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: 17
2023 Champion: Switzerland
Reigning champions Switzerland, staffed by the impressive pairing of Roman Roeosli and Andrin Gulich, will be desperate to reclaim their title after a less than satisfactory opening salvo at WC1 a couple of weeks ago. Despite a late charge to the line, the Swiss slipped behind their old rivals, GB, into second and were led until 1500m by a resurgent Danish pairing. As the current European and world champions, they’ll be looking to stamp their authority on proceedings ahead the final Olympic run-in.
Engaged in perpetual battle with the Swiss are the mercurial pairing of Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George from Great Britain. They won the first World Cup in Varese with a super middle 1000m. On paper, they’re probably the most physically gifted duo on the circuit but, so far, it just seems to fall apart for them when it really matters. Taking the European title off their bitter rivals from Switzerland would certainly be a good way to lay down a serious marker ahead of a critical season.
Croatia’s legendary sibling Sinkovic symphony take to the water again, in the hope of bettering their fourth-placed finish from WC1. There is no doubt that this boat are a work in progress; they ditched two oars for one at the beginning of the season and have been open that this boat is on the improvement curve. A strong performance in Szeged will certainly help their cause, particularly with this likely being the penultimate we see the Croatians in open competition before the Olympic Games.
The Italian twosome of Davide Comini and Giovanni Codato return after a sixth-placed finish at WC1. They raced on both days at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco last month, winning on each occasion, and have been together as a pairing for a few years. Varese marked their first A-final appearance and they will be keen to step on in the absence of a few big hitters.
Romania have a new pairing for 2024, in the form of Florin Lehaci and Florin Arteni. Arteni was in the men’s double that finished seventh overall at the 2023 world championships whilst Lehaci was in the men’s four that had an identical seventh-placing in Belgrade. Lehaci also doubled-up into the eight, finishing fourth, and both athletes will do the same thing in Szeged, indicating that selection is not quite complete for the Romanian team.
The Netherlands boat a competitive pairing of Guillaume Krommenhoek and Niki Van Sprang. Both raced at the 2023 world championships, with Guillaume finishing second in the men’s eight (a position he bettered by one at WC1) and Niki placing fourth in the coxless four. Talented athletes loaded off the back of a conveyor belt of quality from the indomitable Dutch national squad, this crew are certainly ones to keep an eye on.
Winners of the ‘B’ final at the 2023 world champions, Javier Garcia Ordonez and Jaime Canalejo Pazos return to competition for the first time in 2024 for Spain. They were third at this event last year, building on the increasingly strong tradition Spain have in the smaller boats. Their silver medal at the 2022 world championships remains a stand-out performance in recent memory and they came out of the Tokyo Olympics – where they were sixth overall – looking like a crew poised for success in the Paris Olympiad. Their form in 2024 will be fascinating to watch.
Germany 2 from WC1 are also racing here in the form of Mark Hinrichs and Marc Kammann. After finishing fourth in the B-final at Varese – and second from bottom overall – they’ll be keen to improve on their standing next weekend.
There are also a smattering of re-entrants from minor final placings at last year’s world championships, including the Stankunas brothers from Lithuania, the French pairing of Florian Ludwig and Armand Pfister and Adrian Juhasz and Bela Simon of Hungary.
Prediction
I think this one will be a two-way tussle at the top between Great Britain and Switzerland, a narrative that will likely dictate the shape of this event in the weeks to come. Behind them, I expect a bunfight between Croatia, Spain, Italy, Romania and the Netherlands. Great Britain to win gold, Switzerland to take silver and Spain to sneak through in bronze.
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