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: 9
Great Britain are the stand-out crew in this event. Emily Craig and Imogen Grant are the reigning World Champions and have been unbeaten since the Tokyo Olympics – a run of 19 straight race wins.
The main challengers to the British will most likely be Italy and Canada. Italy’s Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini are the reigning Olympic champions, however, since winning Olympic gold they have struggled to recapture that sort of performance. Their best result since Tokyo was bronze at the 2022 Europeans. At the Worlds in 2022 they were 11th and in 2023 they could only manage ninth, a position which saw them miss out on direct qualification for Paris. They have a fight on their hands to even win selection to go to the FOQR; the ITA2 double of Stefania Buttignon and Silvia Crosio beat the Olympic champions at Piediluco and it looks like the winner of these two in Varese will be headed to Lucerne. Buttignon and Crosio actually qualified the W2X for Paris after finishing seventh in that event last season but it would appear they are focussing on the light double this season.
Canada’s Jill Moffatt and Jennifer Casson have been racing together in this boat class since 2019 and competed in Tokyo, finishing sixth in the B-Final. In 2022 they won the B-Final and in 2023 reached their first World Championship A-Final and just missed out on a podium place, ending up fourth.
Switzerland is represented by cousins Eline and Frederique Rol. Frederique raced with Patricia Merz at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the B-Final. This duo went on to make the A-Final in 2022 but could only manage tenth in 2023, missing Olympic qualifying. Eline raced as the Swiss LW1X in 2022 and 2023, finishing 13th at the 2022 Worlds and then winning the B-Final in 2023. Varese will actually be the first time Eline and Frederique have raced internationally in the same boat.
Germany’s boat is also a family affair, with twin sisters Johanna and Marion Reichardt. They raced in this boat class in both 2022 and 2023, finishing 12th in 22 and 16th last season.
Australia has entered a development boat via Anneka Reardon and Georgia Miansarow. Reardon raced in this event last year partnered by Lucy Coleman, finishing 13th and Miansarow is a World Championship silver medallist in the LW4X from 2017. She stepped away from the international team at the end of the 2018 season, but returned last year, taking fourth in the LW1X at the Lucerne World Cup and winning the Vesta Scullers Head of the River in London Rowing Club colours last September.
Also racing are crews from Austria and Spain. Austria features Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler. Altenhuber raced in Tokyo with Valentina Cavallar, finishing 14th, and she and Tiefenthaler also finished in 14th at the 2023 Worlds.
Spain is represented by Teresa Diaz Moreno and Natalia Miguel Gomez. As is increasingly common these days, this duo also race in Coastal events and won silver in the CW4+X and bronze in the CW2X at the Coastal World Championships last year. In flat water rowing Miguel Gomez placed 17th in the LW2x last year, partnered by Rocio Lao Sanchez. Diaz Moreno raced in the LW1X in 2023, winning the C-Final.
Prediction
Hard to see anyone stopping the British from extending their unbeaten run. The main interest will be to see who comes away with the silver and bronze (and who wins in the Italian battle). I’m going for GB in gold with Canada in silver and ITA2 in bronze.
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