Imagery Credit: Word Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
LM1X
Entries: 17
World Cup 1 winner: Rajko Hrvat (Slovenia)
This event looks like it’s going to come down to a contest between two Italian, and two Swiss scullers. The leading Italian is Niels Torre – he was a member of the LM4X that won the European and World Championships last year and also has numerous U23 World Championship medals. At the 2023 European Championships he raced in the single and won the silver medal. The second Italian sculler is Giovanni Borgonovo, the 20-year-old won gold in the LM4X at the Sabaudia World Cup last year and at the U23’s won gold in the BLM2X.
The Swiss challenge comes from Andri Struzina and his younger brother, Gian. Andri was U23 World Champion back in 2017, as a senior international he placed fifth at both the 2020 and 2021 Europeans. In 2022 he won bronze in the LM1X and reached the A-Final at the World Championships. This season he has a silver medal from the Zagreb World Cup and a bronze medal from the Europeans. Gian raced at the World Cups in 2021 and in 2022 won silver in the BLM1X at the U23 World Championships.
Outside of these four the other medal challengers includes France’s Baptiste Savaete. The 22-year-old finished fifth at the 2022 World Championships and won bronze in the BL2X at the U23 World Championships. In 2021 he was a member of the LM4X that won silver at the European Championships.
Manuel Balastegui of Spain has been racing in the LM2x for the last few seasons, including a seventh place at the Tokyo Olympics. This season he, and partner Caetano Horta Pombo, took bronze at the Zagreb World Cup.
21-year-old Dane, Rasmus Lind, raced in the LM2X at the 2022 World Championships placing 15th. This season he has moved to the LM1X and reached the A-Final of the European Championships (the first A-Final placing of his career).
One place behind Lind at the European’s was Germany’s Arno Gaus. He’s another 21-year-old and also raced in the double last season, placing tenth.
The final sculler to watch for is the young Slovakian, Peter Strecansky. The 17-year-old won bronze at the U19 World Championships last season and made his senior debut in Zagreb, reaching the A-Final in the LM1X.
Predictions: Torre in gold, Andri Struzina in silver and Savaete in bronze.
LM2-
Entries: 4
World Cup 1 winner: No event
Hungary look to be the form crew in this event, Kalman Furko and Bence Szabo. They were European Champions in both 2021 and 2022, they also won silver at the World Championships last year.
Germany has two boats racing (so will be guaranteed at least one medal). The first crew is Zeno Robertson and Max Von Buelow. Robertson won gold in the U23 BLM4X at the European U23 Championships in 2021. Von Buelow finished fifth in the BLM1X at the 2022 U23 World Championships.
The second German boat is Johannes Ursprung and Mo Marchart. Ursprung is the most experienced of the four; he was world champion in the LM4X in 2016 and a world bronze medallist in the LM4X last year.
The final crew in the event is Italy, Francesco Bardelli and Stefano Pinsone. They are both making their senior debuts in Varese and raced together in the BLM2- at the U23 World Championships last season winning the silver medal.
Predictions: Hungary in gold, Ursprung/Marchart in silver and Italy in bronze.
LM2X
Entries: 17
World Cup 1 winner: Jan Schaeuble & Raphael Ahumada Ireland (Switzerland)
Switzerland looks to be the form crew so far this season, Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland won gold at both the Zagreb World Cup and the European Championships. They raced at the 2022 World Championships just missing the podium and were bronze medallists at the 2022 Europeans.
Runners-up to the Swiss in Bled was Italy, Gabriel Soares and Stefano Oppo. Soares won the LM1X World Championships last season and was European silver medalist in both 2021 and 2022. Oppo finished as runner-up to the Irish at both the European and World Championships last year, along with then partner Pietro Ruta, they took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Germany finished ninth at the Europeans this season. Their crew is Olympic silver medallist Jonathan Rommelmann, and 21-year-old Paul Leerkamp. Leerkamp raced in the LM2X at the 2022 World Championships with Arnos Gaus finishing tenth. In 2021 he won gold in the BLM4X at the U23 World Championships. Rommelman, along with former partner Jason Osborne, were European Champions in 2019 and World bronze medallists that year.
