Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
For the first time ever, JRN will be previewing the U23 world championships. This is part of our planned expansion and an exciting step in trying to become the world’s leading rowing content platform. For now, we’re keeping it relatively simple with previews of the male and female open-weight sweep and sculling. In the future, we may expand into additional sectors and broaden out our coverage. Any feedback very welcome!
Men’s Single
Entries: 25
Current U23 World Champion: Jonas Gelsen, Germany
This category looks like a real corker, with two of the top three present from last year’s championships plus a host of new names to compete for the gold. Isaiah Harrison of the USA looks to be the favourite on-paper – he finished second in this category in 2022 and has his eyes firmly set on winning the U23 world championships before stepping on towards Paris and Olympic glory. Hot on his heels will be Bulgaria’s Emil Neykov. He was a world champion at this level in 2021 before slipping into bronze last year. He also raced at the first senior world cup this year, finishing fourth in the ‘B’ final. On his home water, he will hope for an ascension back to the summit.
Outside of those two, the field condenses but remains fascinating. Germany’s Paul Berghoff is already a two-times U23 international, having finished fourth and second in the quad in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Ireland’s Andrew Sheehan of Ireland is also a very capable athlete with two appearances at this level to his name already – he won bronze in the coxless four in 2022 and finished fourth in coxed fours at the 2021 championships. Leonardo Tedoldi, Italy’s representative in 2023, is already a world champion at U23 level and is arguably the most decorated athlete competing. He was part of the winning quad last year, having already won silver in 2021, and switches into the single for 2023
Another name to watch is Poland’s Piotr Plominski. He’s had a notable season, including losing out to Oliver Zeidler in the final of the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta a few weeks ago. He finished first in the ‘C’ final at the 2023 European Championships and won silver at this level in 2021. He chose not to compete last year, opting instead to train for the senior world championships, where he placed fifth in the ‘B’ final.
Great Britain have generally struggled to mix it with the best of the rest in the single scull but Miles Devereux will be looking to close that gap. On the international stage, he’s so far collected a pair of ‘B’ final wins, having finished seventh in the quad at both the 2019 junior world championships and the 2022 U23 world championships.
Other candidates for strong performances include Spain’s Koxme Burutaran, who is enjoying his third year at this level. He was fifth in the ‘C’ final of the singles in 2021 and sixth in the ‘B’ final of quads in 2022. August Wisholm of Denmark is one of the younger contenders at 19 and finished second in the ‘B’ final of the singles at the 2022 junior world championships. He was second in the ‘C’ final at Holland Beker back in June. Bojan Reuffurth of Switzerland is back in 2023 after a third-placed finish in the ‘B’ final of this category last year whilst Andre Pinto of Portugal is another returner, having placed third in the ‘C’ final in 2022.
Prediction: Hard to look past the might of Harrison of the USA and Neykov of Bulgaria. Don’t be surprised to see competitive showings from Poland’s Plominski, Italy’s Tedoldi and Germany’s Berghoff.
Men’s Double
Entries: 18
Current U23 World Champion: Belgium (Tristan Vandenbussche, Aaron Andries)
The favourites for this category have to be the Irish combination of Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh. Both were bronze medalists in this category in 2022 and return in 2023 to climb the final steps up the podium. Pazzaia went on to race at the senior world championships last summer with Philip Doyle, finishing first in the ‘C’ final of double sculls.
Lithuania are always competitive on the sculling circuit and bring a strong crew to Plovdiv. Povilas Juskevicius was fifth in the ‘C’ final of men’s coxless fours at the senior 2022 world championships and also finished sixth in the quad at the 2022 U23 world championships. He is a former junior world champion in the single, having won in 2021. Arnedas Kelmelis was also in the sixth-placed quad last year and this is his third year of competing at this level.
