Image: World Rowing
It’s nearly Olympic time, but before the Games happen there’s the small matter of the remaining qualifying spots for Tokyo to sort out. Cue the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, or “The Regatta of Death” as it’s known to rowers around the world. It’s the absolute final chance for nations to secure one of the final two remaining places on the start list.
The regatta is being held on the Rotsee in Lucerne…the Lake of the Gods….a week before the 2nd Rowing World Cup.
Some crews come to Lucerne in expectation of qualifying, some in the hope of qualifying and some more for a taste of the qualification experience. The racing is brutal, and it is perhaps the most gut-wrenching set of races in the Olympic cycle…..finish in the top two and you’re in….miss the top two and it’s game over for another three years.
So, without further ado here’s my thoughts on the entries and I’ll make some predictions about who I think will make it…..
M1X
Entries: 26 scullers
The red hot favourite to take the top spot is Poland’s Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk. He would have been extremely disappointed not to have gained automatic qualification at the 2019 World Championships where he finished 10th (one spot off automatic qualification). He already has Olympic experience to his credit having finished 7th in Rio. But, after a disappointing 2019 he’s had an exceptional 2020 and 2021. He was runner up at the 2020 European Championships and at the 2021 Championships he took bronze.
If the Pole is the favourite to take top spot, the 2nd place will be a real bunfight. Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev is another sculler with Olympic experience. He finished 9th in the M2X in Rio. At the 2019 Worlds he was 13th and made the A-Final at both the 2020 and 2021 European Championships.
Pilip Pavukou of Belarus is another sculler in contention for the 2nd spot. He made his senior debut at the 2014 Europeans and was U23 World Champion in 2015. He had a strong start to the 2019 season with medals at the first two World Cups and the Europeans, but missed the Worlds through injury. So far in 2021 he has an 8th place at the Europeans.
Great Britain’s Matt Haywood made his senior international debut at the European Championships taking a solid 9th place. He’s a two-time U23 World Champion and he will probably be more of a name to watch for the Paris Games than Tokyo, but qualification in Lucerne would be an outstanding achievement in his first season on the senior team.
Another two-time U23 World Champion competing in Lucerne is Trevor Jones of Canada. He told U23 gold in the BM1X in both 2017 and 2018. He raced at the 2019 World Championships in the M2X with Matt Buie but finished back in the C-Final. He’s another sculler that may need a few more years racing on the senior circuit to fully realise his potential but I would expect him to be in the mix in Lucerne.
The other North American sculler has masses of experience on the international stage. The USA’s John Graves made his senior debut back in 2011 as a lightweight before moving to the heavyweight division in 2013. He’s experienced the “Regatta of death” before when he was a member of the US M4X that missed qualification in 2016 by just 8/10th of a second. He spent the 2019 season in the M4X which finished 13th. As a single sculler his best result was 9th at the Lucerne World Cup back in 2013 although he’s also the reigning Head of the Charles champion.
Russia’s Alexander Vyazovkin raced at the European Olympic Qualification Regatta finishing in 2nd, but the rules of the Continental Olympic Qualifying regattas only allow for one boat per nation to qualify so the spot at the EOQR went to the W1X. Vyazovkin was an U23 silver medallist in 2017 and at the 2020 European’s placed 12th.
Other scullers to mention include Mihal Chiruta of Romania who finished 7th at the 2021 Europeans, Daire Lynch of Ireland 3rd in the M2X at the 2020 Europeans and 14th in the M1X this year. Finally, one name that isn’t on the start list is Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba. He’s been Cuba’s representative in the M1X, and their most successful ever rower, for the last 12 years. But in Lucerne Cuba will be represented by Carlos Ajete Jauregui who raced in the M2- in 2019. It’s going to feel odd seeing a Cuban M1X and it not being the legendary Fournier Rodriguez.
My picks for qualification…..Poland and Belarus.
M2X
18 crews
Australia just missed out on qualifying directly for Tokyo at the 2019 World Championships when they finished 12th…one spot off qualification. Their crew for 2021 is completely different with David Watts and Campbell Watts. They were both members of the Australian M4X that won silver in 2018 and qualified that boat at the 2019 World Championships when they finished 4th. David Watts raced in the M2X at the Rio Olympics finishing 7th and also won a world Championship silver medal in the quad back in 2015. Campbell Watts made his senior debut in 2017 and rowed in the M8 at the World Championships and started the 2019 season in the M2X before moving to the quad for the World Championships.
The Aussies should be clear favourites for the top spot and behind them the chase for the final qualifying place will likely be led by Russia and the Czech Republic. Ilya Kondratyev and Andrey Potapkin of Russia finished 6th at the 2021 Europeans, an improvement on the 15th they recorded at the 2020 championships. Kondratyev was a member of the M4X that finished 11th in 2019 and Potapkin was an U23 silver medallist in 2017 and raced in the quad at the senior World Championships that year as well.
