Results from this Weekend's Regattas

European Champions in the women's pair: Helen Glover and Polly Swann of Great Britain. Photo: British Rowing.

This weekend saw some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond, which we mentioned yesterday. In the U.S., it was the NCAA and the IRA. In Europe, it was the European Championships and the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships. South of Scotland, Tim Koch reminded us about Eights’ Week in Oxford and Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated about the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney. Tim promised us a report from Eights’ Week later on, while results from the other mentioned regattas will be found below (posting this Sunday evening, some results have not yet been posted, but hopefully they will be up very soon):

NACC
IRA
Scottish Championships
Scottish Schools’ Championships
Met Regatta
European Championships

All these Rowing Events this Weekend...

Photo: Ohio State.

This weekend sees some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond. In the U.S., it’s the NCAA in Indianapolis and the IRA on Lake Mercer. Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated has picked his ‘Crews to Watch’ at these championships in a well-written piece here, while you will find USRowing’s take on these two regattas here. Today is also when the National Rowing Foundation is inducting new members into the NRF’s Rowing Hall of Fame, which will happen at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal. Read more here.

In Europe, the European Championships are underway in Belgrade, Serbia, which you can read about here. This weekend it’s also the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships at Strathclyde Country Park. You will get more info here. If you are interested in finding out how this year’s Nat Schools Regatta went in Nottingham, England, then read what British Rowing wrote about the regatta on their website, here.

European Championships Starts Today!

He's back!

Norwegian sculler Olaf Tufte is back! The legendary sculler will race in the single sculls again, now at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, which start today. Will he be able to rise to the challenge as the reigning World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic has been king in this boat class for the last four years?

Worldrowing.com has posted an article about whom to watch for at these championships. Read about the rowers on FISA’s new, spiffy website, which is much better than the previous one (we think).

You will find the article here.

Record entries for 2014 European Rowing Championships

In a press release from Thursday, the International Rowing Federation, FISA, writes about the upcoming European Championships, which start on 30 May:

A record 36 nations will take part in the 2014 European Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia with 659 competitors entered to race. This large number of entries has been aided by the European Championships being changed to an early-season date in the calendar rather than its previous position at the very end of the rowing season. Last year May was tested and it proved to be popular.

Three countries – Germany, Italy and the Netherlands – are sending a full 17-boat team with Great Britain sending 16 crews followed by Russia and the Czech Republic each with 15 crews.

Germany topped the medals table in 2013 scoring nine medals. Italy followed in second and the Czech Republic was third. Germany will face stiff competition from Great Britain this year with the British sending a much more complete team than in previous years. One of the most anticipated races will be the men’s eight with the German Olympic Champions facing the British World Champions. This is the first time for these two crews have faced each other since last yea’'s World Rowing Championships in Chungju (KOR).

This regatta will mark the return of single sculling legend Olaf Tufte of Norway. The two-time Olympic Champion in the men’s single sculls took a break from racing after finishing ninth at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Tufte will have a tough challenge when he comes up against World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and 2013 World Championship bronze medallist Marcel Hacker of Germany.

Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy are favourites in the lightweight women’s double sculls as they come to this regatta as defending World Champions. Olympic Champion in the double, Katherine Copeland of Great Britain has returned to racing and is making her post-London debut with Imogen Walsh. Together they are likely to challenge the Italians.

Racing will take place on Belgrade’s Sava Lake and the Serbian Rowing Federation has reported that despite the recent flooding in Serbia, the European Rowing Championships are going ahead as planned. Secretary General of the Serbian Rowing Federation Nebojsa Jevremovic stated, “The water level of the Sava River which surrounds the venue is at the usual level for this time of year and does not present a threat. With this in mind, the safety of all of the participants and spectators of the 2014 European Rowing Championships in Belgrade is assured.”

The European Rowing Championships was reinstated in 2007 and is open to the 43 European national rowing federations, including Israel. There are 17 boat classes (14 Olympic events plus three International events).

The 2014 European Rowing Championships goes from 30 May to 1 June 2014. Full entries, provisional timetable, race reports, live results, live blogging, live race tracker and a photo gallery will be available on www.worldrowing.com throughout the regatta.

