Rowing WR World Cup 2024

[RussB 189]

2 minutes ago, dodge said:

Lots of impressive British boats yeah. I think the lightweight women’s double are the biggest “locks” for gold in Paris in any sport tbh

Indeed - it's the one I posted on the "who are gold medal locks" forum. They do seem in another class. On another note, it strikes me as quite a shame that lightweight classes are being removed completely for LA 2028 but thats another topic for another day.

[TeamGB 174]

After an extremely disappointing Tokyo, British rowing have really turned this around and I would say that they are the governing body with the biggest improvement from Tokyo. For me the most important thing is having depth and I think the 4 showed that extremely well. 

 

 

[heywoodu 15,145]

2 minutes ago, RussB said:

Indeed - it's the one I posted on the "who are gold medal locks" forum. They do seem in another class. On another note, it strikes me as quite a shame that lightweight classes are being removed completely for LA 2028 but thats another topic for another day.

It does make it easier and better to view for non-regular viewers if the differences in the categories are only limited to the number of athletes in the boat and the oars (or however it's called) they're using, and something less visible like weight isn't really a thing anymore. Lightweight classes have often felt a bit like a category for rowers who are too small, like if there's a special volleyball competition for people under 1.65m  

Spoiler

Said as someone who only watches rowing at the big events and isn't knowledgeable about it at all, I am aware of that  

 

[RussB 189]

Just now, heywoodu said:

It does make it easier and better to view for non-regular viewers if the differences in the categories are only limited to the number of athletes in the boat and the oars (or however it's called) they're using, and something less visible like weight isn't really a thing anymore. Lightweight classes have often felt a bit like a category for rowers who are too small, like if there's a special volleyball competition for people under 1.65m  

  Hide contents

Said as someone who only watches rowing at the big events and isn't knowledgeable about it at all, I am aware of that  

 

i would say its more akin to boxing with the different weight classes, but this did make me laugh!

[Dragon 1,844]

4 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

It does make it easier and better to view for non-regular viewers if the differences in the categories are only limited to the number of athletes in the boat and the oars (or however it's called) they're using, and something less visible like weight isn't really a thing anymore. Lightweight classes have often felt a bit like a category for rowers who are too small, like if there's a special volleyball competition for people under 1.65m  

  Reveal hidden contents

Said as someone who only watches rowing at the big events and isn't knowledgeable about it at all, I am aware of that  

 

Speaking as someone who is 1.64m tall I'm in favour of that rule

 

[dodge 1,024]

12 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

It does make it easier and better to view for non-regular viewers if the differences in the categories are only limited to the number of athletes in the boat and the oars (or however it's called) they're using, and something less visible like weight isn't really a thing anymore. Lightweight classes have often felt a bit like a category for rowers who are too small, like if there's a special volleyball competition for people under 1.65m  

  Hide contents

Said as someone who only watches rowing at the big events and isn't knowledgeable about it at all, I am aware of that  

 

Joking aside, the biggest issue is that lightweights were brought in to help nations whose people just aren’t as big as the power nations 

 

Mine is one of them, so I’m biased, but the following countries have had Olympic finalists in the last 20 or so years that aren’t from “traditional” rowing countries; Japan, France, South Africa, Greece, Cuba, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Belgium. 
 

Theres extra places for qualification too compared to heavyweight doubles so even more countries are brought in.

 

Obviously some of the countries above have had the odd heavyweight success too but lightweights have brought in a lot to the sport. Shame, IMO, they’re excluded from the Olympics now 

[heywoodu 15,145]

20 minutes ago, dodge said:

Joking aside, the biggest issue is that lightweights were brought in to help nations whose people just aren’t as big as the power nations 

 

Mine is one of them, so I’m biased, but the following countries have had Olympic finalists in the last 20 or so years that aren’t from “traditional” rowing countries; Japan, France, South Africa, Greece, Cuba, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Belgium. 
 

Theres extra places for qualification too compared to heavyweight doubles so even more countries are brought in.

 

Obviously some of the countries above have had the odd heavyweight success too but lightweights have brought in a lot to the sport. Shame, IMO, they’re excluded from the Olympics now 

Are Irish, French, Finnish, Portuguese, Swiss, Czech and Belgium people really significantly smaller on average?  

[dodge 1,024]

22 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Are Irish, French, Finnish, Portuguese, Swiss, Czech and Belgium people really significantly smaller on average?  

Maybe the Belgians aren’t smaller than the Dutch…

 

But yes, the rest are. 

[Faramir 365]

39 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Are Irish, French, Finnish, Portuguese, Swiss, Czech and Belgium people really significantly smaller on average?  

The Portuguese, yes. The rest, not so much.

[Olympicsnell 300]

That men's 8 was impressive, very solid opening world cup for British team as a whole i thought, probably men's double sculls is still a way off and i was hoping Thomas would go for the single scull quota spot but if it improves the four then so be it