France raced at the 2022 World Championships finishing sixth with their crew of Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig. Beurey raced in the LM1x in Bled winning the gold medal. Ludwig won bronze in the LM4X at the 2019 Europeans and followed that up with a silver in 2021. Beurey raced in the LM2X with Pierre Houin at the 2019 World Championships but missed qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.
Belgium has two boats entered. BEL1 is Niels Van Zandweghe and Marlon Colpaert. They finished 12th at the 2022 World Championships and this season placed 13th at the Europeans. BEL2 is the U23 pairing of Mil Blommaert and Tibo Vyvey. Both raced at the U23 World Championships last season with Blommaert seventh in the BLM2X and Vyvey sixth in the BLM1X.
China also has two crews in the event, Man Sun and Junjie Fan as CHN1 and Zikang Yao and Bohao Zhu in CHN2. The CHN2 boat are U23’s and are both making their international debuts in Varese. Man Sun raced in this event at the 2022 World Championship finishing 1seventh and Junjie Fan raced in 2019 placing sixth in the B-Final.
The USA are another country with two boats competing. The first US boat includes Sam Melvin, the reigning U23 BLM1X world champion joined by James Mccullogh, 17th in the LM1x last season. The second US boat has Jasper Liu partnered by Zachary Hesse. They were the US LM2X last season finishing 13th at the World Championships.
Australia last won a medal in this boat class at the Poznan World Cup in 2019 (which was their first for five years). This season their double is Sean Murphy and Oscar McGuinness. Murphy raced in the LM1X in 2019 winning gold at both the second and third World Cups and then bronze at the World Championships. Varese will be his first international race since finishing fifth in the LM2X at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta in 2019. His partner, McGuinness, raced in the LM2x last season with Redmond Matthews, finishing 1sixth.
Predictions: Switzerland in gold with Italy in silver and Germany in bronze.
LM4X
Entries: 3
World Cup 1 winner: No event
Germany v Italy v The Netherlands
This should be a fairly even contest across the three boats (vying for two medals). Italy are all reigning U23 World Champions with Giovanni Borgonovo doubling-up in the LM1X along with three members of the BLM4X Matteo Tonelli, Nicolo’ Demiliani and Giovanni’s younger brother Luca.
Germany were World Championship bronze medallists last season and their crew for 2023 includes three from that boat, Joachim Agne, Simon Klueter and Fabio Kress. The fourth member of the crew is Arno Gaus who is also doubling-up in the LM1X
The Netherlands has three members of the crew that raced at the final World Cup last season but were disqualified in a two-boat race due to having an underweight boat, Maxim Den Boogert, Max Gompel and Niels Van Vliet. The final member of the crew is debutant Brian Poll.
Predictions: Germany in gold with Italy in silver and the Netherlands in third.
LW1X
Entries: 9
World Cup 1 winner: Kristyna Neuhortova (Czech Republic)
Not a huge amount of experience in this event with only four of the nine scullers having raced at a senior World Rowing event. The possible favourite will be Tosca Kettler of the Netherlands. She has raced at the first World Cups of 2021, 2022 and 2023 taking fourth in 2021 and 2022 and then silver this season.
Aurelie Morizot of France raced at both the 2022 and 2023 European Championships with an eighth place last year and ninth in Bled.
Great Britain is represented by Olivia Bates. She won silver in the BLW1X at the European U23 Championships in 2021 and bronze in 2023. She also raced at the World U23 Championships but was forced to withdraw due to illness. As a senior international she made her debut in Bled finishing eighth in the LW1X.
The USA is represented by two scullers, Sophia Luwis and Audrianna Boersen. They were both selected for the LW4X last season, but the crew had to withdraw before the World Championships due to illness, so Varese marks the international debuts for both scullers. Boersen is also entered as part of the USA2 LW2X so it’s unlikely she will race both events.
