Cover image: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell
It’s now time for the second World Cup, where things begin to get serious. Held in Varese in Northern Italy, it sees the first deployment of the Australians, Canadians and Americans to the international circuit.
They will take on full-strength teams from Great Britain, Italy and Germany, although crucially not the World Cup leaders, the Netherlands, who have sent a second tier/U23 team to Varese.
Men’s Single Scull
38 Entries
World Cup One winner: Ollie Zeidler (Germany)
A massive entry of 38 scullers, the largest ever for a second World Cup, means whoever wins will certainly have a lot of racing to do. However, whilst the field is vast, it’s not particularly deep, with only two European Championship A Finalists racing and only another four who were in the A or B final at last year’s World Championships.
Ollie Zeidler of Germany will start as the favourite. He won in Zagreb but came a bit unstuck in Bled at the European Championships, where he was beaten by Stefanos Ntsoukos of Greece and Leonard Van Lierop of the Netherlands. Questions continue to be raised about Zeidler’s ability to cope with less-than-ideal conditions; the final in Bled was raced in a strong tailwind, sometimes making the water complex.
If conditions are favourable, few can match the big German, but if anything less than perfect, his opponents may smell blood. But, given the lack of significant opposition, this should offer Zeidler a straightforward opportunity to take his second World Cup win of the season.
The main challenger to Zeidler will be Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen. The 2020 European Champion was runner-up to Zeidler in Zagreb (his first race since finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics) and was one place behind the German in Bled.
On paper, Norway’s Kjetil Borch should also be a significant challenger to Zeidler. The Olympic silver medallist has been very open about his struggles with illness and injury this season. He raced in Bled with minimal expectations, but even so, he will probably be a little disappointed with 16th place. It remains to be seen what sort of form he will be in Varese; if he’s fit, he should be challenging for a medal, but given how disrupted his preparations have been, an A-Final placing will be a significant step forward.
One of the most intriguing entries is Paul O’Donovan of Ireland. The Olympic and World Champion is also entered in the Men’s Double (with partner Fintan McCarthy). As such, it would be a big ask for him to race both events (which would involve something like ten races), so it feels like the entry in the single is an “option” entry if they decide not to race the double. If he does run, seeing him take on the heavyweights will be fascinating.
Ryuta Arakawa is Japan’s most successful single sculler. He finished 11th at the Tokyo Olympics and won the B-Final at the 2022 World Championships. He has a real chance of becoming the first Japanese man to make the A-Final in the single.
Canada’s Trevor Jones is a former U23 World Champion; he placed ninth at the Tokyo Olympics and made the A Final at both the second and third World Cups last season. He finished 2022 with tenth at the World Championships.
Italy has two scullers entered: Davide Mumolo and Leonardo Tedoldi. Mumolo was seventh in Bled and raced in the double at the 2022 World Championships. Tedoldi, who celebrates his 21st birthday during the regatta, makes his senior debut in Varese. He raced on the U23 team in 2021 and 2022, winning gold in the Under23 quad last year.
France also has two scullers racing, brothers Theophile and Valentin Onfroy. They were both members of the French quad last season that finished eighth.
Tim Brys of Belgium made the A-Final of the lightweight double at the Tokyo Olympics and then switched to heavyweight in 2022, racing in the quad at the World Championships. He raced in the single at the Europeans, placing second in the B-Final (8th overall).
The Netherlands is the reigning European Champion, but neither Nan Lierop nor World silver medallist Melvin Twellaar are racing in this event. Instead, they are represented by Wibout Rustenburg. The former Cal Bear raced at the U23 World Championships in 2019, winning a bronze medal, and made his senior debut in 2022, finishing fifth in the four at the first World Cup.
Australia’s single sculler in Varese is Henry Youl; he was a member of the Aussie eight that won bronze at the World Championships last season and is part of a six-strong Quad-focussed sculling squad, so he is effectively the sculling spare for Varese.
The USA also has two scullers entered: James Plihal and Andrew Leroux. Pilal raced in the quad last season, and Leroux, a Princeton graduate, raced in the pair during the World Cup series last year.
