Now to look at the men’s and women’s coxless fours

M4-

Reigning Champions: Australia

Entries: 18

Australia are the defending champions and they have kept the same line-up for 2018, Josh Hicks, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves & Alexander Hill. Hill is the only member of the crew that won silver at the Rio Olympics, but since the start of the 2017 season the new-look Aussie crew have dominated the event and are unbeaten. So far in 2018 they raced at Linz and Lucerne, winning both events comfortably. They will be overwhelming favourites to retain their title in Plovdiv.

Runners-up to the Australians in Sarasota were the Italians. They raced at the Euoropean Championships in Strathclyde but finished outside of the medals. Since then the coaches have made two changes to the crew with 2017 M2- World Champion Matteo Lodo and M8 bronze medallist Bruno Rosetti replacing Giovanni Abagnale and Dominico Montrone. It remains to be seen if this change has produced a faster combination.

Romania are having an excellent season, their M4- of Mihaita-Vasile Tiganescu, Cosmin Pascari, Stefan-Constantin Berariu and Ciprian Huc are an outstanding young crew, they won the U23 World Championships at the end of July and then took gold at the European Championships. They raced at two of the three World Cups taking silver behind the Australians in Linz. For a crew of 19 and 20 year-olds they have the potential to really give the Australians a run for their money, and if they continue to progress they could be favourites for 2020.

Great Britain have often prioritised this boat, a policy that delivered 14 World and Olympic titles between 1997 and 2016. But, chief coach Jurgen Grobler has taken a pragmatic approach for 2018. His priority is to qualify as many boats as possible for the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 World Championships. At those World Championships the top 8 M4- will qualify for the Olympics whereas only the top 5 M8 will gain an automatic qualification place. So Grobler’s target for 2018-19 is to create a M4- that can be a “comfortable” A-Final boat and a M8 that will be consistently challenging for the podium (for the M2- there are 11 places available in 2019). This year’s M4- (Tom Ford, Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill & James Johnston) with a 5th place in Belgrade and two 4th places at Linz and Lucerne. Their best race of the season was in Strathclyde at the European Championships where they won silver behind the Romanians. They will be an outside bet for a medal in Plovdiv but will more likely be looking for a solid A-final finish to set them up for the 2019 season.

The Netherlands have been trialing a number of different combinations throughout the 2018 season. They dominated the first World Cup taking gold and silver. They eventually settled on a combination of Bjorn Van den Ende, Tone Wieten, Jasper Tissen and Bram Schwarz. Van Den Ende is a former lightweight who raced in the LM4- at the Rio Olympics before switching to the heavyweights following the demise of the LM4- event. Weiten is another Rio Olympian having raced in the bronze medal M8. 2017 U23 World Champion Bram Schwarz, is a student at the University of Washington and was in the crew that won silver at the IRA Championships this season, Tissen was in this boat last season that finished 4th at the World Championships. This season they finished runners-up to the Australians in Lucerne but then slipped to 5th at the European Championships. Like the British they will be an outside bet for a medal.

South Africa won their first ever World Cup medal in the M4- this season when they took bronze at Lucerne. The crew of Kyle Schoonbee, David Hunt, John Smith and Sandro Torrente. Hunt and Smith were in the boat that finished 4th in Rio (South Africa’s best ever performance at an Olympic Games in the M4-). Kyle Schoonbee made his senior debut in 2017 placing 15th at the World Championships in the M1X, earlier in 2017 he won silver in the U23 BM1X. 20 year-old Torrente also made his senior debut in 2017 taking 14th in the M2- at the World Championships. This is an exciting combination that will take a little time to establish itself. There were high hopes of a strong performance from the South African M4- last year but that project ended in disappointment when they could only manage 13th in Sarasota.

The USA are another nation with a new combination for 2018. Dariush Aghai and Nicholas Mead were both members of the M8 that won silver at the World Championships last year. They are joined by Alexander Richards and Michael Clougher. Richards was in the M4- last season that ended 10th at the World Championships and 6ft 10 Clougher made his international debut at the 2017 World Championships as the US representative in the M1X finishing 19th.

Other crews to mention include the young New Zealanders (3rd at the U23 World Championships), Belarus (9th at the Rio Olympics, 3rd in Belgrade and 9th in Strathclyde) and Poland, a new combination for 2018 but all of whom raced in the M8 that finished 5th at the Rio Olympics.

My picks…Australia for gold by clear water ahead of the Romanians with the British pipping the Italians for bronze.

