To kick off row2k's feature coverage, let's bring you a few things we noticed from the entries list and our notes from our first days on-site, to include your Spares Racing Report.
Notes on the Entries
The (Olympic) Stars Are Out - perhaps inevitable just one year out from the Games, but the lists are full of Olympians, including a few who were pretty well retired this time last year, or thinking about it. We'll flesh out this list as the week goes on, but notable on the women's side would be the return of two two-time Olympic champions: USA's Meghan Musnicki and GB's Helen Glover, who could both be back on a path to their fourth Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
Glover, now a mother of three, has a story a bit like the one Musnicki had for row2k back in March, after the US Speed Order: with a good winter of training and good results this year, why not take another shot at the Worlds? While that fourth Olympics might still be a long way and a few decisions away, both Musnicki and Glover will definitely be in the mix at the top of the sport, yet again, this week.
Kiwis Staying Small - No New Zealand eights again, for men or women, for a second year in row. As promised in the article last year with the foreboding title New Zealand eights unlikely to contest 2024 Paris Olympics despite Tokyo success, the Kiwis are indeed staying out of the eights again this year. So, looks like New Zealand's shining moment in Tokyo as an eights nation is definitely over for now, and they are back to focusing on small boats...which, of course, has served them very well in the past.
Not So Much Doubling in Doubles After All - despite appearing in the entries on track to do a lot of racing across two small boat events, Austria's Magdalena Lobnig and Italy's Federica Cesarini will be focusing on just one event after all. Lobnig announced on Instagram that her sister Katharina would not be healthy enough for them to race together in the double (where they finished 4th last year). Instead, Lobnig will "step back to where I am coming from," as she said in her post, and fall back on her singles entry. That puts her back in the event she has raced at the last two Olympics, and where she won bronze in Tokyo.
Federica Cesarini, Italy's Olympic champion in the LW2x, will also focus on her Olympic event here, despite initially being listed in both the light and open double, which would have been a good bit of racing. Cesarini has been in the Italian LW2x with a new partner all spring, but Valentina Rodini comes back into the crew at this, her first regatta of 2023, and now the Olympic champs are reunited. The duo narrowly missed the A Final in Racice last year and will look to grab one of the top seven spots that would qualify them them to defend their Olympic title.
Stepping up from U23s - a fair few athletes--and even some intact crews--sure look familiar from the U23 racing in Plovdiv a few weeks back. This is another story we will work on this week, but our list so far includes the U23 champs in the men's double, Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh, stepping up into the Irish quad, along with fellow U23er Andrew Sheehan, the BM1x silver medallist this year; Greece's U23 medal machine Evangelia Anastasiadou--the lightweight who has two U23 golds and a silver--rowing in the (get this) openweight women's pair; Italy's silver medal winning U23 light men's pair, which is interestingly enough the favorite in that same event here at Worlds, particularly in the absence of the US crews which beat them to the U23 gold the past two years; and the entire German women's eight, racing intact here after their remarkable silver medal row in Plovdiv.
Notes from the Course
The Spares say 'Course is Good' - the traditional shaking down of the course with one day to go that is the Spares racing went off smoothly on Saturday, and the USA Spares picked up two wins in the Women's Single--by Maggie Fellows in the first race, and Audrey Boersen in the second--and one by the "Stanford Spare" pair of former Cardinal teamates Kaitlin Kynast and Azja Czajkowski. The Men's Pair of Rhett Burns and Andrew Gaard took fourth behind Australia, GB and Italy. You can find full results here and, as is usually the case, as usual, the start pontoon was light on photographers for the spares race: only row2k and the intrepid Balint Czucz turned up--see the full spares racing gallery here.
Missed the Memo - looks like the Spanish women's pair did not get the memo that US college uni day was on Friday, so they wore theirs to practice on Saturday: bow seat Aina Cid (whom we featured as an undergrad in 2017) in her Ohio State uni from the Big Ten, and Esther Briz Zamorano in her Stanford uni from the, err, Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Beach Is Closed - thanks to what must be nearly 5000 meters worth of temporary metal fencing ringing the course, the very popular beaches all around the Sava Lake are closed for the duration of the Championships. Since packed beaches and even swimmers out in the water have been part of the, um charm, of racing here in Belgrade, the fencing is in place to keep that to a minimum. So far, we have heard at least one report of some intrepid swimmers finding their way into the water and splashing around in the warm-up area, but the lake very clearly looks closed for business--apart, that is, from the lifeguards. Strangely enough, every life guard stand, and there is one nearly every 100 feet or so, has a very bored lifeguard watching over a whole lot of nothing--apart from a lot of world-class rowing.
Talk about Crap Jobs - yep, these guys were on "port the port-a-john" duty, but we got a thumbs up as they walked by...which makes you wonder if there was a worse job they were glad to not be doing.
Welcome to the Sculpture Garden - the team tents are all set up in an area that serves as an outdoor sculpture garden, which creates some interesting pics for the scene gallery, and some unconventional seating areas.
Can you spot the other artworks amonsgt the tents in the Saturday scene gallery?
New Drill? The Brazilian sculler left the dock rowing with his blades inverted, and using a wide grip. Maybe this is just a drill we haven't heard of yet, but it was a new one on us...and if you can figure out what it helps with, maybe you can add it to your repertoire.
You Know it is a Qualification Year When... the semis are on the broadcast schedule. No waiting for the medals round to start showing races this year, not when semi-final places will be setting up, or shredding, Olympic dreams. That is must-see-TV for certain.
Kudos to the Flag Crew - not often that you get photos of guys in full climbing harnesses at a rowing event, but these daredevils needed them as they scrambled up and over the metal framework that overhangs the medals stage here in Belgrade. Some rope, steel nerves, and a whole lotta zip-ties later, the flag arch looks pretty sweet, and will figure in a lot of photos from the venue as the week goes on.
You can catch some more the these photos we never thought we'd ever take at a rowing race here in Friday's Training gallery.
...And the Broom Crew - these guys have been out keeping the docks and walkways clean, and they take their job very seriously. When one ref tried to pitch in, the broom was snatched out of her hands with a brisk, "No, this is my job, not yours."
Up Next: Racing
The draw takes place Saturday afternoon--you can see the seedings here--with racing starting Sunday. The week will culminate in these three days of Finals as follows, so you can mark your calendar:
Plus, here is when the racing will start for each boat class, with links to the row2k previews for each--and you can find local race times on the full timetable here, or the race time where you live via the 'Schedule' tab on the World Rowing website.
Sunday M1x - W1x - LM1x - LW1x - LM2x - M2- - M2x
Monday W2- - LW2x - W2x - LM4x - W4- - M4- - W4x - M4x - PR3 Mix 2x - PR3 Mix 4+
Tuesday LW2- - M8 - W8 - PR1 M1x - PR2 M2x
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