The Italians at the 1937 European Championships

The 15 August 1937 at Bosbaan: the winning Italian eight at the prize dock. Alberto Bonciani, Ottorino Quaglierini, Enzo Bartolini, Dante Sechhi, Mario Checcacci, Giovanni Persico, Oreste Grossi, Enrico Garzelli (stroke), Cesare Milani (cox). Garzelli, the stroke, is looking away from the camera while the crew is doing the fascist salute.

On 8 November, HTBS posted an entry about the Italian oarsman Francesco ‘Checchin’ Pittaluga (on the right), who in October celebrated his 100th birthday. ‘Checchin’ is the last surviving of the oarsmen who competed at the Berlin Games in 1936 – his coxless four took a fourth place. He took a silver medal at the 1938 European Championships in the coxless four in Milan. One source that I found also claimed that he rowed in the coxed four that took a bronze at the 1937 European Championships which were held at Bosbaan, Amsterdam. I have had a hard time establishing if this was true as old result lists normally only have the names of the winners.

Then the other day I received an interesting e-mail from Johan ten Berg, a Dutch rowing historian, who has come to HTBS's help several times before. In his e-mail Johan wrote that he had published the above photograph of the Italian eight, who became European champions in 1937, in the Dutch rowing magazine Roeien. In a Dutch newspaper (see below), Johan had found that ‘Checchin’ had been called in from Italy to row in the bow seat in the coxed four when the original bow man, Milan Bussani, had had an accident after a training outing on Bosbaan, crushing his middle finger. The Italian crew crossed the finish line as the third boat, claiming the bronze medal – on the top of the page in the newspaper from 16 August, 1937, is a picture from the coxed fours race, showing ‘Checchin’ in the bow seat.

(Click on the image above to enlarge it!)

Many thanks to Johan for sharing the information about the 1937 European Championships in Amsterdam.

“Checchin” - The Last of the 1936 Rowing Olympians, Just Turned 100 Years Old

This photograph shows “Checchin”, who last month turned 100 years old. He is the last of the 1936 rowing Olympians who is still alive (“Checchin” is the handsome-looking fellow on the right).

The other day, I received a kind e-mail from Cesare Sorio of Connecticut. He wrote that he had enjoyed reading my review of Daniel James Brown’s book The Boys in the Boat, an article which I had published in the Mystic Seaport Magazine. Cesare then continues to write: ‘Last month I was back to my native Italy, visiting family and friends and, together with my brother, Pino, had the good luck and pleasure of attending the 100th birthday party for our old rowing coach that was being held at the indoor training facilities of the Rowing Club Argus in Santa Margherita Ligure, near Genoa.’

Who then is this 100-year-old rowing coach, you might wonder? Cesare writes: ‘The name of our old coach and friend is Francesco Pittaluga (nickname “Checchin”) and he is the only rowing Olympian still alive from the 1936 Berlin Games where he rowed in the Four without Coxswain.’

The always reliable Greg Denieffe found some information about Checchin’s party on Tuttolevante’s website. Under the headline “The Argus Rowing Club celebrated the centenary of Checchin“ the article states there was a big party at the Argus Rowing Club of Santa Margherita, in Costa Domitius, for the centenary of Checchin, the dean of Italian rowing, who is now an honorary member of the rowing club. One hundred fifty people attended the party, including the mayor of the town, Roberto De Marchi, who gave Checchin a beautiful plaque. The ‘birthday boy’ was only supposed to have stayed for a short while, but enjoyed himself so much, he stayed for a couple of hours. Read the whole article here (in Italian).

Francesco Pittaluga, Checchin, sitting in the center, with a plaque which was given to him by the mayor of Santa Margherita.

