Video of the Week: Australian World Champions Train in Tasmania



This week's video comes to us from Mike Nicholson, who visited training sessions on April 23 and 24, 2012 with the 2011 world champion men's quad and lightweight men's four of Australia. In addition to a bit of banter from stroke seat of the M4x, Dan Noonan, the video features a great deal very high quality rowing and sculling (as you might expect). The Final Olympic Qualification Regatta is ongoing on the Rotsee, but the second World Cup is just around the corner, and set to begin Friday in Lucerne. These two crews will be in action, though Noonan is out of the lineup in the M4x with an injury (the part of 'Noonan' will be played by Jared Bidwell for World Cup II). The match-up between the Germans, Croatians, and the new Australian combination in the M4x will be an interesting one to watch. Germany took a hard luck silver last year behind Australia last year (crabbing in the final five strokes and allowing AUS to slip by), and again took silver behind Croatia (finished third in Bled with the same lineup) at the first World Cup in Belgrade. The Australian lineup is untested and will be looking to find its stride as a crew in the midst of a strong field.

The Australian LM4- looked untouchable last year, winning the event by a margin of nearly half a length (in lightweight racing, victories are rarely so comfortable at the elite level). However, Eskild Ebbesen and the Danes, who re-emerged on the scene last year, are looking to be in top form following an excellent performance at the first World Cup in Belgrade. In a tight field, Ebbesen, Jacob Barsoe, Morten Joergensen, and Kasper Winther blasted through the final 1000m, going from third to first and earning themselves a one second margin over the field in the process. The combination of travel and training cycle for both the Australians and Kiwis may make it difficult to assess the outcomes this weekend, with a view toward the Games this summer.

-RR

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