Predictions: It should be a relatively comfortable win for Zeidler, with Nielsen in silver. Bronze will be much more open, and we could see any one of about half a dozen scullers competing for the final place on the podium. If I had to pick one, I’d go for Jones of Canada.
Men’s Double Scull
21 Entries
World Cup One winner: Croatia (Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic)
As with the single, several top European boats are missing from the entry list; only three of the top 12 boats from Bled – Italy, Belgium and Germany – are racing.
Italy is the top-ranked boat from Bled, where Matteo Sartori and Luca Ramboldi were runners-up to the Croatians. Rambaldi won World Championship bronze in 2017. After switching to the quad, he was a member of the crew that won the World Championships in 2018 and the Europeans in 2021 before finishing fifth in Tokyo. Last season he moved back to the double, partnered by Davide Mumolo, but could only finish ninth. 21-year-old Sartori was the Under23 World Champion in the quad in 2022 before racing the single at the senior Europeans and Worlds.
The biggest challengers for the top honours are likely to be China. Varese sees the return of the Olympic bronze medal crew of Liang Zhang and Zhiyu Liu. Zhang missed the 2022 season, and Liu raced in the quad that finished twelfth. This duo were World Champions in 2019, so it’ll be interesting to see what speed they bring to Varese.
Australia has Jack Cleary and Harley Moore. This duo was initially selected as part of the quad squad, with Caleb Antil and Dave Bartholot in the double. But for Varese, Antil and Bartholot are in the quad. Cleary was a member of the quad that won bronze in Tokyo and finished twelfth in the single last season. Moore is a former U23 World Champion and raced in the pair at the 2022 World Championships, placing fifth.
As mentioned above, Ireland’s lightweight World Champions, Fintan Mc Carthy and Paul O’Donovan, are entered in the heavyweight category. It remains to be seen whether they race or not. If they do, it should be fascinating to see the best lightweights in the world take on some of the best heavyweights.
Belgium finished sixth at the Europeans and is represented by the reigning U23 World Champions Aaron Andries and Tristan Vandenbussche. This is an exciting young combination, still U23 eligible but targeting an A-Final appearance and having an outside chance of a medal.
Germany has Jonas Glesen and Marc Weber racing in Varese, the same combination that finished ninth in Bled. Glesen is the reigning U23 Single World Champion, and his partner, Weber, was in the double at the Tokyo Olympics.
The B-Final winners in Bled were Romania’s Ciprian Tudosa and Florin Arteni. They doubled up in the eight, winning the silver medal. Tudosa won silver in the pair in Tokyo and was the European champion in 2020. Arteni raced in the men’s eight at Tokyo, as well as throughout the 2022 season.
Great Britain withdrew from the Europeans due to Seb Devereux’s injury. He’s still not recovered, so his place is taken by international debutant Aidan Thompson; the Twickenham sculler was sent as a spare for the Europeans but steps up to the main squad in Varese. He’s partnered with John Collins, perhaps the most experienced rower on the team. He’s been racing on the senior team since 2012 and placed fifth in this boat class in Rio, rising one higher to fourth in Tokyo.
Ben Davidson and Sorin Koszyk represent the USA. Davidson raced in the single last season, finishing eighth. Koszyk raced in this boat class last season, with Thomas Phifer winning the B-Final at the World Championships. The USA hasn’t won a medal in this event since taking gold at the LA Olympics, but this duo looks promising, and they have an outside chance of a medal in Varese.
Other doubles to watch out for include the Czech Republic (Jan Cincibuch and Jakub Podrazil0, tenth in Bled, and Poland (Krzysztof Kasparek and Szymon Posnik), 16th at the Europeans.
Predictions: Italy in gold, China in silver and Belgium in bronze.
Men’s Pair
20 Entries
World Cup One winner: Switzerland Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich)
The final in Bled was one of the best pairs races for years: Switzerland just pipped Great Britain to win their first-ever gold in this event. Both pairs, Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich of Switzerland and Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith of Great Britain, are racing in Varese.
