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.
Entries: 19 (to be reduced to 10 by Qualifying races)
Overwhelming favourites in this event will be Sarah Wibberenz and Lara Gutfleisch (Ruder-Club-Havel Brandenburg e.V. and Heidelberger Ruderklub 1872 e.V., Germany). They were the German women’s open weight double for this season, and missed out on Olympic qualification at the Final Olympic Qualifying regatta by one place. They won bronze at the opening World Rowing Cup and then in Poznan finished eighth. In 2023, they were the bow pair in the German quad that qualified the boat for Paris by winning the B-Final at the world championships.
Germany has a second boat entered with twin sisters Johanna and Marion Reichardt (Akademischer Ruderclub Würzburg, Germany). They have been the German lightweight double for the last couple of seasons, racing at both the 2022 and 2023 European and world championships. This season, they raced at the opening World Rowing Cup, placing eighth.
Another strong overseas entry are Elisa Bolinger and Alizée Brien (Rowing Canada, Canada). Bolinger was in the quad that finished tenth at the 2023 world championships and in 2022 she won silver in the BW2X at the U23 world championships. Brien is a former professional cyclist who competed at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships. She switched sports in 2021 and rowed in the Canadian eight that won gold at the Pan-American Games.
Another overseas entry with a very strong international pedigree are Maggie Fellows and Mary Jones Nabel (Cambridge Boat Club, USA). Fellows was the spare for the US team at the 2023 world championships and in the previous year raced in the quad at the worlds. She’s raced at Henley Royal Regatta before, reaching the semi-finals of the Princess Royal in 2021. She also has several medals from the Pan-American Games. Jones Nabel was in the LW2X that finished second at the 2023 world championships and narrowly missed out on retaining her seat in the Olympic boat. She also has world championship silver in the lightweight double from 2018 and was single world bronze medallist in 2017.
The USA has three other entries in the event, Margaret Dobrenko and Fiona Steele (Drexel University, USA). They are the spares for the Drexel crew in the Island Challenge Cup so probably don’t have a huge amount of experience in the double. They both raced in the Drexel 2V at the Dad Vail Regatta this season. The next US entry are Karina Feitner and Katy Flynn (Advanced Rowing Initiative of the Northeast, U.S.A.). Flynn competed for the USA at the U23 world championships and attended the University of Virginia. Feitner is an Ithaca college graduate with whom she won silver at the 2018 NCAA’s.
The final US entry is Bonnie Pushner and Amelia Boehle (The Ivy Club, USA). They are both members of the Princeton lightweight squad. Boehle won the lightweight double at the IRA’s and Pushner won IRA gold in the lightweight Varsity 4+.
The strongest British entry will be Jenny Bates and Freya Keto (Oxford Brookes University and Thames Rowing Club). They were winners at the Holland Beker and also made their senior international debuts racing at the Poznan World Rowing Cup, reaching the A-Final. Keto is a graduate of Brown University and also a former Cambridge Blue. Both scullers have Henley Women’s wins and Henley Royal appearances to their credit. They are also part of the GB “Project LA” squad.
At the time of writing, Ellie Cooke & Finnola Stratton (Reading University) are on course to meet Bates and Keto in the final at Henley Women’s Regatta. Both Cooke and Stratton raced for GB at the 2023 European U23 championships with Stratton finishing sixth in the BW1X and Cooke winding up in the BW4X that finished third. At the GB trials in February, Cooke finished as the fastest U23 and Stratton made the top-five.
Facing Bates & Keto in the semi-finals at HWR are the young combination of Rebekah Court and Ella Fullman (University of Bath). They were winners at the Metropolitan Regatta and Fullman has an U19 European championships medal and also raced at Munich Junior Regatta. Court was in the Bath quad that won gold at BUCS and also has a Henley Women’s Regatta final appearance.
A strong lightweight entry is Lara Brittain and Hannah Justicz (Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association). They were finalists in the the Haslam Trophy for championship lightweight doubles at Henley Women’s Regatta, where Brittain will be hoping to repeat her victory of 2021 (racing for Reading University). Justicz comes from a strong rowing family; her father, Max, was a Cambridge Blue in 1991 and her Grandfather rowed for GB at the 1960 Olympics and is a multiple Henley winner. She’s a student at Stanford University and raced in their lightweight Varsity that won silver at the IRA’s.
Leander Club has two crews entered. The first is Isabel Liabres Diaz and Bibi Colgan. They will have been disappointed to lose their heat of championship doubles at Henley Women’s Regatta this weekend. Liabres Diaz is an U19 world championship silver medallist and has just completed her freshman year at Harvard. Colgan is a surgeon and Managing Director of Leander Club’s sponsor, The Colgan Foundation. She has an impressive sporting pedigree; as well as top-flight rowing, she has also been a competitive swimmer and motorbike racer.
The second Leander Club crew is Laura Burton and Hannah Cooper. They have both studied at US Universities – Burton has just done her first year at Yale, and Cooper graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2022. Cooper won the Diamond Jubilee in 2017 and made the final of the Remenham in 2021. Burton is one of the most talented young scullers in the country. She won championship singles at the National Schools’ Regatta in 2022 and then took bronze at the U19 world championships in 2022.
Prediction
This should be an absolute cracker with the top German, American and British boats all in with a good shout. A lot will depend on the draw. I will go for the Germans, Gutfleisch and Wibberenz of Ruder-Club-Havel Brandenburg e.V. and Heidelberger Ruderklub 1872 e.V., Germany, to take it (another German sculling victory to go with the diamonds and Princess Royal).
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