Who to Watch at the 2006 World Rowing Championships

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Sophie Balmary desperately wants to get ahead of her two main rivals, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. Sitting in bronze position is not what the French sculler wants. Holding the world record on the indoor rowing machine, Balmary knows she has the power. Now all she needs is the nerve to keep cool in this race of wits.

Mastering the art of keeping cool, there’s no doubt that Karsten is by far the favourite. The Belarusian who lives with her coach/husband in Germany, has not lost a race since finishing second at the Athens Olympics and Eton is just another step towards Karsten’s fifth Olympic Games. Sitting steadfastly in second, Knapkova has tried and tried again to topple Karsten but to no avail. But coming up to challenge Knapkova, the small but powerful Frida Svensson of Sweden has proved to be a gutsy performer.

Julia Levina of Russia (6th in 2005) and Michelle Guerette of the United States (3rd in 2005) are both medal prospects going by past results. Levina, an Olympic medallist, has been focusing on the single since Athens and Guerette, also an Olympian, has followed the same line.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

Long romanticised with a rich history that includes the heady days of professional racers living the celebrity lifestyle and traveling the international circuit with the public able to bet on the races, the men’s single today still holds the romantic element of the dedicated loner. Absolutely dedicated to this event, the first mention must go to reigning World Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. He came back from a debilitating accident to win last year at Gifu. But Drysdale hasn’t had it all his own way this season. At the final Rowing World Cup in July, Drysdale was beaten by Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. This gave Tufte his first win since the Olympics as he learns to cope with the post-Olympic popularity and expectation pressure.

Last year’s rising star Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic has tended to yo-yo in consistency but proved that he can remain in control when he scored a medal by coming from behind at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup. Inconsistency also follows Marcel Hacker of Germany. Coming back from recent surgery, Hacker will want to reestablish a psychological advantage over his competitors and is known to use a variety of means to achieve this.

Great Britain’s new hero, Alan Campbell has a devastating kick in the sprint and in front of his home crowd he will not be holding back. Neither will the courageous Lassi Karonen of Sweden. Any coloured medal in this event will be well deserved. Let the battle begin.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Reigning World Champions Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh of New Zealand know they have a hard act to follow. Failing to reach the medals podium this season, Coles and Haigh will not have been resting on their laurels and anything can happen with an added month of training. But focusing on one event may play to their advantage. Lucerne winners, Megan Cooke and Anna Mickelson of the United States are doubling up in their country’s eight along with Lucerne silver medallists Nicole Zimmermann and Elke Hipler of Germany. Also in with a medal chance, second Rowing World Cup bronze medallists Australia’s Emily Martin (top five rower of 2005) and Sarah Heard will double up as well.

For Canada’s Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball, rowing at Eton will be like a fresh start. The duo competed just once this season internationally, in May at the first Rowing World Cup. They won gold at this event and will have similar expectations for these World Rowing Championships.

Men’s Pair (M2-)

Australia’s Drew Ginn and Duncan Free are both family men so they choose to limit their time spent in Europe. But they did pop over for the second Rowing World Cup, rowed beautifully, picked up a gold medal and left. They come to Eton following two acclimatising weeks in Italy and will again face current World Champions and neighbours, New Zealand’s Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater. A stutter at the second Rowing World Cup for Twaddle and Bridgewater was rectified at Lucerne with the duo getting back into the gold medal spot. Coming second, Colin Smith and Tom James of Great Britain were the surprise silver medallists. Smith and James finished up their studies at rival rowing universities, Oxford and Cambridge, before jumping in a boat together and can only be improving with time together.

Appearing just once this season, Ramon Di Clemente and Donovan Cech of South Africa have been the most consistent crew over the last five years, taking a medal at every international race they’ve entered. But the competition continues to improve and Di Clemente and Cech will have to deal with first Rowing World Cup winners, Goran Jagar and Nikola Stojic of the Serbian team and regular finalists, China.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

Ten years ago Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand rowed together as juniors. In 2006 they come to Eton having lost only one race internationally as a double since 2002. They are the reigning World and Olympic Champions. They are the 2005 FISA Team of the Year. They hold the World Best Time. But the less experienced Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington of Great Britain got within half a second of the champions at the third Rowing World Cup. Even Vernon and Bebington were surprised by their close silver medal.

