Photo Credit: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
The first World Cup of a new Olympic cycle is always interesting to watch; it’s a fascinating combination of experienced athletes returning, perhaps in new combinations or events, with new and emerging talent. With the Paris Olympic cycle being only three years, every chance to race will be an important step on the road to Paris.
The 2022 season opens in Belgrade, Serbia and has attracted a healthy entry of 225 boats from 36 countries and 435 athletes, the biggest entry for an opening World Cup since 2018 (when Belgrade also played host).
So, as always, I’ll try and give a preview of each of the events, picking out the main contenders and anything else of interest in each boat class.
First up are the women’s events…
Women’s Single
24 Entries
There are 13 Tokyo Olympians entered in this event, although only 4 of those (Magdalena Lobnig of Austria, Jovana Arsic of Serbia, Lovisa Claesson of Sweden and Yi-Ting Huang of Taipei) raced the single at last year’s Games.
Magdalena Lobnig will start as the likely favourite. She won bronze in Tokyo and has been a consistent medallist or finalist since she started in the single back in 2013 (indeed, she’s only missed making the A Final at a major regatta three times in 33 regattas).
But, Lobnig will face some stiff competition, and from competitors, she’s unlikely to have raced much in direct competition. Leading the challenge will be China’s Yunxia Chen (racing as CHN2). Chen was a member of the W4X that won gold in Tokyo and was also W4x World Champion in 2019. Chen last raced in the single at the 3rd World Cup of 2018, where she finished 14th. Another major challenger will be Lisa Scheenaard of The Netherlands. Scheenaard raced in the W2X in Tokyo with Roos De Jong, coming away with a bronze medal. She raced in the single for most of the 2019 season, winning medals at both the 1st and 3rd World Cups and was 5th at the World Championship in the single back in 2017.
Donata Karaliene is another Olympic medallist in the field. The Lithuanian was a bronze medallist in the W2X in Rio and followed that with 4th in Tokyo. The 32-year-old last raced in the single back in 2012, winning the European Championships and placing 8th at the London Olympics.
China has two other Tokyo Olympians entered in the single, Shiyu Lu (CHN1) and Zifeng Wang (CHN4). Lu was a member of the W4- which finished 5th, and Wang was in the W8, which won bronze. Lu is a former Junior world champion in the quad and raced in the double at the 2019 World Championships placing 10th. Her last international race in the single was the 2018 U23 World Championships, finishing 10th. Wang has medaled in the W4- from the 2019 World Cup series, but Belgrade will be her first international race with sculls. Rounding off the quartet of Chinese entrants is Ning Sun, who makes her international debut in Belgrade.
The Netherlands also has multiple Olympians in the event. Joining Scheenaard are Karolien Florijn and Karien Robbers. Florijn (NED1) was part of W4- which won silver in Tokyo and won gold at the European Championship in 2019, 2020 and 2021. She made her senior debut back in 2016 in the W1X and was a member of the W4X that won bronze at the 2018 World Championships. Robbers (NED3) missed out on Olympic qualification as a member of the W8 that finished 4th at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta and competed in Rio in the W2- placing 13th. She has raced the W1X before, taking 12th at the 2016 Europeans.
With GB’s Vicky Thornley having hung up her oars, the singles spot for the British is up for grabs. Racing in Belgrade for GB is Hannah Scott. She missed the recent GB trials, so it remains to be seen if she continues in the single or moves back into a crew boat. Scott was a member of the W4X that finished 7th in Tokyo and took European Silver last year (her first year on the senior team). As an U23 she won silver medals in both 2018 and 2019.
Another Tokyo Olympian competing in Belgrade is Virginia Diaz Rivas from Spain. She was 6th in the W2- last year and medalled in that boat class at both the 2020 and 2021 Europeans. She’s no stranger to the single, having raced in this boat class from 2015-18, with a best performance of 11th at the 2017 World Championships.
Switzerland’s entry is an exciting new talent, Lisa Loetscher. She is the reigning U23 World Champion in the quad and is also a former Junior World Champion.
Other scullers to mention include Lenka Antosova of the Czech Republic, 10th in the W2X in Tokyo, Lovisa Claesson of Sweden (14th in the W1X last year) and Jovana Arsic of Serbia (15th).
Predictions:
Difficult to see anyone getting the best of Lobnig, but it should be a good battle for the silver and bronze medals, I’m going for Scheenaard in silver with Chen of China in bronze.
