Tuesday Debrief : the firsts and the finest at 2023 World Rowing Cup I

What happens when you get rowers together in Zagreb, Croatia for the first international race of the 2023 season? You get World Rowing Cup I. And with that comes pure rowing pleasure. Here are our picks for the five best moments of a wild, entertaining first international rowing event of the season.

Number 50 for the “Sinkobros”

It would be disingenuous to talk about rowing in Zagreb without mentioning Croatia’s favourite brothers. Martin and Valent Sinkovic crossed the line in the men’s double sculls to claim their 50^th international medal. Try hanging all of those on your wall! To put this level of hardware into context, that’s up there with the likes of Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Iztok Cop from Slovenia and Germany’s uber-coxswain Martin Sauer. Legends.

The brothers voiced their appreciation on social media; “Thanks to all the fans at Jarun, we will surely remember this as one of the most beautiful races in our lives .”

The last time we saw them race, it was in Racice last year. After an unbeaten season, and with everyone expecting them to be on yet another international podium, they ran out of steam in the A-Final and finished fifth. This time, there was no such surprise – they dominated their heat, were in the lead after 50 meters in their final and never looked back. You could just see in their eyes that this one felt different. Where will they stop?

The fantastic atmosphere around Lake Jarun

Sun, heat, full grandstand and happy faces – spring rowing is back in full force. Lake Jarun provided an fantastic atmosphere and perfect conditions for both racing, and cheering on the athletes. The local lads, that’s Martin and Valent, attracted crowds by the droves – the crowd following the race on a bike was more looking like a Tour de France stage rather than a World Rowing Cup Regatta.

But it wasn’t just the Sinkovic’s. Whenever a Croatian crew raced they had the full force of the spectators right behind them. Damir Martin must have felt the love when he won his B-Final. Dora Dragicevic won a bronze on saturday, and got most of the Croatian national team – including the Jurkovic sisters – coming to the grand stand to congratulate her. The Organising Committee did everything to provide the athletes the best conditions possible – and they delivered a great event.

Those who are absent are always wrong, and after a couple of years of not having spectators because of the global pandemic, it was good to hear the crowd be loud again and to see spectators cheering on the best athletes of the sport.

 Sverri Nielsen is back and the men’s single is even more competitive

Thought the men’s single sculls couldn’t get more competitive? Zeidler, Twellaar, Ntouskos, Borch, Thomas… and now, coming out of the rowing woodwork and on to the medals podium was none other than the Great Dane Sverri Nielsen.

After last racing at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, Sverri took a year off. Seeing pictures of him training this winter left little doubt about his intentions to come back on the international circuit. And it’s fair to say that he didn’t miss a beat : after three comfortable wins in the heat, quarter and semi-finals,the Faroe Islander led the race over World Champion Ollie Zeidler at the start. Zeidler then took a commanding lead, but it was ultra impressive to see Sverri in the silver medal spot.

Both will now meet again at the European championships in Bled, where they could be coming up against some of last year’s medalists, including the reigning Olympic champion in Ntouskos, the reigning silver medallist at the Olympics in Borch, but also World Championships’ bronze medallist Graeme Thomas. And the World Cups will see Jordan Parry of New Zealand, Ben Davison of the US and Trevor Jones of Canada back in the mix as well. We can’t wait!

Diaz Rivas by the narrowest of margins

Virginia Diaz Rivas has been rowing internationally for 14 years – and got most of this success in the pair – she was European Champion in 2019, won a World Cup in 2021 and was in the A-Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She never got the same success in the single, always close to the top-6, but never in contention for a medal – until this weekend. The 31-year-old from Glastillero, Spain has now added her name to the records as the first-ever Spanish athlete that won a gold medal at a World Rowing Cup in the women’s single sculls.

And what a race it was!  Diaz was in a four-boat sprint for the line and the only time she led the race was at the finish line. Diaz won the gold by a sliver of a margin – just 0.02 of a second over the up-and-coming Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland. The 19-year-old Janzen – who remains fantastically loyal to her Macon blades – was on the verge of a great performance for her first senior rowing event, only to get pipped at the line by the experienced Diaz Rivas.

With her coach jumping for joy in the victory ceremony area, Diaz Rivas was quite emotional when receiving her medal – even more after seeing her former pair partner, Aina Cid, also winning a gold medal earlier. What a day it was for the Spanish women’s team.

Lots of firsts for the first World Cup of the season

But, you say, what about the firsts from Zagreb? Well, we’ve got a bunch of them.

• Diaz’s win in the women’s single was the first ever gold medal at a World Cup for Spain in that boat class.
• The first ever gold at a World Cup for Chilean women’s rowing went to the four of Magdalena Jesus Nannig Rojas, Victoria Hostetter Wells and none other than Melita and Antonia Abraham. The previous gold medal for Chile was… at the 2005 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, where Miguel Cerda Silva and Felipe Leal Atero won gold in the lightweight men’s pair.
• India has been there or there-abouts over the years, but they had never made a World Cup a-final before the Men’s Eight last year in Poznan. Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh continued to expand the rise of Indian rowing, with the duo finishing sixth in the lightweight men’s double sculls.
• It was also the very first time that Iraq and Thailand scored points at a World Rowing Cup – both of them in the Lightweight Double Sculls. Yes, the level of entries wasn’t super high, but you can only race who’s there on the day. It was particularly impressive to see Iraq winning the B-Final of the LM2x, ahead of Estonia or Croatia.
• Ukraine and Czech Republic have a long tradition in the quadruple sculls. In Zagreb, they both broke a long-time drought in gold medals – the Czechs hadn’t won a gold in the men’s quad since 2006, and the Ukrainians since 2012 in the women’s quad. Order has been restored.

See you, dear rowing fans as we move across the continent to Varese, Italy for World Rowing Cup II in June.