There will be an oar: will Russian rowers be able to win the World Cup medal standings again

The World Rowing and Canoeing Championships with the participation of 25 Russian athletes will be held in Milan on August 20-24. A year ago, at the same tournament, the Russians won the medal standings. This time we can count on repeating the result, given the presence of all our leaders in Italy, including three-time world champion Zakhar Petrov, as well as Olympic medalists, multiple world champions Ivan Shtyl and Alexey Korovashkov.

Five gold pieces

Last year, the World Rowing and Canoeing Championships were held in Samarkand. In Uzbekistan, our team was able to win the medal standings. The Russians won five gold and one silver medals. Belarusians, who performed in a neutral status, also took the second place, winning 11 awards at once (4-4-3).

Zakhar Petrov became the main hero of the World Cup. In 2024, the native of the Ryazan region first took fourth place twice at the Olympics — in doubles and singles, and two weeks later in Samarkand he took full revenge. There he won gold medals in the mixed fours (together with Sofia Stil, Ekaterina Shlyapnikova and Ivan Shtyl), in the doubles with Ivan Dmitriev (1000 m) and in the single canoe 500 m. The 500 m flip finish became legendary, when Zakhar crossed the finish line essentially underwater. But since it concerned the boat, after several appeals, Petrov was declared the winner a month later.

​​Zakhar will compete in canoeing from the Olympics in Italy.

"The boats on which we competed in Olympic Paris are now in Hungary," Petrov, 23, told TASS. — This is one of the countries friendly to Russia, we always feel support. Our boats are stored by Hungarians (Russians are forced to store boats abroad and not use them in national launches in order to avoid logistical problems due to the economic sanctions imposed on Russia). Before the World Cup, these boats will go to Italy, and we will compete on them. Is it difficult to compete on different boats? I'm already used to it, they're basically the same model. There is no difference. As for the oar, each canoeist has one individual one. We always have it with us, we take it to competitions in other cities and countries with us, we protect it very much.

Svetlana Chernihiv and Anastasia Dolgova (doubles, 1000 m), Alexey Korovashkov and Ekaterina Shlyapnikova (mixed doubles, 500 m) also won gold medals from Uzbekistan, and Dolgova (200 m) won silver.

Busy schedule

All our winners and prize-winners of the 2024 World Cup will go to Milan. In total, the delegation of neutral athletes from Russia consists of 25 people. Of the notable names, there is no Olesya Romasenko, who failed to show decent results at the national championship, which ended at the end of July.

"All our leaders are already in Milan," Kirill Shamshurin, head coach of the Russian national rowing and canoeing team, shared his expectations with Izvestia. — The program of the championship is very intense, so it is difficult to combine different disciplines — there is little time between races. There are always goals and medal plans, but it's better to talk about them based on the results. Athletes are superstitious people. It's been a long time since we've competed at the World Championships as a full team, and our return is an important step towards normalcy. Of course, the years of absences have taken their toll: many guys lack the experience of competitions of this level. But that shouldn't stop them from making the most of it.

According to the coach, Zakhar Petrov will compete in Italy in a four-man canoe, along with Ivan Shtyl, Alexander Fighter and Alexey Korovashkov.

— Unfortunately, due to the tight schedule, Zakhar [Petrov] will not be able to compete in the single 1000 m. We plan to announce him in the four, in the two for 500 m together with the Pole and the single for 500 m. The four-man kayak is likely to be ridden by guys who have already raced at the World Cup this season. I hope that they will be in optimal shape by the time of the World Championship, we have been working on this a lot. I'm talking about Spesivtsev, Gavrilenko, Ershov and Sergeev. Gavrilenko and Sergeev will compete in the 500 m double, while Spesivtsev will compete alone in the 500 m. We will announce Dmitry Avdeev alone in the 1000 m, because Spesivtsev will not be able to perform there due to a busy schedule," Kirill Shamshurin told TASS.

It should be noted that the competition among our guys will noticeably increase compared to last year. Last year's World Cup was missed by many leaders of this sport due to fatigue after the Olympics. In Italy, 36 sets of awards (24 in kayaking and canoeing, 12 in paracanoe) will be awarded between representatives of 70 countries.

Among the participants are all Olympic champions who, after their triumph in Paris 2024, will begin their journey to Los Angeles 2028.