2009 Rowing World Cup kicks off in Banyoles, Spain

The 2009 Rowing World Cup season is soon underway, and a total of 31 nations have now confirmed their participation in the first stage of the annual series which will be held from 29 to 31 May on the Olympic regatta course of Banyoles, near Barcelona, Spain.

Close to 400 athletes will compete in 14 World Cup events and three international events. Among them is a stream of new, young blood to replace the Olympic stars who have either taken a year off or retired, and a lot of crew and team re-shuffling to start out in the new Olympic cycle.

Katherine Grainger, Britain’s most medalled female British rower, will appear for the first time in the single scull after proving herself as the fastest single sculler of her country. She will be up against long-standing single sculler Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch of Belarus who shall be looking for revenge following an unexpected Olympic bronze after having been world champ for several years running.

Several of the world’s leading male single scullers, many of whom teamed up earlier this year to compete in the “Great8” at the British Head of the River, will be present. No doubt that this new found camaraderie will be put aside when they are up against each other in this highly entered event (24 entries). There is no way to forecast between Tim Maeyens (BEL), Ondrej Synek (CZE), Alan Campbell (GBR), Olaf Tufte (NOR), Iztok Cop (SLO) and Lassi Karonen (SWE) who will reach the podium. We can only wait and see.

With their top two sweep rowers in the pair, Britain’s usual flagship boat, the men’s four, is a totally new combination of Alex Partridge, Richard Egington, Alex Gregory and Matthew Langridge who will have to prove themselves although there is no doubt about their experience. Up against them is France, bronze medalists at the Beijing Olympics. They have two crews competing at Banyoles made up of a mixture of the Olympic four and Laurent Cadot from France’s top pair.

Denmark may have won last year’s Olympics in the lightweight men’s four, but this year they have retained just one, Morten Joergensen, from the 2008 line up. France – fourth in Beijing in the lightweight four – will reveal a squad that contains huge depth. They must surely be counting on fine results from this four.

In the men’s eight Italy can boast a line-up of top names among which Niccolo Mornati, Giuseppe de Vita and Raffaello Leonardo. Sjoerd Hamburger, the Dutch single sculler sits in the middle of the Dutch eight, along with four members of their Olympic fourth placed eight and Olympic coxswain Peter Wieserum. Britain has put together a group of young up-and-comers and thrown in Tom Solesbury from the Beijing pair. Poland’s eight was also a finalist in Beijing placing 5th and will be racing in Banyoles.

Among the international events, the lightweight men’s single, with 18 entries, promises some tough races. A number of the top scullers are out of their doubles and back in the single such as Polymeros of Greece, Mads Rasmussen of Denmark or Frederic Dufour of France.

A full Rowing World Cup event by event preview will be available on www.worldrowing.com from Wednesday 27 May.

Entries and race schedules are available here .

The event finals will be video streamed live on Sunday 31 May and can be accessed through the www.worldrowing.com website.

The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997, and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup winners are determined after a series of three regattas. Germany has dominated the series since its beginning ten years ago. This year, the three stages of the series are held in Banyoles, Spain (29-31 May), Munich, Germany (19-21 June); and the final in Lucerne, Switzerland (10-12 July).