Also well within striking distance at Lucerne, two-time Olympians Volha Berazniova and Yuliya Bichyk of Belarus and last year’s junior champions and this year’s under 23 champions, Jitka Antosova, 19, and partner Gabriela Varekova, 19, of the Czech Republic.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)

Iztok Cop, Slovenia’s most successful athlete ever, formed a combination with Luka Spik seven years ago and instantly set a World Best Time. He then went on to win gold at the 2000 Olympics followed by silver four years later. Last year they reestablished themselves as the best by again becoming World Champions. Adrien Hardy, France’s current Olympic Champion, teamed up with Jean-Baptiste Macquet earlier this year and beat Cop and Spik at the second Rowing World Cup snatching the World Best Times off the Slovenians in the process.

Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, although hardly the best known names in British rowing, beat the French and gave the winning Slovenians a huge scare at the third Rowing World Cup. The British duo have only been together in the double this season and with a 4th, 3rd and 2nd place, there is clearly one direction they are heading in.

The depth of talent then goes into the Bulgarian Yanakiev brothers. Coached by their father, the family dream is to have the duo compete together at the Olympics. Then there’s 2001 World Champions, Haller and Peto of Hungary who are back on pace and Germans Sens and Bertram who cannot be overlooked. But the big question could be: can 2005 silver medallists Luca Ghezzi and Federico Gattinoni of Italy rescue a so-far disastrous season.

Men’s Four (M4-)

If you’re after a sure bet, don’t look too far past the unbeaten crew from Great Britain. Can Andy Hodge, Peter Reed, Steve Williams and Alex Partridge pull off two consecutive World Champion titles? After their success this season there’s every indication they will. But the Dutch have been studying the British and are dead set at pushing them off the top spot. In Lucerne they got close.

Also studying the British intimately has been Canada’s stroke Barney Williams. Williams comes into the Canadian four after spending the last two years at England’s Oxford University and being part of the winning crew both years in the legendary Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Canada’s yet untried line-up will have the eyes of many coaches watching them during pre-championship practices.

Germany hold the World Best Time in this event from 2002 but endless reshuffling over the past couple of years hasn’t seemed to help the boat. Finally in Lucerne the line-up finished third and coach Dieter Grahn looks to be settled on this formula. Watch out too for Slovenia and New Zealand. Both boats have been very much on a medal winning pace all season.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

Even though the Olympics are still two years away, lightweight scullers seem to already be coming together. Ireland’s former World Champion single sculler, Sinead Jennings has teamed up with Niamh Ni Cheilleachair and already won a medal this season. Last year’s silver medallists Renee Hykel and Julia Nichols of the United States are sticking together through to Beijing. Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland are planning the same.

But this race could be all about China’s new flagship crew. Dongxiang Xu won gold at the two Rowing World Cups she went to this season and her most recent partner Shimin Yan has stuck around. They will face third Rowing World Cup winners, Tracy Cameron and Mara Jones of Canada for the first time in Eton. Cameron and Jones rowed together in their gold medal winning 2005 quad and the transition to the double has proved to be very successful. Watch out too for the reigning World Champions, Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger. Their season so far has been inflicted with inconsistency and seat swapping, but they will be hoping this line-up will achieve the best outcome.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

Thirty countries are contesting this event, six will make it to the final, one will win gold. Current odds are bending towards a very close fight between second Rowing World Cup winners Mads Radsmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark and third Rowing World Cup winners Elia Luini and Marcello Miani of Italy. These two crews have had a win each and both have pointers in their favour. Radsmussen and Quist have a new coach, ex-lightweight four Olympic gold medallist, Thomas Poulsen teaching them the art of smooth, high rating rowing. Luini and Miani have five World Champion titles between them.

