2022 World Rowing Cup I – Men’s Events Preview

Photo Credit: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell

The first World Cup of a new Olympic cycle is always interesting to watch; it’s a fascinating combination of experienced athletes returning, perhaps in new combinations or events, with new and emerging talent. With the Paris Olympic cycle being only three years, every chance to race will be an important step on the road to Paris.

The 2022 season opens in Belgrade, Serbia and has attracted a healthy entry of 225 boats from 36 countries and 435 athletes, the biggest entry for an opening World Cup since 2018 (when Belgrade also played host).

So, as always, I’ll try and give a preview of each of the events, picking out the main contenders and anything else of interest in each boat class.

Here are the men’s events…

Men’s Single

Thirty Entries 

One of the big surprises at the Tokyo Olympics was the win for Stefanos Ntsoukos of Greece in the M1X. It’s quite an achievement for your first-ever senior medal to be an Olympic gold! He also became the first former Olympic lightweight to win the heavyweight Olympic M1X title. Ntsoukos starts the defence of his Olympic title in Belgrade, and it will be fascinating to see if he can pick up where he left off.

If Ntsoukos’ performance in Tokyo was a positive surprise, then that of Germany’s Ollie Zeidler was a negative one. The reigning World and European champion was known to be vulnerable in rough water, and that’s just what happened in Tokyo, but it was a big surprise that he didn’t make the A-Final. He will be anxious to kick start his Paris campaign with a positive result in Belgrade.

Great Britain has three scullers racing, Graeme Thomas as GBR1, John Collins GBR2 and Callum Dixon GBR3. Thomas and Collins raced together in the M2x in Tokyo and just missed out on a podium place. Thomas won the recent GB trials and has been a member of the senior GB team since 2012. Collins also started his senior GB career in 2012 and finished 5th in the M2X at the Rio Olympics with Jonny Walton. It’ll be interesting to see which boats these two end up in. With the Sinkovic brothers returning to the M2x, that event has suddenly got an awful lot harder, but with only one spot in the single only time will tell which, if either, of these two gain the spot. Dixon races as GB3 and makes his senior debut in Belgrade. He raced in the BM2x at the European U23 Championships last year, winning gold; he is definitely, one to watch for the future in what is a very strong GB men’s sculling squad.

Another sculler to watch is Melvin Twellaar from The Netherlands. He also raced in the M2X at the Tokyo Olympics, winning silver with Stefan Broenink. This duo also took gold at the 2020 Europeans and then silver in 2021. Belgrade will be Twellaar’s first international race in the single.

There seems to be a bit of a theme of Tokyo M2X competitors racing the single in Belgrade; adding to the list is Mateusz Biskup of Poland. He raced with Miroslaw Zietarski in Tokyo, reaching the A-Final. He’s been racing as a senior international since 2014and placed 4th in the M4X at the Rio Olympics. Like Twellaar, Belgrade will be Biskup’s first major international race in the single.

Another Tokyo Olympian racing in Belgrade is Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar of Hungary. He finished 10th in the M1X last year, a step up from his 14th place in Rio. He’s yet to make an A-Final in the M1X at a World Cup, so if he could achieve that in Belgrade, it would be a major achievement.

Lithuania’s Dovydas Nemeracvicius raced in the M4X in Tokyo, finishing 4th in the B-Final. He’s also entered in the M2X, so it remains to be seen if he does actually race both events.

Bulgaria has four scullers entered. Racing as BUL1 is Kristian Vasilev; he was 9th in the M2X in Rio but missed qualification for Tokyo in the M1X. BUL2 is Boris Yotov, 29th in the M2X in 2019 and racing as BUL3 is the reigning U23 European and World Champion Emil Neykov (son of 2008 Olympic champion Rumyana Neykova). BUL4 is Mario Simeonov making his senior debut after racing at the u23 World Championships in 2017.

Other scullers to watch out for including the reigning European LM1X champion, Peter Galambos of Hungary, Monaco and Oxford Brookes rower Quentin Antognelli (15th in the M1X at Tokyo) and Denmark’s U23 bronze medallist Bastian Secher.

Predictions:

Zeidler for the win, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say Graeme Thomas gets the better of the Olympic champion Ntsoukos for the silver.

Men’s Double

Twenty-Two crews

The big story for this event is the return of the legendary Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic to the double. Having spent the Tokyo Olympic cycle successfully set out to become the first athletes to win Olympic gold in the M2- having previously won the M2X, they return to their preferred boat class with their eyes firmly set on Paris. They are, without question, the finest men’s double scull ever and became the first M2x to break the 6-minute barrier when they set a time of 5:59.7 on the Bosbaan in 2014. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of speed they have in the double and whether any of their competition can get close to them.

