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: 5
Four out of the five entries in this event are racing in Paris next month. The gold is likely to be a European battle between Switzerland and France, with the bronze being an American fight between Mexico and Argentina.
Switzerland’s Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland are one of the standout crews in this event. European champions in 2023 and 2024, they also won world championship silver last season. This year, as well as defending their European title, they took silver medals at both the first and second World Rowing Cups (both times being beaten by Italy).
France’s Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig were sixth in the world in 2022 and won World Rowing Cup medals at both the second and third iterations of the series in 2023. However, they were forced to make a medical withdrawal during the world championships last year, robbing them of a what would have been almost certain automatic qualification. They secured Olympic qualification by winning the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta. The last time they raced the Swiss (in a final) was the Lucerne World Rowing Cup of 2023, where they took gold to the Swiss bronze. It should be a great race to see these two doubles go head-to-head again.
Mexico’s Miguel Angel Carballo Nieto and Alexis Bladimir Lopez Garcia produced an outstanding performance at the 2023 world championships, winning the B-Final and securing Olympic qualification. That seventh place was the best by a Mexican LM2X in 37 years. This season, they raced at the Lucerne World Cup, finishing eighth.
Argentina qualified for Paris with a second place at the Americas Qualifying Regatta with their crew of Alejandro Matias Colomino and Pedro Jose Kirk Dickson. Colomino raced in the double with Axel Haack at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup of 2022 and Dickson was fourth in the U23 BLM1X in 2022.
The final crew in the event is a second French double of Antoine Lefebvre and Cornelius Palsma. They are the French U23 BLM2x and were bronze medallists in that event last season.
Prediction
Switzerland in gold with France in silver and Mexico in bronze.
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