Coming up through the ranks is last year’s lightweight single's winner and Olympic bronze medallist, Vasileios Polymeros of Greece who has teamed up with Dimitrios Mougios. The talent doesn’t stop there. Current World Champions, Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary have yet to medal this season but could be holding back for the big one. Then there is no knowing what Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz of Poland will do. Kucharski and Sycz have been together for nearly 10 years beginning their partnership by winning gold in 1997. Since then they have won both Olympic Games, but their ongoing struggle to make weight and Kucharski’s injury problems have led to inconsistent results in between. To make the final in this event will be a marked achievement, but for some only gold will be an acceptable outcome.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

Australia have a chance. Germany also. France will definitely be near the front. Italy also. But the stand-out crew this season has to be Ireland. Gearoid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin took away the yellow jersey this season with two golds and one silver including a win over reigning World Champions, France.

Ireland have only made one change to their silver medal 2005 boat, swapping Towey into bow seat following his season warm-up of attempting to row the Atlantic Ocean (bad weather prevented him from finishing it).

New to the medals podium this season, Egypt could be on a roll. They won bronze at the second Rowing World Cup then showed it wasn’t a fluke by finishing just out of the medals at Lucerne.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

World Champions Great Britain have gone three for three this season and have only suffered one loss in the last two years when Russia beat them at the 2005 Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. Russia will be lining up at Eton but only two rowers remain from the crew that beat Great Britain. Who can challenge these champions?

A bad stroke seat cost Germany the gold medal last year and all season coach Jutta Lau has been hashing and rehashing the line-up to find the perfect mix. Her final crew only contains stroke Stephanie Schiller from last year’s line-up. Kathrin Boron is in semi-retirement. And Schmidt and Oppelt are in the double. Has Lau changed her customary strategy of prioritising the double rather than the quad?

Australia and China will also be in the running for medals. Australia came to two Rowing World Cups choosing to compete in two events. Now solely focused on the quad Australia will have a good shot. China has just made one change to the crew that scored silver at Poznan and they always add a surprise element to racing.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

The reigning World Champions, Poland won the only Rowing World Cup that they entered this season, on their home course at Poznan, and in the process they set a new World Best Time. But the most consistent team are the Czechs. Tomas Karas, Vaclav Chalupa, Milan Dolecek and David Jirka come to Eton as yellow jersey holders and with the talent of rowing stalwart Chalupa in his second decade of competition.

For Germany the quad has been one of their most consistent line-ups and at the final Rowing World Cup the Germans got into second place behind the Czech Republic. The crew is a mixture of experience (two-time Olympian Marco Geisler) and youth (22-year-old Rene Burmeister in his second season at the senior level).

Keep an eye out also for France and the United States. Both teams just raced once internationally this season and both picked up medals. The United States’ new line-up is relatively untried but under the guidance of legendary coach Kris Korzeniowski they could surprise.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

It is hard to look past Romania’s flagship boat. For these Romanian women winning gold in the eight is their sole focus and coxswain Rodica Anghel knows how to motivate these women. But the United States pulls on a huge collegiate pool of athletes and their pinhead loss last year at the World Rowing Championships will be motivating them to go after gold at Eton. The team also has the experience of Olympic silver medallists, Anna Mickelson and stroke, 193cm tall, Caryn Davies sitting in the boat.

Germany also love eights and their centre-of-the-boat duo of Elke Hipler and Nicole Zimmermann have already proved themselves in the pair. Also back in the boat and returning to rowing following a post-Athens break, Lenka Wech will add her two-time Olympic experience to the crew.

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Sixteen countries will line up in this event and so far this season six countries have medalled. Germany has been the most consistent with wins at the first and third Rowing World Cup despite numerous reshuffling of the crew. Settling on the Lucerne winning crew including the very experienced Peter Thiede as coxswain, Germany will come to Eton with a level of confidence. But the Germans must be wary of reigning World Champions, the United States. Yet to race internationally this season, the US are an unknown quantity, more so because their line-up is a mixture of last year’s gold medal crew and new blood. But one certainty remains. Coach Mike Teti knows how to make a boat move and retaining Beau Hoopman in stroke seat must be a continuity bonus.

Germany will also be wary of Australia and Italy. The Australians raced twice internationally this season picking up medals on both occasions including gold in Poznan. This crew was selected in April and the more time spent together must be helping. The Italians are a new blend of their silver medal 2005 crew and they finally found positive results at Lucerne when they picked up gold.