Both Gulich and Wynne-Griffith are Yale graduates (although the Brit graduated the year before Gulich started at Yale). The Swiss won in Zagreb and pipped the British by just 1/10th of a second in Bled. There are further similarities to the crews: Wynne-Griffith and George were both members of the Cambridge Blue Boat in 2022, and Roeoesli was in the opposing Oxford boat. George and Wynne-Griffith raced in the men’s eight in Tokyo, and Roeoesli was in the double. These are two incredibly closely matched pairs, and it will be fascinating to see them go head-to-head again.
But this is by no means a two-boat race. Australia has a potent combination of Angus Dawson and Simon Keenan. They were both members of the Australian eight that made the A-Final in Tokyo, and last season Dawson won bronze at the U23 World Championships. Keenan raced in the single at the final World Cup last season and is one of a select band of men who have gone sub 5:40 on the erg. One disadvantage for the Australians is the lack of time together in the boat. Dawson is a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and last weekend raced in their Varsity eight that won the IRA Championships. It remains to be seen how well he adapts to the change in both the time zone and the size of the boat.
The USA has two pairs racing: Pieter Quinton and Justin Best in one boat and Andrew Gaard and Oliver Bub in the other. Quinton raced as an undergraduate at Harvard before transferring to Washington as a Grad Student, winning the IRA’s in 2021. Internationally he made his senior debut last season, finishing fourth in the eight. Best rowed in this boat class last season, finishing seventh at the World Championships. He was a member of the eight that finished fourth in Tokyo and is a former U23 World Champion. In the other US boat, Gaard is also a former U23 World Champion and raced in the eight last season. Bub, a graduate of Dartmouth, was spare for the 2022 World’s team; Varese will be his first senior international competition.
Switzerland has another pair racing with Patrick Brunner and Joel Schuerch. They ran in the four at Bled, finishing sixth. They are slated to be doubling up in the four in Varese, as are Roeoesli and Gulich (although given the large number of entries, and the correspondingly large number of races that will involve, it remains to be seen if they do double up or whether the Swiss prioritise the pair only with their top boat). Schuerch was in the four that raced in Tokyo, and Brunner raced the quad at the 2022 Worlds.
Germany hasn’t won a medal in this event since 2014, but they have a strong-looking boat for this World Cup with Olympic silver medallist Hannes Ocik partnered by 21-year-old Paul Klapperich. Klapperich makes his senior debut in Varese, having raced on the U23 team last season. Ocik is one of the most experienced members of the German team, having made his senior debut in 2011. He raced in the eight in 2013 and was in the boat for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, winning numerous world and European titles. It will be interesting to see how competitive this boat is, especially for a German team in such disarray at the moment.
Other crews to watch out for include Croatia’s Anton and Patrik Loncaric, tenth in Bled, and Poland’s Michal Szpakowski and Lukasz Posylajka, one place behind the Croatians in Bled.
Predictions: The extra racing may be critical if the Swiss double up in the four. I also think the British will have some extra sprint speed in Varese compared to Bled, so I’m going for them to take the gold. The US pairs should be quick, and the bronze medal could come down to the top US pair against Australia, with Germany snapping at their heels. GB in gold, Switzerland in silver and USA1 in bronze.
Men’s Four
16 Entries
World Cup One Winners: Switzerland (Dominic Condrau, Joel Schuerch, Kai Schaetzle, Patrick Brunner)
This promises to be one of the tastiest contests of the whole regatta; it’s always special when Great Britain and Australia race each other in the Coxless Four. The British have been dominant in this event throughout 2022 and continued where they left off this season with a win at the Europeans, despite making a couple of changes to the World Championship-winning crew. Dave Ambler and Freddie Davidson remain from the 2022 crew and are joined by Matt Aldridge (initially selected for the 2022 crew but missed out due to illness) and Ollie Wilkes. They produced a strong performance in Bled, beating the Netherlands by clear water.
