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: 4
A small field, but one that should produce some good racing, with three of the four boats heading to the Olympics next month.
Australia have three of the crew that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, Ria Thompson, Rowena Meredith and Caitlin Cronin. The only non-Olympian in the crew is Laura Gourley. Gourley was in the double last season where she and Amanda Bateman secure Olympic qualification with eighth. Last season, the three Olympians of the crew raced with Kathryn Rowan and their fifth place was enough to secure qualification. They made a slow start to their Olympic season, finishing sixth at Lucerne, nearly nine seconds behind the Swiss in fifth.
Switzerland made history last year when their fourth place at the world championships secured Olympic qualification for the first time for a Swiss W4X. The crew is unchanged for 2024 and comprises Fabienne Schweizer, Pascale Walker, Celia Dupre and Lisa Loetscher. This season they have shown consistent results with fifth-placed finishes at the European championships and both the first and second World Rowing Cups. At least they will break that fifth place trend in Poznan with only four crews racing!
Germany have made a solid start to their 2024 season, winning bronze at both the opening World Rowing Cup and the European championships (Germany’s first championship W4X medal since the 2021 Europeans). They make one change to the crew that has been racing all season, with Tabea Schendekehl replacing Lisa Gutfleisch. She joins Maren Voelz, Leonie Menzel and Pia Greiten. Schendekehl is the only remaining member from the quad last season, helping them to a seventh place and the final automatic Olympic qualifying spot. At Lucerne, the Germans just missed out on another bronze medal, finishing 4/tenth behind China in bronze.
The final crew in the event is a young Polish quad. Dominika Baranowska, Anna Khlibenko and Barbara Jechorek were in the crew for the Europeans and the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta (with Olympic silver medallist Marta Wieliczko). They were unsuccessful in the quest for an Olympic spot and Wieliczko step out of the boat to make way for 19-year-old Gabriela Stefaniak, who makes her senior debut after racing in the JW1X at the U19 world championships last season.
Prediction
This should be a really good contest between the three Olympic boats. I’m going for a 1,2,3 of Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
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