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 my look at the ones to watch in each of the Olympic-class boats.
Entries: 19
2023 Champion: Lennart Van Lierop (NED)
This was the only event that Ollie Zeidler of Germany lost in 2023. With the senior Dutch squad absent from Szeged, Zeidler will be the hot favourite to win his third European title (having won in 2019 and 2021). But, even if the top Dutch scullers were competing, the big German would still start as leading contender. He looked imperious in winning earlier this month at the first World Cup in Varese and any lingering doubts about his susceptibility in less than perfect conditions are now firmly in the past.
Possibly the biggest challenger to Zeidler comes from the Tokyo Olympic Champion, Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece. He missed the first World Cup although did race earlier in the season at Piediluco, finishing fifth. In 2023, Ntouskos also beat Zeidler at the Europeans, taking the silver medal (his second consecutive European silver) and at the World Championships he made the A-Final, finishing sixth.
Another sculler make his first appearance of the year is Sverri Neilsen of Denmark. The Faroese was European champion in 2020 and silver medallist the following year. He just missed the podium at the Tokyo Olympics and, after sitting out the 2022 season, returned to take fourth at the 2023 Europeans and then fifth at the World Championships.
Great Britain also still need to qualify the M1X for Paris, and that task falls to George Bourne. The 2019 U23 BM4X World Champion has spent the last couple of seasons racing in the M4X, winning silver at the 2022 World Championships and just missing the podium last season. This season, he is replaced in the quad by the experienced Graeme Thomas (returning from injury). He made an excellent start to the season, reaching the A-Final in Varese and just missing the podium.
Damir Martin of Croatia is the oldest sculler in the field, having started his senior career back in 2007. He’s probably best remembered for one of the greatest Olympic M1X races of all-time when he and Mahe Drysdale went bowball to bowball in Rio, ending with the Kiwi winning gold by a matter of inches. Martin won his third Olympic medal in Tokyo when he took bronze in the M1X. He is also someone who has struggled with injury and consistency. Since Tokyo, his World Cup performances haven’t been too much to get excited about, finishing in the B-Finals each time, but he produced the best performance of the season at the World Championships to reach the A Final and qualify for his fourth Olympic Games. He made a strong start to the first World Cup in Varese, winning his semi-final, but slipped up in the A-Final, coming a distant sixth.
France’s Valentin Onfroy was part of the M2X with Hugo Boucheron that finished tenth at the 2023 World Championships, qualifying the boat for Paris. Boucheron isn’t racing in Szeged so instead Onfroy races in the single, only the second time he’s raced in this boat class (previous was fifth at the second World Cup last year).
An interesting entry is Paul O’Donovan of Ireland. The Olympic and world LM2X champion is also entered in his preferred boat class, but with an entry in both event it would suggest there is some uncertainty over whether the double will race. If he does race the single it will be the first time he’s gone up against the heavyweights at a World Rowing regatta, and that should be fun to watch!
Italy pitted their top two scullers, Davide Mumolo and Gennaro di Mauro against each other at Varese with the former coming out on top, but it’s the youngster, di Mauro, who gets the berth for the Europeans. Di Mauro raced for Italy in the single at the Tokyo Olympics whilst still a teenager and finished eighth (Italy’s best result in the M1X at an Olympics since 1960). He had a slightly disappointing regatta at Varese, placing first in the C-Final for 13th overall.
Belarus are officially banned from international competition, but their sculler, Yauheni Zalaty, races as a “Neutral Independent Athlete”. He made his senior debut last season and impressed with a win in the B-Final, meaning he qualified the boat for Paris. World Rowing have now confirmed that these “neutral” athletes will be allowed to compete in Paris so Zalaty opens his season in Hungary.
The M1X is one of the few boats that Romania haven’t won a gold medal; indeed their last medal in this event was 30 years ago. They’ve also yet to qualify the boat for Paris. Racing at the Europeans is Mihai Chiruta. He was in the M4X last season that finished seventh. Chiruta last competed in the single back in 2021, winning the B-Final at the Europeans but missing out on qualifying for Tokyo at the FOQR. This year’s Euros will be a good marker of whether he’ll be able to achieve qualification in Lucerne next month.
Bulgaria is another nation that has yet to qualify this boat for Paris and their representative, Kristian Vasilev, is racing at the European Olympic Qualifying Regatta (held simultaneously but separately to the Europeans), therefore Bulgaria’s representative for the Europeans is Emil Neykov (son of the legendary Rumyana Neykova). The 22-year-old was U23 bronze medalist last year and then raced in the M2x at the Senior Worlds, finishing 24th. He’ll be a name to watch for the LA Olympiad.
Belgium is also contesting the European Qualifying Regatta represented by Tim Brys. For the Europeans, they turn to Gaston Mercier. He raced in the M4X at the 2022 European and World Championships and raced last season in the M2- at the final World Cup, finishing 23rd.
The Netherland’s sculling team is on a high at the moment but their senior team is giving the Europeans a miss. In their place, the Dutch have sent a development squad. Their representative in the M1X is Pieter Van Veen. The U.S.R Triton rower made his international debut in 2022, racing at the second and third World Cups in the sweep team. He also raced at the second World Cup last season, placing sixth in the M2-.
Moldova’s Ivan Corsunov was part of the U23 BM2X that won an historic silver medal in 2022 with Chirill Visotchi-Sestacov. This duo went on to finish fifth at the World Championships, the best ever result for Moldova in an Olympic-class boat. They couldn’t quite repeat the feat in 2023, ending up 12th and missing Olympic qualification. His partner from last year, Visotchi-Sestacov, races at the Euro Olympic Qualifying Regatta.
Finland is another nation with different scullers racing at the Europeans and the European Qualifying Regatta. For the Europeans they have Olli-Pekka Karppinen – one of the most famous surnames in world rowing! The 30-year-old raced at the World Cup in Varese, finishing 22nd. Szeged will be his fourth European Championships and his best result was 16th in the M2X in 2020.
Also racing are Mate Bacskai of Hungary (17th in the M2X at the 2023 Euros), Giedrius Bieliauskas (15th in the M4X at the 2023 Worlds), Martin Helseth of Norway, who raced in the tenth-placed quad in Varese, and Slovenia’s Filip-Matej Pfeifer (32nd at last year’s Worlds).
Prediction
This should be a fairly comfortable win for Zeidler, but it’s going to be interesting to see who takes the silver and bronze. Nielsen will be the favourite to take the silver and Martin will be looking for a better final performance than he showed in Varese. Throw in Ntouskos and also Bourne of Great Britain and it should be a great battle for the lesser medals. I’m going for Nielsen in silver and Bourne in bronze.
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