15 Dec 2011
Who to watch at Rowing World Cup II
Women’s Single Scull
Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic looked to be turning into a serial bridesmaid behind Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. More silvers have come Knapkova’s way lately than she would care to count. But now a new force on the single scene, France’s Sophie Balmary is threatening Knapkova’s silver status. Last month at the first Rowing World Cup in Munich, Balmary tested Knapkova’s perseverance but ended up in third after becoming unnerved and faltering in the final sprint.
Meanwhile Karsten continues to row the model race and, so far this season, looks to be under no real pressure. Keep an eye out for Germany’s Olympic medallist (W2x) and World Champion (W4x), Peggy Waleska. She missed out on participating in Munich but has clearly stated her intentions to be Germany’s next force in single sculling and will want to prove to her coach that decision.
Men’s Single Scull
If Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic is out in front he is hard to beat. If Norway’s Olaf Tufte pulls out a good sprint his power is formidable. If Marcel Hacker of Germany remains consistent throughout the race he will see a medal. But these scullers have some added elements to deal with.
At Munich Alan Campbell became the toast of the British after winning gold and being touted as the first single sculler to be good enough for an Olympic medal since 1924. He took Hacker (in second) by surprise. Surprise also came from Sweden’s Lassi Karonen who snuck through into third.
But World Champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand is arriving on the international scene after some heavy duty training in his home country. Drysdale will not be unaware of Campbell’s talent as they have been training partners in the off season.
Women’s Pair
Canada stole to show at Munich but have disappeared home for trials leaving an opening for the arrival of current World Champions Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh of New Zealand. Coles and Haigh will use Poznan to wet their feet into the international season having left the New Zealand winter behind a week earlier.
The World Champions will be up against a new refined German combination. Germany finished second and fourth at Munich and the combinations have now been swapped with Nicole Zimmermann combining with Elke Hipler to make the number one crew. Watch out also for Australia. Emily Martin and Sarah Heard never made it to the final at Munich after a boat flipping crab took them out of contention during the repechage. The accomplished Martin became a two-time World Champion last year as part of the eight and four and is fifth on the 2005 Top 10 list of athletes. The younger Heard, 22, was also part of last year’s gold medal eight.
Men’s Pair
Can Serbia & Montenegro’s Goran Jagar and Nikola Stojic make it a double header? The surprise winners at Munich will be at it again with the wealth of experience of two-time Olympian Stojic has a wealth of experience and the new talent in last year’s Under-23 winner (M4-), Jagar.
But this is the race of Australasian arrivals. Back from a post-Olympic rowing break, Australia’s Drew Ginn makes only rare appearances at World Cup events – his last international race was the Olympics (gold) and before that the 2003 World Rowing Championships (gold). Teamed up with single sculling specialist Duncan Free, all eyes will be on this new combination especially those of current World Champions, New Zealand’s Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater. With Croatia, Canada and South Africa not in attendance this race could turn into a battle of Serbia & Montenegro against the downunder Australia and New Zealand might.
Keep an eye out also for Yongquiang Zhang and Xiangdang Wang of China. The tall, lanky duo raced impressively into fourth at Munich and look to be improving with every race.
Women’s Double Sculls
Munich winners, Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain will meet the formidable New Zealand duo of Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell. Vernon raced the Evers-Swindell’s once before, in 2005, but with new partner Bebington, who has made the successful switch from sweep to sculling, the duo are looking solid together.
Germany looks to be prioritising their quad and in the process new combinations will be giving it a go in the double leaving space for last year’s Junior World Champions, Jitka Antosova and Gabriela Varekova of the Czech Republic to step up from their bronze medal finish at Munich.
Men’s Double Sculls
New combinations and strong comebacks was the theme at Munich. At Poznan the theme will continue. Munich winners Robert Sens and Rene Bertram of Germany are back along with the reinvention of 2001 World Champions Hungary’s Akos Haller and Tibor Peto who finished in second and hot on Germany’s tail. The new duo of Olympic Champion Adrien Hardy and 22 year old Jean-Baptiste Macquet took on the challenge to become France’s double duo and succeeded.
Also on the pace at Munich, Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham of Great Britain are back to improve their positions.
Watch out for current World Champions and FISA 2005 male Team of the Year, Luka Spik and Iztok Cop of Slovenia. Spik did averagely in the single at Munich while Cop watched from the sidelines. This is their priority boat and together they are a powerful duo.
Men’s Four
Current World Champions Great Britain had one of their closest races in Munich when Germany and the Netherlands threw one of their best sprints at the leaders. Great Britain could retain just a half second margin over these two crews. The Netherlands can’t make it to Poznan but surprisingly Germany had done some reshuffling as they continue to fine-tune their line ups between the gold medal Munich eight and the four. Bernd Heidicker and Philipp Stueer move from the pair to join Gregor Hauffe and Toni Seifert in this event.
