Time for Megan's LIST

The LIST maker. Photo: USRowing.

The U.S. two-time Olympian Megan Kalmoe is known in the social media world for her list, or as it is called, The List. On this list, Top 20 Hottest Male Rowing Athletes of the Year, she ranks twenty male rowers (no, there are no male rowing historians among them...!) just because they are pretty much all-around awesome. She is doing this in a funny and charming way (no, it's not sexist at all, so don't even think about whining about it boys; leave the griping to the boys who did not make the list...).

Megan posted The LIST earlier today, and I was happy to read that a fellow Scandinavian oarsman was No. 1 on the list. Now you are, of course, anxious to read it yourself, so you will find it here.

Megan's 2012 Hot List

The Swedish sculler Lassi Karonen, who was No. 1 on Megan Kalmoe's list last year, came in second this year, but didn't look that unhappy when Megan met him in Boston. Photo from Megan Kalmoe's website.

Here it is, Megan Kalmoe's list of the Top 20 Hottest Male Rowing Athletes of 2012. Find out who made the list here.

Hot List Teaser...

Oh, my, it’s almost that time again…. when Megan Kalmoe, American Olympic bronze medallist, is publishing her List! List of what, you may ask? Of the Hottest Male Rowing Athletes of 2012, of course! Here is a teaser:

Olympic Countdown...

On 18 April, it was exactly 100 days to go to the opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in London. This was celebrated in Times Square in New York City. Some of the U.S. Women’s National Team was there: Erin Cafaro, Elle Logan, Susan Francia, Caroline Lind, Mary Whipple, and Megan Kalmoe. “Times Square was completely transformed into an Olympic playground, complete with BMX ramp, beach volleyball pit, gymnastics platform, and… ergs!”, Megan Kalmoe writes on her blog. She had a blast, she says, and so did the rest of the team which you can see on Megan’s entertaining video above.

Megan is April's FISA Athlete of the Month!

Megan also mentions on her blog that the U.S. Olympic Team does not receive any funding from the U.S. government to train and compete for the United States – which is really a disgrace, if I may say so… If you would like to help by donating some money, the USOC has just launched a campaign, “Raise Our Flag”, which allows you to support the U.S. Olympic Team by purchasing stitches in the flag that Team USA will carry at the Opening Ceremony in London. The stitches are really affordable at only $12 each. To donate, please go here.

More About The Hot List!

It seems like Megan Kalmoe’s LIST, which HTBS wrote about on 11 October, has made quite a stir, not only in the rowing world. It was earlier this month, Megan, a member of the US National Team, published a list of Rowing’s 20 Hottest Male Athletes on her blog. I was happy to report that the Swedish oarsman Lassi Karonen, not only made the LIST, but actually landed on top of it!

In a Row2k interview on 17 October, Megan tells the story behind the LIST - an entertaining read. Of course, many male readers of Megan’s LIST, including yours truly, have been wondering where the list of Rowing’s 20 Hottest Female Athletes was to be found? In the interview on Row2k, Megan mentions that the Canadian rower Rares Crisan already last year published a female list on his blog, Rares Rhythm. Unfortunately, it comes without illustrations, which is a shame. However, there is a link to No. 7, Susan Francia, USA – don’t click on that link if you have a weak heart! You will find Crisan’s list here.

On the female list I was not surprised to find the Swedish twin sisters Sara and Lena Karlsson. The photograph on top shows Sara Karlsson sculling in her Hudson; it will give you an idea why Sara and her sister ended up on Crisan’s list, on fourth place. On third place was the Swiss rower Olivia Wyss, seen on the right.

This is, though, a list from last year. How about a 2011 list – anyone?

The Hottest Of The Hot!

The Swede Lassi Karonen, the hottest of them all?

Two day ago, Megan Kalmoe, member of the US National Team, who earlier this year took a silver medal in the coxed quadruple sculls at the World Championships in Bled, posted her list of the “Top 20 Hottest Male Rowing Athletes of 2011” on her blog (and it comes with a video!). I do not have any comments about this more than I am happy to see that a Swede made her list. Lassi Karonen is No. 1, but I do not really know if this means that he is on top of the list of these twenty ‘hotties’, or if there is no special ranking between these athletes.

In the name of equality, dare I ask that someone out there do a list of the 2011 Hottest Female Rowers in the World? While I have some suggestions whom I think should be on that list, I am not going there… I guess I am just too old for things like that. Instead, I hand over the idea to a younger man, who might get away with it (on the other hand, he might not!).

I did, however, earlier post something about the US Rowing Women Team’s Calendar, but that was not really because they were 'semi-nude', it was only to help them to sell more calendars to raise funds for their training. Here is a video showing how the calendar was shot:

World Rowing Championships Blogs

World Rowing Championships have started on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand. A little different way to follow the teams or certain athletes is to go to their web sites or blogs. When I was looking around for English-speaking rowing blogs, I could only find a few, actually the ones listed below. If you know of any others, please feel free to send them to me so I can posted them on HTBS. Thanks.

Enjoy!













Mahé Drysdale, single scull, New Zealand














Alison ‘Ali’ Cox, four, USA













Megan Kalmoe, quadruple scull, USA













Mary Whipple, cox, eight, USA













David Calder, quadruple scull, Canada














Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh, pair, New Zealand