Image credit: World Rowing
The first World Cup of any new season is often a bit of a tepid affair, with lots of straight finals or no races in some boat classes at all. But, this year, in Varese, it’s a different matter. Being Olympic year, and with the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta just five weeks away, Varese has drawn a huge and high quality field.
So, as always, I’ll look at each boat class and pick out the main contenders.
Entries: 8
A relatively weak field (as I think will be the case for this event from now on with the loss of Lightweight events from the Olympic programme post-Paris). The standout sculler in this event is the reigning World Champion, Andri Struzina of Switzerland. However, as mentioned above, Struzina is entered in both the M1X and LM1X so it remains to be seen which event he actually races (he definitely won’t be doing both). If he does make weight and race Lightweight he would most likely win by a comfortable margin.
Italy has two representatives in this event, Patrick Rocek and Matteo Tonelli. Both are former LM4X World Champions, Rocek from 2022 and Tonelli from 2023. Rocek also has European golds from the LM4X in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Tonelli was U23 World Champion in the BLM4X in 2022 as well as senior World Champion in 2023.
Germany is represented by 21-year-old Arno Gaus. He raced in the LM2X at the 2022 Worlds, placing tenth, and then in 2023 he switched to the LM1X, making the A-Final at the Europeans. At the World Championships he had a disappointing regatta, only managing 16th.
Slovakia’s Peter Strecansky is the youngest competitor in the field at just 18 years of age. He raced at the first and second World Cups last season, making the A-Final at WC1 and 11th at WC2. He raced at the U19 World Championships last year, picking up a bronze medal in the JM1X.
The other scullers racing are Egypt’s Omar Moussa (1sixth in the BLM2X at the 2023 U23 World Championships) and Morocco’s Ilyass Chafik and Peru’s Lucas Salmon Hernandez, both of whom make their international debuts in Varese.
Prediction
If Struzina races he should win comfortably ahead of the two Italians. If the Swiss doesn’t race then the gold and silver will be an Italian battle with Gaus in bronze.
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