2023 World Rowing Championships – Men’s + Para Review

Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell

What a World Championships we’ve just had….it seemed to have everything….unexpected wins, unexpected losses, wild weather and capsizes. The fact these World’s were also the first chance for crews to qualify boats for the Paris Olympics made the B-Finals more exciting and interesting than some of the A-Finals. If you’re a regular reading my previews you’ll know I (foolishly) make predictions on who will win the medals, so I thought I’d review the racing over the past week and see how my crystal ball fared!

The championships were dominated by Great Britain and the Netherlands. Between them they won 11 out of the 19 Olympic and Paralympic events (and medalled in two others). That sort of dominance hasn’t been seen since the days of East Germany sweeping the board.

M1X

Prediction: GER, DEN, NZL

Actual medallists: GER, NED, NZL

Qualified for Paris: GER, NED, NZL, GRE, DEN, CRO, AIN, JPN, LTU

With Ollie Zeidler’s supposed fallibility in rough water he must have been the happiest man in Belgrade to see the great conditions on Sunday. But he had a hell of a race with Van Dorp and Mackintosh – neither the Kiwi nor the Dutchman allowed the big German to get clear. What’s amazing for both Van Dorp and Mackintosh is neither of these two have raced internationally in the single before this season, and to come away with silver and bronze is outstanding. Behind these three it was a superb performance from Damir Martin of Croatia to qualify for his fourth Olympic Games. If the A-Final was exciting that’s nothing compared to what happened in a crazy B-Final. With the top three qualifying their boats, it was the home favourite, Nikolaj Pimenov, who jumped out to an early lead, but the rest of the field hunted him down to such an extent that he stopped sculling with less than 100m to go, then the Bulgarian, Vasilev, caught a crab allowing the Lithuanian Nemereavicius to grab the final qualification spot. Arakawa, the Japanese, celebrated his qualification by falling in just after the line. But, what’s interesting is the B-Final was won by the Neutral Athlete, Zalaty. At the moment Russian and Belarussian athletes aren’t allowed to compete in Paris, so, unless that situation changes Zalaty (who’s a Belarussian) won’t be allowed to compete, and his place may go to the Bulgarian! This story is set to run and run!

M2X

Prediction: NED, CRO, CHN

Actual medallists: NED, CRO, IRL

Qualified for Paris: NED, CRO, IRL, ITA, ESP, CHN, ROU, GER, NOR, FRA, NZL

The Spanish jumped out to an early lead but were soon overhauled by Twellaar and Broenink of the Netherlands who had a clear water lead by the 1K. Behind them it was an incredible battle between the legendary Sinkovic brothers to hang on for silver just ahead of the Irish, Doyle and Lynch.

M2-

Prediction: GBR, ROU, ESP

Actual medallists: SUI, GBR, IRL

Qualified for Paris: SUI, GBR, IRL, ROU, USA, RSA, ESP, AUS, NZL, ITA, CRO

One of the surprises of the entire championships was the Irish pair of Timoney & Corrigan. Whilst all the attention was on the British, Swiss and Romanians they grabbed the race by the scruff of the neck and leapt out to lead at the halfway mark. At that point the Swiss did to the British what they’d done at the Europeans and put the hammer down to row through the Irish and away from the British, a move for which the British seemed to have no answer. Their win was the first gold for the Swiss heavyweight men since 1982. It took all of the Brit’s considerable strength to overhaul the Irish and push them down into bronze. For their part the Irish dug deep and delivered Ireland’s first ever heavyweight men’s sweep World Championship medal! The surprises didn’t stop there; South Africa had an outstanding championships and their pair of Smith and Baxter secured qualification by making the A-Final.

M4-

Prediction: GBR, AUS, USA

Actual medallists: GBR, USA, NZL

Qualified for Paris: GBR, USA, NZL, NED, AUS, FRA, ROU

One of the surprises in this event wasn’t the fact the British won (meaning they went unbeaten throughout 2023), but the poor performance of the Olympic Champions, Australia. They struggled all week and only just qualified for the A-Final. In the final they were off the pace, ending up fifth, 16 seconds behind the British. That typified a disappointing regatta for Australia, who only won one gold medal (the PR2 Mix2X) and failed to qualify any men’s sculling boats for Tokyo. At the front of the field the new-look American crew took the fight to the British in the first quarter but couldn’t live with the pace of the defending World Champions in the middle thousand, finishing two seconds behind the British. New Zealand will be pleased with their bronze medal from their new look combination.