Women’s Double
Ten Entries
Both Great Britain and The Netherlands have multiple boats entering this event, and it’s highly possible that the medals will become from these two countries.
GB are doubling up in the W4X with Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw racing as GBR1 and Jess Leyden and Lucy Glover as GBR2. Anderson and Brayshaw finished 1-2 at the recent GB Final trials (although neither Leyden nor Glover competed). Anderson was a member of the U23 W4x that won the World Championships last year and made her senior debut at the final World Cup of 2021, winning an outstanding bronze medal in the W1X. Brayshaw made her senior debut in 2019, placing 16th in the W2X at the 2nd World Cup. Leyden missed out on a place in the Tokyo quad, having raced in that boat class throughout the Tokyo Olympiad, including winning a World Championship bronze in 2017. She’s no stranger to the double, having won the U23 World Championships back in 2016. Glover is a three-time U23 World Champion and made her senior debut in 2021, winning a silver medal in the quad at the European Championships and then placing 7th at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Netherlands has three boats entered, Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou (NED1), Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester (NED2) and Lisa Bruijnincx and Minke Holleboom (NED3). De Jong raced in this boat class at the Tokyo Olympics, with Scheenaard winning a bronze medal. She also has a World Championship bronze medal in this boat class from 2019 and European silver in 2020. Youssifou raced in the W4X in Tokyo, reaching the A-Final. The Dutch quad also won European gold in both 2020 and 2021. Youssifou and de Jong have raced together as a double before, winning a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships back in 2015. Both Clevering and Meester raced in the W4- throughout the Tokyo Olympiad, winning the European Championships in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and taking World Championship silver in 2019. At the Games in Tokyo, they won silver just 3/10th of a second behind Australia. Belgrade will be the first time either of these athletes has raced in an international sculling event.
The 3rd Netherlands boat includes reigning U23 BW2X World Champion Lisa Bruijnincx. The 20-year-old made her senior debut at the Sabaudia World Cup last year, finishing 7th as part of a 2nd Netherlands W4X. Her partner in Belgrade is Minke Holleboom. She won silver in the U23 BW4X in 2018 and also made her senior debut in the NED2 Quad in Sabaudia.
Outside of The Netherlands and Great Britain, the main threat looks to be Poland, Olga Michalkiewicz and Paulina Chrzanowska. Michalkiewicz raced in the W4- in Tokyo, finishing 6th and is a two-time U23 World Champion in the BW4X from 2015 and 2016. She raced in this boat class at the 2017 Europeans placing 5th in the A-Final. Chrzanowska made her senior debut in 2021, racing in an U23 quad that finished 10th at the Sabaudia World Cup. The U23 boat went on to finish 7th at the U23 World Championships and took bronze at the U23 Europeans.
Also racing are Viktorija Senkute and Dovile Rimkute of Lithuania. Senkute was 10th in the W1X at the European Championships last year, and Rimkute made her senior debut after winning bronze in the BW2X at the U23 European Championships last year.
Greece’s Evangelina Fragkou won gold at the U23 Europeans last year and also took bronze at the U23 worlds. She was joined by lightweight Zoi Fitsou, who missed qualification for Tokyo in the LW2X at the FOQR.
China has a young crew of Wen Yu (junior World champion in 2019) and international debutant Yingying Xu.
The final boat entered is from Hungary, Vivien Preil and Eszter Kremer. They were both in the W4X that finished 6th at the 3rd World Cup last season.
Predictions:
Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou for gold for the Netherlands, with Leyden and Glover in silver and Clevering and Meester in bronze.
Women’s Pair
Eleven Entries
This looks to be quite an open event with only two established pairs competing. One of these established pairings is the Jurkovic sisters from Croatia. Ivana and Josipa are the reigning U23 World and European Champions and also have senior gold from the first World Cup of 2021 and silver from World Cup 3. They narrowly missed qualification for Tokyo after finishing 4th at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta. The other established pair are the Abraham twins, Melita and Antonia, from Chile. They were U23 World Champions in 2017 and finished 12th at the senior World Championships in 2019. They also narrowly missed out on the spot at the Olympics with 3rd at the FOQR.
Amongst the new combinations for 2022, it again looks to be a Netherlands v Great Britain battle. GB’s boat includes Emily Ford, the only Tokyo Olympian in the field; she won U23 silver in 2016 and was in the W4- that finished 7th at the 2019 World Championships. She moved into the W8 for the Olympics and finished 7th. She’s joined by Esme Booth from Leander Club, who stroked the W4- at the Sabaudia World Cup in 2021, finishing 4th.
