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.
Emma Twigg, New Zealand
The three-time defending champion in this event, Emma Twigg is a legend in the world of rowing. With seven World Rowing Championship medals and two from the Olympic Games, the champion from Tokyo has been ever-present within elite single sculls fields for almost two decades. This summer, she won her second Olympic medal with a silver medal in Vaires-sur-Marne, but she has remained busy since then. She raced in Genoa at the World Beach Sprint finals, winning a bronze medal there in the women’s solo, before making the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Her first race on these shores came in Boston in the championship single at the Head of the Charles, but she was off her game, finishing ninth in a field of primarily domestic athletes. If she wants to win again in Philadelphia, she will have to step up her game, but having won the event thrice, if anyone knows how to do it, then it’s Emma Twigg.
Karolien Florijn, Netherlands
Since stepping into the single after Tokyo, Karolien Florijn has been unbeatable over the past Olympiad. She won five World Rowing Cup regattas, two European Rowing Championships, and two World Rowing Championships on her way to Olympic glory in Paris, leaving the field in her wake. The level of dominance was unmatched as she left the crowd singing “Sweet Karolien” in Vaires-sur-Marne. Since the Olympic Games, she has not taken too much time off. She also raced at the World Beach Sprint finals in Genoa but opted to race in the mixed double with her brother Finn, another Olympic champion from Paris. Unfortunately, with challenging conditions, they did not correctly complete the course and were awarded a penalty that left them in last place and unable to progress to the side-by-side racing. Runner-up in the Gold Cup last year, she will look to take one step further up the podium to put her name on the trophy, and if she can replicate some of the form she showed earlier in the year, she is more than capable of achieving that.
Viktorija Senkute, Lithuania
The bronze medallist from Paris, Viktorija Senkute returns to the United States for the first time since graduating from the University of Central Florida. In Orlando, she was part of a Golden Knights squad that won four successive conference championships, with Senkute rowing in the first varsity eight each time. Since then, she has been racing with the Lithuanian national team, slowly moving forward in the field. In 2019, she finished 29th at the World Rowing Championships, buthas stepped forward in this Olympiad. After a brief stint in the quad, she reached the A-final at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, booking her spot in Paris, where she would go on to shine. One of only two female medallists from the small Baltic country at the Paris Olympic Games, she has returned to much acclaim in her home country, not known for their rowing prowess. Senkute will be hoping to show well for herself on her first race back since Paris.
Kara Kohler, United States
The only domestic sculler racing for either the men’s or women’s gold cup, Kara Kohler is the odd one out. The three-time Olympian won a bronze in the quad at the London Olympic Games just three years after committing to the sport. Since then, she has become the US single sculler, rowing in the boat class at every major global championships since 2018. Due to the US selection system, she had to win her spot on the team at an open trial each year before competing on the world stage, which resulted in her needing to peak multiple times each season to continue her success. This skill will stand her well as she extends her season further, having begun at the US trials in early April. Since her fifth-placed finish at the Olympic Games, she has been on a tour of East Coast sculling events, having won at the Tuxedo Park Regatta in New York and then placing second at the Head of the Charles. She will complete her tour here in Philadelphia over the short 750m course.
Prediction
With experience winning at this event, I should probably warm towards the silver medal list but I can’t look past Karolien Florijn to take home the victory. Unbeaten in 2024 – I just can’t see that changing.
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