Five of the Biggest Questions Ahead of the 2022 World Rowing Championships

The finale of the 2022 flat water season is coming up fast! The 2022 World Rowing Championships will take place in Racice, Czech Republic 18-25 September. The last World Rowing Championships at senior level was back in 2019, but so much has happened since then and, with this international season having already provided a few surprises, we look ahead to what we might expect to see in Racice later this month.

What are the surprises of the 2022 Season so far and will they continue at the World Championships?

The women’s single sculls has been absolutely wide open this season with some new faces on the medal podium. Karolien Florijn, who has been seen in bigger boats from the Netherlands for many years, including winning silver in the women’s four in Tokyo, has moved into the single scull this season. From the first World Rowing Cup of the season, it was obvious she meant business when she took gold in a very competitive field. She repeated the success at World Rowing Cup II. Then, 20-year-old Alexandra Foester came onto the scene, having won gold in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships. Foester took gold at the remaining World Rowing Cup in Lucerne. When the European Rowing Championships arrived, it was all to play for, with Foester hoping to benefit from home support. Florijn led the final from start to finish in dominating fashion, crossing the line 6.77 seconds ahead. Meanwhile, Foester had an epic final sprint and overhauled Olympic bronze medalist Magdalena Lobnig to take bronze. This boat class in Racice could be very interesting!

Another surprise of the season so far has been the rise of the GB women’s four. There was disappointment for the nation in Tokyo when the women’s four, who sat in bronze medal position for the majority of the race, just couldn’t quite match the speed of Ireland in the final stages and had to settle for fourth. With a slight change of line-up this season, the British women’s four has made clear from the outset that they mean business, and they haven’t been beaten yet. The crew has won gold at World Rowing Cups I and III and, in Lucerne, their time of 6:18.64 not only won them gold by 6.01 seconds, it set a new World Rowing Cup Best Time. At the European Rowing Championships, they lined up against Ireland again, both crews having two returners from their Olympic boats. Great Britain led from the start this time and beat Ireland by 2.07 seconds. There will undoubtedly be lots more competitive crews to come in to this boat class, but can the British domination continue?

Can Oliver Zeidler defend his title as World Champion?

The final of the men’s single sculls at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria, arguably provided one of the most epic races of the regatta, with the lead constantly changing and just 0.69 seconds separating the top four scullers at the finish line. Germany’s Olli Zeidler came away with the gold having crossed the line 0.03 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen. It was at this regatta, that they had qualified for the Olympic Games; not knowing at the time that they would need to wait an extra year to race it. When the Tokyo Olympic Games came around, reigning World Champion Zeidler came in as one of the favourites. But, it wasn’t to be and after he missed out on a place in the A final, he had to settle for seventh overall, winning the B final. Greece’s Stefanos Ntouskos took the Olympic gold.

Zeidler has had mixed fortunes so far this season too. Although he picked up gold at World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade, he was unable to race at the remaining two World Cups. On his home waters in Munich at the 2022 European Rowing Championships, there was huge disappoint from the home supporters when Zeidler failed to pick up a medal, despite being in the lead with 500m to go. Melvin Twellaar of the Netherlands took the gold there, with reigning Olympic Champion Ntouskos claiming silver and Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev the bronze.

Will there be redemption for Zeidler in Racice or will someone else steal the title of World Champion?

Who is more dominant; the Croatian men’s double, or the Romanian women’s double?

Martin and Valent Sinkovic – perhaps two of the most familiar names in the rowing world at the moment? They had five fairly dominant years in the men’s pair including World and Olympic Champions. But they are now back in the boat class in which they won Olympic Gold in 2016, the men’s double scull. There has been no beating them this year; they have won gold at all three World Rowing Cups and took a comfortable gold at the European Rowing Championships too. Can anyone challenge them at the World Rowing Championships?

Moving across to the women’s double scull and we find another force to be reckoned with; Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis of Romania. Reigning Olympic champions in this boat class, they didn’t just win at the recent European Rowing Championships, they demolished the field, crossing the line 6.99 seconds ahead of the very strong Dutch double of Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou. Bodnar and Radis had already won a very comfortable gold earlier this season at World Rowing Cup III. At the last World Rowing Championships in 2019, Bodnar and Radis took silver behind New Zealand so the challenge this year is undoubtedly to add the World title to their Olympic and European titles.

Can anyone beat the Great Britain PR3 mixed coxed four?

They are reigning European, World and Paralympic Championships in this boat class, can Great Britain defend the World title in Racice? It was a new line-up for the 2022 season with Francesca Allen and Ed Fuller coming into the crew, but they remained dominant taking gold at their first international event of the season, World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade. Great Britain didn’t compete at World Rowing Cup II and at this regatta, Germany took the honours in the boat class raising questions of whether they could perhaps challenge Great Britain. This question was answered at the recent European Rowing Championships where Great Britain won a dominating gold medal, winning by almost 20 seconds. Germany came third on that occasion, finishing behind France.

Other nations will come into the mix at the World Rowing Championships and we wait to see if anyone can challenge the Brits. There will be a change in the coxes seat for Great Britain as Erin Kennedy takes some time out for treatment for breast cancer and we all wish her all the best.

Who will take the men’s eight title?

This is a boat class that never fails to provide excitement. There are two nations who have been regular features on the podium; Germany and Great Britain. Germany are reigning World Champions, having finished 0.55 seconds ahead of the Netherlands back in 2019, with Great Britain taking the bronze. However, it was all change by the time the Olympic Regatta arrived and, much to everyone’s surprise, New Zealand became Olympic Champions – earning the first Olympic Champion eights title for the country since 1972. Germany took silver and Great bronze again. The Netherlands had to settle for fifth place, but there was only 3.32 seconds separating first and fifth.

So on to the 2022 season, and it has been a year of building for Germany who saw lots of retirements after Tokyo and, so far, this has allowed Great Britain to be fairly dominant, taking gold at World Rowing Cups I and III and also the European Rowing Championships. Germany took gold at World Rowing Cup II without Great Britain present, but every time they have come up against each other, Great Britain has been victorious. Germany will also announced a lineup change, due to two of their crew unable to attend due to work commitments. Australia is bound to produce a crew to watch, they took silver behind the British gold in Lucerne, and it will be interesting to see what New Zealand, Italy, the USA and the Netherlands can do too – the latter took silver at the recent European Rowing Championships in an impressive comeback after a boat stopping crab in the first 500m.

The entries for the 2022 World Rowing Championships be published on 7 September at 12:00 CET.

Stay tuned here at worldrowing.com as we have a closer look at the rowers to watch in the days leading up to the Championships.