The Czech Republic are represented by Jakub Podrazil and Jan Cincibuch. This duo finished 5th at the Zagreb World Cup. Podrazil raced at both the London and Rio Olympics with his best performance being 7th in the M2- in Brazil. At the 2021 Europeans Podrazil was partnered by the legendary Ondrej Synek with Cincibuch racing the single. The double disappointed in 11th and Cincibuch placed 15th.
Another new combination for the FOQR are the Serbian pairing of Aleksandar Bedik and Viktor Pivac. Bedik finished 8th in the M1X at the 2020 Europeans and Pivac 7th in the M2-. Pivac is a former U23 World Champion and won a senior World Championship bronze medal in the M2+ back in 2015.
Italy finished 8th at the European Championships with Luca Chiumento racing with 2019 junior world champion Nicolo Carucci. For Lucerne, Carucci is replaced by lightweight Niels Torre. Torre won silver in the BLM1X at the 2019 U23 World Championships and followed that up with silver in the LM1X at the 2020 Europeans and gold in the lightweight quad at this year’s championships.
Another nation combining heavyweights and lightweights are Greece. Antonios Papakonstantinou finished outside of the qualification spot in the LM2X at the European Olympic Qualification Regatta and he’s partnered in Lucerne by 2018 U23 BM2X World Champion Ioannis Kalandaridis. Kalandaridis raced in the M2- at the 2021 Europeans where he finished 12th.
The USA haven’t qualified in this boat class since Beijing 2008. For Tokyo they are pinning their hopes on Jonathan Kirkegaard and Kevin Cardno. Kirkegaard raced in the M4X in 2017 finishing 15th and Cardno makes his international debut in Lucerne.
The final crew to mention are the Estonians, Mikhail Kushteyn and Johann Poolak. This duo finished 6th at the U23 World Championships in 2019 and at the Zagreb World Cup this year they placed 9th.
My picks….Australia and Russia
M2-
14 crews
The Netherlands and Great Britain are the two nations who’ve already qualified the most boats for Tokyo with 10 a piece. These two nations will be among the favourites to secure their 11th in this boat class. The Dutch probably have the edge; Nikki Van Sprang and Guillaume Krommenhoek finished 4th at the 2020 Europeans and 5th this year. Van Sprang made the switch to sweep having been one of the Netherlands M2X representatives from 2017 to 2019 (qualifying the boat with a 7th place in 2019). Krommenhoek raced in the M1X at the 2nd and 3rd World Cups in 2019 with a best finish of 8th in Rotterdam.
The British have a long history in this boat class with the legendary Steve Redgrave winning three of his five Olympic gold medals in this boat. In 2019, the pairing of Morgan Bolding and Tom Jeffery just missed automatic qualification. For 2021 Bolding is partnered by Harry Glenister. At the European Championships they won the B Final having been pushed out of an A-Final place by the Netherlands by just 2/100th of a second.
8th at the 2021 European’s were Denmark, represented by old-Etonian and former GB junior international Fred Vystavel and partner Joachim Sutton. Both Vystavel and Sutton studied in the US, Vystavel at Princeton and Sutton at Cal. Whilst at Cal Sutton stroked their varsity 8 to a silver at the Pac-12 and set a course record at the Head of the Charles. At Princeton Vystavel won a silver in the 2V at the IRA’s.
Hungary have probably the most experienced line-up in the field as Adrian Juhasz and Bela Simon have been racing together as a pair for a number of years. They finished 9th at the Rio Olympics and then in 2017 won World Championship gold in the coxed pair (and given that the coxed pair event was dropped from the World Championship programme the following year they can claim to be the reigning World Champions!) They raced at the 2020 European Championships finishing 13th and Lucerne will be their first appearance of the new season.
Germany last won a medal in this event back in Barcelona when they took bronze and didn’t actually qualify for Rio. For Tokyo they look to have a young crew, both of whom are making their senior international debuts. Friedrich Dunkel and Marc Kammann were both members of the U23 BM4- that finished 5th in 2018 and 4th in 2019. The Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta is a hell of a place to start your senior international career!
The USA will also be strong contenders for one of the two qualifying spots. They have the experienced line-up of Mike di Santo and Tom Peszek. Di Santo is a three-time winning Oxford Blue as well as a Harvard Varsity oarsman. He was a member of the US M8 at the Rio Olympics and also rowed in the M8 in 2018 and 2019. Peszek raced in this boat class back at the 2012 Olympics (finishing 8th with Silas Stafford). He won a world championship silver in the M8 in 2017 and also rowed in the M8 in 2018. For the 2019 season he raced in the M4- finishing 5th.