Taking a look at Checchin’s rowing career, his four took a fourth place in the Berlin Games after Germany (gold), Great Britain (silver) and Switzerland (bronze). Checcin rowed in the four with his uncle, Antonio Ghiardello, and his cousin, Louis Luxardo, and Aldo Pellizzoni. Two years later, at the 1938 European Championships in Milan, Checcin rowed in the Italian crew who took a silver in the four without/coxless four. Other members in the crew were, Luigi Luscardo, Gaetano Petrucci and Agostino Massa. (Some sources say that Checchin also took a bronze medal at the 1937 European Championships at Bosbaan in Amsterdam, but then it must have been in the coxed four as Italy did not have a crew in the coxless four at these championships. I am afraid I have not been able to track down the names of the medallists in the Italian bronze four.) After the Second World War, Checchin returned to Argus to pass on his passion for rowing to the younger generation as the club’s coach.

You will find more information about Checchin here (in Italian).

HTBS would like to send Mr. Francesco Pittaluga, “Checchin”, our warmest belated congratulations on his 100th birthday and at the same time thank Cesare for sharing the information about the last surviving rowing Olympian from the Berlin Games. Thank you also to Greg!

Is the Mystery Man the Champion Sculler Guiseppe Sinigaglia?

A photo from the 1912 Holland Beker, which was won by Bernhard von Gaza, who is standing behind the table with the cups, wearing a hat and a victory sash. Johan ten Berg writes that ‘the little man seen on the right next to von Gaza is Gerhard Nunninghof, Kölner Club für Wassersport. Nunninghof's partner in the double scull, Paul Rosskath, is further to the right with his hands in his pockets. I suspect that the man between the two women on the right might be Georg Voth, Rostocker Ruder Club, Rostock’. The 'mystery' person in this picture is the man second on the left from von Gaza. Is this the Italian renown sculler Guiseppe Sinigaglia, the 1911 two-time European champion and later the winner of the Diamonds? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Editor Johan ten Berg of the Netherlands, one of HTBS many friends, sent an e-mail with an interesting photograph from the 1912 Holland Beker, which was won by the German sculler Bernhard von Gaza (who HTBS has written about before, as an author of rowing books and as the winner of the 1911 Holland Beker, where the runner-up was the Cambridge sculler Eric Fairbairn).

The German sculler was killed during the First World War (as was Eric Fairbairn), but ‘in the 1912 picture there is possibly another rower that was killed during the War’, writes Johan. He continues, ‘the man happens to be Guiseppe Sinigaglia (S.C. Lario, Como)’ from Italy. Johan writes that he is not certain, but surfing around on the internet, finding some photographs of the Italian sculler, it might well be him in the picture. Johan writes that Sinigaglia ‘is mentioned as one of the entries [in the 1912 Holland Beker], but as he isn’t mentioned in the results in the newspapers, he may not have started’. In another article it states that Gerhard Nunninghof, Kölner Club für Wassersport, won a heat on walk-over as Sinigaglia did not show up at the start.

Is this Guiseppe Sinigaglia, asks Johan ten Berg?

Maybe a reader in Italy can help us to answer the question if the man in the photograph above is the famous Italian sculler Sinigaglia?

Guiseppe Sinigaglia might not have won the Holland Beker, but he was a very successful oarsman. In his hometown of Como, he became the 1911 European Champion first in the double scull (with Teodore Mariani) and then in the single scull, where he was described as ‘outstanding elegant’ and ‘much admired, even by his opponents’. Sinigaglia did not compete at the Olympic rowing regatta in Stockholm in July 1912, but a month later, he did race in the single scull at the European Championships in Geneva, coming second after the Belgian sculler Polydore Veirman, who had taken the Olympic silver medal in the Swedish capital, being beaten by the Scotsman Wally Kinnear. Veirman was a very good all-round oarsman who had become European champion already in 1901 in the eight.

The 1913 European Championships were held on Veirman’s homewater in Ghent. The single scull final proved to be a total fiasco: the umpire stopped the race twice and ordered two re-starts. In the end he disqualified Sinigaglia and the French sculler Peresselenzeff (of Russian origin), and as Veirman capsized, the victory went to the only sculler still afloat, Frederich Graf, the first German to become European champion. It has to be mentioned, though, that Graf, who was self-taught and never had a trainer or coach during his sculling career, had been in the lead throughout all three starts. The First World War put a stop to the 1914 European Championships, but the Italian sculler took the Diamond Challenge Cup at Henley that year, beating C.M. Stuart of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Wanting to serve his country, Sinigaglia signed up in the Royal Italian Army, where he in 1916 advanced to the rank of lieutenant. On 9 August 1916, he led his men in a charge at Monte San Michele. At the attack Sinigaglia was hit by Austrian fire and, badly wounded, he died the following day, 32 years old. He was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor, and later the stadium in Como was named after him, Stadio Giuseppe Sinigalia.