There are a range of other very competitive pairings on the starting roster. Germany have two former junior world champions in Sydney Garbers and Timo Strache, who triumphed in the quad at the 2021 junior world championships. France have Samuel Arque, who finished fifth in this category last year and was also a silver medallist at junior level in 2021. He is joined by Alric Rodrigue, who was second in the ‘B’ final of double sculls at the 2022 junior world championships. Greece also deploy two recent junior world medalists; Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Dimitrios Papazoglou were bronze medallists in the quad at the 2022 junior world championships. Poland have two athletes with pedigree at this level; Konrad Domanski was fifth in the quad at the 2021 U23 world championships whilst Jakub Wozniak was second in the ‘B’ final of quads at the same event a year later.
Turkey have put together a potent combination, featuring two athletes who both won a silver medal at junior level in the coxed four at the 2021 junior world championships. Kaan Aydin won a bronze medal in the pair at the 2021 U23 world championship too. Holders Belgium will probably struggle to scale the lofty heights of their predecessors but Boris Taeldeman was sixth in single sculls at the 2022 junior world championships whilst Savin Rodenburg won the ‘B’ final of lightweight double sculls at the 2022 U23 world championships. Canada’s duo have plenty of experience racing together at this level; they were winners of the ‘C’ final at the 2022 U23 world championships.
Argentina are potentially a boat to watch out for. Both athletes were fourth in the ‘B’ final of quads at the 2022 U23 world championships and then switched into the double for the 2023 season, finishing third in the ‘B’ final at the first world cup. Hungary’s crew were two places back on Argentina at the first world cup whilst Bence Szklenka was also second in the ‘B’ final of single sculls at last year’s U23 world championship. Switzerland’s unit features two athletes who won the ‘B’ final of quads at the 2022 junior world championships whilst Leonardo Salerno was fifth overall in the same category in 2021.
Prediction: Hard to look past Ireland for the overall victory but I would expect Lithuania and Germany to push them hard.
Men’s Quads
Entries: 17
Current U23 World Champion: Italy (Andrea Pazzagli, Matteo Sartori, Leonardo Tedoldi, Nicolo’ Bizzozero)
This one seems fairly well balanced and I would say several crews are in with a shout of taking the top prize. The quad is a boat class that Germany generally excel in, and this cohort will be hoping for no change in the form guide. Featuring one returner from the crew that won silver in 2022 (Alexander Finger), the 22-year-old is joined by 2022 junior world champion Ole Hanack and 2021 junior world champion Maximilian Pfuatsch. The German sculling machine rolls on and I expect this crew to be very competitive.
Next on the docket for me are probably Italy. They are the current holders of this event and this boat features one returner from that triumphant crew (Andrea Pazzagli). He is joined by junior single sculls world champion Marco Prati, whose victory by over ten seconds on home water last year was one of the most impressive performances of any athlete. Edoardo Rocchi was a silver medallist at junior level in 2019 and finished fourth in the ‘D’ final of the single at the 2021 U23 world championships.
Behind them could well be the Netherlands. Fresh off the back of a Sunday appearance in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, this crew will be looking to arrive at Plovdiv with serious speed. They were winners at the Duisberg Regatta, 0.15 seconds ahead of the French boat, and two of this crew finished fifth in this category last year. Wietse Morreau was sixth in the ‘B’ final of the single at last year’s championships.
Staying with the European theme, France have come with a competitive crew. Victor Marcelot is the stand-out athlete in this quartet, having already competed numerous times at senior level. Most recently, he was part of the French foursome that finished second in the ‘B’ final at the 2022 world championships and placed sixth at the Europeans the same year. He’s also a previous medallist at this level, having won silver in 2021 as part of a lightweight double. Yoann Lamiral is a two-times U23 representative, having finished sixth in the quad and fifth in the double in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Martin Bauer completes the set – his highest accolade was a silver medal at the 2021 junior world championships in the double. Three of this crew were second overall at the Duisberg Regatta back in May.
