Image Credit: World Rowing
With the new season hot on the horizon, there is only one major event remaining on the calendar: the world U23 and U19 championships. Hosted together in St Catharine’s, Canada, the next generation of rowing stars will be putting on a grand spectacle of global rowing. Littered with experience and past winners at all levels of the sport, the U23 women’s double looks certain to be among the highlights of the week.
Romania
The double defending champions from Romania are back for their last turn at this level. Over the past two years, the double of Andrada Maria Morosanu and Iulia Balauca have been almost unbeatable at this level, winning the gold at these championships for the last two years in addition to a European age group championship twelve months ago. For the past season they have been integrating with the senior squad, finishing fourth as a double at the Poznan World Rowing Cup as well as Morosanu racing as the single at the European championships, placing forth in a strong field. They are back down to utilise the final year of their eligibility to become the first combination to ever win at this level in three consecutive championships, and I would expect them to follow through.
Switzerland
From the Swiss crew that won the bronze medal last year, Olivia Roth returns. A world champion in her junior career, the Zurich athlete delayed her enrolment at the University of California in order to pursue selection for the Paris Olympics. Unsuccessful in that goal, she has instead spent much of the summer season in a double with Flavia Loetscher, a member of the Swiss quad from twelve months ago. Her international success has been more limited, having never seen a global A-final but with time spent together, they will hope to add a medal to their respective cases. They have already achieved international success this season, winning the U23 women’s double on both days in Ghent May Regatta but will look to build on this against other national teams this week.
Germany
Another A-finalist from last year’s championship, Charlotte Luster goes again for Germany this year. She is joined in 2024 by Lena Woelke, an experienced international from Magdeburg who has reached the A-Final in the quad at each of the last two world U23 championships. This experienced duo, who already have a World Rowing medal each, won their place on the national team at the German age group championships by more than three and a half seconds, claiming the title for the second consecutive year. Opting to race in this category following their unbeaten domestic season, they will have aims of doubling the respective sizes of their international medal collections and look like they have the speed in order to achieve that goal.
France
Headed into the final qualification regatta, the French quad were being eyed up as likely qualifiers. However, they couldn’t replicate their form from the European championships and were well off the pace in Lucerne. The focus of Jeanne Roche, the youngest member of that crew, has now turned to this event and her double with Mya Bosquet. Bosquet has been in the coxless four at both of the last two seasons but is no stranger to sculling, having earned a fifth-placed finish in the single at the junior world championships in 2021. With the high-level experience that working with the senior team will have afforded Roche, they will be hoping to impress at this lower level but the first outing for this crew at the Poznan World Rowing Cup left room for improvement. Having trained for the last few months at a picturesque centre in the west of the country, they will expect to see that improvement on this side of the Atlantic.
Ireland
The rising star in Irish rowing, Holly Davis announced herself onto the national scene by winning in the single scull at the 2019 Home International Regatta at just fourteen years old. She quickly moved onto the global stage, winning a medal at the junior world championships just two years later, culminating in claiming the silver medal at the world championships in the single last summer. This year, she stepped straight up to the senior team, acting as the women’s reserve for the Irish team in Paris. Before she joins the University of Texas in just a few weeks, she will take a stop in Canada to race at the world championships, her first race as an U23. Joining her is Grace Healy, in her final year of age-eligibility, but a debutant on the global stage, the two of them will aim to hold their own against the best in the world this week.
Great Britain
The British entry is this event consists of Poppy Baker and Rachel Bradley. Baker, a former rising star in the English netball ranks, has switched her full attention onto the sport of rowing, developing through the British Rowing Performance Development Academy at Nottingham Rowing Club and will make her international rowing debut next week in Canada. Alongside her is Rachel Bradley, making her third trip to a world championship. Her first trip came in 2021, where she won bronze in the double, racing in the green of Ireland. Now based at Newcastle University, she has switched her allegiance to Great Britian. Last year, she raced as part of the British quad in Plovdiv, missing out on the A-Final. Together with Baker, they will look to improve on that showing against a strong field in Ontario.
Prediction
Winning an event at the U23 world championships three years in a row would be a phenomenal achievement, but I don’t see anyone who will be able to stop the Romanian double from collecting the gold medal. For silver I’m going to go with the experience in the French double but opt for the youth of Ireland for bronze.
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