Image credit: World Rowing
Hot on the heels of World Cup 1 comes the European Championships, this year being held at Szeged, Hungary’s third largest city. It’s the first time this course has hosted a major senior championships. The European Olympic Qualifying Regatta is also being held at the same time (for the singles, light doubles and PR1 singles) which has impacted on the entries for the Euro Champs.
So here’s our look at the ones to watch in each of the Olympic-class boats.
Entries: 6
2023 Champion: France
With their dynastic domination of the PR3 Mixed Four, one might expect the overflow in that talent pool into this new Paralympic event would propel the British to the top. Caversham’s first offering in this event last season was strong but not outstanding, winning bronze at the European Championships and qualifying for Paris at the world championships. Annabel Craddick and Samuel Murray return this season and will look to improve on the debut international season in the leadup to the Paralympic Games.
The top European crew last season were the French. Laurent Cabot won the European Championships with Guylaine Marchand last year but reunited up with Elur Alberdi, his partner from their victory in 2022, following her return from chemotherapy. At the world championships, they won bronze behind two non-European crews. With Alberdi only a few months out of chemo, this was a really impressive result, painting themselves as key favourites for their home games as Alberdi continues to return to her world championship winning form.
The third European crew to qualify in Belgrade were the Germans, Hermine Krumbein made her international debut in that crew as they finished fifth in the eleven-boat field, she is joined by a new partner in the form of Jan Helmich who steps across from the four. Whether this is an upgrade or a downgrade will remain to see. If the German selectors have moved speed to this boat, a serious boost of speed may come to this crew for the Paralympic season.
The top team not to qualify to Paris at last year’s world championship was Ukraine. Their line-up returns unchanged with the very youthful combination of 19-year-old Dariia Kotyk and 22-year-old Stanislav Samoliuk returning again this season. With their youth, and the likely speedy development that comes with it, they will be confident in their goal to gain the sole qualification spot currently available in Lucerne, but a good result here would go a long way to proving it.
The final European crew from the 2023 World Champions were the Italians, really far off the pace. They offer an all-new crew this year, with Greta Elizabeth Muti and Luca Conti stepping across from their B-Final winning crew. They may view this as a safer shot of qualifying bringing these potential stars across to the smaller boat class, but with Muti doubling up in the four, they may be hedging their bets by sharing her Paralympic experience. What the selectors are planning, and how well that is likely to work, will be examined this weekend as a potential dry run for Lucerne next month.
Rounding out the field is a crew from Austria, there is not too much to say about this one, Thomas Ebner is the only one of the pairing with International experience having finished second-to-last in the four at the Rio games eight years ago with only a cameo in the PR3 pair at the 2019 World Championships since then. 43-year-old Nathalie Podda will make her debut in the bow seat making this crew a real wildcard with little form or background to judge from.
Prediction
As Alberdi returns to full health and fitness, I doubt any of the entrants will be on the level of the crew from France as they gear up for their home Paralympics. And I think that the German crew change will be able to propel them past the British for silver.
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