2023 European Rowing Championships – Lightweight Events Preview

Photo Credit: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell

Lightweight Men’s Single Scull

Fifteen Entries 

2022 Champion: Greece (Antonios Papakonstantinou)

According to the entry list, Ireland’s Olympic, World and European Champion, Fintan McCarthy, was entered in this event and would have been the overwhelming favourite. However, the Irish Independent newspaper reports that High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni, has made several changes to the crews from the official entry list. As a result, McCarthy will now race in the Lightweight Double with Hugh Moore.

So, in McCarthy’s absence, the event has been thrown wide open. Rajko Hrvat of Slovenia comes into Bled on the back of a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships and a win at the first World Cup. 

Switzerland’s Andri Struzina ran Hrvat incredibly close in Zagreb, finishing third behind the Slovenian. Struzina took bronze in this event last season and reached the A-Final of the World Championships.

Peter Galambos of Hungary took the bronze medal in Zagreb and was European Champion in 2021. He and Hrvat have been racing each other for the best part of a decade, and it’s always fun watching these two stalwarts of the lightweight single slugging it out.

Italy’s Niels Torre is the reigning World and European champion in the lightweight quad. The 23-year-old is also an U23 silver medallist in the single from 2021.

Other scullers to look out for include France’s Baptiste Savaete; the 22-year-old was fifth at the 2022 World Championships and a U23 bronze medallist in the lightweight double.

Predictions: Hrvat in gold ahead of Torre, with Stuzina in bronze

Lightweight Men’s Double Scull

Eighteen entries

2022 Champions: Ireland (Fintan Mc Carthy and Paul O’Donovan)

Probably the most stacked field in the entire championships. The top ten nations from the 2022 World Championships are all racing, many with the same line-ups. 

As mentioned above, Ireland’s World Champion, Fintan McCarthy, wasn’t initially entered in this event but has been moved from the single back into the double. His usual partner, Paul O’Donovan, is unavailable for Bled due to his medical studies, so 23-year-old Hugh Moore takes his place. There’s a lot of pressure on Moore, stepping into O’Donovan’s shoes; he was U23 silver medallist last season and raced in the lightweight single at the World Championships, finishing 21st.

With the Irish Olympic champion crew split up, it’s the perfect opportunity for Italy to take their first win over an Irish lightweight double since the 2019 European Championships. The Italian double of Gabriel Soares and Stefano Oppo is arguably the number one boat in the Italian team. Soares won the lightweight single World Championships last season and was the European silver medallist in 2021 and 2022. Oppo finished as runner-up to the Irish at both the European and World Championships last year, along with then partner Pietro Ruta, they took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. This duo has high hopes, having opened their season with gold at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco last month.

Germany has had a good record in this event at the last few Europeans, winning in 2019 and taking silver in 2020 and 2021 (they didn’t enter a boat in 2022). Bled sees the return to competition of Olympic silver medallist Jonathan Rommelmann; 21-year-old Paul Leerkamp joins him. Leerkamp raced in the lightweight double at the 2022 World Championships, with Arnos Gaus finishing tenth. In 2021 he won gold in the lightweight quad at the U23 World Championships.

Winners of the first World Cup in Zagreb this season were Raphael Ahumeda Ireland and Jan Schaeuble of Switzerland (the first gold medal in this event for Switzerland since 2001). They were just off the podium at the World Championships and took bronze last year at the Europeans.

Bronze medallists at the 2022 World Championships were Ukraine, Igor Khmara and Stanislav Kovalov. They both raced at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing ninth and at last year’s Europeans reached the A-Final.

One of the longest-established pairings in this event is Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil. They have been sculling together since 2017, with their best result coming at the Tokyo Olympics with a fourth-place finish. They ended last season with fifth at the World Championships. Most recently, they raced at the first World Cup in Zagreb, taking silver behind the Swiss.

Other doubles to watch out for in this stacked field include Spain (Caetano Horta Pombo and Manel Balastegui), winners of the B-Final in Tokyo and bronze medallist in Zagreb. France has the same line-up that made the A-Final at the World Championships last season with Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig. Also, look out for the new Greek pairing of Petros Gkaidatzis and Antonios Papakonstantinou; they were bronze medallists in Piediluco, and Papakonstantinou is the reigning European lightweight single Champion.  

Predictions: where to begin? This is a real opportunity for Italy, which they will capitalise on. So, Italy in gold, Switzerland in silver and Ireland in bronze.

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls

Thirteen Entries 

2022 Champion: Romania (Ionela Cozmiuc)

Romania’s Ionela Cozmuic is back to defend her title, and it will take something special to stop her. She is the reigning World Champion and made the A-Final in the lightweight double at the Tokyo Olympics.