Keep an eye you also for Slovenia and Serbia & Montenegro who both retain a strong level of experience in their crews.
The strength of China’s lightweight woman was clearly visible at Munich with their impressive first, fourth and sixth place finish. But the depth of China’s lightweight pool means there is room for reshuffling and retrying combinations. Munich winner, Dongxiang Xu is trying out the race with Shimin Yan, while Xu’s Munich partner Hua Yu moves into the single. Xu, however, is relegated to China’s third boat with Jing Liu and Lihong Chen join to be the number one boat.
China will face a new challenge however in this event. Last year’s bronze medallists, Finland rowed in the open-weight category at Munich but are back at lightweight and hoping to put the Munich regatta behind them. Also don’t underestimate the power of racing in front of a home crowed. Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska of Poland use Poznan as a training venue and raced at Poznan’s last World Cup in 2004.
China will also face the challenge of current World Champions, Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger of Germany back in the boat together. Draeger competed at Munich with Berit Carow and finished second, but a continuing selection process puts the World Champion combination back together.
At Munich Italy’s win by Elia Luini and Marcello Miani was comparatively one of the fastest times of the regatta. This confirmed Luini and Miani as the chosen combination. So while their fellow Italian rowers go back to trials, Luini and Miani will go after the World Cup leaders bib.
But meanwhile France’s Olympic silver medallist Frederic Dufour has teamed up with Fabrice Moreau after both racing in singles at Munich and two-time Olympic gold medallists Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz of Poland are back on the scene. Making weight is always an issue for the Polish duo and they are hedging their bets by also entering the open double. Being on their home turf, however, Sycz and Kucharski will definitely want to make a race.
Lightweight Men’s Four
The top crews from Munich are back. Germany and Ireland have the same look while Australia has made one change to the boat with Tim O’Callaghan replacing Tom Gibson. But arriving on the scene are the World Champion French. Franck Solforosi, Jean-Christophe Bette, Jeremy Pouge and Fabien Tilliet have decided not to mess with the best and will debut their 2006 season at Poznan.
The French have added some extra spice to the event. Sitting in stroke seat of their second boat, Xavier Dorfman (along with Bette) were part of France’s fabled Olympic gold medallists from Sydney. Dorfman has been competing sporadically since 2000 and also is involved as a coach. And for some more spice Poland has thrown three entries into the mix.
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
Germany dominated the women’s quad through the ‘90s and have always managed to pull off a win at the Olympics, but with Kathrin Boron taking a break and a number of sculling retirements, coach Jutta Lau is rebuilding. She tests the quad for the first time in 2006 in Poznan with a line up of Christiane Huth, Susanne Schmidt, Magdalena Schmude and Stephanie Schiller – two from last year’s silver medal quad and two from Munich’s silver medal double.
They will be all about reeling in current World Champions Great Britain. But the British won’t be the only ones to watch out for. Australia finished second behind Great Britain in Munich after leading for most of the race. With Junior and Under-23 Champion Sally Kehoe in stroke and Olympic bronze medallist Dana Faletic sitting behind her, the Australians are an aggressive force.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
The Poles have brought their World Champion quad back together to show the home crowd what they did in Gifu last year. Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowcz, Michal Jelinski and Adam Korol plan to stay together through to Beijing and Poznan will be another step along the path.
But it was the Czech Republic that established themselves at the front of the field in Munich and they look to be the crew to beat moving into Poznan. Meanwhile, Munich bronze medallists Australia have mixed up their crew with the double and resorted as selection of the final boats for Eton continue to be made.
Women’s Eight
Germany must be holding their cards closely as they continue their 2006 selection process. After winning at Munich they have chosen to stay away from Poznan. This leaves medallists Romania and Australia to lead the way. But in one of the largest eights fields at any World Cup event, newcomers to the eight, France has arrived on the scene along with New Zealand’s first eight in six years.
Back for another shot China and Great Britain finished with almost identical times in Munich and as both of these countries continue their rowing growth – Great Britain especially for women and China over their entire programme – the eight is a symbol of this development.
An impressive 12-boat line up will take to the Poznan waters in the eight making it an event of over 100 athletes. In amongst the field is the German gold medal crew from Munich, but with a new mix as the men’s squad continues to reshuffle as Poznan gets used as a testing ground before final teams for Eton are announced. This means a relatively new eight is being boated for Germany. This may give silver medallists from Munich, Poland, a chance to show what their same line up can do.
Meanwhile Australia, third in Munich, come back to racing after training for the last couple of weeks in Varese, Italy.