Australia is the Brit’s nemesis, and they come to Varese with the same line-up that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics: Spencer Turrin, Alex Hill, Jack Hargreaves and Alex Purnell. All but Hill were in the four that finished second to the British last year (Hill instead racing in the pair to a fifth place finish). In terms of sheer international experience, the Australians win hand-over-fist against the British; all the Aussies have at least one Olympic cycle under their belts, whereas the British all made their senior debuts post-Tokyo. This really is going to be a fascinating battle. The two crews have very different styles; the Aussies, at times, look very powerful but rushed and a little bit scrappy, whereas the British have developed a very loose and relaxed style, and they typically under-rate their opponents. I can’t wait to watch these two go head-to-head again.
Behind the big two, this looks like it could be a battle between the Swiss and French and Americans for the bronze.
Switzerland has entered two crews (although, as mentioned above, they are doubling up in pairs, so it remains to be seen whether they will do both events). Racing as SUI1 is Tim Roth, Roman Roeoesli, Scott Baerlocher and Andrin Gulich. Roth was fifth in this boat class last season, and last weekend was racing in the Cal Bears crew at the IRA’s. SUI2 is the same line-up that won in Zagreb: Dominic Condrau, Joel Schuerch, Kai Schaetzle, and Patrick Brunner. As well as doubling up in the pairs, Baerlocher is also listed in the quad; it would be quite an achievement for him to race both events.
France finished third in Bled and has the same line-up for Varese: Teo Rayet, Benoit Brunet, Guillaume and Thibaud Turlan, who won gold together at the Wedau regatta last month. The Turlan brothers raced in the men’s pair at the Tokyo Olympics, and last season, Thibaud Turlan and Teo Rayet were in the four which finished 12th.
The United States line-up includes Liam Corrigan and Nick Mead, who were in the fourth-paced Men’s eight in Tokyo, along with Chris Carlson, who raced in the eight last season, and Michael Grady, who was in the four in Tokyo and ran in the pair last season. The US has just announced invites for trials for the World Championship team, and this is one of the boats to be trialled, so it remains to be seen if the line-up in Varese remains.
Poland was fifth in Bled. Mikolaj Burda and Mateusz Wilangowski were both in the crew that won a surprise gold at the 2019 World Championships. They are joined by Emilian Jackowiak and Jerzy Kaczmarek, both former U23s who made their senior debuts in Bled.
Also, keep an eye out for Germany; their line-up of Malte Grossmann, Soenke Kruse, Theis Hagermeister and Mark Hinrichs won the B-Final in Bled; if they could step up and make the A-Final in Varese, it will be a big step forward.
Predictions: This is going to be too close to call. The Australians might still be a little race-rusty which will help the British. As a proud Brit, I will say GB take the gold by a few feet over Australia, with the USA in bronze.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
Nine Entries
World Cup One winners: Czech Republic (Jan Potucek, Marek Diblik, Dalibor Nedela, Filip Zema)
Poland is the reigning World and European Champion, and their crew is unchanged for Varese, with Miroslaw Zietarski, Dominik Czaja, Mateusz Biskup and Fabian Baranski continuing to fly the flag. Czaja and Baranski were in the quad that finished fourth in Tokyo, and Zietarski and Biksup raced the men’s double that also made the A-Final at the Olympics. Their victory last season was the first for Poland in the quad since 2009.
Nicolo‘ Carucci, Luca Chiumento, Andrea Panizza and Giacomo Gentili race for Italy, a line-up unchanged from Bled. Gentelli and Panizza were in the quad that finished fifth in Tokyo, and both Chiumento and Carucci are former U23 medallists. The Italians were bronze medallists at the World Championships, and so far this season, as well as bronze in Bled, they had an early outing at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja, where they finished second to the Netherlands.
Great Britain finished just off the podium in Bled. They are the only crew from last year’s World Championship podium to have a change in their line-up, with Harry Leask having left rowing to compete in The America’s Cup. 23-year-old Callum Dixon of Twickenham Rowing Club takes his place. He made his international debut last season, reaching the A-Final of the men’s single at the first World Cup and taking seventh at the U23 World Championships. He joins the three remaining crew members from the World Championship silver medal-winning crew: Tom Barras, George Bourne and Matt Haywood. Barras is the only one on the crew with Olympic experience; he was in the quad that won GB’s first-ever men’s quad Olympic medal. Haywood and Bourne raced together at the U23s in 2019, winning the gold in the quad.
