Men’s Single Sculls
Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) is the current Olympic champion after completing a surprise victory in Tokyo. He hasn’t medalled in the World Championships since but is a reigning double European champion. Oliver Zeidler (Germany) has been the dominant force. He has won world titles in 2019, 2022 and 2023. In 2023, he also dominated the World Cup events, winning in Varese, Lucerne and Zagreb. He could only finish third in the 2023 European Championship though. Behind him in all of those 2023 World Cup events was Sverri Sandberg Nielsen (Denmark). He finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics and has a World Championship silver from 2019. The other Olympic medalists from Tokyo will also return. Damir Martin (Croatia) won bronze after silver in 2016. The 2023 World Championship bronze medalist was Tom Mackintosh (New Zealand). Simon Van Dorp (Netherlands) won silver in 2023, being the second Dutchman in two years to take silver. He also won the 2024 World Cup event in Lucerne. Kristian Vasilev (Bulgaria) was second in Lucerne in 2022 and was a European Championship bronze medalist in 2022. Giedrius Bieliauskas (Lithuania) won bronze in 2024. Ryuta Arakawa (Japan) medalled in a World Cup event in 2023 whilst Yauheni Zalaty (Belarus) won bronze in Lucerne in 2024. Lucas Verthein (Brazil) was the 2023 Pan-American Games winner.
Van Dorp has beaten Zeidler earlier in the year, in Lucerne but aside from that Zeidler has not lost many races over recent years. Ntouskos has the Olympic resume and has performed well at the European Championships in recent years. Mackintosh will be pushing him for the bronze whilst Zalaty has impressed this year. Martin feels past his best but experience always counts for something at the Olympics. Nielsen is a possible contender but needs to get back towards his best.
🥇Oliver Zeidler 🇩🇪
🥈Simon van Dorp 🇳🇱
🥉Stefanos Ntouskos 🇬🇷
Men’s Double Sculls
The last two Olympic champions will compete in Paris. Androdias/Boucheron (France) are the current Olympic champions and will surely be expecting to repeat in Paris. They were also world champions in 2018 and 2022. Sinkovic/Sinkovic (Croatia) are potentially the most famous names in rowing. They were the champions in 2016 before dominating the Coxless pair, where they won gold in Tokyo. Since returning to the double sculls they are the double European champions but could only finish fourth in the 2022 World Championship and second in 2023. They won all the World Cup events in 2022 and in 2023 took the Zagreb event. Santori/Rambaldi (Italy) also won a 2023 World Cup event, in Varese before finishing fourth in the 2023 World Championship. The other 2023 World Cup event was in Lucerne and was won by Twellar/Broenink (Netherlands). They have an Olympic silver from Tokyo and are the current world champions. The other medalists in 2023 were Doyle/Lynch (Ireland), four years after Doyle won a silver with Byrne. Conde/Garcia (Spain) won silver at both the 2022 World Championship and European Championship. Gelsen/Weber (Germany) were European Championship bronze medalists in 2024 where the title was won by Cornea/Enache (Romania). Zhiyu/Adilijiang (China) are an unproven pair but Zhiyu won Olympic bronze in Tokyo and was a 2019 world champion. Koszyk/Davison (United States) won silver at the 2023 World Cup event in Varese. Helseth/Borch (Norway) Mackovic/Pimenov (Serbia) and Parry/Manson (New Zealand) will also compete.
There is probably a tier of seven contenders who are the favourites. The Dutch pair head up the list of contenders given their recent form and it is hard to see past them. The Sinkovic brothers are not the dominant force that they once were but are still dangerous. Italy, Ireland and Spain are also very dangerous. France has a mix of incredible results mixed with some disappointing results and is a hard team to get the measure of. China potentially would have had an outside shot with the old pairing but bringing together a new pair does not inspire me with confidence. I will give the gold to the Netherlands. I think behind them are the French pair and the Sinkovic brothers miss out on bronze behind a strong Italian team.
🥇Melvin Twellaar/Stef Broenink 🇳🇱
🥈Hugo Boucheron/Matthieu Androdias 🇫🇷
🥉Matteo Santori/Luca Rambaldi 🇮🇹
Men’s Quadruple Sculls
The Netherlands will enter this event as the favourites. They are the reigning World and Olympic champions. They also won the 2019 world title as well as the 2023 Lucerne World Cup event. Poland won in Varese and was the 2023 European Champions. They also won the 2022 World Championship before winning bronze in 2023. Italy were the 2018 world champions and won bronze in 2019 and 2022, with a silver medal in 2023. Great Britain was fourth in 2023 after seconds in 2017 and 2022 as well as Olympic silver. Estonia have a World Championship bronze but that was back in 2017. Switzerland won silver at the 2024 European Championship and won bronze in the 2023 World Cup event in Zagreb. Romania also had a bronze, coming in Lucerne in both 2022 and 2023 and were European Championship bronze medalists in 2022. Germany had a couple of World Cup bronze medals in 2021 but hasn’t managed to get on the podium since then. Norway had a silver in 2021 but has also struggled since then.
