Image Credit: World Rowing
On the Cooper River Lake, just outside Philadelphia, four of the biggest names in rowing will compete for the biggest prize pot the sport offers. The annual showpiece is centred around the namesake gold trophy, which was reborn in 2011 and now includes a women’s event. However, despite the history, the substantial funding behind the event draws in the big names, allowing it to offer $16,000 to the winner. Held over a four-wide race of just 750 metres, expect these top athletes to have shaken off any post-Olympic rust for this substantial reward.
Melvin Twellaar, Netherlands
The twice-defending champion from 2022, Melvin Twellaar is the only contender in either Gold Cup challenge not to have raced in the single at the Paris Olympic Games. Instead, he has been racing in the double for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, culminating in a silver medal in Paris, matching the one he earned in the same boat class in Tokyo as the reigning world champions were overhauled by their Romanian rivals. In the single this weekend, the Groningen-born athlete has a strong background in the boat class beyond his wins in Philadelphia, having competed in the boat at the highest levels. In 2022, he raced as the Dutch single sculler, winning a European Rowing Championship gold and a World Rowing Championship silver medal before returning to the double. With the benefit of a winning pedigree at this event, he will be hoping that he can launch a surprise against the competition and with the race likely to last just two and a half minutes, that may be all he needs to put his name on the cup for a third time.
Olli Zeidler, Germany
The dominant force in world sculling in recent years, Olli Zeidler has a unique motivation in this event. Having won the The Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta alongside his Olympic gold medal from Paris, winning here would net him an additional $50,000 bonus as the Gold Cup appointed itself the third leg of the triple crown. With this incentive, the sculler has remained very busy since the Olympic Games; he won the inaugural World Sculling Finals in Berlin before flying across the Atlantic to race at the Head of the Charles. He and his partner, Sofia Meakin, raced in the mixed double, setting a new course record. All stars would point to him being the form sculler, but in the last two years, his trips to Philadelphia have ended in fourth-placed finishes. A new venue this year away from the Schuylkill may be to Zeidler’s benefit, but he will back himself in any conditions to beat the best of the best, and he has the medal collection to prove it.
Simon van Dorp, Netherlands
The second Dutch entry, Simon van Dorp has been closely tied to Zeidler through the length of the season and was tipped as his closest competition heading into Paris after winning at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup and handing the German his only defeat of the year. However, it was not to be as the Dutchman could only win bronze, a full seven seconds off his rival at the Olympic Games. Surprisingly, the two have remained close through the post-Games period as van Dorp raced against the German at the World Sculling Finals, though he was second best on the day. Last weekend, he too set a course record at the Head of the Charles – this time in the alumni eights in a Washington crew. Stinging from defeats in Paris and Berlin, Simon van Dorp will be bursting to have one last opportunity to get the better of Zeidler again this year and with a short, sharp format on potentially bumpy water, I would not count him out.
Tim Brys, Belgium
Entering the 2024 season, not many people would have picked Tim Brys to be in the Olympic Games’ A-final. In 2023, he struggled against top fields, making the A-final only at the Varese World Rowing Cup and finishing in the C-final at the World Rowing Championships, leaving his qualification unsecured heading into the season. However, once 2024 rolled around, he did what he could to secure a spot on the start line, finishing in the final spot from the European continental qualifier. Even in Paris, he did what he needed to do, never winning a round but always progressing until he found himself in the Olympic final. On the greatest stage of all, he fell just short, finishing in an agonising fourth place, but with expectations going in, he will be happy. Rounding out his season in Philadelphia, he makes his debut in the Gold Cup. Returning into the single, having raced the Belgian Championships in an eight, he will enter the race as an underdog – a position he has been more than happy with over the season.
Prediction
With races such as these at the end of a season, it is a question of motivation and form and for both of these factors Olli Zeidler leads the way – I can’t pick anyone else to win this.
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