The primary lesson of the 2019 World Rowing World Championships was this: with few exceptions, there are no favorites any more.
The competition in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, showed the parity among the top rowers with just three of their 2018 champions able to defend their titles this year in the open-weight categories:
● Men/Pairs: Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (CZE)
● Men/Eights: Germany
● Women/Single Sculls: Sanita Puspure (IRL)
New champions were everywhere and the medals were distributed as well. In the 12 open-weight classes, New Zealand won three and China and Germany two each, and five other countries won one.
The New Zealand triumphs did showcase athletes who are likely the favorites for Tokyo in 2020. In the women’s Double Sculls, Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe won their second Worlds golds – from 2017 – after being second in 2018. In the women’s Pairs, Grace Pendergast and Kerri Gowler also moved up from second last year and won a second title (also in 2017). The Kiwis also won in the women’s Eights, which included Pendergast and Gowler winning their seconds golds of the regatta.
The 2019 Worlds was also the primary qualification vehicle for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. According to World Rowing, “The Netherlands and Great Britain proved to be the most successful in Olympic qualification with both countries securing ten boat classes out of 14 for Tokyo 2020. Italy and New Zealand also did well with nine boats qualified, followed by Australia and the United States with eight qualified boats.”
The American squad won two medals, both in women’s racing, with Kara Kohler in Single Sculls and the Eights both taking bronze medals. For Kohler, it was her first Worlds medal since her bronze in the Quadruple Sculls back in 2012! Summaries:
World Rowing World Championships
Linz-Ottensheim (GER) ~ 25 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Single Sculls: 1. Oliver Zeidler (GER), 6:44.55; 2. Sverri Nielsen (DEN), 6:44.58; 3. Kjetil Borch (NOR), 6:44.84; 4. Mindaugas Griskonis (LTU), 6:45.24; 5. Stef Broenink (NED), 6:45.58; 6. Ondrej Synek (CZE), 6:47.93.
Double Sculls: 1. Zhiyu Liu/Liang Zhang (CHN), 6:05.68; 2. Philip Doyle/Ronan Byrne (IRL), 6:06.25; 3. Miroslaw Zietarski/Mateusz Biskup (POL), 6:07.87; 4. John Collins/Graeme Thomas (GBR), 6:10.35; 5. Barnabe Delarze/Roman Roeoesli (SUI), 6:11.11; 6. Ioan Prundeanu/Marian-Florian Enache (ROU), 6:12.31.
Quadruple Sculls: 1. Netherlands, 5:51.75; 2. Poland, 5:55.59; 3. Italy, 5:56.11; 4. Australia, 6:01.03; 5. Germany, 6:04.31; 6. China, 6:19.05.
Pairs: 1. Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (CZE), 6:42.28; 2. Thomas Murray/Michael Brake (NZL), 6:45.47; 3. Sam Hardy/Joshua Hicks (AUS), 6:51.81; 4. Matteo Lodo/Giuseppe Vicino (ITA), 6:55.34; 5. Jaime Canalejo Pazos/Javier Garcia Ordonez (ESP), 6:57.40; 6. Valentin Onfroy/Theophile Onfroy (FRA), 7:02.05.
Fours: 1. Poland (Wilangowski, Burda, Brzezinski, Szpakowski), 6:09.86; 2. Romania, 6:11.41; 3. Great Britain, 6:11.71; 4. Italy, 6:13.39; 5. United States (Thomas Peszek, Thomas Dethlefs, Andrew Reed, Clark Dean), 6:13.40; 6. Australia, 6:15.98.
Eights: 1. Germany, 5:19.41; 2. Netherlands, 5:19.96; 3. Great Britain, 5:22.35; 4. Australia, 5:22.88; 5. United States, 5:23.92; 6. New Zealand, 5:24.47.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Martino Goretti (ITA), 6:59.48; 2. Peter Galambos (HUN), 7:02.37; 3. Sean Murphy (AUS), 7:04.55; 4. Alexis Lopez Garcia (MEX), 7:05.22; 5. Samuel Mottram (GBR), 7:05.39; 6. Aaron Lattimer (CAN), 7:13.81.
Lightweight Doubles Sculls: 1. Fintan McCarthy/Paul O’Donovan (IRL), 6:37.28; 2. Stefano Oppo/Pietro Ruta (ITA), 6:39.71; 3. Jonathan Rommelmann/Jason Osborne (GER), 6:41.07; 4. Kristoffer Brun/Are Strandli (NOR), 6:44.07; 5. Rodrigo Conde Romero/Manel Balastegui (ESP), 6:48.75; 6. Jerzy Kowalski/Artur Mikolajczewski (POL), 6:49.86.
Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. China, 5:53.630; 2. Italy, 5:55.010; 3. Netherlands, 5:56.060; 4. Denmark, 5:58.680; 5. Austria, 5:58.790; 6. France, 6:03.130.
Lightweight Pairs: 1. Giuseppe di Mare/Raffaele Serio (ITA), 6:37.75; 3. Nikita Bolozin/Maksim Telitcyn (RUS), 6:42.07; 3. Vangelys Reinke Pereira/Emanuel Dantas Borges (BRA), 6:45.28; 4. Bence Szabo/Kalman Furko (HUN), 6:49.50; 5. Jiri Kopac/Jan Hajek (CZE), 6:55.34; 6. Markus Lemp/Anton Sigl (AUT), 7:03.70.
Women
Single Sculls: 1. Sanita Puspure (IRL), 7:17.14; 2. Emma Twigg (NZL), 7:20.56; 3. Kara Kohler (USA), 7:22.21; 4. Victoria Thornley (GBR), 7:25.48; 5. Jeannine Gmelin (SUI), 7:26.93; 6. Carling Zeeman (CAN), 7:29.70.
Double Sculls: 1. Brooke Donoghue/Olivia Loe (NZL), 6:47.17; 2. Nicoleta-Ancuta Bodnar/Simona Radis (ROU), 6:48.55; 3. Roos de Jong/Lisa Scheenaard (NED), 6:49.22; 4. Gabrielle Smith/Andrea Proske (CAN), 6:49.85; 5. Cicely Madden/Genevra Stone (USA), 6:49.86; 6. Helena Lefebvre/Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino (FRA), 6:52.09.
Quadruple Sculls: 1. China, 6:34.65; 2. Poland, 6:36.59; 3. Netherlands, 6:36.62; 4. Germany, 6:45.11; 5. New Zealand, 6:46.55; 6. Great Britain, 6:46.84.
Pairs: 1. Grace Pendergast/Kerri Gowler (NZL), 7:21.35; 2. Jessica Morrison/Annabelle McIntyre (AUS), 7:23.62; 3. Caileigh Filmer/Hillary Janssens (CAN), 7:26.52; 4. Megan Kalmoe/Tracy Eisser (USA), 7:32.25; 5. Aina Cid/Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP), 7:38.14; 6. Kiri Tontodonati/Aisha Rocek (ITA), 7:40.35.
Fours: 1. Australia (Aldersey, Werry, Hawe, Stephan), 6:43.45; 2. Netherlands, 6:45.55; 3. Denmark, 6:47.84; 4. Poland, 6:51.43; 5. Romania, 6:53.83; 6. United States (Molly Bruggeman, Victoria Opitz, Madeleine Wanamaker, Caryn Davies), 6:55.98.
Eights: 1. New Zealand, 5:56.910; 2. Australia, 5:59.630; 3. United States, 6:01.930; 4. Canada, 6:03.040; 5. Great Britain, 6:06.960; 6. Romania, 6:08.490.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Marie-Louise Draeger (GER), 7:43.98; 2. Chiaki Tomita (JPN), 7:47.28; 3. Madeleine Arlett (GBR), 7:49.82; 4. Nicole van Wyk (RSA), 7:53.19; 5. Ellen Gleadow (CAN), 7:53.83; 6. Martine Veldhuis (NED), 7:57.74.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1. Zoe McBride/Jackie Kiddle (NZL), 7:15.32; 2. Marieke Keijser/Ilse Paulis (NED), 7:19.51; 3. Emily Craig/Imogen Grant (GBR), 7:21.38; 4. Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc/Gianina-Elena Beleaga (ROU), 7:21.73; 5. Laura Tarantola/Claire Bove (FRA), 7:23.20; 6. Anastasiia Ianina/Alena Furman (BLR), 7:31.53.
Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. Italy, 6:34.00; 2. China, 6:36.31; 3. Germany, 6:37.72; 4. United States (Jessica Hyne-Dolan, Michaela Copenhaver, Rosa Kemp, Mary Reckford), 6:38.36; 5. Vietnam, 6:55.71.
Lightweight Pairs: 1. Margaret Bertasi/Cara Stawicki (USA), 7:32.64; 2. Sofia Tanghetti/Maria Costa (ITA), 7:34.20; 3. Janika Koelblin/Marie-Christine Gerhardt (GER), 7:37.72; 4. Tatjana Grigorjeva/Ludmila Ivanova (LAT), 8:03.78.