Chile are a mercurial bunch. This boat contains three returners from the quad that finished third in the ‘B’ final at the 2022 U23 world championships. Joining them is Nahuel Fernando Reyes Zenteno, who was fifth in the ‘C’ final of single sculls at the same event. For the three returners, this is their third crack at the category, having also raced in 2021. They’re certainly one of the more experienced combinations, having raced to sixth and fifth at the 2018 and 2019 junior world championships.
Croatia are also worth watching out for. This crew have raced a couple of times at senior level this year already, including a fourth-placed finish at the first world cup (admittedly out of four entrants) and a fifth placing in the ‘B’ final at the European championships. Davor Poljancic and Roko Boskovic were fifth in the ‘B’ final of doubles at the 2022 U23 world championships and they’re joined by Karlo Borkovic, who finished fourth in the men’s pair at the 2019 junior world championships.
Great Britain generally fare slightly better on the sweep side of the equation but this year’s quad will be hoping to buck the trend. Marcus Chute is something of a sculling icon on home waters. His exploits for the Windsor Boys School last year – where his quad swept all before them – were the stuff of legend and he’s slotted neatly into Princeton’s varsity eight for the 22/23 season. Balthasar Issa plies his trade at the University of California, Berkeley and is a two-times Henley Royal Regatta finalist. Stephen Hughes races for Leander and won the Fawley Challenge Cup with his club in 2019. Keyan O’Donnell completes the set and is an athlete with Brown University – he spent the majority of the 22/23 season in the 3V.
With the senior world champions to look up to, the Polish combination contains two of the athletes whose quad finished fifth at the junior world championships last summer (Michal Randa and Igor Czekanowicz). Joining them are Cezary Litka and Bartosz Bartkowski, who have a wealth of experience racing at senior level and were second in the ‘B’ final of this category last year.
The challenge from the USA features three athletes from the University of Pennsylvania joining up with James Patton of Harvard. Patton was a silver medallist at the 2019 junior world championships and has featured in the 3V this year. Charles Jones, Jason Kennedy and Matthew Davis, the latter of whom raced in this event last year, all hail from Penn and were all in the college’s Varsity crew throughout the regular season. They finished 12th from 24 at the IRA National Championships.
Australia probably won’t punch at the top of this category but will be contenders for an ‘A’ final placing. Nick Blackman is pitching to race at the Olympics one day and this is his first foray onto the international arena. He is joined by Harrison Fox, who finished fifth in the coxed four at last year’s U23 world championships and was a junior world champion in the double scull in 2019, Johnson Daubney, who was fifth in the coxed four at the 2019 junior world championships and finished fifth in the men’s single scull at the Australian National Championships, and Alexander Rossi, who raced in the quad at this event last year. Three of this crew, barring Fox, were also in the U23 eight that finished second at the Australian National Championships in March.
An interesting combination from the Czech Republic, comprising two athletes (Martin Jezek and Jan Cizek) who raced at the senior world championships last summer in the eight and a junior world champion in Krystof Janac, who won gold in the quad in 2022. They are joined by Michal Zindulka, whose only previous international experience was a second-placed finish in the eight at the 2021 junior world championships.
I’m not sure Lithuania will feature as highly as last year’s entrant, who came sixth overall, but with one returning athlete (Saulius Ausbikavicius), the experience the man in the two-seat will have should prove vital down the course.
The star of the crew from Switzerland is Shamall Suero Santana, who was sixth in the double scull at the 2022 U23 world championships. Joining him are Nicolas Berger, who won the ‘B’ final as part of the Swiss quad at the 2022 junior world championships, Donat Vonder Muehll, who was fourth in the ‘B’ final of the coxed four at the 2021 junior world championships, and Gian Luca Egli.
The boat from China are ridiculously young – three of the athletes are under the age of 20 and bowman Mingyu Liu is 15. This is surely a development crew, with the aim of refinement ahead of a tilt at junior glory.
Prediction: I can see this being a shoot-out between the boats from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
About The Author