This should come down to the big four who have dominated competition over the last few years including the World Cup events. The Netherlands have not lost much, but Poland beat them in 2023. They have since been beaten by Italy and the Netherlands. Great Britain is the other team in the mix but they don’t have enough finishes ahead of the other top teams for me to believe in them here. I think the silver comes down to Italy and Poland.
🥇Netherlands 🇳🇱
🥈Italy 🇮🇹
🥉Poland 🇵🇱
Men’s Coxless Pair
The current world champions are Roosli/Gulich (Switzerland). They were also the 2023 European Champions and finished in all three podium positions in the 2023 World Cup events. The two events that they didn’t win were won by Wynne-Griffith/George (Great Britain). They improved from bronze medals in the 2022 World Championship to silver in 2023 and are double European silver medalists. Double bronze medalists are Canalejo/Garcia (Spain). They were silver medalists at the 2022 World Championships. Romania won gold at that World Championships but it will be a different pair on the Olympic stage. Arteni/Lehaci (Romania) is the pairing with Arteni winning 2024 European Championship silver in a different pairing. Bronze medalists at the 2023 World Championship were Corrigan/Timoney (Ireland). Williamson/Wilson (New Zealand) were part of the Tokyo Olympic gold medal winning eights team. Holt/Keenan (Australia) were also previously part of strong eights teams, both having won World Championship medals. Smith/Baxter (South Africa) and Comini/Codato (Italy) have both competed respectably in World Cup events this year.
Again, it feels very much like a group of top contenders who will be competing for gold. There are probably four who would expect to be medalists. The British pair looks like strong favourites, especially given they do not come up against the Romanian pair that has such great pedigree. Instead it is a new Romanian pairing, however they should be dangerous. Switzerland are the current world champions so will expect to be on the podium along with the consistent Spanish pairing.
🥇Oliver Wynne-Griffith/Thom George 🇬🇧
🥈Roman Roosli/Andrin Gulich 🇨🇭
🥉Jaime Canalejo/Javier Garcia 🇪🇸
Men’s Coxless Four
After five successive Olympic titles, Great Britain was finally forced out of the medals. They are the reigning double European and world champions though. It was Australia who finally beat them at the Tokyo Olympics. They finished second in the 2022 World Championships but were only fifth in 2023. Romania finished second at the Tokyo Olympics having also finished second at the 2019 World Championships but haven’t reached those levels since. The Netherlands are the double reigning European silver medalist and won bronze in the 2022 World Championships. In 2023 they added to their fourth-place finishes in 2017 and 2018. It was the United States who finished second at the 2023 World Championship with New Zealand in third. Italy won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and was silver medalist in the 2017 and 2018 World Championships. They did win the World Cup event in Varese this year and finished second in the 2024 European Championship. France were third, as they were in 2023. Switzerland won the 2023 World Cup event in Zagreb.
Great Britain has really bounced back to form in recent years at this event but the start to 2024 has been a bit of a concern. United States have mainly been the closest competitors to them but Netherlands did win the World Cup event in Varese. Other big contenders are Australia and Romania but you have to fancy the aforementioned trio to take gold. I will edge to Great Britain to win back the crown that they once felt like belonged to them. Behind them, I think the Netherlands can edge the United States.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈Netherlands 🇳🇱
🥉United States 🇺🇸
Men’s Eight
Great Britain has won medals at the last four Olympics and is the double reigning European and world champions. They won the 2023 World Cup event in Varese after taking two events in 2022. They were beaten into second in Lucerne in 2023 by Australia. Australia have won bronze at the last two World Championships. Ahead of them, winning silver was the Netherlands. Germany were triple World Champions entering the last Olympics but could only take silver. They were runners-up at the 2024 European Championships and have finished on the podium in World Cup events. They finished ahead of Romania at the 2024 European Championships, having won silver in 2023. They also finished fourth at the 2023 World Championship. United States were the fourth-place finisher in both 2022 and at the Tokyo Olympics. They were also runners-up at the 2024 World Cup event in Lucerne. Italy finished fourth in Varese earlier in the year and were bronze medal winners at the 2022 European Championships.
