Image Credit: World Rowing
With the most entries in this category since 2018, it is shaping up to be an exciting contest in Ontario. Several crews with impressive resumes from U23 and junior ranks are travelling to Canada alongside an Olympian in one of the crews. Joining them are some newer names who are looking to make a splash on the global stage. With more time to prepare given the later date of this regatta than in most years, expect some blistering times from well-drilled crews.
New Zealand
With none of the medalists from this event a year ago present, the best-placed returners are Joshua Vodanovich and Oliver Welch. The New Zealanders finished fourth in Plovdiv last year, two lengths off the medals after their preparations were disturbed by injury. In the intervening 12 months they have been based in New Zealand at the national training centre in Cambridge, Waikato but raced against each other in this event at the national championships. Back together, they will return to the world stage with a desire to not miss out on a medal this year and possibly aiming for the middle of the podium given their status as the fastest returners.
Bulgaria
The only other crew returning intact from the A-Final last year is the Bulgarians in their lineup of Tsvetomir Malinov and Ivan Yankulov. This duo has been together for quite some time, as they made their international debut together in 2021 at the World Rowing junior championships in the pair, where they placed fourth overall. Since then, they have raced together at world and European U23 championships as well as a step up to the senior ranks at the first World Rowing Cup of the 2022 season in Belgrade. The peak of their success came 12 months ago as on home water when they made it to the A-Final at the senior world championships, finishing sixth overall in the field of sixteen. While this year lacks the home advantage, the benefits of a further year of development may allow them to replicate that result in this, their penultimate year in the category.
Greece
The fifth-placed finishers from Greece return just one of their crew – Zisis Boukouvalas – who is joined by Harvard University’s Apostolos Lykomitros, his third partner in as many world championships. Boukouvalas is a mainstay across the Greek team, having spent most of the season racing as a senior in attempts to qualify for the Olympics but after failing to reach the final at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, he returns for his last crack at an U23 medal. Over the past four years, he has raced in each world championship, from a four in 2021 to a pair with his older brother in 2022 and most recently racing in the pair with Dimitros Stasinos. That crew would finish fifth at worlds and fourth at Europeans, but he is yet to earn a championship medal. Bringing in a medalist from the junior world championships may help but I worry if it will again be just beyond Boukouvalas.
Romania
This event is often pitched as seeing the future stars of the sport with plenty of Los Angeles and Brisbane’s rowers on the entry, but this Romanian crew has the rare distinction of containing a rower who is already an Olympian. Andrei Mandrilla was the youngest men’s sweep athlete racing in Paris, finishing fifth in the men’s four in only his third senior international event. Last summer, he raced in the same event at the U23 world championships, finishing fourth in that field, having won bronze in the pair twelve months previous to that. He returns to the pair this year with the same partner as in 2022, Claudiu Neamtu and they will have expectation of a serious upgrade to that medal given the experience the two have gained in the two intervening years.
Germany
While other countries have sent crews with experience beyond this level, the German crew is quite the opposite. Winners of the silver medal in the pair at last year’s junior world championships, Tobias Strangemann and Johannes Benien are the new kids on the block. Both originating from the same club in the north-west of the country, the two have rowed together for some time at their local club but spread their wings significantly in their junior careers, having been world champions in the junior eight in 2022. With such exceptional junior resumes and experience of rowing together, they will back themselves against rowers of any age and after finishing third in the senior national championships at the age of just 19, they have proven they have the speed to match that ambition.
Slovenia
At the senior level, the Slovenian national rowing team is made up of just three individuals and they haven’t qualified a crew boat for the Olympics since London 2012. As a result, the rising stars of Arne Zavrsnik and Jakob Brglez are very exciting for the central European nation. The two youngsters burst onto the global scene in 2022 at the junior world championships, winning an impressive silver medal in the men’s pair. Being split by age groups last season, they raced up at the European U23 championships at the end of last season, winning another silver medal against more experienced competition. This event marks their return to global competition and they will want to resume their great momentum as the pride of the sport in their nation.
Spain
Another crew with a notable junior resume is the Spainish offering, made up of Juan Palomino and Jorge Knabe, half of the coxless four who won the 2021 junior world championships. Since that race three years ago, the two have gone down rather different paths. Palomino raced the last two world championships in a quad and a four respectively with rather limited success in either as the spark of the 2021 group could never be rediscovered. Knabe, on the other hand, competed in the lightweight ranks across the senior and U23 divisions, winning a silver medal 12 months ago in the lightweight double at this regatta. With his partner aged out of the division, Knabe has reunited with Palomino in this boat as they seek to rediscover the spirit of that 2021 crew. I am unsure of how successful that will be, but in small boats like a pair, anything could happen.
Great Britain
Defending the title of Beeson and Geffen for Great Britain are the pairing of Richard Hawes and Mack Carr. While both are debutants on the international circuit, they are no strangers to big stages. Hawes, a former Walton Rowing Club junior athlete, won the Prince Albert Challenge Cup with Oxford Brookes University at Henley Royal Regatta this year. In the crew he is joined by Mack Carr. A newer name to many on the British rowing scene, Carr grew up rowing on the Hudson River in upstate New York. He rowed this season in the first eight at Syracuse University in the grand final of the IRA Championships, having made it to Sunday with the Orange at last year’s Henley Royal Regatta. Coming together from disparate backgrounds to make their first appearance on the international stage, this duo will not have expectations of replicating last year’s success for the British boat in this category. If all goes right under the experienced eye of Sam Sheppard though, an A-Final is well within their reach.
United States
The American offering in this category comes from Adam Pushner and Colton Millar, who won the trial at the start of last month under the moniker ‘King’s Crown Rowing Association’. These Columbia oarsmen have been rowing in the first varsity eight all season and their summer project comes under the direction of Andrew Hess, winner of two national titles with the Columbia lights. While the bulk of the American talent is focused on the camp boats, this crew was the highest-ranked sweep boat at the trials against the competitive standard time benchmark. With an additional month and a half to develop, they could spring a surprise on their more centralised rivals from across the Atlantic.
Prediction
With the level of experience in the boat, it is hard to look past the Romanians for the gold. For silver, the returning crew from New Zealand is my pick, while the rising juniors from Germany are worth a look for bronze, but don’t be surprised if any of the other crews click and are able to bring the fight to these lineups.
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