The Netherlands has three boats that entered Belgrade. Racing as NED1 is Marloes Oldenburg and Benthe Boonstra. Oldenburg raced in the W8 that finished a disappointing 9th at the 2019 World Championships. They then took silver at the 2021 European Championships but then missed qualifying for Tokyo with 4th place at the FOQR. Boonstra was U23 World Champion in the BW8 in 2019 and made her senior debut last year, finishing 9th in the W1X at the 2nd World Cup.
NED2 is Maartje Damen and Dieuwertje den Besten. Both were also members of the gold medal BW8 from 2019 and raced in the senior W8 at the 2020 European Championships, winning a bronze medal. Besten was also in the W8 that won silver at the 2021 Europeans.
The final Netherlands boat is Catherine Drenth and Tinka Offereins. Both were in the 2020 and 2021 medal-winning European Championship W8. Drenth raced in this boat class at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, placing 14th and respectively. Offereins made her senior debut at the 2nd World Cup of 2019, placing 14th in the W4-. She was also in the Dutch W8 that missed qualification for the Tokyo games at the FOQR.
Australia has a boat entered in this event, although it remains to be seen if Alexandra Viney and Alex Vuillermin actually race. They are part of the Australian Para-Rowing squad, and it’s likely that they were bumped across to the W2- due to a lack of entries in the PR3 W2- event. Viney rowed in the PR3 Mix4+ at the Paralympics, just missing out on a medal. Vuillermin was a member of the para Mix4+ for the 2018 and 2019 World Championships finishing 5th and 4th, respectively.
China has two boats in the event, racing as CHN1 is Hongmei Shi and Xiya Dong, both making their senior international debuts. Dong raced as a junior international, placing 11th in the JW4X in 2019. CHN2 is Mengyao Dai and Keke Xia. Xia raced at the World Cups in 2019, finishing 17th in Rotterdam. Dai made her senior debut after being a member of the junior national team in 2014.
The final crew entered are Denmark, Sofie Vikkelsoe and Nikoline Laidlaw. Laidlaw hails from Scotland and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She was a member of the Danish W4- which finished 7th at the 2018 European championships, and then the W8, which came 11th at the 2019 World Championships. Vikkelsoe makes her senior debut, having raced at the U23 World Championships in 2021, finishing 15th in the BW1X.
Predictions:
This is going to be tight, but I think we could see gold for GB ahead of NED1 in silver and Croatia in bronze. (note: if GB does win gold, it’ll be the first open weight women’s gold at a World Cup since the W2- at the 1st World Cup in Belgrade in 2017!)
Women’s Four
Six Entries
Great Britain looks to be starting favourites in this event. Their crew includes two of the boat that finished 4th at the Tokyo Olympics, Rowan McKellar and Rebecca Shorten. They are joined by Heidi Long and Sam Redgrave.
China has entered two boats, with their strongest combination racing as CHN1. This crew includes Xinyu Lin and Xiaoxin Liu, both of whom raced at the Tokyo Olympics (Lin finishing 5th in the W4- and Liu losing in the rep of the W2X). They are joined by Shuxian Zhang and Yihui Wu, both of whom are making their senior international debuts.
China’s 2nd boat includes Yan Zhang and Yixin Yang, who were both members of the W8 that finished 8th at the 2017 World Championships. Alongside them are two former junior internationals who make their senior debuts, Yuxiu Zhou and Hairong Zhang.
Denmark also has a boat with a mix of youth and experience. Leading the crew is Frida Nielsen. She raced in this boat class at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing 8th. She’s joined by Astrid Steenberg, who raced in the W8 at the 2019 World Championships, Julie Poulsen (7th in the BW8 in 2017) and debutant Marie Johannesen.
Spain is following the trend of building a new crew around an experienced athlete. In their case, the leader of the crew is Aina Cid. Cid raced in W2- for most of her career, making the A-final at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. She also had a World Championship bronze medal in 2018 and European gold in 2019. Joining CID are three athletes who all rowed in this boat at the 2021 European Championships, Julia Ros Martinez, Nuria Puig Aguilo and Iria Diaz Jarama. This boat finished 11th at the Europeans, and the three then competed at the U23 World Championships (Ros Martinez and Paid Aguilo finishing 6th in the BW2- and Diaz Jarama 7th in the BW4-).