Read more about Giuseppe Sinigalia on Wikipedia, in Italian or in English.

In a newspaper on 18 February, 1915, was a report that von Gaza had been injured in his left arm by a grenade. A year later, in March 1916, the German sculler was awarded the Iron Cross. On 19 December the same year, a newspaper reported that von Gaza had died on the western front a few days earlier.

Many thanks to Johan ten Berg for sending the photographs and giving information about Sinigalia.

Results European Rowing Championships

Here are the results from today's B-finals and A-finals of the European Championships in Sevilla, Spain.

European Championships in Sevilla, Spain

The 2013 European Championships, held at Sevilla, Spain, are only a couple of days away. The course officially opened this morning at 7:00 a.m. local time, and the first heat starts on Friday, 31 May, at 9:00 a.m. B-Finals and A-Finals are on Sunday. Read more about the European Championships here.

If you are interested in the results from the Junior European Championships held in Minsk, Belarus, you will find them here.

Eric Lupton - The Last European Sculling Champion

Doggett's winners, ca. 1960: Harold Green (1924), Eric Lupton (1940), George Gobbett (1913) and Kenneth Collins (1957).

Some days ago, HTBS received an interesting e-mail from Colin Collier in Gravesend. He wanted to say that he was pleased to have come across an entry on HTBS, from 10 June, 2009, where Eric Lupton, the professional sculler was mentioned. Lupton was the 1940 Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race winner in a race held in 1947 (as there were no Doggett’s races during the Second World War). Colin writes in his e-mail: ‘Just after the War the Gravesend Regattas were started and I lived then a short distance from the riverside pub The Ship and Lobster - this was the Gravesend centre for professional scullers. My father, who was a Thames Waterman, was involved with the revival and was a friend of Eric Lupton and the Palmer family who were all professional scullers.’

Eric Lupton is mostly famous for racing Eric Phelps (on the left) for the professional European Sculling Championship. First time they met for the championship was in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1950. One of the famous rowing journalists and writers at that time was the Evening Standard’s Hylton Cleaver. He was a good friend of many professional oarsmen and he was involved in setting up the first meeting between the two Erics. On a website run by Lupton’s grandson, Nigel, you can read a letter of 25 April, 1950 that Cleaver wrote to Eric Lupton, here.

Phelps won the title in 1950 time, but lost it in 1954 to Lupton, who became the last European Professional Sculling Champion. To continue with Colin’s e-mail: ‘Eric Lupton was aided in his training by Dan Blackman who went to Germany with Eric [Lupton], who lost to Eric Phelps. When they [later] raced at Gravesend, I saw the whole race in Palmer’s motor boat which was following [the race]. I was 15 years old at that time, and I had started sculling myself which was known as “best boat rowing” locally. My boat was called Squeak which was originally owned by another Waterman, George Morgan.’ And Colin adds: ‘what memories you have stirred.’

How did it then go with Colin’s own sculling career? He writes: ‘I subsequently had a accident and dislocated my elbow which finished my sculling activities.’ Colin goes on by saying, ‘Interestingly, I applied to join the Gravesend Rowing Club, I was an apprenticed engineer and was told I could not join because I was an artisan.’ Colin finishes his e-mail by saying: ‘Eric Lupton and I had been good friends ever since he lived near me and he passed away about four years ago.’

There is a 1950 race report from the German rowing magazine Rudern here (in an English Google translation!)

My warmest thanks to Colin for sharing this exiting information!

