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: 6
One of only two Olympic-class events that will be a straight final (the other being the W4X), the W2X is also probably the weakest of any of the Olympic-class events with none of the 2023 medallists competing. The favourites heading into Varese will most likely be Ireland. They are represented by Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin. This duo finished fourth last season. Hyde partnered Sanita Puspure in 2022, winning Ireland’s first ever W2X World Championship medal. 22-year-old Bergin raced at both the U23 and Senior World Championships in both 2022 and 2023. In 2022 she won bronze in the U23 BW1X and 17th in the W1X at Senior Worlds and in 2023 she went one better at the U23’s and then fourth in the W2X.
The Netherlands finished 11th at the 2023 World Championships and in doing so grabbed the final Olympic qualification spot. They have made one change to that boat, with Martine Veldhuis joining Lisa Scheenaard in place of Nika Vos. Both Scheenaard and Veldhuis are very experienced. 35-year-old Scheenaard has been racing internationally since 2013 and the highlight of her career so far was an Olympic bronze in this event with Roos De Jong in Tokyo. Veldhuis won silver in the LW1X at the 2022 World Championships and fourth in 2023.
Italy also qualified this boat for Paris after winning the B-Final in 2023, however they have a completely different line-up for the opening World Cup with Clara Guerra and Stephania Gobbi. Guerra was Italy’s representative in the W1X last season finishing 20th and Gobbi raced in the W4x that placed ninth. Guerra made her senior debut whilst still a junior and in 2018 won World Championship silver in the LW1X. Gobbi was a member of the W4X that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and won European bronze in the W2X in 2022. Gobbi and Guerra raced n Piediluco last month finishing second to Greece.
Norway is another nation that has qualified the double for Paris (the first time Norway has a W2X at the Olympics since 1984). They have the same line-up for the start of 2024 – Thea Helseth and Jenny Rorvik. They booked their spot in Paris with a ninth place in 2023. This duo also raced together in 2022, finishing tenth and their best result to date is a sixth place at the 2023 Lucerne World Cup.
Germany has never failed to qualify for the Olympics in this boat class, but their 14th placed-finish last season means they will have to go via the FOQR if they want to continue that record. For Varese they are represented by Frauke Hundeling and Sarah Wibberenz. They were both in the W4X last season that finished seventh. Hundeling raced in the double at the 2022 Worlds, placing sixth. Wibberenz won silver in the U23 BW4X in 2021 and made her senior debut the following year racing in the W4X that finished 12th.
The final crew in the event is Switzerland. This boat will probably attract a lot of attention with the return to competition of Jeannine Gmelin. The 2017 W1X World Champion stepped away from the sport at the end of the 2022 season. She’s the first Swiss woman to win the W1X title and also made the A-Final at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. This will be the first time since her U23 days that she’s raced internationally in a crew boat so it’s going to be fascinating to see how this boat gets on. Her partner in Varese is Nina Wettstein. She’s a former U23 World Champion and made her senior debut in 2022. She raced in the W2X last season with Fabienne Schweizer, but their 12th place wasn’t good enough to secure Olympic qualification. A good performance in Varese will set this new combination up nicely for the challenge of the FOQR.
Prediction
Ireland in gold with the Netherlands in silver and the Swiss in bronze.
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