Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 24
2024 champion: Oliver Zeidler (Germany)
With Germany’s reigning champion not making his 2025 debut yet, the form guide would point towards Yauheni Zalaty, a Belarusian racing under the “Neutral Athlete” banner. He was runner-up to Zeidler at the Paris Olympics and was fifth in this event last year. He also has a bronze medal from the first World Rowing Cup last year and, in 2023, won the B-final.
One of the most experienced entries in the men’s single is Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece. The Tokyo Olympic champion had a mixed season last year; a disappointing second World Rowing Cup (where he finished 23rd) was followed by an excellent silver at the European Rowing Championships (his third consecutive European men’s single silver medal) and then an A-final finish in Paris.
Another sculler coming off the back of an excellent Olympic campaign is Belgium’s Tim Brys. He became the third Belgian man to finish fourth in the men’s single at an Olympic Games after Tim Maeyens in 2008 and Hannes Obreno in 2016 (the only Belgian to go better than fourth in the men’s single was Polydore Veirman, who won silver in 1912). Brys is a former lightweight and a European bronze medallist in the LM2X in 2019.
The Netherlands have the habit of producing outstanding scullers; their Olympic gold medal quad were one of the best crews in the whole of the last Olympiad. For the 2025 European Rowing Championships, the single’s seat is filled by Rik Rienks. This will be his first foray into the world of international sculling, as all of his experience to date, going back to his days as a junior in 2013, has been in sweep boats (a career that has brought him several World and European medals). The Dutch are such outstanding technicians that it wouldn’t surprise me if Rienks showed medal-potential as a sculler and sweep rower.
Winner of the B-final at both the 2024 European Rowing Championships and the Paris Olympic Games was Romania’s Mihai Chiruta. The 26-year-old also took seventh in the men’s single at the 2021 European Rowing Championships and in the 2023 season raced in the quad that won World Rowing Cup bronze and then won the B-final at the World Rowing Championships.
Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev was 14th at the Paris Olympic Games. The oldest man in the field at 33, his senior career stretches back to 2011, with 2022 being his most successful year to date, where he won bronze at the Europeans and silver at the final World Cup.
With Zeidler skipping the Euros, Germany’s representative is Marc Weber. He raced in the double in Paris, finishing ninth, and took a bronze medal in the double at the 2024 European Rowing Championships. He’s no stranger to racing the single internationally, winning U23 gold in 2019 and World Rowing Cup bronze in 2022.
Another Paris men’s single competitor is Lithuanian Giedrius Bieliauskas. He was tenth at the Olympics, but his best performance of 2024 was a bronze medal at the European Rowing Championships (Lithuania’s best result in this boat class at the Euros since 2018).
Other scullers to watch out for include Switzerland’s Maurin Lange, a silver medallist in the quad at the 2024 European Rowing Championships and sixth at the Olympic Games. Italy’s Davide Mumolo won bronze in this boat class at the first World Rowing Cup of 2024 and was 11th at the 2023 World Rowing Championships.
The youngest competitor in the field is Turkey’s Cevdet Ege Mutlu. He did not compete last season but won the U23 World Rowing Championships in 2023, so he will be one to watch as the Olympiad progresses.
Great Britain is yet to win a European medal in the men’s singles, and it is probably a little optimistic to suggest they will make the podium at this year’s championships. Their representative, Aidan Thompson, is part of the “World Class Start” development squad, and he was part of the double that showed promise in 2023, winning the B-final at the opening World Rowing Cup. They never really pushed on from that performance and ended up 25th at the World Rowing Championships. It will be interesting to see what sort of potential he shows in Plovdiv.
British eyes will also be drawn to Slovenia’s Filip Pfeifer. He was 13th at the 2024 European Rowing Championships, but this season, he raced for Oxford Brookes University at the British University Championships, winning a silver medal in the championship men’s single.
Prediction
So, who do I think will make the podium? To be honest, trying to predict medals at this stage of the season is a fool’s game, but many people have called me a fool over the years, so I’m game. I think the medals will go to Romania, Belarus (AIN), and Greece.