British Pathé & 1953 European Rowing Championships

In yesterday’s post on HTBS we referred to rowing historian Bill Miller’s great website Friends of Rowing History. Today, we are actually going back to Bill’s site, now to have a look at a newly published list, which for sure will interest those of you who like ‘vintage rowing video clips’. Bill has put together a wonderful list of rowing films from British Pathé. You can easily browse the following categories: US People/Events; Henley Royal Regatta; Women’s Rowing; International Racing; Equipment; Eton-Oxford-Cambridge; Doggett’s Coat & Badge Race; and Misc. Clips.

Go to the British Pathé list here.

Tony Fox

Below you will find two film clips from British Pathé that I picked specially for this entry, both dealing with the 1953 European Rowing Championships in Copenhagen, which were held on 14-16 August. Well, it says ‘Copenhagen’ – do not get fooled by the statue Den Lille Havfrue [The Little Mermaid] in the beginning of the first film – but the rowing championships were held outside of Copenhagen at the Gladsaxe rowing stadium at Lake Bagsværd. Among the spectators is King of Frederik IX of Denmark, himself an avid oarsman as a young prince. Among the oarsmen you see the English sculling champion Tony Fox (above), who had taken a silver medal in the single at the European Championships in 1951, a fourth place in the Olympic final in 1952, but on Bagsværd he never made it to the final. The gentleman in spectacles handing out the medals is the FISA president Gaston Müllegg. When the Danish coxless four won, King Frederik went down to the landing stage to congratulate his countrymen.

EUROPEAN ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS 1953

This second film about the Championships is showing footage not used:

EUROPEAN ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS 1953

Here is a list of the countries taking the medals at the 1953 European Rowing Championships:

4+ 1) Czechoslovakia 2) Soviet Union 3) Switzerland
2- 1) Soviet Union 2) Belgium 3) Denmark
1x 1) Yugoslavia 2) Poland 3) France
2+ 1) France 2) Germany 3) Belgium
4- 1) Denmark 2) Norway 3) Great Britain
2x 1) Switzerland 2) Soviet Union 3) Yugoslavia
8+ 1) Soviet Union 2) Denmark 3) France

There was an interesting event happening during these 1953 Championships. Before the men’s eliminating heats a women’s international regatta was held with female rowers from nine countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland. The following year, the first European Championships were held for women on the Bosbaan course in Amsterdam, on 20-22 August, 1954, while the men’s races where held on the same course on 27-29 August.

The German Champion Gustav Schäfer

Before Gustav Schäfer (1906-1991) began rowing, he played water polo, hockey, and football. But above all, he was interested in swimming, being a member of the swimming club in Dresden. It was also as a swimmer he got his nickname, “Gummi” [rubber], when he overran a favorite swimmer on a 1,500-metre course with the length of his hand, his opponent said: “Der Hund war zäh wie Gummi.” [“The dog was tough as rubber.” – alluding to Gustav’s family name, Schäfer, ‘shepard’.]

In 1929, ‘Gummi’ Schäfer was approached by the coach at Dresden Ruder-Verein and began thereafter successfully to row in fours and eights. However, by 1934, he was concentrating on the single scull, having joined another rowing club in Berlin, Skuller-Zelle, Berlin-Grünau, which had an English professional coach, Dan Cordery. With Cordery, Schäfer found the perfect trainer. In 1934, a little surprisingly, Schäfer became the German Champion in the single sculls, beating the favourite sculler, Herbert Buhtz. The same year, Schäfer also went to the European Championships in Lucerne and took the championship title in the single sculls.

The following year, ‘Gummi’, failed to defend his German title against Buhtz, but beat Buhtz at the 1936 German Championships and was selected to represent Germany in the single at the Olympic rowing event in Berlin. In the final, Schäfer did not have any problems winning the Olympic championship title with a couple of lengths ahead of Josef Hasenöhrl, Austria, and Daniel Barrow, USA. The favourite before the race, Ernst Rufli of Switzerland, Diamond Challenge Sculls winner both in 1935 and 1936, finished fifth. Here is a short clip from the single scull final (please, turn off the sound to get rid of the very annoying music):



After the Olympic gold medal, ‘Gummi’ Schäfer decided to quit rowing. Later that year, he and his rowing friend Georg von Opel founded the German Olympic Society. Schäfer’s old coach, Dan Cordery, tried to interest him to go back to sculling for the upcoming Olympic Games in 1940. But ‘Gummi’ was not game, and after the political climate grew worse in Nazi-Germany, Cordery left the country in 1938.

