Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
Reigning Champion: Karolien Florijn (The Netherlands)
Entries: 32
Olympic Qualification places: 9
Karolien Florijn has been the dominant force in this event for the last couple of years. She spent most of the Tokyo Olympiad as a member of the W4- winning three European titles and World and Olympic silver. In 2022 she switched to the single and is currently unbeaten and became the first Dutch woman to win the W1X World title last year. She has raced, and beaten, all the main contenders in the field at Belgrade and it’ll take something special to break her unbeaten run.
One of Florijn’s main challengers will be the reigning Olympic champion and 2014 World Champion, Emma Twigg of New Zealand. Twigg was the runner-up to Florijn at the 2022 World Championships (and also has World Championship silver from 2019). This season she’s raced once, at the Lucerne World Cup, where she picked up a bronze medal (her 16th World Cup medal in a career stretching back to 2006). Assuming she makes the top nine in Belgrade, it will mean she’s qualified for her fifth Olympic Games.
Another antipodean contender is Tara Rigney from Australia. She made her senior debut at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing seventh in the W2X with Amanda Bateman. In 2022 she moved into the single, medalling at the second and third World Cups and then taking the bronze at the World Championships. This season she’s taken silver at both the Varese and Lucerne World Cups.
Winner in Varese was Alexandra Foester of Germany. The 21-year-old was U23 World Champion in 2021 and 2022 and finished seventh at the senior World Championships last season. She won the final World Cup of the 2022 season (the first German to win the W1X since 2004) and this season she recorded her second World Cup gold with a win in Varese. She also made the A-Final in Lucerne but finished in sixth, 15 seconds behind Florijn.
Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig is one of the most experienced names in the field; she made her senior debut in 2008 and raced the single from 2013 – 2022. During that time, she picked up an Olympic bronze medal, two World Championship bronzes and four European medals (including gold in 2016). At the 2022 World Championships she moved into the W2X with her sister, Katharina, finishing just off the podium (Austria’s best ever result in the W2X at a World Championships). This season she and Katharina raced the double in Varese, winning a silver medal, and Lucerne, finishing a little disappointingly in 11th. Magdalena is entered in both the W1X and the W2X, which, given the number of entries may be too much racing, so it remains to be seen if she does in fact race both events, or whether there is a possible issue with the double and the single is a “banker” just in case.
One of the standout athletes to emerge this season has been Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, and not just because she’s the first sculler in over 30 years to compete internationally with Macon blades. She won the junior title in 2021 and U23 silver in 2022. She made her senior debut in 2023, winning silver at the first World Cup. She followed that up with silver at the European Championships and then gold at the U23’s. She clearly enjoys racing as she’s racing at the European U23’s as well, with the Senior Worlds starting just one week later. Still only 19-years-old, she’s a prodigious talent and whilst a medal might be just out of her reach, an A-Final placing is most definitely within her grasp.
Kara Kohler of the USA has been racing on the senior circuit since 2011 and took gold in the W4- in her first season. She also has an Olympic bronze medal from the W4X in London. She started racing in the W1X in 2018 and won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and was a little disappointed to only manage ninth at the Tokyo Games. 2022 was also a little disappointing for the 32-year-old Californian, finishing the season with 13th at the World Championships. This season has started much stronger – she’s raced once, taking bronze at the Varese World Cup. If she can put a decent race series together in Belgrade, she could be in the mix in the A-Final.
One entry I’m a little surprised to see is Anna Prakaten – representing Uzbekistan. She was European Champion in 2021, racing for Russia, and went on to win silver at the Tokyo Olympics (racing as the Russian Olympic Committee). World Rowing rules require an athlete to have held a passport for the federation they represent for a minimum of three years,; I’m uncertain if Prakaten already held dual nationality with Uzbekistan, but if not, she must have received her Uzbek passport almost immediately after the Tokyo Games in order to be eligible for Belgrade. This season she raced for Uzbekistan at the Lucerne World Cup (World Cup eligibility rules aren’t as strict as for the World Championships) and she made the A-Final, placing fifth.
Great Britain has been trialling various combinations for their top sculling boat – the W4X – the result of which is that Lucy Glover misses out on the quad and instead is racing in the single. She’s a two-time U23 World Champion and was in the W4X that finished seventh in Tokyo. The quad also won the European title in 2022 and World bronze that year as well. This season they also won bronze at the Europeans and took silver in Lucerne. A top nine finish will be her aim for Belgrade.
Bulgaria’s Desislava Angelova has been one of the most consistent scullers this season with a string of fourth place finishes – at the first and third World Cups and the European Championships. Those results were a significant step up versus 2022 when she finished seventh at the Europeans and 12th at the World Championships.
Home support will be focussed on Jovana Arsic. She raced at the Tokyo Olympics, placing third in the C-Final (15th overall). In 2022 she ended the season with a tenth place at the World Championships. This season she’s produced some of her best form, winning bronze at the European Championships (Serbia’s first W1X Championships medal since the 2012 Europeans). She also placed sixth at the first World Cup and was tenth in Lucerne.
Spain’s Virginia Diaz Rivas started her international career racing in the W1X from 2015 – 2018 before switching to sweep and forming one of the best W2- in Spanish rowing history. She and partner Aina Cid took the European title in 2019 and followed that with European Championship medals in both 2020 and 2021. At the Tokyo Olympics, the pair finished sixth. Last season she moved back to the single, finishing fifth at the Europeans and sixth at the World Championships (the best ever result for a Spanish W1X). This season she took gold at the first World Cup and made the A-Final at the European Championships. Lucerne was a bit of a disappointment, and she could only manage fourth in the C-Final although she had only recently returned from injury. At her best she could well make the A-Final.
Other scullers to watch include Elis Ozbay of Turkey (U23 BLW1X World Champion), Marta Wieliczko of Poland (Olympic silver medallist in the W4X), Tatsiana Klimovich (a Belarusian racing as a “Neutral Individual Athlete) who was 13th in Tokyo, and Ruiqi Liu of China (who made her international debut at the Varese World Cup, finishing fourth).
Predictions: Can anyone beat Karolien Florijn? I’m not sure. I’m going for Florijn to retain her title with Twigg in silver and Rigney in bronze.
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