tokyo Olympic finalists are likely to lead the way in the PR1 women’s 2000m. Sylvia Pille-Steppat of Germany and Israel’s Moran Samuel finished fifth and second respectively at the Olympic Games. Pille-Steppat has the faster qualifying time of the two with 8:31.8. The stand-out qualifier of the PR1 men’s 2000m event is Shmuel Daniel of Israel. But Javier Reja Munoz of Spain will definitely give Daniel a run for his money.

Age group racing over 2000m is contested from 30 years old through to the oldest age group of 95–99-year-old men. There are three entries in this age group and all three are well-known for their erging prowess. Dean Smith of the United States has the fastest qualifying time of 10:01.6. Smith is followed by Frederik Osborne (USA) and France’s Georges Basse. This is definitely one to watch.

There are some close qualifying times in the under-19 men’s 2000m race. Coming in with the fastest time is Nicola Speziani of Italy. But right with Speziani is Portugal’s Pedro Rodrigues along with Rainer Oras of Estonia. Oras rows on Estonia’s national team and last year competed in the World Rowing Junior Championships.

There’s some excellent talent in the under-19 women’s 2000m with Lina Kuehn of Switzerland leading the pack. She is the only under-19 to qualify with a sub-seven minute time. This puts Kuehn in a very good position when she comes up against Doris Meinbek of Estonia. Meinbek is also entered in the under-23 category. Kuehn raced to gold in last year’s World Rowing Junior Championships as part of the quadruple sculls. Meinbek also rows. Challenging these potential frontrunners will be Aicha Abdeaziz of Tunisia who qualified with a very quick 7:07.9.

The open men’s 500m race will be a race to see with qualifying times incredibly close and some big talent going for gold. The two-time reigning world champion, Phil Clapp of Great Britain is back. But Canada’s Cameron Wharram has qualified with an identical time to Clapp’s of 1:11.9. The front bunch also includes regular indoor rowing competitor Chris Scott of Great Britain with Anton Grassl of Slovakia, also a regular, and very much on the pace. Watch out too for former American NFL player Matthew Stankiewitch.

It’s likely to be neck-and-neck in the open women’s 500m race between Ukraine’s Olena Buryak and Bianca Piloseno of the United States with Jade Lally of Great Britain right there in the mix as well. These three rowers all qualified in near identical times. Piloseno took a bronze in this event last year while Buryak was taking a break. Lally holds a British record on the indoor rower. Piloseno finished third in this event last year and Buryak won the event in 2020.

The full list of entries can be found here: https://worldrowing.entries.regatta-systems.com/wrich/2022

The schedule of events and more information is available here: https://worldrowing.com/event/2022-world-rowing-indoor-championships