Shortlist for 2013 Thomas Keller Medal

FISA has just announced the five finalists for the 2013 Thomas Keller Medal. They are:

Iztok Cop (Slovenia)
Drew Ginn (Australia)
Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus)
Katherine Grainger (Great Britain)
Eskild Ebbesen (Denmark)

Read more about the finalists here.

I have to say that this year’s field is a tough one, because how are you going to be able to pick out only one of these incredible athletes? It seems to be an impossible task… The list does raise a question, though: Is not the Thomas Keller Medal for those rowers who have retired from active competing? Or has this rule being changed? I cannot remember reading about such a change; and if it has not altered, have Grainer and Ebbesen retired from top elite rowing?

The winner of the Thomas Keller Medal will receive an 18-carat gold medal. This year’s medal will be presented at the Nation’s Dinner of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. It will be bestowed by Dominik Keller, the son of FISA’s former president Thomas Keller, and Denis Oswald, president of FISA.