The main challenger to the Romanian is likely to be the outstanding young Greek sculler Evangelina Anastaiadou. Still only 21, she made the A-Final of the lightweight double World Championships last year (with partner Dimitra Kontou). At last year’s Europeans, she raced in the open-weight single, picking up an impressive silver medal; she also picked up a gold medal in the lightweight single at the U23 World Championships. Bled will be the first race between the Greek and Romanian which should be a fascinating contest.

Behind the two main protagonists, the battle for the bronze is likely to be led by the winner of the first World Cup, Kristyna Neuhortova of the Czech Republic. Turkey’s Elis Ozbay will also be in with a shout of a bronze medal; she won silver at the U23 World Championships last year; if she does make the podium, it will be Turkey’s first-ever women’s medal at a championship regatta.

Another U23 medallist from 2022 is Poland’s Jessika Sobocinska. She took bronze in the Under23 Lightweight double and raced at all three World Cups in 2022, making the A-Final in the lightweight double each time.

Italy’s Stefania Buttignon was sixth in the World last season; however, as she’s also listed in the entries for the double, it’s probably unlikely she will race in the lightweight single as well. If she does, then she will definitely be in the mix for a medal.

Other scullers to watch include Dora Dragicevic of Croatia, ninth at the Europeans last year and bronze medallist at the first World Cup this season; France’s Aurelie Morizot (eighth at the 2022 Europeans) and Great Britain’s Olivia Bates (bronze medallist at the European U23 Championships).

Predictions: I’m really interested to see the contest between Romania and Greece; I think Cozmuic will take the win ahead of the Greeks, and these two will be way ahead of the battle for the bronze, which I think will be won by Neuhortova.

Lightweight Women’s Double Scull

Eleven Entries

2022 Champions: Great Britain (Emily Craig and Imogen Grant)

Great Britain are the defending European and World Champions, and they have the same line-up of Imogen Grant and Emily Craig, racing in Bled. These two were unstoppable in 2022 and are arguably, the best technical scullers in the World right now. Grant seemingly can do it all; she was a member of the winning Cambridge Blue Boat in 2022, a former World Champion in the lightweight single and is the current holder of the World Best Time in the lightweight single, and is a recently-graduated doctor. Craig is no less accomplished; as well as gold in the lightweight double, she was also the World Champion in the lightweight quad in 2016. This duo missed the podium in Tokyo by just 1/100th of a second but has now emerged as the dominant force in this event.

But GB’s defence of their European title will be no easy ride; they will have crews from Italy, France, Ireland and Switzerland breathing down their necks. 

Italy boasts a crew that includes Tokyo gold medallist Federica Cesarini, who, along with Valentina Rodini as well as winning gold, set a new World Best Time for the event. This duo took bronze at the 2022 Europeans but slipped back to eleventh at the World Championships. For this season, Cesarini has a new partner, Silvia Crosio. Crosio was a member of the lightweight quad that won European and World gold last season and, in 2021, was the U23 Lightweight World Champion.

Ireland return with the same line-up that won the bronze medal at last year’s World Championships, Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen. This duo were 8th in Tokyo and at the Europeans last season, raced in different events, Casey finishing fourth in the lightweight single and Cremen fourth in the lightweight double with Lydia Heaphy. They are both members of University College Cork, and their medal at last year’s Worlds was the first ever for Ireland in this event at a major senior championship.

France also returns with the same line-up that raced in 2022. Claire Bove and Laura Tarantola. They finished just outside of the medals at the World Championships but took silver at the Europeans and are also the current Olympic silver medallists. They have been racing together as a lightweight double since 2017 and were also European silver medallists in 2019.

Switzerland’s Frederique Rol and Patricia Merz won the first World Cup this season. They have been rowing together since their days on the junior team in 2011 (their birthdays are just one week apart). They were European bronze medallists in 2018 and took fourth in the World that season. They won the B-Final at the Tokyo Olympics and, in 2022, finished 5th at both the European and World Championships.

Another double to keep an eye on is Greece, with the remarkable 17-year-old Dimitra Eleni Kontou. Despite her youth, she’s already a seasoned international competitor, finishing fifth in the lightweight single at the 2022 U23 World Championships and making the A-Final of the lightweight double at the senior worlds. Her partner in Bled is Zoi Fitsou, ten years her senior and lightweight silver medallist from the 2022 Europeans.

Other crews racing include German twins Marion and Johanna Reichardt (12th at the 2022 Worlds), Austria (Louis Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler) silver medallists from Zagreb, and Spain (Natalia Miguel Gomez and Rocio Lao Sanchez) fourth in Zagreb.

Predictions: It should be a cracking contest, but I can’t see anyone getting the better of the British. GB for the gold, with France in silver and Italy holding off the Irish for bronze.

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