2023 European Rowing Championships – Women’s Events Preview

Photo Credit: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell

Women’s Single Scull

Sixteen Entries 

2022 Champion: Korolien Florijn (The Netherlands)

Florijn of the Netherlands was the standout female rower for 2022. She had spent most of her career racing in crew boats, including winning World Championship bronze in the quad in 2018 and European gold in the four between 2019 and 2021. However, after Tokyo (where she won a silver medal in the four), she switched to the single scull. She dominated the event, going unbeaten at the first and second World Cups, the European Championships and then the World Championships. She’s also won all her races fairly comfortably; her margin of victory at the Europeans was seven seconds, and at the Worlds, it was two-point-five. No one in Europe can get close to the Dutchwoman, and she will be the overwhelming favourite to take the gold.

The most intriguing entry for these championships is Simona Radis of Romania. She’s the reigning World, Olympic and European champion in the double and also has World and European Championship gold medals from the women’s eight. So, for her to move out of the double and race the single does feel odd. As in 2022, she’s also slated to race in the W8, but given how many races she will have in the single, it remains to be seen if she will race both. If she does race the single, it will be the first time in her international career in this boat class.

The only other World Championships A-Finalist competing in Bled is Virginia Diaz Rivas of Spain. She raced in the pair at the Tokyo Olympics before switching to the single last season, where she took fifth at the Europeans and sixth at the Worlds. She raced at the Zagreb World Cup this season, taking the gold medal (Spain’s first-ever gold medal in this boat class).

The Spaniard took the gold in Zagreb by overhauling Switzerland’s new wunderkind Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, winning by just 2/100th of a second. The Swiss teenager won the U19 World title in 2019 and is a two-time U23 silver medallist. Zagreb was her first senior international competition, and she’s made everyone sit up and take notice (and not just because she was the first athlete to race internationally with macon blades for almost 30 years).

At the other end of the experience spectrum is Denmark’s Fie Udby Erichsen. The 38-year-old has been racing internationally since 2005. Bled marks her first international race since finishing eighth in the pair at the Tokyo Olympics. She’s no stranger to the single, having raced in the boat for most of her career. The highlight of her story came at the London Olympics, where she won silver (still the best-ever result for Danish women’s rowing at the Olympics). The results since then haven’t quite reached those heights, but she has taken fourth at the 2020 Europeans.

Poland’s Marta Wielczko was part of the Polish quad that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Apart from the European Championships last season when she raced the double, she has spent her entire international career racing in the quad and was European and World Champion in that boat class in 2018. It’s going to be interesting to see how she gets on in her first international race in the single.

Other scullers to watch include:

• The Czech Republic’s Lenka Luksova (nee Antosova), bronze medallist from the Zagreb World Cup.
• Ireland’s U23 bronze medallist Alison Bergin.
• Former U23 World Champion ieva Adomavicuite of Lithuania (who’s also doubling up in the women’s quad).

Predictions: Hard to see anyone beating Florijn, but it should be a good contest behind her. If Radis races, then I think she’ll take silver, with Janzen of Switzerland in bronze.

Women’s Pair

Eleven Entries 

2022 Champions: Romania (Ioana Vrinceanu and Denisa Tilvescu)

Romania may be the defending European champions, but it is most likely the Netherlands who will start as favourites in Bled. Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester were bronze medallists at last year’s Europeans but were the best-placed European crew at the World Championships, taking the silver medal behind New Zealand. They were both members of the four that won silver in Tokyo and were European Champions in that boat class in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Romania has made a change to the crew that won in 2022; Ioana Vrinceanu is now partnered with Roxana Anghel. Anghel rowed in the four in Tokyo that finished ninth and was also in that boat at last year’s Worlds, where they finished fourth. Vrinceanu has no fewer than six European titles to her credit, having won in the women’s eight last season and the pair, along with eights titles in 2017-18 and 2020-21.

