Image credit: World Rowing
The final World Cup in Olympic year is always a bit of a strange affair. It’s often a mix of Olympic-bound crews looking for some final race practice, and nations looking to give experience to their development boats ahead of the next Olympic cycle. This year’s final World Cup is no different. The host for this World Cup is the Lake Malta course in Poznan, one of the most frequently used courses in all of World Rowing.
So, here’s my look at who to watch out for in each event and also perhaps a few names to watch for the LA Olympic cycle.
Entries: 12
This should be a great Antipodean battle for the gold. New Zealand come into Poznan on the back of an excellent performance in Lucerne which saw them take silver behind the USA and push the world champions from Great Britain into third (the first time New Zealand had beaten a GB M4- since the Sydney World Cup of 2013). The crew of Ollie Maclean, Logan Ullrich, Tom Murray and Matt Macdonald is unchanged from the crew that took bronze at the world championships last season. Murray and Macdonald were both members of the Olympic gold medal M8 and in 2022 reached the A-Final of the M2- at the world championships. Maclean and Ullrich are both relative newcomers to the senior team and both are US educated (Maclean at Cal and Ullrich at Washington).
Australia finished fourth in Lucerne with their line-up of Tim Masters, Jack Robertson, Fergus Hamilton and Alex Hill. Hill is the sole surviving member of the 2023 crew that finished fifth at the world championships and has been rowing in the M4- since 2019, winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Both Masters and Robertson were in the M8 that finished in bronze medal position in 2023 with Masters also racing in the M8 at the Tokyo Olympics. Hamilton, the youngest of the crew at 24, raced in the M2- during the 2023 season, finishing eighth. There will be some concern within Australian ranks that, having decided to stack their M8, they have reduced their chances of a medal in the M4- and have also yet to produce medal-winning speed in the M8. Poznan offers an ideal opportunity for both crews to get onto the podium.
Switzerland is the third Paris-bound crew in the event. Their crew of Joel Schuerch, Tim Roth, Patrick Brunner and Kai Schaetzle is unchanged from the crew that missed Olympic qualification by one place in 2023. They made a decent start to their 2024 campaign with a solid fifth at the Varese World Rowing Cup. Schuerch was in the crew that finished ninth in Tokyo and he and Roth were also in the M4- that reached the A-Final at the 2022 world championships. Brunner and Schaeltze both raced in the M4X in 2022 finishing 11th . At the European championships, they placed fifth and then at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta they secured qualification with a second place behind Italy. They also raced at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup, winning the B-Final.
Great Britain will have been bitterly disappointed to lose their unbeaten record in Lucerne. The top GB M4- are now at altitude camp preparing for Paris so, in their place, the British have sent two development boats (as they did for the final World Rowing Cup of the Tokyo Olympiad). Racing as GBR1 is Matt Rowe, Sam Bannister, Dan Graham and Douwe De Graaf (all four currently members of Leander Club). Both Rowe and Bannister raced for Oxford Brookes to multiple Henley wins and Rowe was U23 world champion in 2019. Graham, from Newcastle University, is another Henley winner and raced with Bannister and Nunn as a second M4- at Lucerne last year, finishing in an excellent fourth. De Graaf studied at Harvard and is a two-time U23 world champion. He raced for the senior team at the third World Rowing Cup in 2021, winning a silver medal in the M2-.
GBR2 is another all-Leander boat featuring Jack Prior, Miles Beeson, James Vogel and Tom Ballinger. Gibraltarian Prior is an U23 world champion from 2022 and a Henley winner with Oxford Brookes. Beeson is a Yale graduate and has won gold at the last three U23 world championships; Poznan will be his first appearance in the senior team. Vogel started rowing as part of the GB start programme at Twickenham Rowing Club. He won the Ladies Plate at Henley with Leander in 2022 and made his senior debut the season before, racing in the M2- at the final World Rowing Cup. Ballinger was also in the Ladies Plate winning crew of 2022 and makes his international debut in Poznan.
Germany were bitterly disappointed not to qualify their M4- at the Final Olympic Qualifying regatta – their third place was just one spot off the all-important qualifying position. With that crew missing out, the German team made changes to the men’s eight for Poznan, swapping Frederick Breuer for Marc Kammann. He joins Malte Grossmann, Kasper Virnekeas and Jasper Angl. The Germans were fourth at the Varese World Rowing Cup. Only Grossmann returns from the 2023 crew that finished a very disappointing 16th last season. Angl was in the M8 that qualified for Tokyo after finishing fifth in 2023 whilst Virnekaes is a newcomer to the senior team, having raced at the U23’s last season, winning a bronze medal in the BM8. Kammann was in the M4- for the 2022 world championships and then the M8 for 2023. This season he raced in the M2- for the opening World Rowing Cup and the European championships before moving back to the eight for Lucerne.
France have also sent two crews to Poznan, both of which are made up of U23 athletes. Racing as FRA1 is Victor Marcelot, Alistair Gicqueau, Nicola Kolarevic and Armand Pfister. All but Marcelot were in the French U23 BM4- that won bronze at the U23 world championships last year. They raced at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup (with Florian Ludwig in place of Marcelot) and finished eighth. Marcelot is a former lightweight (and was in the LM2X that tried to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and also won silver at the U23 world championships). He raced in the quad that was unsuccessful in its attempt to qualify for Paris at the FOQR. FRA2 is a slightly younger and less experienced boat featuring Lucas Fauche, Gregoire Charles, Awen Thomas and Louis Descot-Vigouroux. All four are making their senior debuts in Poznan; Fauche raced at the U19 world championships in 2022 and Descot-Vigouroux was at the U19 worlds last season. Charles and Thomas have both raced for the French U23 team.
Romania also has two crews entered, ROU1 is half of the crew that is also racing in the eight (Costi-Daniel Neagoe, Eduard Angel Moldovan, Cosmin Iulian Plesescu and Stefan Bogdan Moales). ROU2 has two of the eight that finished fifth at the first World Rowing Cup (Gheorghe Morar and Alexandru Gherasim). The other two members of the crew – Sebastian Timis and Andrei Hemen – were both members of the Romanian U23 team last season and make their senior debuts in Poznan.
China are unchanged from the crew that finished 14th in both 2022 and 2023, Wenlei Li, Xianfeng Chen, Qiao Xu and Pengpeng Cai. This line-up actually became the first Chinese M4- to win a World Rowing Cup medal when they took bronze at the opening race of the 2022 season.
The final crew in the event is Poland, Bartlomiej Soponski, Emilian Jackowiak, Bartosz Bartkowski and Oskar Streich. Soponski makes his senior debut having raced on the U23 team last season. Streich also raced at the U23’s last year but was also a member of the M8 that raced at the European championships. Jackowiak was a member of the M4- at the 2023 Europeans and then raced in the M2- at the world championships. Bartkowski raced in the U23 BM4X at the last two U23 world championships and this season competed in the M4- that finished seventh at the European championships.
Prediction
New Zealand in gold with Australia in silver. As for bronze, I reckon one of the British boats could well spring a surprise and push the Swiss and Germans out of the medals.
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