W4-

Reigning champions: Australia

Entries: 13

The W4- event is still trying to “find its feet” after being added to the Olympic programme for Tokyo 2020. A number of nations have been trying out different combinations or have been doubling-up in the W8 as the various contenders jockey for position and also watch which combinations emerge. Australia have pushed themselves to the head of the pack having and are currently unbeaten. They have an unchanged line-up from last year – Lucy Stephan, Katrina Werry, Sarah Hawe and Molly Goodman. For Hawe it’s been quite an experience, she made her senior debut in 2017 (12 years after racing for Australia as a junior) and has so far has not missed the podium. Lucy Stephan and Molly Goodman were both in the W8 at the Rio Olympics. Werry also made her senior debut in 2017 winning a World Cup gold in her first senior event and ending the season as World Champion.

Canada are the reigning Olympic champions (the W4- was last raced at the Barcelona Olympics Games). They’ve selected a young crew for this year with U23 World Champions Kendra Wells and Karen Lefsrud along with fellow U23 international Larissa Werbicki and Jessie Loutit who made her international debut at the age of 29 at the Lucerne World Cup. His looks to be a crew with 2020 very much in mind and to reach the A-Final in Plovdiv will be a great opening performance.

Denmark have put together a new combination for this year with Anne Larsen, Frida Sangaard Nielsen, Hedvig Rasmussen and Ida Jacobsen. Rasmussen is the star of the crew, she was in the W2- at the Rio Olympics and came away with a bronze medal. She followed that up with a bronze medal with partner Christina Johansen at the 2017 World Championships. Rasmussen is joined by Larsen, who raced in the W2X at last year’s Worlds, and Sangaard Nielsen and Jacobsen who both made their senior debuts this season after racing in the U23 team in 2017. This combination have raced together once this season, taking silver behind the Australians at Lucerne.

Russia won the European Championships in Strathclyde last month, their crew is Ekaterina Sevostianova, Ekaterina Potapova, Anastasia Tikhanova and Elena Oriabinskaia. They finished in bronze at the 2017 World Championships and so far this season, as well as gold at the Europeans, they have bronze from Belgrade and 5th in Linz.

Great Britain raced in Belgrade, Linz and Strathclyde reaching the A-Final each time with a tweaked line up each time. Their best result was silver behind the Australians in Linz. The crew for Plovdiv is Caragh McMurtry, Sara Parfett, Emily Ashford & Jo Wratten they raced in this combination at the Europeans finishing 4th. They will be looking to maintain their record of A-Final appearances for 2018 and will be an outside bet for a medal.

As with their M4-, the Romanians have a young crew. Three of the boat (Madalina Heghes, Madalina-Gabriela Casu and Roxana Parascanu) won silver in the U23 BW4- this season. The fourth member of the crew is another U23 international, Iuliana Buhus, she finished 4th in the BW2- in 2017. They opened their 2018 campaign with a 7th place in Linz and then took silver at the European Championships.

Poland were runners-up to the Australians at the 2017 World Championships and they have all of that crew returning (Olga Michalkiewicz, Joanna Dittman, Monika Chabel & Maria Wierzbowska). Chabel raced in the W4X at the Rio Olympics taking a bronze medal, and Wierzbowska finished 10th in the W2- in Rio. This season they started with a 12th place in Linz followed by a 6th in Lucerne and then took bronze in Strathclyde.

The Netherlands are another strong contender for a medal. As with the men’s four they have been trying a number of different combinations during the season. In Belgrade they took gold and silver (creating a unique double with the M4- who also took gold and silver). The crew for Plovdiv is Lies Rustenburg, Lisanne Brandsma, Elsbeth Beeres and Laila Youssifou. Rustenburg was in the W8 that finished 6th at Rio, Beeres was U23 World Champion in 2017 and made her senior debut this season winning silver in the W2- at the Europeans with Youssifou.

China will be beginning to feel the influence of Sir Steve Redgrave as their new High Performance Director and the W4- has already made its mark this season. Linlin Guo, Min Zhang, Liqin Yi and Fie Wang were 3rd in Linz and followed that with 5th in Lucerne.

The final crew to mention are the USA, Molly Bruggeman, Erin Boxberger, Maddy Wanamaker and Erin Reelick. Reelick and Bruggeman were in the W4- at the World Championships last season that finished 4th. Boxberger was U23 World Champion in 2014 and made her senior debut in 2017, racing in the W8 at the Poznan World Cup. Wanamaker is also an U23 World Champion, winning gold in the BW8 in 2017.

My picks….the form book says Australia and who am I to disagree! Silver to the Poles and Denmark in bronze.