Croatia has a 2nd boat racing in Belgrade featuring David Sain and Ivan Piton. Sain was a member of the outstanding World Championship winning quad in 2010 along with the Sinkovic’s and Damir Martin, a crew that went on to win silver at the London Olympics. After a career dogged by injury, he raced in the M2x at the 2021 Europeans and then the M1X at the opening World Cup. Piton made his senior debut in 2018 and finished 12th as a member of the M4- at the 2021 Europeans.

The main challengers to the Croatians look to be the Netherlands Koen Metesmakers and Stefan Breonink. Both won medals in Tokyo, Broenink taking silver in the M2X with Melvin Twellaar and Metesmakers in the outstanding Dutch M4X that took the gold. The Twellaar/Broenink combination was a very fast boat, and if this new combination is as fast or even faster, then the Croatians will have their work cut out. The Netherlands has a 2nd double racing with Tokyo Olympian Guillaume Krommenhoek (7th in the M2-) partnered by U23 bronze medallist Guus Mollee.

Poland has also put together a pairing with a lot of Olympic experience. Miroslaw Zietarski raced in this boat class in Tokyo, reaching the A-Final with partner Mateusz Biskup. In Belgrade, he’s partnered by Fabian Baranski. 

Baranski raced in the M4X that just missed out on a podium place in Tokyo. This duo raced together as a double in 2019, winning the European Championships.

Lithuania has also entered two boats in this event. Racing as LTU1 is Armandas Kelmelis and Dovydas Nemeravicius. As mentioned above, Nemeravicius is also entered in the M1X, so it remains to be seen if he does race both events (given the number of entries in both, I would doubt he would want quite so many races!) Both were members of the M4X that finished 10th in Tokyo. Kelmelis was Junior World Champion in 2016, a title he won, having also raced the M1X at the Rio Olympics. He and Nemeravicius have raced together in the M2X before, winning bronze at the U23 World Championships in 2017. The Lithuanian no.2 boat is Giedrius Bieliauskas and Aurimas Adomavicius. Adomavicius raced in this boat in Tokyo, with Saulius Ritter finishing at the tail end of the B-Final. Bieliauskas was 11th in the BM1x at the 2019 U23 World Championships and then raced in the M8 at the 2020 Europeans. He competed once in 2021, finishing 11th in the M2X with Armandas Kelmelis at the 2nd World Cup.

With GB’s Olympic double of Collins and Thomas, both racing in the single, new Director of Performance Louise Kingsley and her coaches have selected George Bourne and Matt Haywood to race the double. Both were members of the U23 World Championship gold medal BM4X in 2019. Haywood raced in the M1X in 2021, placing 9th at the European Championships. Bourne made his senior debut at the Sabaudia World Cup last year, finishing 8th in the M1X.

China has a couple of boats entered; CHN2 features two international debutants, Yifan Gao and Baishun Liu. CHN1 has more experience; Dang Liu raced in the M4X at the Tokyo Olympics, placing 1st in the B-Final. His partner in Belgrade is Xulin Ni, who raced in the M8 in 2017 and 2018.

Greece also has two boats racing. GRE1 is Petros Gkaidatzis and Ioannis Kalandaridis. Gkaidatzis raced in the LM2X in 2019 and Kalandaridis in the M2- at last year’s Europeans. GRE2 is an exciting young combination; Antonios Papakonstaninou and Athanasios Palaiopanos are both reigning U23 World Champions, the former in the BLM1X and the latter in the BM2X. They are definitely, names to watch in the future.

Other crews to mention include the Czech Republic (Jakub Podrazil and Jan Cincibuch), who raced in Tokyo going out in the Rep, and a young Italian double (Gustavo Ferrio– U23 bronze medallist in 2019, and Luca Giurgevich – 4th in the BM8 last season).

Predictions: 

Difficult to look past the Sinkovic’s for the gold, but the Dutch no.1 boat looks to be very, very quick. Croatia in gold with NED1 in silver and a bunfight for the bronze with Poland getting the nod.

Men’s Pair 

Twenty-Two Entries

This event includes two of the A-Finalist combinations from Tokyo. Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Milos Vasic were the highest finishing duo, placing 5th, and Spain’s Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez finished one place behind them in 6th. The Serbians won bronze at the 2021 Europeans, with the Spanish winning bronze two years earlier. Spain also has a better recent record at the World Championships than the Serbs, their 5th place in 2019 was the best result by a Spanish M2- since 2014.