M4X

Prediction: POL, NED, GBR

Actual medallists: NED, ITA, POL

Qualified for Paris: NED, ITA, POL, GBR, SUI, GER, ROU

An exhibition of beautiful quad sculling from the Netherlands, they fended off an early challenge from Italy to draw steadily away to win by over two seconds. Behind the Dutch it was a frantic battle between Italy, GB and Poland for the silver and gold. Poland (the defending champions) looked to have got their bows in front but a frantic sprint from the Italians who jacked their rate up to 47 saw them get their bows ahead of the fast-fading Poles to grab the silver, with Poland just managing to fend off the British for the bronze. In the B-Final it was the Romanians and Estonians who went bowball to bowball for the first half of the race before the Romanians pushed clear to win by clear water and claim the final qualifying spot.

M8

Prediction: GBR, AUS, NED

Actual medallists: GBR, NED, AUS

Qualified for Paris: GBR, NED, AUS, ROU, GER

Great Britain headed into the regatta as the defending champions but on the back of a surprise defeat by the Australians at the final World Cup. In Lucerne the Aussies caught the Brits napping with a fearsome push in the second 500m and in Belgrade they tried the same tactic but the British weren’t going to get done a second time. The Aussies grabbed the lead in the second 500 but only by 0.06 sec at the 1K mark. From that point the British put the hammer down and by the 1500m mark they led by ¾ of a length. The Aussies looked to be visibly tiring and coming under huge pressure from the Netherlands who got their bows in front with 200m to go. Behind these three the next battle was not to come last – only the top five would qualify for Paris – Romania had the edge in fourth and Germany put in a huge sprint in the final 500m to keep the USA behind them. The Germans celebration in gaining automatic qualification is symptomatic of the difficult season the German team has had. For their part the Americans will be bitterly disappointed in failing to qualify. Coming into these championships, there had been a lot of chat on social media about how the US was going to “wipe the floor” with the Brits – but if you talk the talk you need to be able to walk the walk. The Americans probably suffered from not having any international racing this season and it was a lot to expect a brand-new crew to come into a World Championships and challenge well established crews like GB and the Netherlands.

As a side note – GB’s win meant they become the first country to be world champions in the M8 at senior, U23 and U19 levels in the same season – a testament to the remarkable development pathway within British Rowing.

LM2X

Prediction: IRL, SUI, ITA

Actual medallists: IRL, SUI, ITA

Qualified for Paris: IRL, SUI, ITA, CZE, ESP, NOR, MEX

Yeah, I got a prediction completely right (well, you know what they say – even a broken clock is right twice a day)!

The Swiss were the ones to take the race by the scruff of the neck as they got out to a ¾ length lead by the 1000m mark, but the Irish launched a sustained attack in the second half and as the Swiss began to pay for their earlier efforts the Irish sculled through the Swiss going from ¾ length down to nearly a length up in the space of 700m, winning their fourth consecutive World title. Meanwhile the Italians launched one of their typical sprints, but the Swiss just managed to hang on for the silver, denying the Italians their fifth consecutive world championship silver. In the B-Final Mexico took the win, and with it the final qualifying spot for Paris, the first time Mexico will have a LM2X at the Olympics.

LM1X

Prediction: ITA, SUI, POL

Actual Medallists: SUI, ITA, POL

Right medallists, just not quite the right order!

A classic LM1X final, raced in tricky conditions, it was Galambos of Hungary who made the early running, but he was overhauled fairly quickly by the Italian, Torre, who went through 500 with ¾ length lead with Struzina of Switzerland tracking them both. By the 100m the Italian had stretched his lead to clear water. But as the Italian tired in the stiff headwind the Swiss made his move and sculled through the Italian as they came through 1400m. It was then the Pole’s turn to attack the Italian but he couldn’t overhaul him and Torre kept his bows in front to take the silver.

Paralympic Events

Although I personally didn’t preview the Para-rowing events it is worth just saying a quick word about them, minly because they produced some of the best races in the entire regatta. This was especially true in the PR2 Mix2X where Great Britain and China literally went bowball to bowball for 1900m, the lead swapping with every surge of the boat. In the end it was the British who just managed to edge clear in the closing stages to take the win by just 1.6 seconds. Given the third-placed Poles were nearly 20 seconds behind shows just what a titanic struggle the British and Chinese had. In the PR3 Mix4+ the British won…again….they are undefeated since 2010, but they were pushed harder than they have been for years by the USA. For a crew used to winning by lengths of clear water the fact the Americans got within three seconds of them was a big step on and shows the event is getting more and more competitive. There was also a fabulous race in the PR1 W1X with one of the closest finishes in the PR1 W1X for years. Birgit Skarsten held off an incredible sprint from France’s Nathalie Benoit to take the gold by just 1.8 seconds.

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