From Tokyo 2020, looking forward: the double sculls

The double sculls has it all; you’re a team but you’re also just one of two individuals. You get to manage two oars. You get to race in some of the tightest finishes that rowing sees. It’s recently been hard to predict at the start of a race who’s going to win.

As we move towards the 2022 World Rowing season we highlight the men’s and women’s double sculls with all that went on and all that might happen.

What went on in 2021?

European Rowing Championships
France’s Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias hit the season at full speed and became European Champions. Boucheron was the first to admit that the competition was already at a high standard and it showed when the Netherlands (silver), Great Britain (bronze) and Switzerland (fourth) had just 0.2 of a second between them at the finish.

The women’s win went to Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar of Romania who had been training in Italy for four months leading up to this Varese, Italy regatta. In second, Lithuania’s crew saw the successful return to racing of Donata Karaliene. “It’s like phoenix rising from the ashes,” said Karaliene after her race. The British came through just 0.06 of a second ahead of the Netherlands to take bronze.

World Cup Series

For the men, the World Cup series was a mixed bag. The first World Cup had Boucheron and Androdias continue their winning streak, this time over Poland and Switzerland. But World Cup II did not go their way. With the return of China and Ireland, these two countries battled it out to take gold and silver respectively. Liang Zhang and Zhiyu Liu of China had signalled that they were back. Poland’s Zietarski and Biskup took the World Cup III win by leading from start to finish with regulars, Switzerland holding second.

For the women the World Cup series looked in some cased like Olympic selection trials. Karaliene and partner Milda Valciukaite had an easy win at World Cup I. Lithuania did not attend World Cup II, but the young Romanians were back on the course. Radis and Bodnar had what looked like an easy win over the Dutch, who in turn had to battle the United States to secure silver. World Cup III was won by Roos de Jong and Lisa Scheenaard of the Netherlands despite a hot early pace by Germany. Italy1 and 2 battled each other to take third and fourth – which doubled as the Italian Federation’s internal race as to which crew would have the honour of racing that boat in Tokyo.

The Olympic Games
The world silver and gold medallists – Romania and New Zealand respectively – raced each other in the semifinal. Romania’s Bodnar and Radis won. In the final Bodnar and Radis did not falter. They got to an open water lead over the rest of the field and kept on pushing. At 22 years old Radis and Bodnar became Olympic Champions and also set a new Olympic Best Time of 6:41.03. New Zealand’s Hannah Osborne and Brooke Donoghue held silver with the Netherlands in third.

Results: ROU, NZL, NED, LTU, USA, CAN

With 250m left to row in the men’s final, Boucheron and Androdias found another gear, overtook the Netherlands and got into the lead. But then the French caught a very small crab. The Dutch duo of Broenink and Twellaar came back. At the finish just 0.2 of a second separated the two. The French had won, and went home as heroes. Behind the Netherlands, the reigning World Champions, China had won bronze.

Results: FRA, NED, CHN, GBR, SUI, POL

Now that’s noteworthy

• The Top 10 women for 2021 included Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis. The young Romanian crew (Radis in her last year of eligibility for the Under 23 category, and Bodnar just one year older) filled out spot seven and eight respectively.
• The Top 10 men for 2021 had Matthieu Androdias at nine and Hugo Boucheron in tenth position. With the next summer Olympic Games taking place in their home nation, these two have their sight set and locked on defending their Olympic title in Paris.
• Canada’s Gabrielle Smith has moved to the UK for her studies, and recently competed for Oxford in the Women’s Boat Race.
• Liang Zhang is arguably China’s best-known rower. He’s been internationally for over a decade and Tokyo was his third Olympic Games.
• As well as becoming an Olympic Champion, Androidas became a dad.
• The Swiss double of Roeoesli and Delarze have gone to pursue studies at Oxford, and competed (and won!) in the Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race. Roeoesli had deferred his studies at Oxford for one year after the postponement of the Olympic Games.
• Brooke Donoghue (now Brooke Francis) had quite the year: after taking home Olympic silver, she got married and is expecting a baby later this year.

Onto greener pastures (or blue-er waters)

• Saulius Ritter. The Lithuanian has done three Olympic Games and is an Olympic silver medallist in the double.
• Genevra Stone. From the United States, Stone medalled at the Rio Olympics in the women’s single – one of the few Americans to do this. She’s now working full time as a doctor.

Crystal ball gazing

They’re back! With the Sinkovic brothers back in the double, results are in for a shake-up in 2022. The Sinkovic’s won this boat class at the Rio Olympics before switching to the pair. This will no doubt send shivers down the spines of Boucheron and Androdias. But with both of these crews aiming for Paris 2024, this year may just be for rebuilding.

Keep and eye out for Poland who are likely to stay together as a crew. But who will the Swiss field? And what will the Dutch do? This boat class has a lot of question marks.

Being just 22 years old at the Olympics, Bodnar and Radis are likely to stick together in the women’s double. Get used to seeing them around as they build up for the next Olympics. For all the other Olympic finalists it is likely that their countries will be boating new combinations as athletes take time out or look at other options. This field really is wide open for anyone to come and take on the Romanians.

On the 2022 Calendar:

2022 World Rowing Cup I – Belgrade, Serbia, 27-29 May
2022 World Rowing Cup II – Poznan, Poland, 17-19 June
2022 World Rowing Cup III – Lucerne, Switzerland, 8-10 July
2022 European Rowing Championships – Munich, Germany, 11-14 August
2022 World Rowing Championships – Racice, Czech Republic, 18-25 September