The British are using the Belgrade World Cup to seat race a number of different combinations, all of which are capable of getting amongst the medals. Indeed, the British will probably be disappointed if at least one pair doesn’t come away with some hardware. Racing as GBR1 is the Oxford Brookes combination of Matt Aldridge and Josh Bugajski. Aldridge is a two-time U23 medallist and made his senior debut at the Sabaudia World Cup last season, picking up a silver medal in the M4-. Bugajski was part of the M8 that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, and occasionally controversial figure, the Oxford Blue made his debut in the senior team in 2018and took his first medal at the European Championships in 2019. This duo won the GB Final Trials last month.

Racing as GBR2 is two of Bugajski’s teammates from the Olympic bronze medal-winning M8, Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith. Both men were members of the losing Cambridge Blue Boat last month, and both also took their undergraduate degrees in the USA (George at Princeton and Wynne-Griffith at Yale). George also holds the British 2K and World 5K erg records. They were runners-up at the GB trials last month.

GBR3 includes another Tokyo Olympian, Matt Rossiter. He’s joined by Harry Glenister. Rossiter was a member of the M4- that just missed out on a medal at the Olympics, having won the European title and medalled at the 2019 World Championships. Glenister raced in this boat class from 2019, finishing 7th at the 2021 Europeans and just missing out on qualification for the Olympics at the FOQR.

The Netherlands has also entered several boats in this event. Their No.1 crew is Nikki Van Sprang and Lennart van Lierop. Van Sprang, a University of California graduate, raced in the pair in Tokyo with Guillaume Krommenhoek winning the B-Final. He spent most of the Tokyo Olympiad racing in the M2X before switching to the pair in 2020, finishing 4th at the European Championships. Lierop began his career as a lightweight, racing in the LM8 at the 2014 World Championships. He switched to the heavyweight division in 2019, and in 2021, he had the best finish of 5th in the M2X with Willem van Kuijk at the Sabaudia World Cup.

NED2 is a young combination of Laurentius Lipman and Menno Bezema. They both raced at the World University Games and then made their senior international debuts at the Sabaudia World Cup last season, finishing 4th as part of the M4-.

Lithuania is another nation with two crews entered. LTU1 are Povilas Stankunas and Mantas Juskevicius. They were both U23 silver medallists in 2019 and moved into the M4- for 2021, finishing 11th at the European Championships. LTU2 are the Stankunas twins, Domantas and Dovydas. Like their older brother Povilas they are U23 silver medallists, winning their medal in 2021. They also raced in the M4- at the Europeans last season.

Another young U23 medal-winning crew is Turkey, Kaan Aydin and Aydin Sahin. They took bronze in the BM2- last season and also made the A-Final of the M2- at the first World Cup last year.

Other crews to mention include the Loncaric twins, Patrik and Anton, from Croatia; they were 4th at the U23 worlds last season and also the Swiss no.2 boat, which includes Tokyo Olympian Joel Schuerch partnered by former U23 international Scott Baerlocher.

Predictions: 

This could well be a really tight battle between the British, Serbs and Spanish. I’m going for GBR1 (Bugajski and Aldridge) to take the gold with Serbia in silver and GBR2 (George and Wynne-Griffith) in bronze.

Men’s Four 

Fourteen Entries 

There is a veritable armada of Dutch boats entered in this event. The Netherlands has no fewer than four crews racing. The pick of the bunch looks to be NED2. This boat includes four Tokyo Olympians, Bjorn Van den Ende and Ruben Knab from the 5th placed M8 and Sander de Graaf and Nelson Ritsema from the M4- that finished 6th. NED1 includes three of the crew who finished 5th at the 2nd World Cup of 2021; Michiel Mantel and Ralf, and Rik Rienks. The 4th member of the crew is Mick Makker, who’s making only his 2nd World Cup appearance after finishing 16th in the M4- at the 2nd World Cup of 2019. The other two Dutch boats are made up of U23 and development athletes, including 2019 BM8 bronze medallists Daan Vos De Wael & Wibout Rustenburg.