In a 1989 interview by Gisa Jacobus in Rudersport, the 80-year-old Schäfer, who by then was confined to a wheelchair remembers Cordery, “Mein lieber, englischer Trainer”.

Schäfer died in Munich in 1991.

European Rowing Championships Results & Videos

If you are interested in the results at the 2011 European Rowing Championships, click here.

If you are interested in watching the races from the European Championships, click here. Enjoy!

The 2011 European Rowing Championships Starts Today

Today the 2011 European Rowing Championships starts at Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Here is what FISA, Worldrowing website writes about the event (slightly edited):

Memories of the World Rowing Championships may still be fresh, but racing has done a quick turn to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for the 2011 European Rowing Championships. Plovdiv is welcoming international rowers back to their waters for the first time since the 1999 World Rowing Junior Championships. Read on to find out who to watch out for in the 14 events racing from 16 to 18 September 2011.

Women’s Pair (W2-): It will be hard to look past Camelia Lupascu and Nicoleta Albu of Romania. They won at both the 2009 and 2010 European Championships and are gearing up to make it three in a row. The duo may receive a good run for their money from Claudia Wurzel and Sara Bertolasi of Italy. The Italians finished seventh at the recent World Rowing Championships, whilst Romania was fifth.

Men’s Pair (M2-): A bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships for Niccolo Mornati and Lorenzo Carboncini of Italy gave them a huge confidence boost and they will be going to Plovdiv in a positive state of mind. Mornati and Carboncini are both extremely experienced and last year at the European Championships they were second. But also very much up on Italy’s pace are the Gkountoulas brothers from Greece. The brothers finished fourth to Mornati and Carboncini by less than a second. It is likely that these two crews will dominate the field and be the front pace-setters.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x): This race may go Ukraine’s way. Anastasiia Kozhenkova and Yana Dementieva have moved from their country’s medal-winning women’s quadruple sculls and into the double. They found success almost instantly with a bronze medal at the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne earlier this season. Then at the World Rowing Championships they finished fourth.

Right on the tails of Kozhenkova and Dementieva are likely to be the Czech Republic’s Antosova sisters. Lenka and Jitka Antosova were sixth at this year’s World Rowing Championships and in their third season of rowing together the Antosovas have been regular A-finallists picking up a fair few medals along the way. Watch out too for Italy’s top double for many years: Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani were in the quad at this year’s World Rowing Championships, but they are back in the double to try and improve on their 2010 European Champs bronze medal.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x): A real mixture of talents in this event means that everyone sitting in the starting blocks will be open to possibilities. This review is thus one of ‘maybes’. Maybe it will be Lithuania at the head of the field. Saulius Ritter and Rolandas Mascinskas are one of the only entries that have spent the season rowing together. They finished a credible tenth at the World Rowing Championships earlier this month.

Maybe it will be the Italians: Pierpaolo Frattini became a World Champion two weeks ago when he won the men’s coxed pair. Now sculling, Frattini has partnered with Romano Battisti whom he rowed with in the men’s eight at last year’s European Rowing Championships.

Men’s Four (M4-): The standout crew in this event is in little doubt. Greece’s Papachristos, Tsilis, Tziallas and Christou have just come off a season which was capped by a World Championship silver medal. Greece also finish second in this event at last year’s European Rowing Championships and in recent years their small sweep squad have been establishing themselves as a force worthy of recognition. It is likely that Greece will leave the rest of the crews to race for second.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x): It is difficult to look past the new World Champion Mirka Knapkova (on the left) of the Czech Republic. Knapkova goes to Plovdiv on top of the world and, in the absence of Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and any other World Rowing Championship A-finalists, Knapkova will be hard to beat. Knapkova, however, still needs to keep on her toes as the very experienced Julia Levina of Russia is lining up. Levina can be a little inconsistent but has the ability to pull off an upset if she has her best race.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x): Mindaugas Griskonis (on the right) of Lithuania has been working away in the single for several years now with noticeable improvement. At the World Rowing Championships the 25-year-old sculler finished seventh and during the season he managed to break into the top six at one of the stages of the Samsung World Rowing Cup. Griskonis also raced at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, finishing eighth. On paper he is the one to beat.

