Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
2022 Champions: Yunxia Chen, Ling Zhang, Yang Lyu, Xiaotong Cui (China)
Entries: 13
Olympic Qualifying places: 7
China returns to competition in 2023 with the same line-up that won the World Championships last year. That crew are also the reigning Olympic Champions and were World Champions in 2019 as well. They picked up where they left off at the second World Cup in Varese this year, winning by half a second ahead of Great Britain. However, in Lucerne, their air of invincibility took a bit of a knock when they were surprisingly pushed off the medal podium entirely. Whether that defeat was just a blip remains to be seen, but it will have shown their competition that they are beatable, and that confidence will be all-important coming into the World Championships.
The main rivals to the Chinese will likely be The Netherlands and Great Britain. The Netherlands, Bente Paulis, Laila Youssifou, Tessa Dullemans and Roos De Jong were winners in Lucerne. They are also medallists from the Europeans (Paulis and Dullemans silver in the quad – where they rowed with Martine Veldhuis and Ilse Kolkman – and Youssifou and De Jong bronze in the W2X). Paulis and Dullemans were also in the boat that finished runners-up to the Chinese in 2022. Dutch sculling is on an absolute high at the moment and the quad stands a really good chance of winning the World title for only the second time in their history (the first being in 2017).
Great Britain are also another of the major medal contenders. Their crew is Lola Anderson, Georgia Brayshaw, Lauren Henry and Hannah Scott. Scott is the sole surviving member of the crew that finished seventh in Tokyo, and she went on to race the W1X at the World Championships last season, making the A-Final. Anderson and Brayshaw were in the 2022 Quad that won the European title (GB’s first in the W4X) and then took bronze at the World Championships. 21-year-old Henry is the least experienced of the quartet – she finished fourth in the BW1X at both the 2021 and 2022 U23 World Championships and made her debut in the senior team this season. So far this season, the British have made the podium at every regatta, wining bronze at the Europeans and silver in Varese (with Lucy Glover replacing Lola Anderson) and then silver in Lucerne (with Anderson in the boat).
One of the surprises of the season so far in this event has been the performance of the Swiss, Fabienne Schweizer, Lisa Loetscher, Pascale Walker and Celia Dupre. After a strong finish in 2022, making the A Final (with Salome Ulrich in place of Schweizer), they have been making steady progress throughout the season. Second to Ukraine in a second-boat final in Zagreb was followed by sixth at the Europeans and then fourth in Varese and finally a bronze in Lucerne. They come into Belgrade as genuine contenders for a medal.
Ukraine are the reigning European Champions and their line-up of Daryna Verkhogliad, Kateryna Dudchenko, Nataliya Dovgodko and Anastasiia Kozhenkova is unchanged for Belgrade. As mentioned above, this quartet won a two-boat final in Zagreb and after winning the Europeans went on to place fifth in Lucerne. Three of the crew (Verkhogliad, Dudchenko and Dovgodko) were in the crew that just missed out on a podium finish in 2022.
Australia races this season with three of the crew that won bronze in Tokyo – Harriet Hudson, Rowena Meredith and Caitlin Cronin. In 2022 Hudson and Meredith, along with Amanda Bateman and Kathryn Rowan, finished sixth at the World Championships. This season the Australians have struggled a little to find medal-contending speed and have delivered two eighth places at the second and third World Cups. They will be hoping to step up by at least one place in Belgrade to ensure Olympic qualification.
Germany has a long tradition in this event (between 1985 and 2004 a German crew won the World and Olympic titles on all but two occasions). In recent years they have been less dominant and last won the World title in 2014. This season’s crew is Frauke Hundeling, Sarah Wibberenz, Tabea Schendekehl and Pia Greiten. They are unlikely to be challenging for the medals in Belgrade but will be looking to score qualification for Paris. Their best result so far in 2023 was a bronze medal in Varese – they also delivered a fifth place at the Europeans and sixth in Lucerne.
Italy also has a crew stacked full of Olympians. Alessandra Montesano, Valentina Iseppi and Stefania Gobbi were in the quad that finished fourth in Tokyo and are joined in Belgrade by Alessandra Montesano who, along with Iseppi, was in the quad that finished eighth in 2022. The World Champs will be Montesano’s first race of the season as she replaces Veronica Lisi who was in the boat that finished fifth in Lucerne.
Romania will be an exciting crew to watch. Their line-up of Patricia Cires, Cristina Druga, Emanuela-Ioana Ciotau and Andrada-Maria Morosanu are the reigning U23 World Champions and will be racing in Belgrade with nothing to lose. They did race on the senior circuit this season, placing seventh at the Europeans. Olympic qualification will be a major achievement for this young crew.
The USA has a new combination racing in Belgrade with a crew that includes two very talented lightweights; Grace Joyce and Molly Reckford. Joyce was an A-Finalist in the BLW2X in 2019 and Reckford finished fifth in the LW2X in Tokyo and won a silver medal in that boat class in 2022 and again this season at the Lucerne World Cup. Somewhat surprisingly her place in the LW2X was then taken by Mary Jones. Also in the quad is Emily Kallfelz and Lauren O’Connor. Kallfelz was U23 BW1X silver medallist in 2019 and was in the quad that finished ninth last year. O’Connor made her senior debut this season finishing seventh in the quad and fifth in the W2X at the Varese World Cup (the latter partnered by Kallfelz). As with the Romanians, the main aim for this new American combination will be to secure Olympic qualification.
Also racing is Czechia, with three of the crew that won U23 silver this season (Alzbeta Zavadilova, Simona Paskova and Eliska Podrazilova). Along with Marketa Nedelova, they have placed 11th at the Europeans and tenth in Lucerne.
Canada has the experienced Carling Zeeman leading their crew. She was eighth in the W1X at the Tokyo Olympics. She’s joined by Shannon Kennedy (who raced in the W1X last season), Grace Vandenbroek and Elisa Bolinger. The latter two were U23 silver medallists in the BW2X in 2022. This season the Canadian quad has recorded a ninth in Varese and seventh in Lucerne.
The final crew in the event is France – Jeanne Roche, Violaine Aernoudts, Audrey Feutrie and Helene Lefebvre. Lefebvre and Aernoudts both raced in Tokyo (Lefebvre finishing eighth in the W2X and Aernoudts ninth in the quad). This season they have raced at the Europeans and the second and third World Cups with a best result of sixth in Varese.
Predictions: Will the Chinese recapture their mojo, or will the Dutch or British claim the gold? My money is on the Netherlands to take the gold with the Chinese just pipping the British for the silver. But, as with a lot of the races at the Worlds, some of the most interesting races will be in the B-Finals, where only the winner will claim an Olympic spot – pre-Olympic year is one of the few occasions where the B-Finals are just as interesting as the As!
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