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
In a stacked field, the women’s pair is one of the biggest events for female rowers at World Rowing Cup II. This is likely the final opportunity to get a gauge as to how crews are shaping up before the final block of training before the Olympics begin. Other than Romania, all of the world championship final are competing in Lucerne, alongside nearly every other qualified crew, making for some fast, tight racing.
Australia (Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre) and the Netherlands (Ymkhe Clevering and Veronique Meester) will recommence their rivalry this weekend, as they face up against each other for the first time this season. In 2023 Australia had a stunning start to their season, winning the second World Rowing Cup by 5.5 seconds, before racing at Holland Bekker a week later and recording an unofficial World Best Time. This blew the Dutch out of the water on the Bosbaan and was 0.3 seconds under the mark that Prendergast and Gowler set in Tokyo. However, the Aussie duo faltered in Belgrade in September and the Dutch overturned the margin, winning gold. This is the Australian’s first outing internationally this season, whilst the Dutch chose to race at the first World Rowing Cup and miss Europeans. Clevering and Meester won in Varese over the Irish, and will hope their recent training camp will pay dividends this weekend.
Both the Australians and Dutch have their spare pairs racing this weekend. Olympia Aldersey and Lily Alton Triggs (Australia 2) are experienced on the international stage, both having raced in the bronze medal winning eight in Tokyo. Whilst they have a tough task beating their compatriots, it will be interesting to see how many “A” crews they can get the better of, especially given Aldersey is doubling up in the single. Netherlands 2 (Ilse Kolkman and Willemijn Mulder) raced together in the pair last summer, placing second in the B-final at World Rowing Cup III and formed part of the Dutch development team that raced at Europeans last month, winning an impressive bronze medal in the four.
With world bronze medallists Romania absent, it is fourth-placed Ireland who will want to be the ones closing the gap on the Dutch and Australians. Bronze medallists in the four in Tokyo, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh switched to the pair mid-way through last season. Building on their 2023 performances, they placed second at World Rowing Cup I last month but will be facing sterner opposition this weekend, making this an important marker for their relative shot at attaining a medal in Paris.
USA arrive in Lucerne to race internationally for the first time this season. Two pairs are entered, but whether their selection is confirmed for Paris is unclear. USA 1 is Azja Czajkowski and Jessica Thoennes. Stanford rower Czajkowski is in her first year of senior international racing having been voted US U23 athlete of the year in 2022, following gold at the U23 worlds in the women’s eight. Former Washington rower Thoennes is older and more experienced, having raced in the women’s eight that placed second in Belgrade last year. Her last race in the pair was 2022, where she placed fourth at World Rowing Cup II. Alison Rusher and Emily Froehlich race in USA 2. Rusher placed sixth in the pair at the world championships last season and placed second at World Rowing Cup II, beating Thoennes. Froehlich was also in the eight in Belgrade, her first race at senior level.
Greece, Spain and Chile are pairs to look out for and have had some close races between them. Greece won the B-final at the world championships in 2023 with Spain just behind in second. Greece look to have stepped on this season . Evangelina Anastasiadou is now solely focused on the pair, having until recently been doubling up as a lightweight sculler, winning the U23 world championships in 2023. Her partner Christiana Bourmpou is the more experienced of the two, becoming an U23 world champion in the pair in 2022 and placing fifth in Tokyo, a result she will want to improve on later this year. Spain had a successful season in 2023, medaling at both of the first two World Rowing Cups plus the Europeans, before just missing out on a medal at World Rowing Cup III. This is the first race in 2024 for veteran Aina Cid and Esther Zamorano. Chile had a disappointing start to their season, placing fifth at World Rowing Cup I. Sisters Melita and Antonia Abraham placed fifth at the world championships in 2023, so will be hoping to be back in form this weekend.
Making up the rest of the field is the Czech Republic, Great Britain, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Making the A-final is a realistic aim for these crews, especially in such a tightly-contested event. Starting their international racing season is New Zealand’s Stella Clayton-Greene and Ella Cossill. This is the Kiwi’s spare pair as their top pair are racing at the World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta. Clayton-Greene has been on the international scene since 2022, racing in the quad before switching to the pair last season, where she made the C-final at the world championships. Cossill debuted as a senior international last year, racing in the four that qualified for Paris. The Czech Republic and Great Britain had a tight tussle at Europeans with the Czechs just getting the better of the two by placing fourth, with the British in fifth. Radka Novotnkivoa and Pavlina Flamikova qualified for Paris by finishing fifth in the B-final at the world championships, whilst Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards are a different line up to the 2023 boat that placed third in the same race. Brew is a former teammate of Novotnkiova at USC and raced at Lucerne last year, placing fifth in the B-final, whilst Edwards raced in the eight at the world championships. The crew have switched their order since Europeans and will hope to find some benefit in doing so.
Hong Kong’s pair will be looking to gain experience in some fierce racing this weekend. This is their first international outing together as a crew; Sheung Yee Wong raced in the lightweight double and King Wan Leung in the four at the first two World Rowing Cups in 2023.
Predictions
Any neutral will hope to see another close tussle between Australia 1 and Netherlands 1. If Australia return to their mid-season 2023 form, it is hard to see past them getting gold this weekend, however the Dutch will want to show that the world championships were not a fluke and they are still the crew to beat. Ireland to continue to show improvements and will take third.
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