Marcel Hacker of Germany, Duncan Free of Australia, and Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus have all arrived in Boston and are busy rigging their borrowed singles and getting to know the Charles River.

Hacker, the enormous, veteran German sculler, looks rested and ready to make a run at honors, .as he was unable to attend the HOCR last year, just after the Olympics.

It's a first time in Boston for Duncan Free, who will take these next few days getting acclimated to the twisting Charles course. Steering, on this Head course, is critical to a fast time.