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: 9
2023 Champions: Ollie Wilkes, Dave Ambler, Matt Aldridge, Freddie Davidson (GBR)
At the start of the season the hot favourites in this boat class was Great Britain. They went into the first World Cup with an unchanged line-up from the crew that won the European and World titles in 2023, and as a boat (in various line-ups) the British were unbeaten since the Tokyo Olympics. However, that winning streak came to a devastating end in Varese when they lost to the top Italian boat of Matteo Lodo, Giovanni Abagnale, Guiseppe Vicino and Nicholas Kohl in both the heat and final. The latter race will have been of more concern as the British led by a length with 500m to go but were outsprinted by the Italians. One crumb of comfort that the British can take is that, with the Italians still needing to qualify this boat for Paris, they would have been at a different stage in their race prep than the British. That being said, a first defeat in three years will have been a body blow to GB and will have also have been watched with interest by their non-European competition in the USA and New Zealand. The British will relish the chance for revenge in Szeged to send a message that Varese was a blip. For their parts the Italians will want to repeat their victory and sew further seeds of doubt in the British camp.
But, this event isn’t just about GB v Italy. The top Romanian squad also make their customary appearance at the European Championships (an event they tend to prioritise as funding is based on performance at these championships). The Romanian’s qualified for Paris by winning the B-final but their crew for 2024 only has one of that boat remaining, Stefan Berariu. He was also in the M4- that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. He’s joined by fellow Tokyo silver medallist, Ciprian Tudosa, who won his medal in the M2-. He raced in the M2x last season, with a seventh place meaning that boat was also qualified for Paris. Both Tudosa and Berariu are also doubling-up in the M8. This is something that the Romanians do quite frequently, but it may cost them a chance for a medal in both events. The other half of the crew are less experienced; Alexandru-Laurentiu Danciu finished fourth in the BM4- at the 2022 U23 World Championships, and last season raced in the M8 that finished fourth. The final member of the crew is Andrei Mandrila; the 21-year-old was U23 BM2- bronze medallist in 2022 and made his senior debut at the final World Cup of 2023, racing to seventh in the M4-.
France make their season debut in Szeged and in this event they are unchanged from the crew that were European bronze medallists last year and then went on to place sixth at the World Championships. Twins Thibaud and Guillaume Turlan sit in the bows. They raced as the M2- at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing ninth. In the stern are Benoit Brunet and Teo Rayet who have both been in the M4- for the last couple of seasons.
One of the most experienced crews in the field is Poland. Three of the crew, Michal Szpakowski, Mikolaj Burda and Mateusz Wilangowski were in the crew that won the B-Final in Tokyo and Burda and Szpakowski also raced at the London and Tokyo Olympics. The final member of the crew is 22-year-old Bartosz Bartkowski. He raced on the U23 team from 2021-2023 with a best performance of fifth in the BM4X in 2021. He’s also made one senior appearance, racing in the M4X at the second World Cup of 2022. The Poles had a somewhat mixed 2023; they finished fifth at the European Championships, but their 13th at the Worlds meant they missed Olympic qualification and they now face an uphill battle to make the start line in Paris.
Another crew that will be heading to Lucerne to race the FOQR is Switzerland. Their crew of Joel Schuerch, Tim Roth, Patrick Brunner and Kai Schaetzle is unchanged from the crew that missed Olympic qualification by one place in 2023. They made a decent start to their 2024 campaign with a solid fifth at the Varese World Cup. Schuerch was in the crew that finished ninth in Tokyo and he and Roth were also in the M4- that reached the A-Final at the 2022 World Championships. Brunner and Schaeltze both raced in the M4X in 2022, finishing 11th. They will be looking to build on this, especially testing themselves against fellow Olympic qualification hopefuls Italy and Poland.
One place behind the Swiss in Varese was Ukraine. They come with half of the crew that finished 11th in 2023 (Oleh Kravchenko and Sergii Gryn). They are joined by the M2X from 2023, (Dmytro Hula and Oleksii Selivanov).
The final two crews in the event are Czechia and the home nation, Hungary. The Czechs race with Matous Docekal, Jan Fleissner, Daniel Nosek and Adam Kulhanek, all of whom have raced in various boat classes at the senior World Championships. The host nation boat a young crew that includes brothers Balazs and Gergo Szentpali (who raced as a pair at the second World Cup last year) along with 19-year-old former junior internation Adam Csizmadia and Krisztian Kerekes who raced in the M1X at the second World Cup of 2022.
Prediction
The British will be keen on revenge over the Italians and will be in better “race-shape” than they were in Varese. I’m picking them to return to the top of the podium with the Italians in silver. The battle for the bronze should be really good between the Swiss, Romanians, French and Poles with any one of those crew grabbing the medal. My money will be on Romania.
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