Australia is still playing around with the line-up of their quad; their team announcement listed six athletes in the quad squad. For Varese, their line-up is Caleb Antil and David Bartholot, who won bronze in the double last season, along with Cormac Kennedy–Leverett, who makes his senior debut having raced at the U23’s last season, and Campbell Watts, fourth in this boat last season. Antil is the only surviving member of the Olympic bronze medal crew from Tokyo.
Switzerland finished tenth in Bled and has an unchanged line-up for Varese. As mentioned above, this includes Scott Baerlocher, also listed in the Swiss men’s four.
Other crews to watch include Germany’s combination of Mortiz Wolff, Max Appel, Anton Finger & Tim Ole Naske, who, on paper, looks a more robust combination than their eighth place in Bled would suggest. Canada has two fifth-placed athletes from the 2022 eight now sculling, with Terek Been and Ryan Clegg being joined by former U23 international Steve Rosts and former South African U23 international Liam Smit.
China has two boats entered, the best of which looks to be Wei Han, Xudi Yi, Ha Zang and Sulitan Adilijiang – twelfth at the World Championships last season.
Predictions: Poland looked really, really good in Bled; if they bring that speed to Varese, they will be very difficult to beat. I think Australia will be in silver, with Italy just holding off GB for the bronze.
Men’s Eight
Six Entries
World Cup One winner: No race
This looks set to be another GB v Australia battle.
Great Britain is the reigning World and European Champion, but they were made to work incredibly hard by Romania in Bled to take the title. They’ve made one change to the line-up from Bled, with Will Stewart replacing Charlie Elwes. This looks like a late substitution, as the World Rowing entries still list Elwes, whereas the British Rowing announcement has Stewart.
Australia has five of the crew that won bronze last season – including Benjamin Canham, Jackson Kench, Will O’shannessy, Angus Widdicombe and Kendal Brodie – returning to race. They are joined by Josh Hicks (tenth placed in the pair in Tokyo), Tim Masters (sixth in the eight in Tokyo), U23 international James Daniel Robertson, and Pat Holt (who won silver in the eight at the third World Cup last season).
Canada has six of the crew that finished fifth last year, Curtis Ames, Jakub Buczek, Joshua King, William Crothers, Luke Gadsdon and coxswain Laura Court. U23 World Champion Liam Keane and Tokyo Olympian Gavin Stone join them. The final member of the crew is Cody Bailey, who raced at the second and third World Cups last season and was in the men’s that finished eighth at the 2019 World Championships.
This event has long been about Great Britain versus Germany. Still, since the Tokyo Olympics, the Germans have been in rebuilding mode and have struggled to deliver the results the country expected.
Their preparations were thrown into further disarray earlier this year with the shock firing of chief coach Uwe Bender, a decision that was not supported by the athletes, who posted a statement saying that, “there was a false impression that ‘the athletes’ were responsible for the resignation of Uwe Bender. We point out that the sole responsibility for this decision lies with the German Rowing Federation”.
So against the background of this turmoil, it will be interesting to see how the German eight performs. They have two changes to the crew that finished seventh at the 2022 World Championships (their worst result in this event this century). Olaf Roggensack had to miss the World Championships due to work commitments with the German police; the other change sees Marc Kammann moves into the eight, having raced in the four last season. In Bled, they were off the pace and finished fourth, over six seconds behind the Netherlands in bronze.
Italy has also struggled to get their eight to fire. They finished fifth in Bled and made three changes to their line-up, with Luca Vicino making his senior debut along with Emanuele Gaetani Liseo moving across from the four and also a change in the coxes’ seat with Emanuele Capponi moving across from the women’s eight.
The final crew racing is in the Czech Republic, with its U23 crew looking to gain top-level racing experience.
Predictions: Should be another cracking contest between Great Britain and Australia. GB will come out on top, followed by the Aussies, with Canada in bronze.
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