With qualifiers as competitive as they have ever been – in a year with a huge record entry – we thought it was high time to take a look at the crews required to qualify for the intermediate events in 2024. Our expert analysts have put together their bets on who they think will be making it through Friday’s time-trial, starting with the eights.
Ladies Challenge Plate
TOTAL: 3
SUBJECT TO WITHDRAWALS THE FASTEST CREW WILL QUALIFY (33.33%)
In the Ladies, it’s three crews for one spot – Leander/Club Nautique de Chambéry le Bourget du Lac, France and two Thames crews. Realistically, this will be a battle between Thames ‘A’ and the Leander/France composite, which is formed mostly of athletes from the Northeastern 1V, bolstered by senior French international Florian Ludwig, and Leander’s own Bryn Ellery.
The Leander composite should, on paper, be a fast unit; the Northeastern Varsity were strong this year, reaching the A-final at Eastern Sprints and finishing third in the B-Final at the IRAs. Their new recruits for Henley should strengthen the unit – but they’ll have had little time on the water to get acquainted.
Thames, meanwhile, have had plenty of races under their belts, and have performed decently – two second-placed finishes on both days at the Metropolitan Regatta, and a sixth-placed finish at Marlow. There’s a good amount of Henley-winning experience in the Thames boat, but I think the power of the Leander composite may be enough to secure a qualification spot.
The Visitors’ Challenge Cup
TOTAL: 13
SUBJECT TO WITHDRAWALS THE FASTEST 6 CREWS WILL QUALIFY (46.2%)
13 boats will be reduced to six in the ever-competitive Visitors’, and the fight for spots will be fierce.
There is certainly one standout crew here. Leander ‘B’ takes the top spot in this field – it looks to be a provisional top U23 four, formed of Harvard 1V athletes Josh Brangan, Cameron Beyki and Tyler Horler, joined by U23 gold medallist and Yale 1V stroke, Harry Geffen. These guys are probably one of the top crews in the whole event, so it’s a bit of a mystery why they’re having to go through qualifiers, but a run down the course never hurts and they should qualify with relative ease.
Behind the U23s, things get a little trickier, with 12 crews hunting five spots. I would imagine that one of them will go to the Leander/Veslacki Klub Sava, Serbia entry; this is essentially Jacksonville University, who made program history this season by qualifying for the IRA National Championships. This boat appears to be made up of 1V athletes, and should have good speed.
The Henley Rowing Club/Drammen Roklubb, Norway entry is another American University crew under a different guise. This is a Yale boat, formed of athletes across the Yale squad, all with great racing experience and some serious size to boot (stroke seat Syvert Senumstad, a varsity athlete, is 6’9). I would be very surprised to see these guys miss out on a qualification spot.
Thames RC should also be a pretty safe bet – an experienced boat featuring Thames Cup 2023 winner Josh Braithwaite among other seasoned club guys. They raced at Marlow, too, finishing fourth in the A-Final – a strong result that really begs the question as to why they’re having to go through the qualification process at all.
With two spots to go, I’m going to go firstly with Molesey Boat Club; this boat is formed of two Boston University and one Brown athlete, all of whom had successful seasons in the USA. They were second in the Marlow B-Final, just ahead of Hapoel Tel Aviv Marine Club/Tel Aviv Rowing Club, Israel, who I’m going to pick for the final qualifying spot.
There’s a good deal of talent in this boat, which features Princetonian Cal Gorvy, who has represented Israel at U23 and senior level; Jamie Ginsberg and Sam Scowen, who were both in the winning GB junior men’s eight last summer at the junior world championships, and Luca Foschi Walko, who was captain at Penn this past season.
That does, of course, leave out some big names – perhaps most notably Oxford, who are represented in two crews (one is a composite with Nottingham & Union), and both of which feature Blues and Isis rowers from the past couple of years. Results from recent competitions haven’t been that favourable, but a fourth-placed finish in the B-Final at Marlow for the Nottingham/Oxford composite puts them within touching distance of the Israeli crew, and potential qualification. A strong Greenwich Crew entry may well cause an upset here, as could Glasgow University, who have been growing in stature in recent years and who have their top four athletes entered here (they recently finished second at the Scottish championships). Whatever happens, everything is on the line this Friday, and racing should be ferocious in the coxless fours.
The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup
TOTAL: 17
SUBJECT TO WITHDRAWALS THE FASTEST 3 CREWS WILL QUALIFY (17.65%)
With such a stacked entry from every corner of the world, there are some British crews who have been unlucky to be sent to qualifiers. After winning at the Metropolitan Regatta and coming fourth at Marlow, Agecroft Rowing Club will be rightfully grumbling about an anti-northern bias. The Bath University/Nottinghamshire Country RA composite is a notable upgrade from the crew that finished fourth at BUCS Regatta and the St Andrews University crew has hardly raced since picking up bronze in the intermediate quad.
Another notable entry comes from Star and Arrow Club an alternative name from Leander. This crew will likely contain Olympic silver medalist Jack Beaumont as well as two former age group world champions.
Internationally, the Wiener Ruder Club Donabund crew contains some of the top rowers in and around the Austrian system including both Thomas Lehner and Jörg Auerbach, who raced in the men’s eight at World Rowing Cup I, the European championships and the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. They’re joined by Armin Auerbach, who raced alongside this duo in the Austrian men’s quad at the 2021 European championships.
The Ever Green Boat Club crew contains some alumni from Dartmouth college.
I think Agecroft, Star and Arrow Club and Wiener Ruder Club Donabund, Austria will qualify.
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