Racing for the 2023 World Championships begins on Sunday, September 3, in Belgrade, Serbia. Below, we preview the men's single sculls event.
ENTRIES - 48
2020 Olympic Champion – Stefanos Ntouskos - GRE
2022 World Champion – Oliver Zeidler - GER
RACICE 2022 RECAP
German sculler Oliver Zeidler raced out to a massive three second lead on the field in the first quarter of the race and maintained that lead over Melvin Twellaar of the Netherlands to take the gold, his second world championship in the single. Graeme Thomas of Britain won the silver over Jordan Parry of New Zealand, Kjetil Borch of Norway, and Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece.
Watch the final from Racice here.
2023 SEASON RECAP
2023 has been dominated by the defending champion in the event, Oliver Zeidler of Germany. Zeidler won all three World Cup events and came in a close third place finish at the European Championships. Closest to Zeidler all year has been Sverri Nielsen of Denmark, who took silver at all three World Cups and a fourth at Euros.
Dutch sculler Lennart van Lierop won the European title in his only time racing the single at the senior level, but has since moved to the men's quad. Olympic champion Ntouskos seems to be getting closer to the form he had in Tokyo, taking silver at Europeans and sixth at World Cup III.
Additional scullers who have shown good speed in 2023 are Thomas Mackintosh of New Zealand (3rd at WC3), Ryuta Arakawa of Japan (3rd at WC2 and 4th at WC3), and Kristian Vasilev of Bulgaria (three A Finals).
USA PROSPECTS
American single sculler Eliot Putnam will make his debut in the men's single in Belgrade, an event that is loaded with 48 entries. His last race at this level was as part of the USA M4x at the 2021 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, where the crew failed to advance out of the repechage. With only nine spots available to qualify for Paris, Putnam's goal will be to make the B Final to give himself a shot at qualifying the USA for the Olympics in the event.
MEDAL PICKS
Zeidler is the heavy favorite coming into Belgrade with Nielsen chasing his stern for the likely silver. Then there are multiple scullers who should be in the mix for the A Final and podium, including Mackintosh, Borch (NOR), Martin (CRO), van Dorp (NED), Jones (CAN), Ntouskos, Vasilev, and Arakawa.
GOLD – GERMANY
SILVER – DENMARK
BRONZE - NEW ZEALAND
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