Great Britain has a strong tradition in this boat class, having won the European title four times since 2014. This season they have an unchanged line-up from the pair that won silver at last year’s Europeans: Emily Ford and Esme Booth. Ford rowed in the British women’s eight at the Tokyo Olympics, and Booth made her senior debut at the end of the 2021 season. Unusually for Great Britain, they doubled up in the eight at last year’s Europeans and took a second silver medal. At the World Championships last year, they produced a solid race taking fifth in the A-Final. In Bled, they are repeating the feat of doubling up in the eight. They will have strong expectations of being in the hunt for the gold.

Winners at the first World Cup in Zagreb were Spain, with Esther Briz Zamorano and Aina Cid. Cid is one of Spain’s most successful oarswomen, with European medals from 2020 and 2021 and an A-final placing at the Tokyo Olympics. Briz Zamorano raced in the single at the U23 World Championships last season, winning the B-Final.

Runners-up in Zagreb were the Czech Republic’s Radka Novotnnikova and Pavlina Flamikova. They were seventh at the World Championships last year and eighth at the Europeans. As well as winning in Zagreb, they took gold at the Wedau Regatta in Duisburg earlier this month.

Croatian sisters Ivana and Josipa Jurkovic finished one place behind the Czechs in Zagreb, and these two pairs have been duking it out against each other for the last few seasons. The Czechs finished ahead of the Croatians in Zagreb, but the positions were reversed at the World Championships last year, with the Croatians placing sixth in the A-Final and the Czechs winning the B-Final to place seventh overall. The Jurkovic’s were U23 World Champions in 2021. The latest instalment of a “race within a race” between these two pairs will be fun to watch.

Ireland just missed out on a medal in this event last season with their crew of Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty. For Bled, Hegarty has been replaced by international debutant Imogen Magner. Magner, from Leander Club, trialled for the GB squad in 2021, placing seventh in the 1st Assessment and was a member of the Leander crew that won the Wargrave Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2021.

Other crews to watch include France, with former U23 internationals Josephine Cornut-Danjou and Pauline Rossignol – second at the Wedau Regatta, and Italy (Giorgia Pelacchi and Veronica Bumbacca), ninth in the four in 2022.

Predictions: The Dutch will probably be favourites for the gold, but I think the British will give them a good run for their money, with Spain just holding off Romania for the bronze.

Women’s Double

Thirteen Entries

2022 Champions: Romania (Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar)

One of the surprises in the entries for Bled is the breaking up of the seemingly unstoppable Romanian duo of Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis. This duo only finished lower than second once since the 2018 World Championships and won last year’s Europeans by over six seconds. But, whatever the reason, Radis is now racing in the single and eight. For Bled, Bodnar is joined by 21-year-old Andrada-Maria Morosanu. She is the reigning U23 double World Champion, and Bled marks her senior international debut. 

With the Romanians boating a different line-up, the favourites for Bled may well be the Netherlands, Laila Youssifou and Roos de Jong. They were runners-up to the Romanians at both the European and World Championships. They also both raced at the Tokyo Olympics, with de Jong winning bronze in this boat class and Youssifou making the A-Final in the quad. They started their season at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja with a 1.4-second win over Lithuania.

France last won this event back in 2018 but will be coming into Bled with strong hopes of being in the mix for the medals. Margaux Bailleul and Emma Lunatti were both members of the French quad at the Tokyo Olympics and also raced in that boat class at the 2022 Europeans. For the World Championships, Ballieul raced with Violaine Aernoudts finishing 13th, and Lunatti raced in the single, placing ninth. They started their season at the Wedau regatta, winning gold on both days.

Winners at the first World Cup were Switzerland, Fabienne Schweizer and Lisa Loetscher. Loertscher was U23 single World Champion in 2021, and she was a member of the quad that finished fifth at the World Championships last year. Schweizer raced in the quad in 2021 before moving to the double in 2022, where she partnered with Nina Wettstein to 10th place. Their gold in Zagreb was the first medal in this event for Switzerland since 1998. Both these athletes are doubling-up in the quad.

