Rowing’s Titans face off at World Rowing Cup III

Rotterdam Regatta: 12 - 14 July, 2019

Jul 06, 2019

Rowing’s Titans face off at World Rowing Cup III

The 2019 World Rowing season moves on to the final in the World Rowing Cup series of three. World Rowing Cup III takes place on the Willem Alexander Baan International Regatta Course for the first time in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 12-14 July 2019.

The regatta will be combined with the traditional Holland Beker regatta and will see rowers from 42 nations race in their last opportunity before the all-important Olympic Qualification at the World Championships regatta in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria at the end of August.

The men’s single sculls brings together the big names in sculling with the winner of World Rowing Cup II, Sverri Neilsen of Denmark going up against Rio Olympic silver and bronze medallists Damir Martin of Croatia and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic. Reigning World Champion Kjetil Borch of Norway is also racing along with Germany’s up-and-coming Oliver Zeidler. This boat class has attracted the biggest field with 29 entries.

The women’s single sculls will be hotly contested as the reigning World and European Champion Sanita Puspure of Ireland will face off against the 2017 World Champion Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland. They will have further competition coming from World Cup II winner and three-time Olympian Emma Twigg of New Zealand and 2012 Olympic medallist Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark.

The Netherlands and Germany are sending large teams with the Dutch headlining crew of Ilse Paulis and Marieke Keijser racing together in the lightweight women’s double sculls for the first time this season. Both the gold and bronze medallists from World Cup II, New Zealand (Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle) and China (Wenyi Huang and Dandan Pan), will be racing in Rotterdam.

Germany is aiming to continue its winning streak in the men’s eight having won at World Rowing Cup II ahead of Great Britain. The rivalry between these two crews will continue in Rotterdam. And added to the mix is a revived New Zealand eight that includes Hamish Bond in the stroke seat and Mahe Drysdale sitting at six as well as ever-improving Australian eight. The United States 2018 under-23 World Champion eight will also join this field.

In the women’s eight, World Cup II winners Australia will face European Champions Romania as well as winners of World Cup I, the Netherlands for the first time this season.

Local heroes and para-rowing sensations Corne de Koning and Annika van der Meer will be doubling up and racing in both the para PR2 single sculls and PR2 double sculls. The duo are unbeaten this season in their respective races.

Racing begins on Friday 12 July with the first finals being raced in the afternoon of Saturday 13 July. The majority of finals commence at 10:35 CET on Sunday 14 July. All semifinals and finals will be live streamed on www.worldrowing.com.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series are Plovdiv, BUL (10-12 May), Poznan, POL (21-23 June), Rotterdam, NED (12-14 July).