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 Champion: Switzerland
After missing the first World Cup, the reigning Olympic and world champions, Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan, begin what is likely to be their final Olympic campaign here in Hungary and will be expecting to set off in winning ways. Twelve months ago, McCarthy was partnered by Hugh Moore as they would finish sixth but was re-united with O’Donovan in Lucerne where they picked up silver before winning their fourth consecutive world championship medal in Belgrade. This golden partnership will be wanting to kick off 2024 with a bang and winning another major championship would certainly achieve that.
Of those who raced at the first world cup regatta in Varese, Italy, it was the home favourites who shone the brightest as a late charge urged on by home support saw them pull their bow ball in front of their Swiss rivals. The line-up of Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares is unchanged from the crew that raced throughout 2023, in a season capped by strong displays at both the European (silver) and world championships (bronze). Soares was world champion in the lightweight single in 2022 and earned three U23 world championship medals in his youth. He teams up with Oppo, a relative veteran of the event who has won a medal at each of the last six senior world or Olympic championships. A mainstay in the Italian squad, he will be hoping that his younger compatriot can combine to medal or possibly win this weekend as well as in Paris in August.
The silver medallists in Belgrade, the Swiss outfit will have been disappointed to get pipped on the line by the Italians two weekends ago. The defending champions will be looking to respond quickly though. Jan Schaeubleand Raphael Ahumada Ireland joined as a combination in 2022 and have been successful ever since, winning three of the seven world cup regattas since and securing their slot at the Paris games. The European Championships will give them an opportunity to defend their crown as well as getting a race in against all of the big hitters in a championship setting. How they will respond to a defeat that was snatched from the jaws of victory in Varese may be critical in the success of their season as a whole.
The Czech pairing of Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil have been the Czech senior lightweight double since 2017. With such a long-term partnership, it may be surprising to see that at last September’s championship they were still reaching new heights; their fourth-placed finish was their best performance at the event, matching their result at the Olympics in Tokyo three years ago. Seventeen years on from his senior international debut, the 41-year-old Vrastil begins his final Olympic campaign and will be hoping to win his first championship medal since the 2013 European Championships.
At the first world cup regatta, there were two German boats in the final. Racing as GER2, the U23 world champions were almost a second faster than the crew that raced the senior world championships last summer. As such, changes have been made for that crew this week. Out goes the Olympic silver medallist Jonathan Rommelmann, who will be racing in the lightweight single this weekend. He swaps places with the twenty-year-old Arno Gaus who won silver in that event in Varese as well as featuring in the openweight quad. Staying in the lineup is Paul Leerkamp as the German coaches look to find their optimal line-up for FOQR.
When they were first united in the lightweight double, Lars Benske and Ask Jarl Tjoem had a phenomenal time, winning their first international race together before a bronze medal at the Lucerne world cup in 2022. A period of difficulty followed but they were back on track for the world championships in September, making their first international A-final in over a year to secure a place for themselves at the Olympic Games. The strong performances continued into 2024 as they won bronze in Varese, and the Norwegians will be looking to improve upon that showing in this tougher field as they build towards Paris.
At just 18 years of age, Caetano Horta Pombo was one of the youngest rowers at the Tokyo Olympic Games three years ago. In this year’s boat he is the experienced head despite still being eligible for the U23 team as he is joined by Dennis Carracedo Ferrero. This pairing first united at this event 12 months ago, finishing seventh overall before fifth-placed finishes at the Lucerne world cup and the Belgrade world championship booked their spots at the Olympics. With such profound youthfulness on board they will be hoping to continue their development and build speed towards a potential medal in Paris.
As Romania have qualified more seats for the Paris’ Olympics than any other nation, many of the other boats in the field are being treated as development opportunities. This crew, made up of 22-year-olds, is a prime example of this. Neither Ilie Lucian Aparaschivei nor Alin Vasile Buzdugan took part at a World Rowing event last season and previous showings have never included an A-final in their age-group appearances. They will be looking to row well and any scalps the young Romanians take will be seen as a bonus.
Rounding out the field is the home team, the Hungarians. This line-up is incredibly youthful and inexperienced as 20-year-old Keve Kolos Kertesz makes his senior international debut alongside 18-year-old Ferenc Szigetihas, who has only raced at last year’s U19 world championships, finishing 11th in the pair. This crew will be looking to maximise the experience they can earn racing against some of the world’s best, as their eyes are likely more focused on the U23 championships as the Hungarian seniors are racing in the EOQR.
Prediction
The crew from Ireland enter this race as favourites for a reason, and while there is no form book to examine, I trust that they will still be the class of the field. For the minor medals, I see a repeat of last summer’s world championships with Switzerland overturning the narrow margin they lost two weeks ago to Italy when the two cross paths on neutral water.
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