Germany is on a downswing having entered the last Olympics as favourites. Italy and Romania probably do not have the quality in the team right now. United States are good but don’t seem to beat the top teams and they would probably be my pick for fourth. The top three come down to Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Great Britain has been strongest over the last few years and will enter as big favourites. Australia beat them in an event in 2023 but the Netherlands have more consistently followed them home. I actually think Australia can get it done despite recent major championships suggesting that the Netherlands are stronger.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈Australia 🇳🇿
🥉Netherlands 🇳🇱
Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls
One of the dominant boats in rowing is McCarthy/O’Donovan (Ireland). They are the reigning Olympic champions and have won the last three World Championships. They are also the European Champions from 2022 but showed in the 2023 Lucerne World Cup event they are beatable. They only came second behind Beurey/Ludwig (France). The biggest opposition to the Irish dominance in recent years has been the Italians, whichever pair they put out. Oppo/Soares (Italy) won bronze at the 2023 World Championship and are double reigning European Champions. The other pair who have impressed, especially in 2023 were Schaeuble/Ahumada (Switzerland). They were the European champions and won World Cup events in Varese and Zagreb before finishing second in the World Championships. Behind them, taking a shock bronze were Khmara/Kovalov (Ukraine). Simanek/Vrastil (Czech Republic) were fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 World Championship. They also were second in the 2023 World Cup event in Zagreb. Benske/Tjoem (Norway) won in 2022 in Poznan and were bronze medalists in 2024 in Varese as well as the European Championship. Gkidatzis/Papakontantinou (Greece) were bronze medalists in 2023. Carballo/Lopez (Mexico) were the 2023 winners of the Pan-American Games. Carracedo/Horta (Spain) came fifth in the 2023 World Championship.
This will come down to Ireland and Italy, the two dominant teams at the moment. Ireland has been so dominant in the major championships for so many years, but Italy are definitely in better current form. Behind them, the Swiss are probably closer to breaking into that top two than they are the rest of the field. The French team will always be dangerous in front of the home crowd and they are probably the biggest threats to that podium along with the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Norway.
🥇Stefano Oppo/Gabriel Soares 🇮🇹
🥈Fintan McCarthy/Paul O’Donovan 🇮🇪
🥉Jan Schauble/Raphael Ahumadq 🇨🇭
Women’s Single Sculls
Emma Twigg (New Zealand) is the reigning Olympic champion and has finished second at the last three World Championships. The lady who beat her at the last two World Championships was Karolien Florijn (Netherlands). She has also won the last two European Championships. Kara Kohler (United States) is usually competitive at World Championships, finishing fourth in 2018 and 2023 whilst she managed to win bronze in 2019. Winning bronze at the last two World Championships was Tara Rigney (Australia). She also finished second in the 2023 World Cup events in Varese and Lucerne. In Varese, she was beaten by Alexandra Foster (Germany) who also won a 2022 World Cup event in Lucerne. The other 2023 World Cup event winner was Virginia Diaz Rivas (Spain). The current European Champion is Jovana Arsic (Serbia) after winning bronze in 2023. Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Jansen(Switzerland) beat her by winning silver. She also won silver in the 2023 World Cup event in Zagreb. Tatsiana Klimovich (Belarus) has good form in 2024, coming fourth in the 2024 World Cup event in Lucerne. Desislava Angelova (Bulgaria) was fifth in the 2023 World Championship ahead of Viktorija Senkutea (Lithuania) in sixth. Anna Prakaten (Uzbekistan) formerly represented Russia and was the Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo. She was the 2023 Asian Games winner and Kenia Lechuga (Mexico) was the Pan-American Games winner.
Florijn is the dominant name here and is another who it would be a massive surprise were she to lose. Twigg and Prakaten both return from winning medals in Tokyo but are they still at that level? Rigney and Foster are both consistently at the top end of good fields. Jansen and Dias are both consistent types who shouldn’t be expected to medal.
🥇Karolien Florijn 🇳🇱
🥈Tara Rigney 🇦🇺
🥉Emma Twigg 🇳🇿
Women’s Double Sculls
A big decision was made in Romania as the reigning Olympic champions and the double-reigning European and world champions were not chosen for the team. Instead a new pairing of Bodnar/Morosanu (Romania) was chosen. Bodnar was part of that previous pairing whilst Morosanu has performed well at under-23 level previously. Rimkute/Karaliene (Lithuania) are the reigning silver medalists at the 2023 European and World Championships. Another controversial pick was the Dutch pair of Veldhis/Scheenaard (Netherlands) over a previous World Championship silver medal pairing. This pair did win the World Cup event earlier in the year in Varese. Wagner/Vitas (United States) are the current World Championship bronze medalists. They finished ahead of Bergin/Hyde (Ireland) and Francis/Spoors (New Zealand). The Varese World Cup event in 2023 was won by Lu/Shen (China). Helseth/Kalvie (Norway) have been on two World Cup podiums this year. It was another intriguing decision as Helseth won the European Championship earlier in the year, in a different pair. Bateman/Hudson (Australia) were runners-up in Lucerne. Bailleul/Lunatti (France) were bronze medal winners in 2023 in Varese. Gobbi/Guerra (Italy), Hodgkins-Byrne/Wilde (Great Britain) and Santruckova/Luksova (Czech Republic) will also compete.
