We have reached the summit. As a rowing community, there are few weeks in the calendar that we collectively look forward to more than Henley Royal Regatta. The unique match-racing style format, the frivolity and festival unfolding on the banks alongside a pomp and circumstance that transports the punter back through the pages of time itself. All of this is secondary though to the curvature of competition that angles upwards as the week unfolds. From heats on the Tuesday to finals on the Sunday, all roads lead to the red box. JRN will be with you every step of the way to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Regatta available anywhere in the world – and we start with our exclusive set of event previews. Roll on the racing.
Total Entries: 17 (To be reduced to 14 by Qualifying Races)
One of the joys of Henley Royal Regatta is that it sometimes throws up crew combinations that perhaps wouldn’t get to race together anywhere else. One such crew is the Canadian/Swiss combo racing as Lausanne-Sports Aviron, Switzerland and Shawnigan Lake School, Canada. This crew is made up of some bonafide legends of women’s sculling. In the stroke seat is former women’s single world champion, Jeannine Gmelin. She won the Princess Royal Challenge Cup in 2018 and was fifth at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. After taking some time away from rowing, she returned this season with the aim of qualifying the double for Paris. The Canadian part of the crew is another very famous name in the world of rowing, Carling Zeeman. She raced in the quad at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta and missed making the Olympics by one spot (interestingly, her three crewmates from that boat are all racing in the Shawnigan Lake crew at Henley). She was Canada’s single sculler at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and also raced in the single at the world championships from 2015 – 2019. The other two members of the crew are Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol. They were the Swiss lightweight double at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the B-Final. Rol was involved in a fierce selection battle for a seat in the LW2X for the FOQR which she decided she didn’t want to be a part of.
Both the Swiss and Canadians have other boats racing in this event. The Canadian crew (Shawnigan Lake School, Canada) contains three of the crew that just missed Olympic qualification at the FOQR in Shannon Kennedy, Marilou Duvernay Tardif and Katie Clarke. Replacing Carling Zeeman from the FOQR boat is Grace Van Den Broek. She was in the quad for the 2023 world championships and in 2022 won U23 BW2X silver at the world championships. Douvernay Tardif raced in the double for the 2022 and 2023 world championships, placing 11th in 2022 and 15th last year. Clark partnered Duvernay Tardif in the double last year in her first season on the senior team.
Switzerland’s boat in this event is Ruderclub Baden and See-Club Luzern, Switzerland. This is made up of the lightweight and (half) the openweight double that both missed Olympic qualification at the FOQR. The lightweight part of the boat are Eline Rol and Olivia Nacht. Rol was U23 BLW2X world champion back in 2019 and raced in the lightweight single at the 2022 and 2023 world championships, winning the B-Final last season. She and Nacht made the A-Final at the FOQR but their fifth-placed finish saw them miss out on qualification. The other half of the crew is Salome Ulrich and Nina Wettstein. Wettstein is another former U23 world champion and raced in the double at the 2022 world championships. This season, she formed a new partnership with Gmelin but, like her lightweight compatriots, ended up fifth in the final and missed out on qualification. Ulrich (another former U23 world champion) was in the quad that finished fifth in 2022 but missed selection for that boat in 2023 and instead raced in the double. This season, she raced as a second Swiss double with Sofia Meakin, placing 11th in Poznan.
The Netherlands have two representatives in the event, both made up of young development athletes. The first of the two is Algemene Rotterdamsche Studenten Roeivereniging Skadi, Netherlands with their line-up of Lieke van Nieuwenhuizen, Pau Koster, Hannah Jonker and Nienke von Hebel. This crew finished third at the Holland Beker. Koster was selected to stroke the 2020 BW8 for the world championships before that got cancelled due to COVID. Jonker raced in the BLW4X at the U23s last season and Hebel was in the Dutch BM8 for the 2022 U23 world championships.
Perhaps the stronger of the two Dutch entries is Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Nereus. They have Femke Paulis, Jessy Vermeer, Iris Klok and Sona Hospers. Three of the crew (Paulis, Vermeer and Hospers) were in the crew that won the Holland Beker this season whilst Kolk was studying at Stanford University (where she helped the Stanford Varsity win the NCAA’s and PAC-12’s).
The USA also has two crews entered. The first of the two is Advanced Rowing Initiative of the Northeast and Craftsbury Green Racing Project, U.S.A. This is made up of athletes looking to break into the national squad (ARION is specifically designed to help athletes make the transition to the national team). Their line up is Sera Moon Busse, Madeline Focht, Sophie Calabrese and Savannah Brija. This is a new combination put together especially for Henley so it’ll be interesting to see how they get on against some of the other development boats.
The second US entry is from the University of Iowa featuring Annabel Rayner, Esme Rayner, Hailey Mercuri and Emma Mask. All four have Henley experience. Mercuri rowed for Oxford Brookes last season and was also in the Canadian U23 BW8. Twins Emma and Annabel Rayner raced for Marlow in the Diamond Jubilee. Mask raced for the Y Quad Cities crew that won the Diamond Jubilee in 2018. Although they were the only crew not to qualify for the side-by-side racing in the championship quad category at Henley Women’s Regatta, their squad did not land on UK soil until 1:30am that morning.
Germany is represented by a young crew from Der Hamburger und Germania Ruder Club and Lübecker Ruder-Gesellschaft von 1885 e.V. All four of the athletes have represented Germany at age-group level and are part of the development pathway for LA2028. Lena Siekerkotte won bronze in the BW4X in 2022 and then fourth last year. Lina Goetze raced at the European U23s and Sandrine Bartos won bronze at the U19 world championship in 2021. The fourth member of the crew is Lisa Behrens, who raced in the BW1X at the German U23 championships.
Perhaps the strongest British challenger will be the Twickenham Rowing Club and Trentham Boat Club composite. This quartet – Vwaire Obukohwo, Jade Lindo, Poppy Baker and Megan Knight – won championship quads at Henley Women’s Regatta two days ago. Obukohwo won U23 silver in 2023 and made her senior debut at the final World Rowing Cup this season. She raced in the single at the Holland Beker, coming away with an excellent fifth place. Lindo also raced at the Holland Beker, partnering Sarah McKay to a second place behind team mates Freya Keto and Jen Bates. Baker and Knight competed in the U23 BW2x at the Beker and cam away with a silver.
Leander Club were beaten finalists in the Borne Cup for championship quads at Henley Women’s Regatta and return with an identical line-up at the Royal. On home water, it’s difficult to bet against a fully operational Leander unit but they may find the going a little tough against some truly world class opposition.
Prediction
It should be fun watching the Swiss and Canadian quads race against team mates, and those boats are likely to be too strong for the rest of the field, although the Twickenham/Trentham combination looked very good at HWR. If I have to put my money somewhere I’m going for the Canadians from Shawnigan Lake to win their nation’s first Princess Grace title.
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