My predictions….The Netherlands and Great Britain to qualify (with the US just missing out).
M4-
13 crews
France come into the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta on a high having won at the 1st World Cup of the season. Led by three time Olympian and two-time Olympic medallist Dorian Mortelette the crew of Mortellete, Benoit Demey, Benoit Brunet and Thibaut Verhoeven were 7th at the 2021 Europeans following a 5th place in 2020. Demey and Brunet were in the crew that just missed qualification in 2019. Verhoeven raced in the M1X in 2019 finishing 18th.
Another crew stacked with Olympic experience are South Africa. Laurence Brittain won silver in the M2- in Rio. He’s joined by London LM4- Olympic Champion John Smith. Smith was world champion in the LM2X in 2014 and raced in that boat in Rio and just missed the podium. Brittain and Smith raced as the M2- in 2019 finishing 9th (qualifying the boat). They are joined in the crew by Kyle Schoonbee and Sandro Torrente. This duo raced in the M4- in 2018 and 2019.
Trying to qualify for his fifth Olympics is Belarussia’s Stanislau Shcharbachenia. The 36 year-old raced at Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. His best finish was 5th in the M1X in Rio. He’s joined by fellow Rio Olympian’s Ihar Pashevich and Mikalai Sharlap (9th in the M4-) and Dzianis Suravets (who finished 15th in the M4- in 2019). This quartet finished 9th at this year’s European’s.
Germany have two of the crew that raced in this boat class in Rio, Max Planer and Felix Wimberger. They are joined by Wolf-Nicholas Schroeder and Paul Gebauer, who were the M2- in 2019 that finished 17th. As a M4- this line-up finished 6th at the 2020 Europeans. At the 2021 European Championships they had a very disappointing regatta, missing out on the semi-finals after finishing last in the repechage and ending up being classified 13th out of 13 crews. They will need a huge turnaround from that performance to challenge for the Olympic spots.
Other crews to mention are Austria (6th at the 2020 Europeans and with Christoph Seifreidsberger and Ferdinand Querfeld doubling up in the M2-). Canada (with two-time Olympian Will Crothers along with Jakub Buczek and Gavin Stone were 8th in the M8 in 2019 and U23 international Luke Gadson).
My Picks…France and South Africa
M4X
9 crews
Estonia are the standout crew in this event. They are also the most experienced crew in the event with no fewer than 11 Olympic appearances between them. Tonu Endrekson is aiming to qualify for his 5th Olympics with medals from both Beijing and Rio. He’s joined by fellow Rio bronze medallists, Allar Raja and Kaspar Taimsoo (both of whom are aiming for their 4th Olympics) and the final member of the crew is 2012 Olympian Juri-Mikk Udam. After a disappointing 2019 which saw them finish 12th, the crew took 4th at the 2020 Europeans and then bronze in 2021. They won gold at the 1st World Cup of the season, their first win since the 2016 Europeans.
Another boat brimming with Olympic experience are Lithuania. They have the same line-up that finished 9th at the Rio Olympics, Martynas Dziaugys, Dovydas Nemeravicius, Dominykas Jancionis and Aurimas Adomavicius. Lithuania followed up their Olympic appearance by winning the World title in 2017. The crew split into different combinations in 2018 and 2019 but reformed for the 2020 Europeans where they took bronze. At the 2021 European Championships in Varese they finished 6th.
Ukraine are another nation bringing Olympic experience to the start line. They have half of the crew that won the World title in 2014 and finished 6th in Rio, Olexandr Nadtoka and Ivan Dovgodko. This pair were also in the crew that won bronze in 2018. They are joined by Mykola Kalashnyk (who raced in the M2X in 2019) and Pavlo Yurchenko. At the 2020 Europeans they finished 7th and at the 2021 Championships they took 8th (with Serhii Budko in place of Dovgodko).
The USA have strong hopes that their quartet of Sorin Koszyk, Eliot Putman, Justin Keen and Charles Anderson can push for a qualification spot. They don’t have a huge amount of senior international experience, only Keen has raced at a senior championships. They made their debut at the 1st World Cup this season and finished 4th, just 6/100th off of Germany in bronze.
Other crews to mention are the Czech Republic (9th at the 2021 European’s and 5th at the Zagreb World Cup) and Russia (8th at the 2020 Europeans and 7th this season).
My picks…..Estonia and Lithuania
M8
4 crews
Qualification here should be a relatively straightforward affair with Romania and New Zealand predicted to take the top two spots.
Romania finished 7th at the 2019 World Championships and in 2020 they finished 2nd at the European championships. They repeated this feat at the 2021 Championships harrying the British all the way to the line and pushing two Olympic qualified boats (The Netherlands and Germany) into 3rd and 4th.