Germany’s Falko Nolte will be trying to prove himself and will give Griskonis a good run for his money. Nolte has spent the season as Germany’s number two single and raced to a fourth place finish at the second World Rowing Cup.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x): Whenever Alexandra Tsiavou leaves her single to team up with Christina Giazitzidou in the double they make history. Earlier this month at the World Rowing Championships Tsiavou and Giazitzidou finished first to become World Champions. They are also defending champions at the European Championships and they should make easy work of the field lined up at Plovdiv.

The biggest threat is likely to come from Great Britain. Kathryn Twyman and Andrea Dennis are the number two double for Great Britain and thus raced at the World Championships in the lightweight quadruple sculls. They won this. They also came second (behind their number one crew) at the Munich World Rowing Cup earlier this season.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x): At last year’s European Rowing Championships in Portugal, Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes were the stars. Fraga and Mendes are Portugal’s most successful rowers and in 2010 took silver in front of their home crowd. Fraga and Mendes are back again as they work towards their second Olympic Games.

The race for gold is most likely to have the Italians in the mix. Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini of Italy recently took a bronze at the World Rowing Championships and they have regularly been on the medals dais since they came together at the European Championships in 2009.

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-): It is hard to look past the Italian line-up of Daniele Danesin, Andrea Caianiello, Marcello Miani and Martino Goretti. The Italians finished second earlier this month at the World Rowing Championships in a race that was full of upsets and they are racing again at Plovdiv just to prove that their silver was no fluke. To beat the Italians will be hard, but there is no doubt that the Czech Republic will try their best. The Vetesnik brothers, Juri Kopac and Miroslav Vrastil have been together since 2009 and are slowly moving up the ranks.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x): Ukraine has a solid tradition in this event and they come to Plovdiv as the only line-up that is the same as the one at the World Rowing Championships in Bled earlier this month. The crew of Kateryna Tarasenko, Tetiana Kolesnikova, Nataliia Huba and Svitlana Spiryukhova finished sixth at Bled and will be the crew to beat in Plovdiv.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x): On paper, Russia look to be the crew to beat. They have maintained their fifth-place finishing World Championship crew of Vladislav Ryabcev, Igor Salov, Nikita Morgachev and 2004 Olympic Champion Sergey Fedorovtsev, and it is likely that this is the crew they will be using to get back to Olympic glory next year.

Poland should be interesting. The current Olympic Champions have had a difficult 2011 season and ended up fourth at the World Rowing Championships in Bled. The crew racing at Plovdiv has retained Piotr Licznerski and Konrad Wasielewski of the Bled crew and with Wiktor Chabel and Kamil Zajkowski racing in the middle of the boat, this crew could pull out a few surprises.

Women’s Eight (W8+): Romania must feel an element of ownership to this event. They are the defending European Champions and they run their eight with a very stable women’s sweep squad that sees limited changes in the line-up. They also won the eight in 2009 and 2008 under the guidance of coxswain Teodora Gidoiu. In Plovdiv the crew has six of the same athletes as a year ago and they are the exact same crew that raced to fourth at the World Rowing Championships earlier this month.

Romania is the team to beat. Likely to put up a good challenge are Ukraine and Poland. Both of these crews raced at the World Rowing Championships and finished seventh and eighth respectively. The field of six boats also includes a new British line-up which features a bunch of up-and-coming national team members.

Men’s Eight (M8+): Poland finished second at the 2010 European Championships. This could be their year to break into the gold medal spot. Seven of the nine members from 2010 remain in the boat and the crew is identical to their World Championships crew that raced to a fifth-place finish earlier this month. With Daniel Trojanowski in the cox seat, this is a very established crew that has been working towards the London Olympics ever since the Beijing Olympics wrapped up. Finishing in third behind Poland a year ago was Ukraine. Their crew has also remained relatively stable and they will be ready to push Poland to the line.