Also racing is Germany’s Julia Tertuente (a member of the European U23 gold medal BLW4X in 2019) Algeria’s Chaimaa Hellal Berrouane (making her international debut but has also represented Algeria in Triathlon). Japan is represented by Chiaki Tomita who is the only athlete in the field who has raced at the senior World Championships where she took 18th in the LW2X. The final competitor is Hong Kong’s Wing Wun Leung – she raced at the Asian Rowing Championships last year winning a silver medal.
Predictions: Kettler in gold with Bates in silver and Luwis in bronze.
LW2X
Entries: 18
World Cup 1 winners: Patricia Merz & Frederique Rol (Switzerland)
This should be an absolutely cracking contest. Great Britain has dominated the event since finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics with Imogen Grant and Emily Craig. These two were unstoppable in 2022 and are, arguably, the best technical scullers in the world right now. Grant seemingly can do it all; she was a member of the winning Cambridge Blue Boat in 2022, a former World Champion in the LW1X and is the current holder of the World’s Best Time in the LW1X and she’s also studying to be a doctor. Craig is no less accomplished, as well as gold in the LW2X she was also world champion in the LW4X in 2016. This duo missed the podium in Tokyo by just 1/100th of a second but have now emerged as the dominant force in this event. They started 2023 where they left off in 2022 with a comfortable win at the European Championships.
Runners-up to the British last year was the USA, Molly Reckford and Michelle Sechser. They also raced the LW2X at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing one place behind GB. Sechser has been a member of the US team for ten years and won medals at the Pan-Am Games in her first year on the team in 2011. She won her first World Championship medal in 2017 taking bronze in the LW2X with Emily Schmieg. Reckford joined the team in 2019 racing in the LW4X at the World Championships before moving into the LW2X with Sechser.
The USA has a second boat entered with Audrianna Boersen and Mary Jones. As mentioned above, Boersen is also entered in the LW1X. Jones raced in the LW1X last year finishing tenth.
Amongst the other European crews, the pick of the bunch other than GB are France and Switzerland. Claire Bove and Laura Tarantola of France finished in bronze in Bled. They finished just outside of the medals at the World Championships but took silver at the Europeans and are also the current Olympic silver medallists. They have been racing together as a LW2X since 2017 and were also European silver medallists in 2019.
Switzerland has two doubles racing (as they did at the first World Cup). Their top boat is Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol. They finished sixth in Bled and won the first World Cup of the season. They have been rowing together since their days on the junior team in 2011, (their birthdays are just one week apart). They were European bronze medallists in 2018 and took fourth in the world that season. They won the B-Final at the Tokyo Olympics, and in 2022 finished fifth at both the European and World Championships.
The second Swiss double is Eline Rol (Frederique’s cousin) and Olivia Nacht. They were third at the Zagreb World Cup and Rol raced in the LW1x at the Europeans finishing sixth.
Italy has a strong combination that perhaps underperformed in their first outing in Bled managing to “only” finish seventh. Federica Cesarini is the reigning Olympic Champion in this event (which she won with Valentina Rodini). She’s partnered by Silvia Crosio, she was U23 BLW1X World Champion in 2021 and senior World Champion in the LW4X in 2022.
Canada’s Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson have been racing together in the LW2X since 2018. They finished eighth at the 2019 World Championships and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics where they placed 12th. At the World Championships last year, they narrowly missed the A-Final and ended up winning the B-Final.
Other crews to watch out for include Australia (Lucy Coleman and Anneka Reardon) tenth at the World Championships last year. China (Jiaqi Zou and Xiuping Qiu) eighth at the World Championships and Poland (Jessika Sobocinska and Wiktoria Kalinowska) U23 bronze medallists from 2022.
Predictions: Great Britain in gold, USA in silver and France in bronze.
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