U.S. Newspaper's Olympic Medal Predictions: Only Two Nations Due to Retain Their Rowing Titles from Beijing

The American daily USA Today has been putting together projections of the expected results of each sport event at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. With the latest updated version released 11 June 2012, it comes out that Eton Dorney regatta venue may witness significant changes when compared to Beijing 2008. According to USA Today's expectations, only two countries will be able to retain their Olympic rowing titles: the host country, Great Britain, in men's four, and the United States in women's eight, respectively.

Fast-motion video of a new bridge construction at Eton Dorney Lake, the venue of rowing and canoeing events in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games

A total of 20 countries are likely to be represented in the Olympic rowing A-finals, and out of these, 16 national teams should earn medals. The following medal table prediction can thus be summarised (with details on each boat event following further below):

Great Britain 3-5-2
New Zealand 3-2-1
Germany 3-1-0
Greece 1-1-1
Czech Republic 1-1-0
United States 1-0-1
Croatia 1-0-0
Belarus 1-0-0
Australia 0-1-3
Canada 0-1-2
Denmark 0-1-0
Ukraine 0-1-0
France 0-0-1
Italy 0-0-1
Poland 0-0-1
Romania 0-0-1

Čop and Knapková Grab the Golden Cups of Philadelphia

Slovenian rower Iztok Čop has won the men’s singles race at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, overtaking Kenneth Jurkowski of the United States in second. Last year’s world champion, Ondřej Synek of the Czech Republic finished in third, followed by Čop’s compatriot Luka Špik in fourth.

It looks like the retirement of Slovenia’s most successful Olympian from top rowing events last year started his victorious spree throughout regional rowing races.

The trophy for women’s singles has been taken by Czech sculler Mirka Knapková. Her rivals were Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, finishing second, with last year’s world champion, Sweden’s Frida Svensson, in third. The fourth place went to Iva Obradović of Serbia.

Screenshot from the official website of the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta.

The regatta was held on 13 and 14 May 2011. It featured a rich variety of events, with singles, coxless pairs, coxed fours, and eights divided into student categories (varsity, collegiate, and frosh/novice crews). The competition of corporate eights featured crews rowing for well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, Ernst & Young, and Vanguard. World elite men’s and women’s single scullers pursued the Golden Cup trophies.

Full list of results is available on the official website of the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta.

Karonen Beats Synek at Czech 6K Open

Czech single sculler and last year’s world champion Ondřej Synek finished second in the Czech Long-Distance Open Championships yesterday. A regular participant in the event, Sweden’s Lassi Karonen takes gold.

Synek was some 26 seconds slower than Karonen, and was closely followed by his teammate David Jirka in third.

Women’s singles witnessed a similar surprise as the Czech number one, Mirka Knapková, was overtaken by the Czech women’s double sculler Jitka Antošová. The difference between their finish times was over 17 seconds. Bronze goes to Antošová’s sister and double scull teammate, Lenka.

In men’s pairs, too, elder crews were all beaten by an under-23 duo, Jakub Koloc and Petr Melichar.

Results have been posted on the website of the Czech Rowing Association, with an abstract also published by the Czech news website Idnes.cz.

Hořín Lateral Canal opening into the Labe (Elbe) river on the outskirts of the town of Mělník. Source: Thorsten Bachner, Wikimedia Commons.

The race venue was the Hořín Lateral Canal north of Prague. The narrow waterway was built in early 20th century as a ship shortcut between the Vltava and Labe (Elbe) rivers. In the recent years, Czech rowing championships on the 6 kilometre distance take place here every spring. The head race of singles and pairs serves as a preliminary trial for the Czech national team selection.