Poland also has an experienced line-up with two of the crew that finished 7th in Tokyo; Mateusz Wilangowski and Mikolaj Burda. This pair was also in the Polish M4- that won gold at the 2019 World Championships (the first time the Polish heavyweight men had won an Olympic class sweep World Championships). In Belgrade, the four has two new members, Lukasz Posylajka and Damian Jozefowicz. Posylajka raced in the M2- at the 2019 World Championships, placing 14th. He and Jozefowicz competed in the pair at the FOQR, reaching the A-Final.

Great Britain has put together a new-look M4- after what some saw (unfairly, in my opinion) as a disappointing performance in Tokyo. All four of the crew are U23 medallists from 2019, Will Stewart and Lenny Jenkins were in the BM8+ and Freddie Davidson in the BM4- that won gold. The fourth member of the crew, Ollie Wilkes, took silver in the BM4+. Wilkes, Jenkins and Davidson all made their senior debuts during the 2021 World Cup series, with Wilkes finishing 4th in the M2- with Matt Tarrant at WC2 and Davidson and Jenkins finishing 5th in the M4- at the 3rd World Cup. Given the seat-racing going on in the men’s pairs, it remains to be seen if this quartet remains as is for the rest of the season, but they are a talented line-up and will be in with a shout for a medal.

China has two boats in the event, with CHN2 containing three of the M8 that missed qualification for Tokyo at the FOQR, Wenlei Lu, Xianfeng Chen and Pengpeng Cai. The fourth member of the crew, Qiao Xu, makes his international debut in Belgrade. CHN1 includes 2019 junior internationals Gaoxing Ji and Wei Liu, along with Lu Sun (18th in the M2- in 2017) and Ruihao Su (20th in the M4- at the 1st World Cup of2018).

It’s exciting for this World Cup to see a big entry from India; they have two boats entered in the M4- with the majority of athletes making their international debuts, although Punit Kumar and Jasveer Singh raced in this boat class at the 2019 World Championships finishing 20th. In Belgrade, Kumar rows in IND1 and Singh in IND2.

The crews from Austria and Denmark are all former U23 athletes stepping up to the senior ranks for the first time (Austria has Harald Steininger and Lorenz Lindorf from last year’s BM8 and Jacob Stadler and Bruno Bachmair, who raced the BM4X in 2019 and 2017 respectively). The line-up for Denmark is Magnus Valbirk and Magnus Rathenborg from 2019 BM4- Tobias Kristensen from the BM2- in 2021, and former junior international Kaare Mortensen.

Predictions: 

The Netherlands’ 2nd boat looks to be the favourite, although I do like the look of the young British crew. I think NED2 for the gold, GBR just pipping the experienced Poles for the silver.

Men’s Quad

Eleven Entries 

Great Britain looks to be the form crew in this event. Tom Barras and Harry Leask were both in the quad in Tokyo that won a historic silver medal. They have also both raced in the A-Fina in the single at the World Championships (Barras winning bronze in 2017 and Leask finishing 4th in 2018). They are joined by Sam Meijer and Seb Devereux, who has the unenviable task of replacing Angus Groom and Jack Beaumont in the quad. Devereux and Meijer raced together in the BM2X in 2017, winning the gold medal. Meijer also won U23 gold medals in 2018 and 2019. After studying at Harvard, he made his senior debut at the 2nd World Cup last season, finishing 12th in the M2x with Jonny Walton.

The Netherlands are the reigning Olympic champions, but like the British, they have made a number of changes for 2022. Only one member of the gold medal boat remains, Abe Wiersma. He is joined by two other Tokyo Olympians, Finn Florijn, who raced in the M1X, and Jan van Der Bij from the M4-. The 4th member of the crew is Jacob van Der Kerkhof. He made his senior debut in 2018 and raced in the M2- at the 2019 Europeans, finishing 19th. The 2021 Dutch M4X was possibly the best crew in any event at Tokyo; if the 2022 version sculls anything like their predecessors, then they will be very hard to beat.

Poland also has two members of their 4th place Olympic quad returning in 2022. Dominik Czaja and Szymon Posnik are joined by two talented former U23’s, Piotr Plominski (who won silver in the BM1X last year) and Cerzary Litka (5th in the BM4X). Poland has a strong reputation in this boat class, and their 2022iteration looks to have a lot of talent.

China has two boats racing in Belgrade, with three of the crew that finished 7th in Tokyo. Ha Zhang and Xudi Yi are racing in CHN1 and Dang Liu in CHN2. Joining Zhang and Yi in CH1 is Olympic bronze medallist Zhiyu Liu along with international debutant Sulitan Adilijiang. Joining Liu in the 2nd Chinese crew is Xulin Ni (who rowed in the M8 at the 2018 World Cup) and two debutants, 21-year-old Yifan Gao and 19-year-old Baishun Liu. The CHN2 crew are also doubling up in the M2X.

