Image credit: World Rowing
The second World Rowing Cup of the year promises so much. Our European contenders, who we have already seen race on one, if not two, occasions this year meet their rivals from across continents as Australia, New Zealand, the USA and a number of other heavy-hitting global players converge on Lucerne in what will be many crews’ final race before the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As always, JRN are previewing every single event in-depth as we take another enormous step forward towards the crowning moment of our sport.
Entries: 14
The season finally begins for the reigning world and Olympic champions from Ireland. Missing from the entry at the first World Cup and withdrawn from the European championships, Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan will always enter a regatta among the favourites. Questions may come given McCarthy’s illness, but O’Donovan raced in the heavyweight single in his absence, achieving an admirable eighth-placed finish. If they are back to their best, they will be a force to be reckoned with on the Rotsee.
Benefiting from their absence at the European championships were the Swiss crew of Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland, the silver medallists from the world championships, who ran away victorious in Szeged for their second consecutive European crown. They have run the Irish duo close in the past but have failed to come up with the goods at world championships. They have positive momentum on their side with strong results this season and will be hoping to ride that wave through this race and beyond.
Another crew with a win already this season are the Italians: Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares. A massive sprint in front of a home crowd secured them the victory at the first World Rowing Cup against the Swiss, but two weeks later they were around a length back at the Europeans. A crew with great class, they came together last season and succeeded quickly, having never been off the podium in an international race since then. However, they have never beaten this Irish line-up and only finished ahead of the Swiss duo once, so they may have a step more to go before they are able to reach the highest levels in this boat class.
While the Italians have been together for one full season, the Czech duo of Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastilare are completing their eighth together. This familiarity has been greatly beneficial to the pairing as their fourth-placed finish at the Belgrade world championships last summer to qualify the boat matched their best ever finish at a global championship – achieved at the Tokyo Olympics. A crew that can time their peaks, they will be hoping to do so again in August, and a good performance this weekend will suggest they are on course to do just that.
A crew that has shown they are in a better position than last year are Norway, as they improved on their sixth at the world championships last year to win a bronze at the Europeans in Szeged. Lars Benske and Ask Jarl Tjoem will be looking to carry that improvement through and may even be eyeing up a medal in a few months’ time. This event provides an opportunity to measure their progress with the entirety of last year’s world championship A-final in attendance with unchanged line-ups.
The final crew from that A-final was Spain, as 25-year-old Dennis Carracedo Ferrero and 21-year-old Caetano Horta Pombo finished fifth in Belgrade. The season so far has not been ideal, with the Norwegians gaining a 4.6 second swing since their previous meeting, as the Spanish slipped down the relative rankings. There is no panicking yet, as there is plenty time in the season to correct this, and a strong response this weekend will be just what the doctor ordered.
After winning the B-final at the world championships last year, the Mexican duo of Miguel Angel Carballo Nieto and Alexis Bladimir Lopez Garcia earned the final qualification spot available in Belgrade. They return to Europe for the first time this season, still together, looking to make their mark before a trip to Paris. Joining them is a second Mexican crew which, while functioning as a development crew, has an older average age than the flag-flying duo. Between the two crews, they will be desperate to show that lightweight rowing is not a solely European pursuit.
Two more crews with similar ambition are from Japan and Uzbekistan. These two crews both booked their spots in Paris in April through the Asian and Oceanian Continental Qualification regatta and will be using their trip to Lucerne to help tune up. The Japanese did not enter this event at the world championships and Masayuki Miyaura and Naoki Furuta have never rowed together at a World Rowing event previously. For the Uzbeks, Evgeniy Agafonov joins Sobirjon Safaroliyev, who raced in this boat class at the world championships in 2023, where they finished second-to-last in a sizeable field. For both crews, such slim racing resumes mean that this will be their first real measurement against the powers of World Rowing, a key barometer to predict the level of competition they may provide in Paris.
The Chilean contingent of Cesar Abaroa and Eber Sanhueza have had limited racing experience in Europe since finishing 14th at the Olympics, with their only race as a unit ending in dead last at the first of last year’s World Rowing Cup series. However, back on their own side of the Atlantic, winning silver at the Pan-American games on home water in October and finishing first in the Americas Qualification Regatta in March in Rio de Janeiro booked their place in Paris. This weekend they will be wanting to show they are far better than their performance last year and project some confidence heading into the final lightweight Olympic events.
After narrowly missing out on qualification at the world championships in Belgrade, the Belgian crew of Niels Van Zandweghe and Tibo Vyvey had to go through the continental qualification rounds in order to make the field for Paris. They were successful in this endeavour, despite finishing behind a Ukrainian crew, so they are now on the build-up to the Olympics and will be hoping to show some speed this weekend, having avoided a trip to the last chance regatta.
Two countries who have not managed to avoid the FOQR are Germany and Hong Kong, and while the top crews are raced earlier in the week, development crews round out the entry here. The German duo of Nikita Mohr and Finn Wolter aged out of the U23 ranks last year after winning the world championships in the age group. They outperformed the ‘A’ crew at the World Rowing Cup in Varese so will be wanting to show that they can hold their own in a world-class field, despite being unable to race at the Olympics. The Hong Kong crew of Jaden Li Head and Pak Hong Chen do not have such glittering resumes but start their preparation for the U23 world championships here, making their global debuts.
Prediction
While they have been seldom beaten in this line-up, I think the Swiss have what it takes to pull out a shock against an Ireland crew that is recovering from illness. Italy will be likely to continue their podium streak – but earning no more than bronze.
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