Runners-up in Zagreb were Austria, Katharina and Magdalena Lobnig. They made the A-Final at the 2022 World Championships finishing just outside the medals in Racice. Magdalena has been a feature of the singles event for the last decade and has a host of World and European medals and an Olympic bronze medal to her credit. Her sister, Katherina, has had a less illustrious career. She quit the international circuit in 2013, returning briefly for one World Cup in 2018. However, her partnership with her sister has given her international career a reboot, and their medal in Zagreb was the first of her career and the first-ever women’s double for Austria.

Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde won Ireland’s first-ever double medal when taking the bronze at the 2022 World Championships. Many thought Puspure would hang up her sculls, but at the age of 41, she’s having another crack at the Olympics. She’s one of Ireland’s most decorated athletes, and she dominated the single field during the Tokyo Olympiad, winning World Championship gold in 2018 and 2019 and the European title in 2019 and 2020. Unfortunately, illness ruined her chances at the Tokyo Olympics, so it’s perhaps no surprise she’s back for more. In 2022 she formed a partnership with Zoe Hyde, 16 years her junior, and made her international debut culminating in a World Championship medal.

Great Britain finished eighth in the world last season, a solid result for the new combination of Kyra Edwards and Saskia Budgett. For 2023 Budgett is replaced by former U23 World medallist Meg Saunders from the Tideway Scullers School and a graduate of Stanford University. She was selected as the spare for the 2022 squad but steps up to the team proper for 2023. If they can make the A-Final, it will be a great achievement in their first race together.

Lithuania’s Dovile Rimkute and Donata Karaliene finished fourth in this event last year and went on to race in the quad at the World Championships, winning the B-Final/ Rimkute also raced as a U23 last season, making the A-Final of the single. Karen competed in this boat class at the Tokyo Olympics, where she just missed out on a medal with partner Milda Valciukaite. This season they were runners-up to the Dutch in Piediluco and will also be doubling up in the quad.

Poland last won this event in 2015 and placed sixth last year with their crew of Marta Wieliczko and Joanna Dittmann. For 2023 Wieliczko is partnered by Katarzyna Zillmann. They were both members of the silver medal quad at the Tokyo Olympics, but this will only be the second time that either athlete has raced the double on the international circuit.

Predictions: My money is on the Netherlands to defeat the new-look Romanian crew. The bronze will be a battle between the Swiss, Irish and Poles.

Women’s Four

Nine Entries 

2022 Champions: Great Britain (Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Sam Redgrave & Rebecca Shorten).

The big story in this event, at least for the British media, is the return of double Olympic champion Helen Glover. She displaces Sam Redgrave (who moves to the eight) in a boat that went undefeated throughout 2022, winning the European and World titles by over two seconds. McKellar and Shorten were part of the four that raced in Tokyo and just missed out on the podium. Adding the highly experienced Glover to the crew should make an already quick crew into one that is almost unbeatable.

The biggest challengers to the British in 2022 were The Netherlands. They have an unchanged line-up from last year, with Benthe Boonstra, Marloes Oldenburg, Tinka Offereins and Hermine Drenth all returning. They all doubled up at the World Championships, winning silver in both the four and the eight. The one black mark on their 2022 season was a disappointing fifth at the Europeans.

Ireland were runners-up to the British at last year’s Europeans, and they have the same line-up racing this season, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh, Natalie Long and Tara Hanlon. This combination didn’t race at the Worlds, with Hanlon and Long taking eighth in the pair and Keogh and Lambe racing with Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty to a sixth place in the women’s four.

Denmark came into Bled with an unchanged line-up from their crew that finished fourth at last year’s Euros. Julie Poulsen, Amrie Johannesen, Frida Sanggaard Nielsen and Astrid Steensberg. Poulsen and Johannesen both debuted in 2022, with Steenberg starting her senior career in 2021. Sanggaard Nielsen is the most experienced of the boat, having raced in this boat class in Tokyo; indeed, her whole racing career has been spent in the Coxless four.