The final crew in the event are Poland. Katarzyna Duda and Barbara Jechorek raced in the BW4X at the European U23 Championships last year, picking up a bronze medal, and then went on to finish 7th at the U23 Worlds. Weronika Kazmierczak and Zuzanna Lesner also raced at both the European and World U23 Championships, winning a silver in the BW4- at the Europeans and 4th in the BW8 at the World U23s.
Predictions:
This could be another gold for GB with CHN1 in 2nd and Spain in bronze.
Women’s Quad
Six Entries
Only six boats, but this is still a very competitive field. China comes into this season as the reigning Olympic Champions, and their crew for Belgrade includes two members of that gold medal-winning boat, Yang Lyu and Xiaotong Cui. They were also in the boat that won the World title in 2019 and was A-finalists in 2018. They are joined by fellow Tokyo Olympian Shuangmei Shen, who raced in the W2X, and Fengjiao Sun, making her senior international debut, having raced in the U23 team in 2019.
Poland were runners-up to the Chinese in Tokyo, and like the Chinese, they have two members of their Olympic boat returning this season. Katarzyna Zillmann and Marta Wieliczko are joined by fellow Tokyo Olympian Joanna Dittmann (who raced in the W4-). The 4th member of the crew is Katarzyna Boruch; she raced in the quad at the 2020 and 2021 European Championships, winning a bronze at the former. This is a very strong-looking combination and may well start as favourites in Belgrade.
As mentioned above, Great Britain is doubling up the W4X with the W2X with their crew of Lucy Glover, Georgia Brayshaw, Lola Anderson and Jess Leyden. This should be a really good test of this new-look quad for the British up against crews containing several Olympic medallists. A medal will be a very positive step forward.
The Netherlands finished 6th at the Tokyo Olympics, but for 2022 they have a completely new line-up. Nika Vos, Tessa Dullemans, Ilse Kolkman and Bente Paulis all raced together in the quad at the U23 World Championships in 2019. This is the first time that this crew will race internationally as a unit since 2019. Dullemans was in the Dutch W8 that won bronze at the 2020 Europeans, and Vos raced in that boat to silver in 2021. Dullemans and Kolkman raced in the W2X at the 2nd World Cup of 2021, reaching the A-Final.
Given everything that’s going on in their homeland, it’s great to see a strong contingent from Ukraine racing in Belgrade. Their W4X includes three of the crew that finished 4th at the Rio Olympics, Yevheniia Dovhodko, Daryna Verkhogliad & Anastasiia Kozhenkova. The 4th member of the crew is Kateryna Dudchenko. The Ukrainians have struggled to recapture the form they had during the Rio Olympiad, and despite some strong European Championship performance (including a silver medal in 2018), they didn’t quite hit the heights on the world stage (finishing 9th in 2018 and not racing in the event in 2019). All four of these athletes raced at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta last season (Dovhodko and Verkhogliad in the W4- and Dudchenko and Kozhenkova in the W4X), but none made it through. But, as with the recent Eurovision Song Contest, the Ukrainians will most likely garner the most public support.
The final crew in the event are Switzerland. Theirs is a boat with a mix of youth and experience, led from the stroke seat by Pascale Walker, who made her senior debut in 2015. She’s joined by two of the reigning U23 BW4X World Champions, Salome Ulrich and Celia Dupre. The 4th member of the crew is Fabienne Schweizer. She was a U23 lightweight silver medallist back in 2017 and moved to the open weight category in 2018. She was in the quad that finished 9th at the 2021 Europeans and ended the 2021 season with 7th place in the W1X at the Sabaudia World Cup.
Predictions:
Should be a great battle between the Chinese and Polish for the gold. I’m going for Poland in 1, China in 2 with GB taking the bronze.
Women’s Eight
Three Entries
This will be the first time that there’s been a W8 race at a World Cup since Rotterdam in 2019. Only three boats, however, two from China and one from The Netherlands. But, all but one of the athletes are doubling up in other events, so it does feel like a bit of a scratch race.
The Netherlands have combined their W2- and W2X crews (Benthe Boonstra, Laila Youssifou, Dieuwertje den Besten, Marloes Oldenburg, Roos De Jong, Maartje Damen, Ymkje Clevering,
Veronique Meester and cox Aniek van Veenen). China has put their W4-s into two separate 8’s along with a mix of the pairs, doubles, and even single sculler Ning Sun gets a seat.
I can’t help feeling this race might not happen, and it also feels a bit like World Rowing made a plea to the competing nations to enter a W8 just to get a race in the books. For what it’s worth, I’m picking the Netherlands ahead of China 1 and China 2.
