Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
Reigning Champion: Ollie Zeidler (Germany)
Entries: 48
Olympic Qualification places: 9
It’s time for the culmination of the 2023 international season – The World Rowing Championships. As always at the final World Championships before an Olympics, it’s not just World titles at stake on the Ada Ciganlija Regatta course in Belgrade. Qualification places for the Paris Olympics are also up for grabs, and for some gaining a place for Paris might be more important than medals.
The Ada Ciganlija Regatta course on Sava Lake is in the heart of Belgrade and it has hosted World Cups in 2017, 2018 and 2022 as well as the European Championships in 2014 and with the weather forecast promising hot and still conditions, we could be in for some outstanding racing.
Reigning champion, Ollie Zeidler of Germany will be the one to beat. He became the first man since Ondrej Synek in 2012 to win all three World Cups. The one blemish on his season was a third place at the European Championships at the end of May. But he looked imperious in Lucerne, winning the gold by eight seconds.
The main challenger to Zeidler so far this season has been Sverri Nielsen of Denmark. He also had a slightly disappointing European Championships, just missing the podium, but he’s finished runner up to Zeidler at each of the three World Cups. The Faroe Islander will be looking to repeat his World Championship silver medal from 2019 at the very least.
One of the surprise packages from Lucerne was Tom Mackintosh of New Zealand. He won bronze in Lucerne in his first ever single scull race. He was a member of the M8 that won gold in Tokyo and raced in the M2- last season, reaching the A-Final. But to make the World Cup podium having only been in the single for a matter of weeks shows what talent he has. It’ll be interesting to see if he can build on this in Belgrade.
The Netherlands has an outstanding group of scullers in their team. Lennart Van Lierop is the only man other than Ollie Zeidler to have won in the M1X this season. However, the European champion has been moved into the quad and has swapped places with Simon Van Dorp. The former Washington Husky raced in the Dutch M8 at the Tokyo Olympics before moving into the quad for 2022, finishing fourth at the World Championships. This season he raced in the quad at the Europeans, winning a silver medal. He’s raced once in the single, at the Holland Beker, where he finished second behind Melvin Twellaar (and ahead of Van Lierop).
One athlete who has really stepped up this season is Ryuata Arakawa of Japan. 11th at his home Olympics was followed last year by a B-Final win at the Worlds. This season he raced at the second and third World Cups and made history in Varese by winning the bronze medal, the first ever medal for Japan in the M1X. He couldn’t quite repeat the feat in Lucerne, missing the podium by one place. But he’s shown that he is a genuine contender for a podium place.
Olympic champion, Stefanos Ntsuskos of Greece, has had a bit of an up-and-down season. The highlight was a silver medal at the European Championships behind Van Lierop of the Netherlands, but in Lucerne he was a little off the pace, just squeezing into the A-Final.
Norway’s Kjetil Borch is a former World Champion and won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Last year he placed fifth at the World Championships, but he had surgery in the off season, and that, coupled with illness, meant he’s struggled to be competitive this season. 16th at the Europeans was followed by another 16th place in Varese and 20th in Lucerne. Time will tell if he’s been able to regain enough form over the last six weeks to at least challenge for an Olympic qualification spot.
Another experienced athlete who has struggled a little this season is Damir Martin of Croatia. The Tokyo bronze medalist only raced once in 2022 (withdrawing from Lucerne after finishing sixth in the semi-final). This season, he has finished in the B final at the Europeans and also the first and third World Cups. Like Borch, he will be aiming for a top nine placing and automatic qualification for Paris.
Home favourite will be Nikolaj Pimenov. Son of legendary Russian rower Nikolai, Pimenov Junior has already made a name for himself racing under Russian colours until 2021. After switching allegiance to Serbia for the 2023 season he won his first senior medal taking bronze at the first World Cup (Serbia’s first medal in this event since 2017). He followed that up with tenth at the Europeans and again in Lucerne. He’ll be hoping to go at least one place higher on home water and secure Olympic qualification.
Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev will be aiming for an Olympic qualifying spot at the very least. A European bronze medallist from 2022, he made the A Final at the first and third World Cups and also the 2023 Europeans.
Lithuania’s Dovydas Nemeravicius has spent the majority of his international career in crew sculling boats. He raced in the M4X at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and was World Champion in that boat class in 2017. He’s also raced in the M2X, finishing third at the 2022 Europeans. However, for the 2023 season, he’s moved to the single, finishing sixth at the Europeans and ninth in Lucerne.
Belgium’s Tim Brys has had a solid season so far; the former lightweight Olympian was eighth at the Europeans and followed that with fourth in Varese and eighth in Lucerne.
Other scullers to watch out for include Canada’s Trevor Jones, a Henley finalist this season and tenth in the world last season. Lucas Verthein Ferreira finished eighth at the second World Cup – the best ever result for a Brazilian M1X. He raced the M1 in Tokyo, finishing 12th, and has an outside chance of taking a top nine finish in Belgrade.
Russia and Belarus each have an athlete racing under the “Individual Neutral Athlete” banner. Yauheni Zalaty of Belarus makes his senior debut in Belgrade, having finished fifth at the U23’s in 2021. Alexander Vyazovkin made the A-Final at the Tokyo Olympics where he finished fifth. Obviously with little or no racing experience for either of these athletes in the last 18 months, it’s difficult to gauge what speed they bring to Belgrade.
Also look out for Davide Mumolo of Italy, seventh at both the Europeans and the Varese World Cup, Australia’s Alexander Rossi (an U23 bronze medallist who makes his senior debut in Belgrade) and Portugal’s Andre Pinto (fourth at the U23’s and also making his senior debut).
Predictions: Zeidler is the clear favourite to retain his title, especially if conditions are calm. But behind him it looks like it could be an excellent battle for the silver and bronze between Nielsen and Mackintosh with the likes of Van Dorp and Arakawa also in the mix.
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