Romania finished fourth at last year’s World Championships (although they also doubled up in the eight which won gold). They have made one change to that fourth-place crew, with Maria Tivodariu replacing Roxana Anghel (who races in the pair). She joins Amalia and Madalina Beres and Magdalena Rusu. All four of these athletes were members of the eight that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. They are also all doubling up in the eight again in Bled.

Other crews to watch include Poland (Weronika Kazmierczak, Zuzanna Lesner, Katarzyna Boruch and Olga Michalkiewicz), sixth at the Europeans last year but beaten by a British development crew in Duisburg, and Spain (Izaskun Echaniz Rodriguez, Iria Jarama Diaz, Maria Fernanda Valencia Nunez and Olivia Del Castillo) silver medallists in Zagreb.

Predictions: It will be a major surprise if the British don’t continue their unbeaten run in this boat class, and they will want to do it in style. I’m picking the Netherlands to take the silver, with Ireland in bronze.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls

Twelve Entries

2022 Champions: Great Britain (Jess Leyden, Lola Anderson, Georgie and Lucy Glover)

This event looks to be another showdown between crews from Great Britain and The Netherlands. GB are the defending champions and were World Championship bronze medallists; the Dutch were silver medallists at both the Europeans and the World Championships. Both crews also come to Bled with two changes to their 2022 line-ups. 

Great Britain’s crew sees Georgie Brayshaw and Lucy Glover return from 2022. Glover was also a member of the quad that finished seventh in Tokyo. For 2022 Jess Leyden and Lola Anderson are replaced by Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry. Scott also raced in the quad in Tokyo and spent 2022 racing in the W1X, ending the season with an excellent 5th place at the World Championships. 21-year-old Henry is one of the most exciting prospects on the British team; she finished fourth in the single at the 2021 and 2022 U23 World Championships. She was the top sculler at the GB Final Trials in April, so it’s going to be very interesting to see how this new combination gets on.

The Netherlands also have two changes to their 2022 line-up. Ilse Kolkman and Tessa Dullemans return, along with Lisa Scheenaard and Martine Veldhuis (replacing Nika Vos and Bente Paulis). Scheenaard won bronze in the double at the Olympics and spent 2022 racing in the single, winning the B-Final at the World Championships. Veldhuis is a lightweight and was the European Champion in 2020 and bronze medallist last year. She went one better at the World Championships in 2022, taking the silver medal. The Netherlands raced a couple of combinations at Piediluco earlier this season, with Scheenaard and Veldhuis taking the gold with Karolien Florijn and Willemin Mulder) with Kolkman and Dullemans finishing second (with their 2022 crewmates Vos and Paulis).

Italy’s crew has three members of the boat that finished fourth in Tokyo, Valentina Iseppi, Stefania Gobbi and Veronica Lisi. The fourth member of the crew is Laura Meriano. For Lisi, this will be the first season back after the Olympics. Iseppi is the only returner from the 2022 crew that finished 8th at the World Championships, and Meriano races in a sculling boat for the first time, having spent the last few seasons in the four.

Lithuania are unchanged from the line-up that won the B-Final at the 2022 World Championships with Donata Karaliene, Viktorija Senkute, Dovile Rimkute and Ieva Adomaviciute. Karaliene and Rimkute are doubling-up in the double, and Adomaviciute is also entered in the single. The only athlete not slated to race two events is Senkute. She raced in the single scull at last year’s Europeans, finishing tenth.

Poland come to Bled with a young crew, three of whom raced in the BW4X at the U23 World Championships last season, Paulina Chrzanowska, Katarzyna Duda and Barbara Streng. The only change to that crew is Izabela Galek, who raced in the quad in 2019. They raced at the Wedau regatta finishing second to a strong French quad.

