As this is an Olympic year, the World Rowing Senior, Under 23 & Under 19 Championships are all combined into one event, making this ‘mega-worlds’ in St Catharine’s, Canada a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of these young rowers. Due to the costs and logistics of a world championships in Canada, we are seeing a slightly reduced entry in some events and from some countries, but after witnessing the exceptionally close racing of last year, I would expect nothing less than the highest level of competition from this cohort of junior women.
U19 Women’s Single Sculls
15 entries
Holders: Romania
After a clear-water victory in this event last year and a recent ten-second win at the European rowing U19 championships, Bianca Camelia Ifteni from Romania is definitely the sculler to beat. However Melissa Schincariol from Italy will be looking to close this gap and also has a lot of experience at the world championships to back her up, having finished third in the double last year and seventh in the quad the year before. The fourth-placed finisher from last year – Julia Stoeber from Germany – is also returning and will be hoping to step up to a podium finish with some of her older competitors not present.
U19 Women’s Pair
10 entries
Holders: Romania
Once again, Romania are the crew to beat, having already taken an impressive victory at the Europeans this year and with one returner from last year’s winning pair. The Greek pair placed second last year and also have an athlete returning, but were three seconds behind the Hungarian pair in Poland so I expect these crews will be in a close fight for the podium positions. They will face further challenge from the individual neutral athletes, with one remaining from the 2023 crew that missed out on a medal by only 0.13 seconds, and the GB crew with one athlete the same from the winning pair at Munich International Regatta.
U19 Women’s Double Sculls
17 entries
Holders: Great Britain
After coming out on top of a thrilling race with the Greeks last year, Great Britain will be looking to defend their title in this event, with a new but highly experienced crew containing two returning worlds medallists. Lioliou returns from the Greek double and will be chasing the gold medal; her campaign has begun well with a win at Europeans, but she was followed closely by the Romanian combination. I expect the Italian double to be strong, led by Schincariol who came third in this event in 2023 and must be an exceptionally strong sculler to be doubling up in the single. The fifth-placed Norweigan double returns in the same combination so will be back with even more experience and training, and the German double that came second at Munich could round out a packed A-final in this event.
U19 Women’s Four
11 entries
Holders: Italy
After rowing through Great Britain in the dying strokes to win this event last year, Italy will be looking to defend their title in the coxless four, with one returning athlete in the two-seat to drive them on. Once again though, it has been Romania who have been in 2024 on top so far, winning the Europeans by clear water. Their crew is stacked with worlds experience; two bronze medalists from the eight and a world champion in the pair. The Czech, Swiss and Spanish fours are similar to the ones who raced at Europeans, finishing second, fourth and fifth, so will all be looking for a podium finish or at least an A-final spot. Noticeably absent from Europeans was the British coxless four, stroked by two-time worlds silver medalist Shepherd, but members of this crew saw success at the Munich International Junior Regatta and the fact that they beat the Swiss by a large margin should give them confidence in their speed on the world stage.
U19 Women’s Coxed Four
6 entries
Holders: USA
Despite not being an Olympic boat class, this event has doubled in popularity and will hopefully provide us with more top quality racing. With some athletes returning from last years second-placed coxed four, I think Italy are in a very strong position in this event, despite also doubling up into the eight. The crew from the USA won this event last year and always demonstrate an extremely high standard in the sweep boats so will also be in medal contention. In a large squad though, this might not be a priority boat so the crew from South Africa could step up as their only women’s sweep entry.
U19 Women’s Quadruple Sculls
12 entries
Holders: Germany
With three athletes returning from last year’s silver medal-winning quad at worlds and a recent victory at Europeans, the Italian quad definitely come in with the most international race experience and will be looking to step up to the top of the podium. The Polish and Czech quads filled out the podium at Europeans and took the top two spots at Munich, so are in a good place to improve on their results last summer. They will be challenged by Great Britain and Switzerland who were close behind at Europeans, especially this new GB combination which features multiple winners from the Munich International Junior Regatta and the bow from last year’s bronze medal quad.
U19 Women’s Eight
6 entries
Holders: Great Britain
In my opinion, the best race of the U19 worlds last year was in this event and I expect we will see another close finish this year as all six boats entered will be highly competitive. The GB crew may be a new combination, but inspired by the historic victory last year I’m sure they will once again be fighting for the top spot. A similar Austrian entry was victorious at Munich and recently came third at Europeans so have raced together throughout the year and will be looking to close the gap to second-placed Italy. The crew from the USA will be keen to return to the glory of 2022 and they may have a relative home advantage, probably not being affected by travel and jet lag as much as the European crews.
Overall
At last year’s U19 world championships, Great Britain and Italy were joint-top of the medal table and both countries are again looking highly competitive on the women’s side. I expect to see some dominant performances in the smaller boat classes from Romania, and for the Germans to also be very strong, particularly on the sculling side.
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