This feels like one of the tighter competitions with numerous teams capable of contending. Romania would have been the favourites after only losing one race since 2019 but the new pairing is hard to judge. Lithuania have consistently been their greatest challengers. China impressed last year but needs to prove themselves in major championships. The United States pairing also has some strong results whilst you wouldn’t rule out France or New Zealand competing. Netherlands are another pair, that I had more faith in the other possible pairing. Overall, I will give this to Lithuania, with Romania claiming silver just based on the quality of Bodnar and the assumption that they know what they are doing.
🥇Dovile Rimkute/Donata Karaliene 🇱🇹
🥈Ancuta Bodnar/Andrada-Maria Morosanu 🇷🇴
🥉Kristina Wagner/Sophia Vitas 🇺🇸
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
The reigning Olympic champions are China. They also won the 2019 and 2022 World Championships but only won bronze in 2023. They won the 2023 World Cup event in Varese, whilst in 2022 took wins in Lucerne and Poznan. The current world champions are Great Britain after finishing third in 2022. They are the 2022 European champions but only finished third in 2023. The 2023 European champions were Ukraine and they also won the 2023 World Cup event in Zagreb. Finishing second in both the 2022 and 2023 European and World Championships was Netherlands. They also won the 2017 World Championships and the 2023 World Cup event in Lucerne. Australiamedalled at the last Olympics, winning bronze. Switzerland has been on the podium of World Cup events over the last few years and was fourth at the 2023 World Championships. Germany was stronger in the lead-up to the last Olympics but is another that seems to score podium finishes at the World Cup events every so often. Romania and the United States will also compete.
It would be a surprise if the medals don’t come down to China, Great Britain and the Netherlands, who have dominated this event between them. If there is a team who breaks into that trio then it will possibly be Ukraine. All of the top three have finished ahead of the others in events over recent years which give it a muddled look. I will have to go with the British team to win given their recent form. It feels impossible to split the other pair but I think the greater competition experience edges me to China. I can see this being of the races of the regatta and the top three being separated by hardly anything.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈China 🇨🇳
🥉Netherlands 🇳🇱
Women’s Coxless Pair
The current world champions are Clevering/Meester (Netherlands) improving from their 2022 silver. They won silver in the 2023 European Championship and bronze in 2022. The European champions at the last two tournaments have been Romanian and it will be Vrinceanu/Tilvescu (Romania), the 2022 champions who compete in Tokyo. Vrinceanu won bronze at the 2023 World Championships with a different partner. Morrison/McIntyre (Australia) were the silver medalists in the 2019 and 2023 World Championships. They also won the 2023 World Cup events in Varese and Lucerne. Rasmussen/Erichsen (Denmark) won in a World Cup event in Sabaudia, but that was back in 2021. They did win bronze in Varese in 2024 where Keogh/Murtagh (Ireland) finished ahead of them to take silver. They also won bronze in Lucerne and were the fourth-placed finishers in the 2023 World Championships. Abraham/Abraham (Chile) were behind in fifth and their best World Cup result was a second in Belgrade in 2022. Brit/Cid (Spain), Bourmpou/Papkonstantinou (Greece) and Czajkowski/Thoennes (United States) are also relatively new pairings who are arguably shock inclusions.
Not the most competitive of divisions. The Netherlands are the clear number one over recent years having barely lost. It was the Romanians who last managed it but the Australians are arguably just as strong. Ireland looks the likeliest to break into that trio ahead of Spain and the United States. Ultimately, I think this stays pretty chalk.
