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
Australia will come into Poznan as favourites for the gold. Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson are the Olympic double and won silver in Lucerne last month. They both competed at the Tokyo Olympics with Bateman winning the B-Final in the double and Hudson a bronze medal in the quad. They raced together in the W4X in 2022 and then in 2023 Bateman qualified the W2X with Laura Gourley by finishing eighth. Hudson raced in the W4X last season, helping that boat qualify for Paris with a fifth place.
Another Paris-bound crew racing is Norway, Thea Helseth and Inger Selm Kavile. They finished one place behind the Aussies in Lucerne. They won Norway’s first ever able-bodied women’s gold medal when winning the European championships this season and Kavile won a surprise bronze in the single at the opening World Rowing Cup. Helseth was in this boat last season, racing with Jenny Marie Rorvik which again finished one place behind the Australians by just 2/100th of a second.
The only other Olympic crew racing is France, Margaux Bailleul and Emma Lunatti. They were both members of the quad that finished ninth in Tokyo and started racing together in the double last season. They just missed out on a medal at the 2023 Europeans, and at the world championships they made the A-Final. They’ve raced once so far this season, delivering a somewhat underwhelming 12th at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup.
France has a second double racing, Mya Bosquet and Jeanne Roche. Bosquet makes her senior debut after racing on the U23 team last season. Roche was a part of the quad that finished 12th at the 2023 world championships and then missed qualification at the FOQR this season.
Germany were desperately unlucky not to qualify this boat at the FOQR. Frauke Hundeling and Sarah Wibberenz finished in the worst possible place at an FOQR – third – with only the top two making it through. They won bronze at the Varese World Rowing Cup at the start of the season and were both members of the quad that finished seventh last year (qualifying that boat for Paris) but miss out on selection for that boat this season.
The Netherlands Willemijn Mulder and Ilse Kolkman will be two of the hardest working athletes at the regatta. In a surprising, and I think possibly unique, move, they are racing in both the pair and the double (at least they have been entered in both). They both raced in the W4- at the European championships, winning the bronze medal. They raced in the W2- as NED2 at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup, making the A-Final and placing fifth. Kolkman was a member of the quad that won silver at the 2022 world championships and Mulder was in the U23 BW4x that won gold that year
Great Britain has entered two of the “Project LA” development boats. Racing as GBR1 is Jenny Bates and Freya Keto. Bates, from Oxford Brookes, is a Henley Women’s Regatta winner and was in the Brookes crew that beat both the Oxford and Cambridge Blue Boats in the run up to the Boat Race. Keto, from Thames Rowing Club, is a Cambridge Blue and graduate of Brown University. This duo raced at the Holland Beker this season, winning gold. GBR2 is Katie Mole from Leander Club and Vwaire Obukohwo from Twickenham. Obukohwo was part of the World Class Start programme and made her debut in the U23 team in 2022, winning bronze in the BW2X with Katherine George; this duo went one better in 2023 taking U23 silver. This season Obukohwo raced in the single at the Holland Beker, finishing a very creditable fifth in the Ladies Trophy. Mole, a University of Birmingham graduate, represented GB at the Wedau Regatta last season, winning medals in the double with Becky Wilde.
Switzerland is another nation with two boats racing. SUI1 are Nina Wettstein and Jeannine Gmelin. They made the A-Final at the first World Rowing Cup, finishing fifth, and finished one place further down at the Europeans. Gmelin, the 2017 W1X world champion, stepped away from the sport at the end of the 2022 season. She’s the first Swiss woman to win the W1X title and also made the A-Final at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. Wettstein is a former U23 world champion and made her senior debut in 2022. She raced in the W2X in 2022 with Fabienne Schweizer, finishing 12th. They missed out on Olympic qualification at the FOQR after finishing fifth.
SUI2 are Salome Ulrich and Sofia Meakin. They were the Swiss W2X last season, placing 16th. This season, Ulrich raced in the single at the first World Rowing Cup, finishing 11th, and Meakin raced in the quad at both the first World Rowing Cup and the European championships. They came back together as a double for Lucerne but finished last in their repechage.
New Zealand are represented by Kathryn Glen and Isabella Carter. They both raced in the quad at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta but missed out on a spot in Paris after placing sixth. The FOQR marked the senior international debuts for both Avon Rowing club scullers although Glen had raced on the U23 team in 2019 and 2022.
The final crew in the event is Romania, Andrada-Maria Morosanu and Iulia-Liliana Balauca. They are the reigning U23 world champions and Morosanu was in the senior quad that finished sixth at the 2023 world championships. This season, Balauca raced in the eight that won bronze at the opening World Rowing Cup and Morosanu raced in the single at the European championships, just missing out on the podium.
Prediction
Australia in gold with Norway in silver and France in bronze.
About The Author