The Czech Republic have an exciting young combination, led by Olympic M1x sculler Jan Fleissner; he’s joined by three members of the U23 World Champion BM4X, Dalibor Nedela, and Tomas Sisma and Filip Zima. The Czechs haven’t won a World Cup medal in the M4X since Lucerne 2007; with the talent in this crew, that drought could soon be coming to an end.

Lithuania were European bronze medallists in this boat class back in 2020, and they had two of that crew back in 2022. Dominykas Jancionis and Aurimas Adomavicius are joined by Zygimantas Galisanskis and Giedrius Bielauskas. As mentioned above, the Lithuanians are entered in both the M2X and M4X, but it remains to be seen if they do race in both.

Also racing are Belgium, who have entered an M4X for the first time since 2010, with a crew stroked by lightweight Olympian Tim Brys. Ukraine, with three of the crew that missed Olympic qualification at the FOQR, Switzerland, with a crew that includes three of the 9th placed BM4- from the 2021 U23 World Championships, and a quad from India.

Predictions: 

This should be a great race between the new-look British and Dutch quads. I’m putting my Union Jack pants on and saying that the British will get the gold, with The Netherlands in silver and Poland in bronze.

Men’s Eight

Three Entries

Both the Chinese and The Netherlands are doubling up their M4-‘s into the M8. Whilst with only three crews in the event, it will be a straight final, they will both face a very formidable Great Britain M8, which isn’t doubling up.

The new GB M8 has three of the crew that won bronze in Tokyo (Tom Ford, James Rudkin and Charlie Elwes). They are joined by two of the Olympic M4- that just missed out on a medal in Tokyo, Sholto Carnegie and Rory Gibbs. Morgan Bolding sits in the two-seat; he raced in the M8 at the 2nd World Cup in 2021, winning gold, and just missed qualifying the M2- for Tokyo at the FOQR. The remaining members of the crew are all former U23 World Champions, Tom Digby, Dave Bewicke-Copley and Harry Brightmore in the coxes seat. It’s also interesting to note that Elwes, Carnegie and Digby were all members of the same IRA-winning Yale Varsity crew.

The Netherlands will present a good test for the British, but I don’t think they will get the better of them. GB for the gold by half a length from the Dutch with the clear Chinese water adrift.

Lightweight Men’s Single

Twelve Entries

This event has three scullers who competed in the Lightweight double in Tokyo. The Uruguayan double of Bruno Cetraro Berriolo and Felipe Kluver Ferreira finished 6th in Tokyo, the best result for an Uruguayan crew at the Olympics since 1952. Whilst they are competing in singles in Belgrade, I would think they will be back together in the double later in this season.

The other Tokyo Olympian is Algeria’s Sid Ali Boudina. He finished 17th in the light double with partner Kamil Ait Daoud. Tokyo was Boudina’s 2nd Olympics; in Rio, he raced in the M1X, finishing 23rd.

One of the regular competitors in the light single is Slovenian Rajko Hrvat. The 35-year-old has been racing in this event since 2010 and was a world silver medallist in 2015. His results in recent seasons haven’t quite matched that level, 13th at the 2019 World Championships, and he was 7th at both the 2020 and 2021 Europeans. After a failed attempt to qualify for the heavyweight single at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, he won bronze in the LM1X at the final World Cup of the year.

Bulgaria’s Lazar Penev finished 19th at the 2019 World Championships and followed that in 2021 with 9th place at the European Championships. He ended the season on a high taking the bronze in thee BLM1X at the U23 World Championships.

Another U23 bronze medallist from 2021 is Belgium’s Tibo Vyvey. He won his medal in the BLM2X partnered with Marlon Colpaert (who’s racing in the LM2x in Belgrade). Colpaert competed as a teenager in the light single at the 2019 World Championships finishing 4th in the E-Final.

Also racing are Sweden’s Ahmet Rapi (13th at the 2020 European Championships), Bence Tamas of Hungary (9th at the 1st World Cup of 2019), 36-year-old Lukasz Sawicki from Poland (making only his 3rd international appearance following a 9th place at the final World Cup last year), Spain’s Daniel Guiterrez Garcia (11th at the 2021 Europeans), Enes Yenipazarli of Turkey (21st in the LM2X at the 2019 Worlds) and finally Mohamed Kota of Egypt (32nd in the LM2X in 2019).