The French crew that won in Duisburg are unchanged for Bled, Helene Lefebvre, Violaine Aernoudts, Jeanne Roche and Audrey Feutrie. Lefebvre and Aernoudts both raced in Tokyo, Lefebvre in the double and Aernoudts in the quad. Feutrie raced in the single at the 2021 U23 World Championships and last season competed in the senior four at the Europeans. Roche is the youngest of the crew and still only 19; she is a former U19 world medallist and finished fifth in the double at last year’s U23. Bled will be her senior international debut.

Germany used to dominate this event but has struggled to find a combination to recapture that form. This season they have three of the crew that finished sixth at last year’s Europeans, Pia Grieten, Frauke Hunderling and Sarah Wibberenz. The fourth member of the crew is Tabea Schendekehl. Grieten and Hunderling raced n the double at the World Championships, making the A-Final, and Wibberenz raced the quad that finished at the back of the B-Final. For Schendekehl, Bled will be her first international race since the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta in 2021.

Ukraine was the winner of the first World Cup and entered Bled unchanged. Three of the crew, Nataliya Dovgodko, Kateryna Dudchenko and Daryna Verkhogliad, were bronze medallists at the 2022 Europeans and fourth at the World Championships. The final member of the crew is Anastasiia Kozhenkova. She raced in the double last season, finishing eighth at the Europeans and winning the B-Final at Worlds.

Predictions: The British look to have a very strong boat, and I would love to see them retain their title. The silver and bronze will be between the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Women’s Eight 

Four Entries 

2022 Champions: Romania (Magdalena Rusu, Iuliana Buhus, Ancuta Bodnar, Denisa Tilvescu, Madalina Beres, Amalia Beres, Ioana Vrinceanu, Simona Radis and Adrian Munteanu)

Romania has eight of the nine athletes that won the world championships last season (Roxana Anghel replaces Iuliana Buhus). Five of this crew also raced in the eight at the Tokyo Olympics. As is typical with the Romanian eight, almost all of the crew are doubling up in other events, including the four, double and Simona Radis in the single. The only rower not racing twice is Adriana Adam.

Great Britain were runners-up to the Romanians at last year’s Europeans, but their crew for Bled only contains three of that boat, Esme Booth and Emily Ford (who are doubling up in the double) along with Lauren Irwin. Whilst a lot of the press attention in the UK is focussed on the return of Helen Glover, it’s worth noting that the eight also includes two athletes racing for the first time since Tokyo, Karen Bennett and Harriet Taylor. Bennett was in the crew that won an historic silver medal for Great Britain at the Rio Olympics and, in Tokyo, rowed in the four that just missed out on a medal. Taylor was also a member of the Tokyo Four and was in the eight that won silver at the 2019 Europeans. Also new to the eight this season is 2022 women’s four World Champion Sam Redgrave, along with Annie Campbell-Orde, who made her senior debut at the final World Cup last season, and U23 medallist Natasha Morrice. Coxing the crew is Henry Fieldman; he coxed the eight to an Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo and became the first man to cox a senior GB eight.

Italy is also doubling up a number of their crew, with Alice Codato, Silvia Terrazzi, Elisa Mondelli and Linda De Filippis racing in the four. The Italians have three athletes making their senior debuts in this crew; Sofia Secoli, Alice Gnatta and Cox Emanuele Capponi. One of the most experienced members of the crew is lightweight Valentina Rodini; she won bronze in the lightweight double at the Europeans last season. The final member of the crew is Chiara Ondoli, who raced in the four last season.

The final entry in this event is from Germany. They have four of the crew that finished fifth at last season’s Europeans, Tabea Kuhnert, Melanie Goeldner, Nora Peuser and Cox Larina Hillemann. They also have two U23 athletes stepping up to the senior squad, Luisa Schade and Lisa Holbrook, along with the more experienced Anna Haertl, Sophie Leupold and Judith Guhse.

Predictions: this looks like it’s going to be two races in one, with Great Britain and Romania battling it out for gold, with Italy and Germany fighting for the bronze. Given all the extra races that the Romanians may have in their legs, I’m going to favour the British to take the win ahead of Romania, with Italy some way back in bronze.

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