🥇Ymkje Clevering/Veronique Meester 🇳🇱
🥈Jessica Morrison/Annabelle McIntyre 🇦🇺
🥉Ioana Vrinceanu/Denisa Tilvescu 🇷🇴
Women’s Coxless Four
Australia is the reigning Olympic champion and was world champions in 2017 and 2019. They could only finish third in 2022 and couldn’t make the medals in 2023. The current world champions are the Netherlands after finishing second at the previous two World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics. They could only finish third at the 2023 European Championships, which were won by Romania. They improved from fourth in the 2022 World Championship to win silver in 2023. They also won the 2023 Lucerne World Cup event. The United States won in Varese. They were the 2018 world champions but could only finish fourth in 2023. Ireland was the other medalist in Tokyo, winning bronze and then winning the European silver in 2022. Great Britain was the European silver medal winner in 2023 after winning in 2022. They were also world champions in 2022 before bronze in 2023. Denmark were last on the podium when winning bronze in 2019. They also won a World Cup silver in Belgrade in 2022. China were behind them, winning bronze and has always been a team that is in the field without really challenging at the top. New Zealand won bronze in Lucerne in 2022.
Great Britain has channelled a lot of resources into this event and has looked like the number-one team this year. Although the Netherlands are the current world champion, none of their other results in the last couple of years suggest they should be number one here. Australia are on a downswing at the moment. Romania are the other contenders and I think it comes down to them and Great Britain. I will edge to Great Britain on the 2024 form but again think this will be a close race.
🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧
🥈Romania 🇷🇴
🥉Netherlands 🇳🇱
Women’s Eight
Romania has dominated this event in recent years, except for a disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics. They are the 2017, 2022 and 2023 world champions as well as winning the European Championship in 2022 and 2023. The Olympic champions were Canada, however their best performance in a Wold Championship after that was a bronze in 2022. United States are the current World Championship silver medallists after winning gold in 2018 and bronze in 2019. They finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics as well as at the 2017 and 2022 World Championships. It was Great Britain who finished fourth in the 2023 World Championship but they did win a World Cup event in Lucerne and have won silver at the last two European Championships. Australia also won a World Cup event in 2023 after taking gold in Varese. They are also bronze medallists in the 2018 and 2023 World Championships. Great Britain came fourth at the 2023 World Championship. They are also the reigning Triple European Championship silver medallist. They won the 2023 World Cup event in Lucerne and finished second in two World Cup events in 2024. Italy has been a bronze medallist at two of the last three European Championships and won a 2024 World Cup event in Varese. Denmark last was on the World Cup podium in Poznan in 2022 when winning silver.
This feels like quite a highly contested event which could go lots of different ways. Italy and Denmark are the two who will find it toughest to medal but even then it is not out of the realms of possibility. Romania have been strongest for a while and I have to give them the gold based on their recent major championship record which is impeccable. Canada is on the downswing of an incredible run but remains strong. Australia, Great Britain and the United States are all strong dangers. I think it comes down to them battling for third and I edge to the British team nicking the medal.
🥇Romania 🇷🇴
🥈Canada 🇨🇦
🥉Great Britain 🇬🇧
Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls
Romania have won two of the last four World Championships and it will be Cozmiuc/Van Groningen (Romania) competing who won gold at the 2024 European Championship. Both have won world titles with other partners. The United States has had various medal-winning pairs over the last few years but it will be Reckford/Sechser (United States) competing who won silver at the 2022 World Championships. The winners of the last two world and European championships have been Grant/Craig (Great Britain). They were only fourth in the Tokyo Olympics but have looked like the strongest pair since and won both the 2023 and 2024 World Cup events in Varese and Lucerne. Tarantola/Bove (France) were the silver medal winners in Tokyo and also the 2022 European Championship. They only finished fourth in the 2022 World Championship. Fourth in 2023 was Moffatt/Casson (Canada). Cox/Kiddle (New Zealand) came fifth but were runners-up in the 2024 World Cup event in Lucerne. Eleni/Fitsui (Greece) were bronze medal winners in Lucerne in 2023 and have won silver medals at the last two European Championships. Jiang/Xiuping (China) won the 2022 Asian Games and were runners-up at the 2022 World Cup event in Belgrade. Altenhuber/Tiefenthaler (Austria) won silver in Zagreb in 2023. Casey/Cremen (Ireland) were World Championship bronze medalists in 2022 but haven’t performed at that level since. Also competing are Mikolajczak/Welna (Poland).
The Brits are one of the most dominant boats at the moment and it feels impossible to see them defeated, they are potentially going to be the most comfortable winners. Aside from that it feels like one of the weaker divisions. The other medals should come down to France, New Zealand, Romania and the United States. I think Romania are good enough but will the new pairing impact them negatively. I would rather they come into the event with some form but will trust in them to win bronze.
🥇Imogen Grant/Emily Craig 🇬🇧
🥈Laura Tarantola/Claire Bove 🇫🇷
🥉Ionela Cozmiuc/Mariana-Laura Dumitru 🇷🇴
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