Predictions: 

Hrvat in gold, Vyvev in silver and one of the Uruguayans in bronze (can’t pick between them!)

Lightweight Men’s Double

Fifteen Entries

Favourites in this event will most likely be the Czech Republic; Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil finished 4th at the Tokyo Olympics. 39-year-old Vrastil (son of Montreal and Moscow Olympian Miroslav Vrastil Snr) made his senior debut back in 2007 and also raced at the London and Rio Olympics in the LM4-. Simanek made his senior debut in 2015 and has been racing in the double with Vrastil since 2017, when they won their first (and so far, only) World Cup medal, taking silver at the opening World Cup. Belgrade could well see them upgrade this to gold.

Another boat in medal contention is likely to be the Belgians, Marlon Colpaert and Niels van Zandweghe. As mentioned above, Colpaert raced at the U23 World Championships last season, picking up a bronze medal. Van Zandweghe raced in the light double at the Tokyo Olympics with Tim Brys, finishing 5th; he won the BLM1X at the U23 World Championships in 2016 and took bronze in the LM1x at the 2017 European Championships. As a double, he and Brys won bronze at the 2018 World Championships and the 2019 and 2020 Europeans. With Brys now racing in the M4X, it’ll be very interesting to see how this new double fares.

The Belgrade world Cup also sees the 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th placed doubles from Tokyo racing. Spain’s Manel Balastegui and Caetano Horta Pomba won the B-Final in Tokyo. For 19-year-old Horta Pomba, the Olympics was only his2nd senior international regatta, so to place 7th was an outstanding achievement. Balastegui is only two years Horta Pomba’s senior; he won U23 gold in 2018 and, with partner Rodrigo Conde Romero, reached the A-Finals at both the 2019 World Championships and the 2020 Europeans. This is an exciting young combination, and it’s likely that they will only get faster throughout the Paris Olympiad. They are definitely, ones to watch.

8th in Tokyo were Poland, Jerzy Kowalski and Artur Mikolajczewski. They have been racing together as a double for the last few seasons, placing 6th at the 2019 World Championships and 4th at the 2020 Europeans.

9th in Tokyo LM2X racing unchanged in Belgrade are Ukraine. Igor Khmara and Stanislav Kovalov finished 10th last year. They’ve also been racing together as a double since 2019, finishing 20th at the World Championships. They reached the A-Final at both the 2020 and 2021 Europeans.

The final double racing unchanged from their line-up in Tokyo is India. Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh finished 11th, the best ever performance by an Indian crew at the Olympics. India also has a 2nd LM2X entered, Arwinder Singh and Ajay Tyagi, both of whom are making their international debuts after winning the Senior National Rowing Championships earlier this year (Tyagi only started rowing in 2018 and says he’s afraid of water!)

Chile has two athletes with Olympic experience; Eber Sanhueza raced in Tokyo with Cesar Abaroa, finishing 14th. In Belgrade, he’s partnered by Felipe Cardenas Morales, who raced in the double in Rio, finishing 15th.

Another Tokyo Olympian racing is Sobirjon Safaroliyev of Uzbekistan. He finished 16th in the LM2X and is joined this season by a new partner, Shakhzod Nurmatov, who won bronze in the BLM2- at the 2021 U23 World Championships.

Switzerland has selected two former U23 internationals for Belgrade, Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland. Schaeuble finished 4th in the BLM1x in 2021 and Ahumada Ireland 6th in the BLM2X. Schaeuble also has senior representative honours to his name, finishing 11th in the LM1X at the 2019 World Championships and 5th in the LM2X at both the 2020 and 2021 Europeans and winning a silver medal at the 1st World Cup of 2021, 9all with partner Andri Struzina).

Also racing are two Austrian crews (which look to be their LM4X moved to the LM2X due to no competition) Lucas Reim and Julian Schoerbel in AUT1 and Lukas Hoemstein and Sebastian Kabas in AUT2. Kabas was in the LM4X that won bronze at the 2020 Europeans and was 5th at the 2019 World Championships. Schoerbel missed direct qualification for Tokyo with a 13th in 2019 and then went out in the semis at the FOQR. Reim attempted to qualify the m1X at the FOQR but also went out at the semi-final stage. Hoemstein makes his senior debut, having raced at the 2021 U23 World Championships, placing 9th in the BLM2X.

Predictions: 

The Czech Republic come into 2022 as the form crew, but the Belgians and Spanish also look strong…I’m going for that as the 1,2,3.

About The Author