Lightweight Women’s Single
Ten Entries
The pick of the bunch in this event is the sole USA entry at the regatta, Mary Jones. Jones last competed on the world stage at the 2018 World Championships taking silver in the LW2X. She is also a World Championship bronze medallist in the light single from 2017; she also has Pan-Am, and head of the Charles wins to her credit.
Chasing Jones will be a trio of Dutch scullers. Racing as NED1 is Martine Veldhuis. She won the LW1X at the final World Cup of 2021 and was the European champion in 2020. In 2019 she reached the A-Final at the World Championships.
Racing as NED2 is Phaedra van Der Molen. The 18-year-old won the JW2X at the 2021 Junior World Championships and was a silver medallist in the JW1X at the Junior Europeans.
NED3 is Tosca Kettler. Her sole appearance to date at a senior level was at the opening World Cup of the 2021 season, where she finished 4th in the LW1X. Back in 2018, the University of Utrecht student competed at the European University Championships taking silver in the LW1X.
Racing for Spain is Natalia Miguel Gomez. She raced in the LW2X throughout the Tokyo Olympiad, finishing 18th at the 2019 World Championships and 12th at the 2021 Europeans.
Egypt has two scullers entered, EGY1 is Salma Abdelrahman and EGY2 Huda Mansour. Both these athletes made their international debuts at the Sabaudia world Cup last season, where they placed 6th in the LW2X.
Also racing are Algerian Nihed Benchadli (making her senior debut after racing at the Junior Worlds in 2019), Dora Dragicevic of Croatia (having last raced internationally as a junior back in 2014), and Chilean Isidora Niemeyer (a junior world medallist in 2018 and finished 4th in the BW4- at the 2021 U23 worlds).
Predictions:
Jones in gold with Veldhuis in silver and Kettler in bronze.
Lightweight Women’s Double
Fourteen Entries
Great Britain again looks to be the pick of the crop in this event. Emily Craig narrowly missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She has a new partner in Belgrade, with Maddie Arlett replacing Imogen Grant. The combination of Craig and Grant won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2021 Europeans. Arlett raced in the LW1X at the 2019 World Championships, winning a bronze medal. In 2021 she finished 5th in the Europeans. This new combination for GB might not be as quick as the 2021 version, but they still look to be the class of what is a very young and relatively inexperienced field.
The only crew apart from the British with any Olympic experience was Austria. Valentina Cavallar finished 14th in the LW2X event in Tokyo. She’s joined by the talented Lara Tiefenthaler, European U23 BLW1X champion and former U23 World medallist. She also raced on the World Cup circuit last season, picking up a bronze in the LW1X at the 1st World Cup.
China has three boats racing, with the pick looking to be CHN2 of Xiaoyue Fu and Huiru Li. Fu finished 14th in the LW1X at the 2019 World Championships, and Li won gold in the LW1X at the opening World Cup last season.
Both the Czech Republic (Veronika Cinkova and Kristyna Neuhortova) and Denmark (Marie Morch-Pedersen and Mathilde Persson) raced in this boat class at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, but neither boat reached the final.
Greece has selected a very young combination, Evangelina Anastasiadou and Dimitra Kontou. Anastasiadou raced at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta and then won World U23 silver and European U23 gold in the BLW1X. Kontou makes her international debut in Belgrade, but at just 16, I do feel a little uneasy at someone so young competing on the senior stage.
Poland has 2 boats entered. POL1 is Zuzanna Jasinska and Katarzyna Welna. Jasinska won bronze in the BLW2X at the 2021 U23 World Championships and Welna finished 15th in this boat class at the 2019 World Championships. POL2 is Jessica Sobocinska and Wiktoria Kalinowska. Kalinowska was Jasinka’s partner in the bronze medal BLW2X and Sobocinska won bronze in the BW8 at the European U23’s.
Switzerland is another country boating a young and relatively inexperienced combination. Olivia Nacht and Eline Rol both competed at the U23 World Championships last season, Nacht placing 8th in the BLW2X and Rol 7th in the BLW1X. Rol also raced at the 2019 U23’s winning the gold in the BLW2X.
Also, racing are crews from Spain (Rocio Sanchez Lao and Ana Navarro), Taipei (Kuan-Yi Lee and I-Ching Hsieh) and Hungary (Eszter Fehervari and Dorina Szili).
Predictions:
This “should” be a comfortable win for the British, with China 1 in silver and Poland 1 in bronze.
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