ROWING: The Australian Rowing Team has arrived in Aiguebelette, France ahead of World Rowing Cup II which takes place from Friday 20 June to Sunday 22 June.
The event, which takes place on Lake Aiguebelette, comprises four international events, 14 World Cup events and five Para-Rowing events.
Australia has entered five crews to compete in the following events over the three-day regatta: Lightweight Women’s Single Scull, Lightweight Women’s Double Scull, Women’s Double Scull, Men’s Double Scull and Men’s Coxless Four.
Western Australia’s Maia Simmonds will be the first Australian to race at the regatta, in the Lightweight Women’s Single Scull which is an international event.
Simmonds, who is competing for the first time in a World Cup in this particular boat class, will face an 11-strong field in a bid to medal. The entry list includes New Zealand’s Julia Edward, Germany’s Lena Mueller and Great Britain’s Ruth Walczak in a race that is probably considered one of the most wide-open for picking medallists.
The Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls sees Australia entering a new partnership in Tasmania’s Ella Flecker and Victoria’s Alice McNamara. The entry list for this race features a number of crews that will offer a challenge for the Australian crew including New Zealand’s Lucy Strack and Julia Edward who finished second at World Rowing Cup I in Sydney earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the USA (Devery Karz and Michelle Sechser) and Canada (Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee) will make their first appearance of the World Rowing Cup season at this event. The field also features Great Britain’s Imogen Walsh and Katherine Copeland who finished third at the recent 2014 European Rowing Championships.
The Australian Rowing Team has been preparing for the Aiguebelette event by utilising the AIS’ European Training Centre in Varese, Italy and McNamara said the time there has been beneficial: “The ETC is a wonderful facility and we have been enjoying its benefits with great food and training aids. We are looking forward to racing to gauge how we are progressing.”
Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey will be keen to retain the winning edge they had at World Rowing Cup I in Sydney that saw them claim gold in front of a home crowd. The event once again sees no appearance by the current World Champions, Lithuania, while Germany, who finished third in Sydney have changed their crew combinations, with Julia Richter and Mareike Adams pairing up in a bid to push for a higher medal position.
Other crews looking to challenge Kehoe and Aldersey will most likely come in the form of the Polish duo of Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj (second in the European Championships this year) and New Zealand’s Fiona Bourke and Zoe Stevenson.
In the Men’s equivalent event, Alexander Belonogoff, who finished second in the Men’s Double Sculls in WRC I in Sydney, will be partnering up with South Australian and London 2012 bronze medallist James McRae in an event which sees current World and European Champions, Lithuania, fail to enter a crew.
However, the entry list does include the 2014 European Championship silver medallists, Azerbaijan’s Aleksander Aleksandrov and Boris Yotov, as well as Germany’s Hans Gruhne and Stephan Krueger and Canada’s Michael Wilkinson and Steven Vanknotsenburg.
Belonogoff commented: “It was great racing with Cameron Girdlestone in Sydney, but James McRae is so experienced having been to two Olympics, so it has been terrific for me to row with him at home and at the ETC in training.
“The field is deep but a couple of good crews are missing so we are looking forward to a good performance with the focus on implementing the things we have been working on lately.”
In what will undoubtedly be one of the most hotly contested races of the weekend, the Men’s Coxless Four sees eight countries racing. Australia’s entry will be stroked by London 2012 silver medallist, Joshua Dunkley-Smith, followed by Fergus Pragnell, Spencer Turrin and the bow seat occupied by Christopher Cunningham-Reid.
Australia won this race in Sydney at World Rowing Cup I, but this is a new-look crew and will be up against a strong Great Britain crew who scored victory in the recent 2014 European Rowing Championships. Other crews to keep an eye out for will be Germany who finished fifth in the European Rowing Championships and also USA’s crew of Grant James, Seth Weil, Henrik Rummel and Michael Gennaro.
Ahead of a busy weekend of racing, Dunkley-Smith said of newest team-mate Cunningham-Reid: “Kit is doing really well and has trained hard along with the rest of us. Aiguebelette is a new venue for us all so we will all learn something from racing here.”
Fox Sports Australia will be broadcasting the finals of World Rowing Cup II on Sunday 22 June from 1800 to 2230 (EST) on Fox Sports 3. World Rowing will also be live-streaming the finals via www.worldrowing.com
Rowing Australia