New Zealand have staked a lot on qualifying this boat. The “big” name in the crew is two-time Olympic champion Hamish Bond. Bond dallied with selection to the NZ Olympic cycling team before returning to rowing in 2019. The 2019 boat (which included Mahe Drysdale) finished in the worst possible spot – 6th. For 2021 the Kiwis have made a number of changes to the line-up. Most telling is the addition of Thomas Murray and Michael Brake. This pair won silver in the M2- at the 2019 World Championships and, I would assume, will be racing in that boat in Tokyo. The problem this presents to the Kiwis is, if they qualify, then the crew that qualifies the boat in Lucerne has to race in that boat in Tokyo. This means Murray and Brake will have to double-up. This is fairly common in the women’s events (the NZ women may well be doing it as well and the Romanians often do), but in the men’s events it’s much less common.
Italy will be hoping to spoil the party for Romania and New Zealand. Their crew was 5th at the European Championships this season although they have made three changes for Lucerne (out goes Davide Mumolo, Matteo Della Valle and coxswain Enrico D’Aniello and in comes Emanuele Gaetani Liseo, Matteo Sandrelli and Gaetano Ianuzzi in the coxswains seat). They will need a big improvement from Varese to challenge either of the Romanians or Kiwis.
The 4th crew in the event are the Chinese. Their crew includes two international debutants, Qiancheng Zhao and Binghui Cui along with a number of athletes with a mix of international racing experience (although none of the crew have experience of a championship A-Final). The Chinese are a bit of an unknown quantity, but looking at their pedigree they probably won’t be in the hunt for qualification.
My picks….New Zealand and Romania.
LM2X
18 crews
France are the defending Olympic champions in this event, but since the retirement of Jeremie Azou they have struggled to find a combination that could successfully defend that title. The entry lists show France have entered Olympic champion Pierrre Houin along with Victor Marcelot. However, the French press are reporting that Houin will be racing in the LM1X at the Lucerne World Cup after he and Ferdinand Ludwig were beaten by compatriots Hugo Beurey and Marcelot, and that it’ll be Beurey and Marcelot who will be racing in Lucerne. They finished 5th at the Zagreb World Cup and 19-year-old Marcelot finished is 2nd in the LM4X at the Europeans.
One of the favourites for qualification will be Australia, their double of Hamish Parry and Leon Chambers missed direct qualification in 2019 by one place. For 2021 Chambers is replaced by Sean Murphy from New South Wales. Murphy was U23 BLM1X World bronze medallist in 2018 and went on to win World Cup golds in the LM1X in 2019 culminating in a World Championship silver later that year.
Finishing just 2/10th behind the Australians in 2019 were Canada. For 2021 they have kept faith with the same line-up of Patrick Keane and Max Lattimer. This duo had two 4th place finishes during the 2018 World Cup season but ended up that season with a slightly disappointing 15th place. Lattimer raced in the LM4- in Rio but didn’t progress beyond the repechage. Canada have a bit of a problem with their men’s squad with only one boat having pre-qualified for Tokyo (the M2-), there will be a huge amount of pressure on the Canadian men’s boats to improve on that number.
Switzerland look to be one of the favourites for qualification, their double of Jan Schaeuble and Andri Struzina won silver at the Zagreb World Cup and were 5th at both the 2020 and 2021 European Championships. Schaeuble was U23 BLM2X bronze medallist in 2018 and Struzina was U23 BLM4X World Champion back in 2017.
Great Britain had a stuttering start to their season when their crew of Sam Mottram and Jamie Copus were forced to withdraw from the European Championships due to illness. 2019 ended in disappointment for the British, Copus (partnered by Zak Lee-Green) took 5th at the Europeans but in Poznan they ended at the back of the C final 18th overall. Mottram raced in the LM1X at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships with a strong 5th place in 2019. Copus and Mottram raced together at the 2017 World Championships finishing 10th and also took 10th places at both the 2nd and 3rd World Cups in 2019.
China have, so far, qualified two men’s boats for Tokyo. Their LM2X stand a good chance of making it 3. Junjie Fan and Man Sun were World Championship bronze medallists back in 2017 and Sun raced in this boat class at the Rio Olympics with Chunxin Wang finishing 11th. This duo raced at the 2019 World Championships finishing 12th, but if they can recapture their speed from 2017 they will definitely be challenging for a top 2 finish.
Another strong contender are the Czech Republic. Their crew of Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil have been racing together for a number of years and were 7th at both the 2017 and 2018 World Championships and finished 10th in 2019. This season they had one of their best ever results taking 4th at the European Championships.
My picks….Australia and Switzerland
