The Goblets can sometimes be a bit of a mixed bag, some real quality but always a couple of questionable pairs which manage to qualify. Once again it is the same this year. Since the entry list was released the Dutch pair of van Sprang and Krommenhoek have pulled out due to injury, and the U23 world champion pair of Douwe de Graff and Calvin Tarczy have pulled out, rather mysteriously. With these two out of the picture, we may end up with a fairly dull affair throughout the week.
Tarrant & Bolding (Oxford Brookes)
The Oxford Brookes pair missed out on the Olympic Team, instead travelling to Tokyo as spares. This will be the highlight of their season and they will want to put down a performance worthy of all the training they have endured over the last twelve plus months which they weren’t able to do on the Olympic stage.
With those withdrawals mentioned above, the Brookes boys are clear favourites to take this event.
Parish & Sullivan (Cambridge University)
Calum Sullivan has had a storming summer, not only winning one but two medals at the U23 World Championships after subbing into the four to win a silver before winning gold in the eight moments later. The Cambridge University pair competed throughout the season at GB trials together and were part of the victorious Light Blues in this year’s Boat Race. They are ones to watch out for now that the field is wide open.
Peters & Willis (Leander)
These two athletes are both at university in the US, Joe Willis at Syracuse and Matthew Peters at Washington. Peters competed this year in the US before returning for the summer and joining up with Leander for this summer project, Willis has spent the year with Leander where he rowed as a junior. Although they came through the qualifiers, only two out of the four crews originally pre-qualified remain, and the Leander boys will want to make the most of this opportunity for a great result.
Conclusion & Predictions:
The final will almost definitely be Brookes versus Cambridge, and in this match-up although Sullivan and Parish are great U23 level oarsmen they will be no match for Tarrant and Bolding, who will win with a decent margin.
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